What Happened To Paul Newman's Children?

Actor Paul Newman, known for his icy blue eyes, his charm, and his cool demeanor, starred in such acclaimed films as "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1958), "The Hustler" (1961), "Cool Hand Luke" (1967), and "The Color of Money" (1986), per IMDb. While he played all sorts of characters on screen, he was a father of six away from the cameras.

With first wife Jackie Witte, Newman welcomed three children, son Scott and daughters Susan and Stephanie. The couple met while doing summer theater together and married in 1949, but their union didn't prove to be a lasting one (via the Daily Mail). While his wife looked after their children, Newman pursued his acting career and met actress Joanne Woodward in 1953 while working on a play in New York. A relationship eventually developed between the two, and Newman ended his first marriage. He and Jackie divorced in 1958, and Newman soon married Woodward. During the course of their nearly 50 years together, they had three daughters: Elinor (known as Nell), Melissa (called Lissy), and Claire (known as Clea).

Paul Newman and Jackie Witte had their first child in 1950, per Closer Weekly. Their son, Allan Scott, arrived while Newman was still trying to get his big break. Known as Scott, he was born in Cleveland, Ohio, but he soon moved to New Haven, Connecticut, so that his father could attend Yale University's graduate theater program, according to "Paul Newman: A Life" (via the Daily Mail). Growing up, Scott struggled in school and got expelled several times for poor behavior and substance abuse (per Vanity Fair).

Scott tried to follow his father's famous footsteps as an actor. He had a small part in 1974's disaster film "The Towering Inferno" and appeared on such TV shows as "Marcus Welby, M.D." and "S.W.A.T," per IMDb. One of his biggest roles was in the 1975 Western "Breakheart Pass" with Charles Bronson. His last film was the 1977 college drama "Fraternity Row." The following year, Scott died of an accidental overdose of alcohol and drugs at a Los Angeles hotel.

Newman felt tremendous guilt after Scott's death. "All I could have done ... And didn't do," he said once, per Vanity Fair. After Scott's death, Newman established the Scott Newman Center, which provided drug-prevention programs for young people.

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Susan Kendall Newman, the oldest daughter of Paul Newman and Jackie Witte, was born in New York City on February 21, 1953 (via IMDb). She only spent her early years with her famous father since her parents divorced in 1958. After the split, her mother moved Susan and her two siblings to California (per People). Susan did well in school, but she had no interest in college. Like her father, she moved to New York City to become an actor when she was 21 years old, originally using just her first and middle names professionally.

With an assist from her father, Susan had a small part in his ice hockey dramatic comedy "Slap Shot" (1977). She also appeared in 1978's "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "A Wedding" (via Turner Classic Movies). Shifting to behind-the-scenes work, Susan was a producer on "Shadow Box" (1980) and "Candida" (1983). She took on a challenge close to her heart in 1985, helping establish the Scott Newman Center for Drug Abuse Prevention and Health Communication Research at the University of Southern California (via the Los Angeles Times). 

Based in California, Susan continues to work as a producer, providing her media expertise to charitable organizations (per Vanity Fair). She has also been outspoken about protecting her father's legacy — both his Newman's Own food line and his philanthropic work — after his death in 2008.

Paul Newman and his first wife Jackie Witte welcomed their second daughter, Stephanie Newman, in 1954, per Turner Classic Movies. Stephanie was the couple's last child together, and it wasn't long before her parents' marriage started to crumble. Paul Newman met actress Joanne Woodward while appearing in the Broadway play "Picnic" in 1953, and he tried to resist his attraction to her for a while, according to Shawn Levy's "Paul Newman: A Life" (via the Daily Mail). But he later asked Jackie for a divorce so that he could be with Woodward. Jackie initially refused to end their marriage, but the pair finally divorced in 1958.

Information about Stephanie and her life is hard to come by. As a kid, she spent summers in Westport, Connecticut, with her father, her stepmother, and three half-sisters, according to Country Living magazine. Unlike her siblings, Stephanie never really dabbled in the family business, and she seems to have steered clear of the limelight altogether. Her sister Susan told People magazine in 1978 that Stephanie was "a free spirit farmer-writer-painter who lived in the Connecticut backwoods in a hut last winter." A more recent Vanity Fair article on the Newman family stated that Stephanie wasn't involved in their charitable efforts and business ventures. Indeed, Stephanie is living a much quieter life than her four sisters.

Paul Newman and his second wife, Joanne Woodward, tied the knot in 1958, shortly after his divorce was finalized. The couple's first daughter, Elinor Teresa Newman, was born on April 8, 1959, per Turner Classic Movies. She did a bit of acting when she was young, performing under the name "Nell Potts." She appeared with her mother in 1968's "Rachel, Rachel" and 1972's "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds," both of which were directed by her father.

Nell earned a bachelor's degree in human ecology from the College of the Atlantic, and she went on to work for such organizations as the Environmental Defense Fund, the Ventana Wilderness Sanctuary, and the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group (via Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame). In 1993, Nell joined her father's food business, Newman's Own, which was set up to give some of the proceeds from its sales to charity. She was the co-founder of Newman's Own Organics, which became its own company in 2001 (via the Nell Newman Foundation).

Two years later, Nell shared her ideas in "The Newman's Own Organics Guide to a Good Life: Simple Measures That Benefit You and the Place You Live," which she wrote with Joseph D'Agnese. Nell helped make Newman's Own Organics a pioneering brand in its field and produced some of the leading organic products, per Vanity Fair. When her licensing deal with Newman's Own ended in 2014, she went on to focus on other projects, including running the Nell Newman Foundation. She lives in Northern California with her husband, Gary Irving.

Melissa Newman, born on September 27, 1961, also tried her hand at acting early on, according to IMDb. In the 1970s, she had roles on such TV shows as "The New Perry Mason" and in the TV movie "See How She Runs," which starred her mother, Joanne Woodward. Known as "Lissy," she went to study at Sarah Lawrence College in New York (via The New York Times). Lissy graduated in 1988. Also a gifted singer, she has performed many times over the years and even sung commercial jingles, per Country Living. She also was a singer for the Westport, Connecticut restaurant, the Dressing Room, which her father helped establish.

In addition to her musical talents, Lissy is active in numerous social causes. Notably, she volunteers her time in a program that brings the arts to prisoners at the Bedford Women's Correctional Facility. Lissy is married to Raphael Elkind, a teacher, and they have two sons together named Henry and Peter. They live in the same Westport, Connecticut home that she grew up in, which they bought from her parents in 1998.

The youngest member of the family, Claire Olivia Newman, was born in 1965 (via Turner Classic Movies). She goes by the name "Clea," and she told Independent.ie that one of her first memories is of "running around the yard" at the Newman's Westport, Connecticut home. Like her mother and sister Lissy, Clea also attended Sarah Lawrence College. She went on to become a lawyer. "I wanted to do good for others, and I wanted to protect people," Clea explained in her interview with Independent.ie.

Clea soon became involved with her father's charitable efforts through the Newman's Own Foundation. One of the foundation's special projects was making summer camps for children with serious illnesses. And this is a cause that she is still involved with to this day as an ambassador for the SeriousFun Children's Network, which offers programs around the world. "As my dad would say — a child who has a serious illness, the best thing you do is just let them be a kid again," she told Independent.ie. Clea lives in Westport, Connecticut, with her husband, Kurt Soderlund. He is the CEO of Safe Water Network, which Clea's father Paul Newman helped establish in 2006.