How did William Shatner’s third wife die? Nerine Kidd was found dead in swimming pool
Captain James T Kirk, or rather William Shatner will go where few men (or women) have gone before - he is part of the New Shepard crew that will take off from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One, a launchpad in rural West Texas about 100 miles from of El Paso on October 13.
“I’m going to see the vastness of space and the extraordinary miracle of our Earth and how fragile it is compared to the forces at work in the universe -- that’s really what I’m looking for," Shatner said of the flight.
The 90-year-old Canadian actor also said, “I plan to be looking out the window with my nose pressed against the window. The only thing I don’t want to see is a little gremlin looking back at me. Are you sure that’s not going to happen?”
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How did William Shatner’s wife Nerine Kidd die?
Shatner has been married four times. First to Canadian actress Gloria Rand, with whom he had three daughters: Leslie, Lisabeth, and Melanie. Shatner's second marriage was to Marcy Lafferty. His third marriage was to Nerine Kidd. In 2001, Shatner married Elizabeth Anderson Martin. Shatner filed for divorce from Elizabeth in 2019, which was finalized in January 2020.
Shatner was married to Kidd from 1997 until her death in 1999. On August 9, 1999, Shatner returned home to discover Kidd’s body at the bottom of their backyard swimming pool. As per an October 1999 Los Angeles Times report, the final autopsy results showed that Kidd had been drinking heavily and taking sleeping pills the night she drowned in the swimming pool behind her home.
The former model and aspiring actress, who had two drunk-driving convictions and had been treated several times for alcoholism, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.27 percent, more than three times the legal limit for driving, according to the autopsy report.
The Times reported that doctors found bruises on her face and two cracked neck vertebrae that indicated she dived into the pool, banged her head on the bottom, and lost consciousness. The report also said that Shatner told cops that Kidd was known to drink a cocktail of Gatorade and vodka before swimming and had been struggling with her alcoholism in the days leading up to her death.
Mike Coffey, the Los Angeles police detective investigating the case said at the time, “The totality of the whole investigation indicates an accident. Drinking was definitely a problem for her. Everyone knew she was an alcoholic. She just couldn’t beat her problem.”
Shatner reportedly revealed in his memoir that his grief was “overwhelming” after Kidd’s death. “This was the type of pain that makes you think either I’m simply going to die or I’m going to kill myself,” Shatner wrote.
But as per old reports, Shatner had filed for divorce with Kidd prior to her death. She wanted a baby but Shatner didn’t think she was responsible enough, according to Shatner’s agent Warren Cowan. Cowan also said that the couple was making an attempt at reconciliation.
Speaking with the National Enquirer following her death, Shatner said, “I fought and fought to save my wife from the serpent of alcoholism -- but I failed. Nerine’s own psychiatrist told me that, for her own good, I should divorce her … [He] said, ‘If you love her, you have to leave her.’”
“Nerine begged for us to have a baby … I told her we could not until she proved she could stay sober for six months,” he told the tabloid, adding that she became “so paranoid from her drinking that she was accusing me of seeing other women. On the night before she died, the couple went to a restaurant where Nerine secretly ordered vodka she insisted was cranberry juice, Shatner claimed. The next day, the couple was set to visit Shatner’s daughter, Leslie, but “I told Nerine I didn’t want her around children in that condition.”
When Shatner called the house that afternoon, “I told her on the phone, ‘If you stay sober, I’ll take you horseback riding tomorrow.’ By lunch, the housekeeper told me that Nerine was lying drunk in bed.” About him finding her in the pool that night, he said, “[I] tried to pry open her mouth, but it was rigid. I knew my dear Nerine was gone!”