Vivian Cash Bio: Amazing Facts About Johnny Cash's Ex Wife

Vivian Cash Bio: Amazing Facts About Johnny Cash’s Ex Wife

Table of Contents

Profile Summary

Name: Vivian Cash
Year of Birth: 1934
Nationality: American

Vivian Liberto was an American author and homemaker. She was married to American singer Johnny Cash and was known as his first wife.

Vivian Cash age

Vivian Liberto Distin was born on April 23, 1934, in San Antonio, Texas, into the family of homemaker Irene and an insurance salesman and magician Thomas Peter Liberto.

Her mother Irene was of German and Irish heritage, while her grandparents were from Cefalù, Palermo, Sicily. Vivian attended St. Mary’s Catholic school in San Antonio.

Unfortunately, the media don’t know other information about her educational background and growth.

Personal Life

In 1951, Vivian met Johnny Cash at a roller skating rink in Texas while Cash was in Air Force basic training.

They courted for three weeks before The Air Force deployed Cash to West Germany for three years. The separation didn’t deter the couples as they sent letters back and forth to each other.

Finally, in August 1954, they got married, just one month after Cash’s discharge.

The ceremony was held at St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church in San Antonio. After that, the couple had four daughters together, Rosanne, Kath, Cindy, and Tara.

Soon after the marriage, the couple settled in Memphis, Tennessee, where Cash took a salesman job.

Shortly after, Johnny Cash became a rising music star, and he moved Vivian and his family to Hollywood, where he pursued roles and connections in the entertainment industry.

Subsequently, Cash moved his family to a hilltop home in California. Unfortunately, things started to go downhill for the couple as the hilltop home was isolated from amenities.

With Cash frequently away on tours, Vivian had to dispatch rattlesnakes and other creatures around the property.

Vivian later had to file for a divorce in 1966 because of Cash’s drug abuse and his acts of adultery with other women, and he was said to have had a relationship with June Carter, a singer.

After the divorce, Vivian singlehandedly raised her four daughters till she married Dick Distin.

In 1968, he was a police officer, and they remained together till she passed on in 2005.

Her Excommunication From the Catholic Church

Due to her divorce from Cash, Vivian was excommunicated from the Catholic Church because of her status as a divorcee.

As a result, her ex-husband had to arrange a meeting with the archdiocese and sign papers to take full responsibility for the divorce before Vivian was reinstated and able to receive communion.

Vivian Cash Book

Vivian became friends with writer and producer Vivian Sharpsteen and decided to publish her memoirs, and she hired Ann to be her editor and biographer.

Her memoir was published in 2007 titled I Walked the Line: My Life With Johnny.

Most parts of the book contained the thousands of letters from Cash and Vivian when he was away for three years and her recollections of their courtship, marriage, Cash’s rise to fame, and his relationship with June Carter.

Vivian Cash ethnicity

A rumor began that Johnny Cash’s ex-wife, Vivian was black. This started when they were pictured together on a newspaper page.

Soon after, Vivian received threats to her life by white supremacists, even after Johnny issued statements that Vivian wasn’t black.

Vivian’s claim to be white was mocked, and she was constantly called a negroid who married a white man.

How old was Vivian Cash when she died?

Vivian died on May 24, 2005, from complications of lung cancer surgery. She was 71 years old at the time of her death.

Net Worth

Her autobiography was priced at $32.95 for the Hardcover and $13.52 for the Amazon Paperback. At the time of her ex-husband, Johnny’s death, Vivian had a net worth of $60 million.

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