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Clint Eastwood Mourns Death of Longtime Partner Christina Sandera
View Date:2024-12-24 02:40:01
Clint Eastwood is honoring his love.
The Million Dollar Baby star confirmed the death of Christina Sandera and paid tribute to his girlfriend of 10 years. She was 61.
"Christina was a lovely, caring woman," Clint said in a statement July 17, per The Hollywood Reporter. "I will miss her very much."
The pair met when she was working as a hostess at Clint's Mission Ranch Hotel and Restaurant in California, according to the outlet. They began dating in 2014, a year after the 94-year-old filed for divorce from ex Dina Eastwood—with whom he shares daughter Morgan Eastwood, 27,—after 17 years of marriage.
While Clint and Christina kept their personal lives private, the couple did make appearances at events together over the years, including the 2015 Oscars and the red carpets for Sully in 2016, his films The Mule and The 15:17 to Paris in 2018, as well as Richard Jewell in 2019.
Prior to his relationships with Christina and Dina, Clint was married to ex Maggie Johnson and in long-term relationships with Roxanne Tunis, Sondra Locke, Jacelyn Reeves and Frances Fisher.
And although Clint—who is also father to kids Laurie Murray, 70, Kimber Lynn Eastwood, 60, Kyle Eastwood, 56, Alison Eastwood, 52, Scott Eastwood, 38, Kathryn Eastwood, 36, and Francesca Eastwood, 30—has been a prolific figure on Hollywood for more than six decades, he’s remained quiet on the inner workings of his life.
"There are other people that are involved there and they're vulnerable people," Clint previously shared on CBS News. "I can protect myself, but they can't."
But in the past, Dina had spoken about their family and reflected on the kind of partner the Oscar winner was.
"He's probably the sweetest guy I've ever met," she said on Bethenny after filing for divorce. "He is the sweetest, he is a loving, kind, low-key person so my intuition was still great on marrying a good person."
Keep reading for a full breakdown of Clint's sprawling family tree.
Clint Eastwood's bond with his eldest child Laurie is one that developed later in life.
“I was adopted as a baby, and dad didn’t know about me, and I didn’t know about him,” the former teacher, born in 1954, shared with Carmel Magazine in March 2024—noting the two first met in her 30s. “When I met my dad, it was love at first sight. He is a wonderful man, and we have unconditional parent/child love for each other. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed becoming part of a much larger family.”
In fact, Laurie joined her dad and siblings on the red carpet for the premiere of Clint's movie The Mule in 2018 and accompanied her father to the 2004 Oscars.
Laurie is married to Lowell Thomas Murray III, and they share two children: daughter Kelsey and son L.T., who appeared on Michelle Young's season of The Bachelorette.
Just like her dad, Kimber has built a career in the entertainment industry. As an actress, she's appeared in several films, including Passion Crimes, Crossed and her father’s 1997 film Absolute Power.
Kimber—whom Clint welcomed with Roxanne Tunis in 1964—has also worked behind the camera. In addition to serving as a producer on films like Dominion and Rapture, she’s a makeup artist who’s lent her talents to shows like Wheel of Fortune and Dog the Bounty Hunter as well as movies like Clint’s 2018 Netflix release The Mule.
Mom to son Clinton from a previous relationship, Kimber has been married to Shawn Midkiff since 2014.
Kyle has written and arranged music for several films—including Clint’s movies Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Letters from Iwo Jima, Changeling, and Invictus. In fact, the composer, whom Clint welcomed with his first wife Maggie Johnson in 1968, earned a Golden Globe nomination in the Best Original Song category for his father’s 2009 picture Gran Torino.
Kyle has even collaborated with his dad on a number of songs. Still, the jazz musician—who is married to wife Cynthia and welcomed daughter Graylen with ex Laura—insists on carving his own path that’s separate from his father’s.
"I can understand that people are interested when you're related to someone who's that famous," he told Belfast Telegraph that same year. “That's probably never going to go away. The name gets attention, but it can also give people preconceived ideas of you and what you're about. I just try to stay focused on making music and working hard at what I do. But I'm very proud of my dad and what he's accomplished, and I'm very happy to be able to work with him here and there, so I don't mind talking about him a little bit."
Another Eastwood following in dad’s famous footsteps? Clint and Maggie's daughter Alison, who was born in 1972.
And she’s not just his daughter IRL—she also played his offspring in The Mule and Tightrope. Alison’s other credits include Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Shadow People, Once Fallen and I’ll Be Seeing You. She’s also directed—including for the TV series Boned and the films Battlecreek and Rails & Ties.
Of course, Alison’s passion for the film industry may not come as a huge surprise given her upbringing.
“We were on set all the time spending time with him,” she told Fox News in 2022. “My dad has a very tight-knit group of people he frequently works with, so it felt like family. I grew up with them and saw them all the time. They were always very welcoming and looked out for us kids. And my dad made it even more fun for us. He would put us in a scene, even if it was in the background or whatever. We got to be involved in his work, too.”
Alison—who added she retired from acting in 2018—is also a founder of the animal welfare and rescue organization Eastwood Ranch Foundation and is married to Stacy Poitras.
You can certainly see the family resemblance between Clint and Scott. But their relationship wasn’t always where it is today.
According to Esquire, Scott spent most of his childhood living in Hawaii with his mom Jacelyn Reeves. As for Cllint, "He was gone; he was doing his thing,” his youngest son, born in 1986, told the magazine. “But he was there, too, you know.”
It wasn’t until Scott was in high school that he decided to move to California to live with Dad. Since then, they’ve worked on several movies together, including Flags of Our Father, Gran Torino, Invictus and Trouble With the Curve.
“I've tried to take every opportunity I can to learn from him,” Scott added. “I flew to Georgia to see him work on Sully. Every chance I get, I'm trying to be on set with him.”
Though, he’s done separate projects, too—including The Longest Ride, Diablo, Fast X, I Want You Back and Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams” music video.
While she’s attended a few red carpet events with her famous family members, Kathryn—born to Clint and Jacelyn in 1988—tends to live a more private life. Still, fans have caught her on the big screen in movies like Virus of the Dead, American Virus (both of which she also co-wrote), and Jersey Boys.
You might remember seeing Francesca, born in 1993, on the E! reality series Mrs. Eastwood & Company, which she starred in alongside her sister Morgan Eastwood and Clint’s second wife Dina Eastwood. Although, she's done quite a bit of acting, too.
Francesca—whose mother is Frances Fisher—played the lead in the show Oh, You Pretty Things! and has appeared in series like Fargo, Twin Peaks and Heroes Reborn. She's also had parts in films like Outlaws and Angels, Old, M.F.A. and Queen of the Ring.
In addition, Francesca has taken on the role of mom, welcoming son Titan with Alexander Wraith in 2018. And when it comes to Clint, the actress noted on Instagram that he’s the “Best dad. Best grandfather.”
The youngest of the Eastwood siblings is Morgan, the daughter Clint welcomed with Dina in 1996. And while she’s appeared in a few of her dad’s films—including Million Dollar Baby and Changeling—the writer didn’t catch the acting bug like many of her family members.
“It was very exciting, and I was in a scene with Angelina Jolie, but it wasn’t something that clicked for me,” she noted to Carmel Magazine. “Not everyone is meant to be an actor.”
Morgan has a B.A. in screenwriting with a minor in Film, TV and Media studies from Loyola Marymount University in L.A. and enrolled in The New School in New York for an M.F.A. in creative writing, per her bio. She got engaged to Tanner Koopmans in June 2023, and the following May she announced they’re expecting a baby.
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