Brian Wilson’s Wife, Melinda, Dead At 77 Years Old

Rest In Peace, Melinda

Sad news comes has been shared by Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson through an announcement posted on Facebook and Instagram. His wife, Melinda, passed away this morning at the age of 77 They were married 28 years. In a heart-felt message to his followers, Wilson expressed how much Melinda meant to him saying she was a “savior” to him and the “emotional security I needed to have a career”. In the post he reveals that she passed away peacefully at home.

She Sold Him A Cadillac And Was His Rock

Melinda Kae Ledbetter was from Whittier, CA, a city in Los Angeles County and was a model prior to meeting Wilson for 16 years. They initially crossed paths in 1986 when she sold him a Cadillac. Over the next three years they were together intermittently and in 1992, Wilson and Melinda unexpectedly reconnected in Los Angeles, and continued their relationship once again.  In 1995 Wilson Melinda married and adopted five children: Dakota, Daria, Delanie, Dylan, and Dash.

“His father was abusive, his father was abused. And Brian should have been an abuser too. Instead, Brian just withdrew. He was never involved with his kids. Now, although music is still extremely important to him, he’s learned that there’s love, family. I just wonder what the music would have been like if he had this sooner, what he could have done if he had a supportive, loving family around him all along.” – The Chicago Tribune (1998)

Melinda was thought to be Wilson’s “savior” as she also helped him break free of a psychologist who seemed to have him captive, she expressed in an interview on Larry King back in 2004. She was a wife that was by his side and supported him throughout his career and she will be greatly missed.

You can watch the Larry King interview with the 2 of them, here: