John Schneider is a prominent name as an American actor on top of being a country singer, and so his life—music career, film career, wife—are open to the public.
Before he rose to prominence for his roles in The Dukes of Hazzard, Smallville, and The Haves and the Have Nots (as Beauregard “Bo” Duke, Jonathan Kent, and James “Jim” Cryer respectively), he was a singer and has released multiple albums in the 1980s. If you are a fan of country songs, you’ve definitely heard of his hits like “I’ve Been Around Enough to Know,” “Country Girls,” “What’s a Memory Like You,” and “You’re the Last Thing I Needed Tonight.”
And if you haven’t heard these masterpieces yet, go ahead and have a listen! There’s a reason why these songs reached the top of the Billboard country singles charts.
With John Schneider as popular as he is, it is no wonder he has his fair share of romantic partners. He definitely has the looks to pair with his talent, is it any wonder women fall for his charms?
But his love story isn’t as smooth-sailing as one would expect.
Former Miss America Tawny Elaine Godin, also known as Tawny Little or Tawny Little-Welch, was John’s first wife. Right off the bat, this relationship already had dramas: while dating each other, John (and The Dukes of Hazzard co-star Tom Wopat) was actually embroiled in a controversy against Warner Bros when they both quit the show after Warner Bros allegedly refused to pay them their royalties from the series’ merchandise and script approvals.
Their marriage lasted around 3 years, getting married in 1983 and divorcing in 1986. It was said that the divorce was due to unavoidable circumstances.
It was noted that for quite some time after his divorce from Tawny, John Schneider remained single until he decided to marry Elvira “Elly” Castle in 1993, making her his second wife. This marriage lasted longer than his first marriage—21 years—until TMZ announced their divorce in 2014. They had 3 children; Leah and Chasen from Elly’s first marriage and Karis from their marriage. This time around, the divorce was rough, and they had a court case over property and money, ending with the court sending Schneider to jail in the process. It was a 5-year legal battle, and even after Castle won the case, there seems to have bad blood still between them.
But his legal battle with Elly didn’t stop John from dating Alicia Allain in 2015. Alicia was John’s personal and professional manager, on top of being his producing partner and the owner of Maven Entertainment.
They met in 2014, and if you’ve noticed, it’s the same year that John and Elly filed for a divorce. Apparently, Alicia was looking to get back into indie filmmaking after a long break and called up John for a discussion over dinner. And although they did meet in Atlanta for dinner, their romance actually only started several months after, once John was divorced.
After four years of dating, Alicia became John Schneider’s spouse in 2019 when they had their marriage ceremony in a barn at the John Schneider Studios in Holden, Louisiana.
They got wedded “before God” (meaning unofficial) and waited for John’s divorce and legal battle with Elly to be officially over before they made their marriage official.
Both seemed to be happy with their union, with Alicia telling People magazine that this is “a sanctuary of love” and that this is “just a perfect day of celebrating with friends and family.”
Similarly, John told the same magazine that “Happy is too small of a word”.
There are still challenges ahead since John himself said that there is still a chance that he’ll go back to jail for not being able to afford to pay his unpaid spousal support to Elly, amounting to a whopping $1 million.
However, we are happy that John Schneider was still able to find a wife to love after a couple of divorces. We are happy that he didn’t let his previous failed marriages get in the way of finding his true love.
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Alicia Allain, John Schneider