Why Did Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow Divorce?

Mia Farrow’s doomed relationship with Woody Allen has been the subject of tabloid fodder for decades. The documentary, Allen V. Farrow, chronicles much of that relationship. Still, Farrow’s time with Allen was not her most famous romance. That distinction goes to Farrow’s short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra. The pair were married for just two years, but the allure of their romance has kept the public interested for decades after Sinatra’s death at 82.

How did Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow meet?

Farrow and Sinatra’s romance started like so many other Hollywood romances. The pair met on the set of a movie. While filming Von Ryan’s Express, the couple fell for each other. Sinatra was nearing 50 and had already been married twice before, including to starlet Ava Gardner. Farrow was a 19-year-old virgin who made a name for herself in Hollywood after spending a few years modeling. 

Farrow and Sinatra dated for two years before tying the knot in 1966. Two years after that, they went their separate ways. Sinatra would marry again eventually. Farrow would do the same. Still, there was something between the pair that kept the public interested, even years after they had allegedly moved on.  

Why did Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow get divorced?

Farrow and Sinatra were crazy about each other during their early relationship and their marriage. They seemed so happy together that the public was shocked when the pair announced their split in 1968. So, what caused their divorce? Simply put, different values.

Farrow has been open about the demise of her first marriage. She was just 21 when she married Sinatra. In the 2009 book, Sinatra in Hollywood, Farrow is quoted as saying that she was an impossible immature teenager when she met Sinatra, which ultimately led to their demise. In the end, her desire to work on her own movies and not work exclusively with Sinatra led to the breakdown of the marriage. As legend has it, Sinatra had the divorce papers drawn up when Farrow refused to walk off of the set of Rosemary’s Baby in favor of a flick he was working on. Sinatra was looking for a stay-at-home wife, not a Hollywood starlet. Farrow was looking to make a name for herself as someone other than Sinatra’s love.

Is Frank Sinatra the love of Mia Farrow’s life?

Sinatra died in 1998, 30 years after he and Farrow parted ways. Sinatra spent more than 20 years with his fourth wife, Barbara Sinatra. Still, rumors about the friendship, and possible love affair, that Sinatra and Farrow shared after their divorce persist. It’s rumored that Ronan Farrow, Farrow’s son with Allen, might actually be Sinatra’s biological child. Farrow hasn’t exactly denied it, and the resemblance is uncanny. 

Sinatra, for all intents and purposes, was the love of Farrow’s life. The Rosemary’s Baby star has been forthcoming about that. She freely admitted that she was still in love with Sinatra on the day he died and continues to love him still. He was her first, and apparently, her true love.