Personal relationships of Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra had many close relationships throughout his life. He was married four times, and had at least six other notable relationships in between. Sinatra had three verified children, as well as one who claimed to be Sinatra's child but whose parenthood had not been verified and one potentially his but of uncertain parentage.

Frank Sinatra met Nancy Barbato (b. March 25, 1917) when he was nineteen, and they were married on February 4, 1939, in Jersey City, New Jersey, Barbato's home town. Their wedding was held at Our Lady of Sorrows Church at 93 Clerk Street, after which the newlyweds resided in an apartment house at 137 Bergen Avenue. Their first child, their elder daughter Nancy Sinatra, was born on June 8, 1940, and their son, Francis Wayne Sinatra, known as Frank Sinatra, Jr., was born on January 10, 1944. Both children were born at the Margaret Hague Hospital in Jersey City.

Following their move to Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, Sinatra errantly strayed from his marriage into extra-marital affairs, the first known with Marilyn Maxwell. These affairs also became public knowledge and caused great embarrassment to Nancy Barbato Sinatra, who considered calling off their marriage then and had an abortion when she became pregnant in 1946. A third child, Christina Sinatra, known as "Tina", was born on June 20, 1948.

Nancy Barbato Sinatra and Frank Sinatra announced their separation on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1950, with Frank's additional extra-marital affair with Ava Gardner compounding his transgressions and becoming public knowledge once again. After originally just seeking a legal separation, Frank and Nancy Sinatra decided some months later to file for divorce, and this divorce became legally final on October 29, 1951. Frank Sinatra's affair and relationship with Gardner had become more and more serious, and she later became his second wife.

Sinatra later expressed regrets at having married Nancy saying "What I had mistaken for love," he ruefully stated later, "was only the warm friendship Nancy had brought me."

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