Roxanne Tunis, the former lover of Clint Eastwood, with whom he fathered daughter Kimber Eastwood amid a 14-year affair, has died aged 93.
The actress-dancer, who was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, passed away last June 23, according to documents reviewed by Radar.
“My mother passed away after a short illness,” 59-year-old Kimber told RadarOnline.com in a statement on Monday.
She told the outlet that the Academy Award winner, 93, was upset by the news, and offered her condolences to her and his grandson.
“He’s as sad as I am,” Kimber said of the iconic actor-director.
The latest: Clint Eastwood’s former lover Roxanne Tunis, from whom he fathered daughter Kimber Eastwood, has died at the age of 93. The actor was pictured in NYC in 2013
The actress-dancer, who passed away last June 23, had a 14-year affair with Eastwood. She was pictured with Kimbra and her grandson Clinton Gaddie on May 5, 1997 in Camarillo, California
An insider told the outlet that Tunis was “one of Clint’s true loves” and that they “maintained a healthy relationship … to the very end.”
The Unforgiven star was “devastated by the loss and for his daughter Kimber,” the source said.
Eastwood and Tunis’ relationship began in 1964 during a period when The Bridges of Madison County star was married to his first wife Maggie Johnson, according to Radar. (The couple, who share children Kyle and Allison, split in 1984 after 34 years of marriage.)
Eastwood and Tunis met in 1959 while working on the TV show Rawhide, and he briefly parted ways with Johnson amid the extramarital romance.
The romance between Eastwood and Tunis lasted 14 years, sources told the outlet, and she had a role in his action comedy Every Which Way But Loose in 1978.
Scandal erupted around the Tinseltown mainstay in 1964 when his full name, Clinton Eastwood Jr., was published on her birth certificate.
A source told Radar that “Roxanne worshiped the ground (Clint) walked on” and “didn’t give a damn that Clint was a star.”
“She was never impressed with all the money and fame. All she ever wanted was to have and hold Clint Eastwood, the man.”
Kimber and her famous dad were photographed at an event in LA in December 2018
Kimber, 59, told RadarOnline.com in a statement Monday: “My mother passed away after a short illness.” In the photo in 1997
The Academy Award winner, 93, was upset by the news, Kimber said, and offered his condolences to her and his grandson. Pictured in Atlanta in 2019
A longtime TV industry veteran told the site that Eastwood and Tunis did little to hide their relationship.
“On set, they were very open about being lovers,” the insider said. After Clint finished a scene, he sauntered over to Roxanne and sauntered across the set with his arm lovingly around her.
“She was usually in his locker room car. With his influence, he has elevated her from extra girl to little player.’
A 1992 report in The National Investigator quoted a source as stating that Eastwood told Tunis he would not “leave his wife to marry her” after she told him she was pregnant in the mid-1960s.
“He told her she would take good care of her and the baby financially,” the source told the outlet. “In return, he wanted total secrecy from Roxanne.”
Tunis was interested in acting and dancing in her teens and early 20s, eventually moving to Los Angeles to follow her dreams in her late 20s, sources told the outlet.
According to Kimber, she was also interested in transcendental meditation, healthy nutrition and vegan diets.
Kimber said her mother “liked to paint, draw, write and travel”
“She loved painting, drawing, writing and traveling,” Kimber told the outlet. “She was a devoted daughter, mother, grandmother, sister, friend, and deeply religious. Our lives are forever changed.’
In her career, according to iMDbTunis also appeared in films such as Take Her, 1963’s She’s Mine, 1986’s Blue City, 1973’s Breezy (directed by Eastwood); and 1968’s Hang ‘Em High, starring Eastwood.
Aside from her romance with Eastwood, Tunis was also married to the late Jack Watson Scheck Jr.
Eastwood was also married to wife Dina Eastwood from 1996-2014.