Did John Wayne ever beat one of his wives?

Answer 1

Of Wayne's three marriages his second was the most tumultuous and probably the one he would have rather kept quiet about. Wayne, never a stranger to alcohol, had married a woman who could and did drink more than he did. She accused him of spousal abuse and even claimed he once threw her shall in the mud. Worse yet, her mother lived with them and the mother drank at least as much as her daughter.

It is probably true there was too much drinking going on. But whether he actually hit her is unknown and probably just gossip. I would imagine had she really been hit police would have been involved. That was never the case. Wayne once made the comment that his second wife was too evil to conceive (they had no children together despite Wayne's obvious fertility). What is true is that this same wife almost shot him when he returned from a night out. She claimed it was mistaken identity, thinking a burglar had broken in. Maybe she did, maybe she didn't. Whatever the truth is we may never know. She died within a year of their divorce. I believe it was alcohol related.

Answer 2

In Short, NO. I am not a fan, but he was a wonderful father who did everything possible to help his children suceed.