Martha Matthews: Inside Willie Nelson’s First Wife’s 10-Year Marriage, Three Children, Stormy Relationship and Life Before His Country-Music Fame

Martha Matthews was the first wife of country-music legend Willie Nelson, and she knew him long before the braids, Red Headed Stranger, Farm Aid and worldwide fame. The couple married in 1952 when both were very young and had three children—Lana, Susie and Willie “Billy” Hugh Jr.—before their turbulent marriage ended in divorce in 1962.

Martha’s story is not a simple celebrity romance. Their decade together included financial struggles, frequent moves, Willie’s early attempts to make a living through music, three children and serious conflict inside the marriage. Martha later remarried and built another family before dying in Texas in 1989 at only 53.

Quick Bio of Martha Matthews

IMDb records Martha as born April 3, 1936, in Corsicana, Texas, and dying November 29, 1989, in Austin. A family-history record based on her obituary likewise gives those dates and says she had attended school in Waco.

Who Was Martha Matthews?

Martha Matthews belonged to the earliest chapter of Willie Nelson’s adult life.

Today, Willie is an American music institution. He has spent decades recording, touring and helping shape what became known as outlaw country.

Martha knew a very different Willie.

When they married, he was a 19-year-old Texan still trying to find steady work and decide how music could fit into his future. His legendary career had not begun in any meaningful commercial sense.

There were no huge tours.

There was no On the Road Again.

There was no Farm Aid.

There was simply a young couple trying to build a family while Willie chased opportunities wherever he could find them.

Martha Was Born in Texas

Martha Jewel Matthews was born on April 3, 1936, in Corsicana, Texas.

A family-history entry incorporating information from her obituary says she attended school in Waco.

Details about her parents and childhood are much less consistently documented in major sources.

That is not unusual.

Martha became historically interesting mainly because the teenager she married eventually became one of America’s most famous musicians.

Before that happened, she was simply a young Texas woman living an ordinary life.

How Did Martha Matthews Meet Willie Nelson?

The exact first-meeting story is not as firmly documented as the marriage itself.

What is clear is that they were extremely young when they became husband and wife.

IMDb gives their wedding date as October 27, 1952, while major biographies consistently place the marriage in 1952.

Martha was about 16.

Willie was 19.

Looking at those ages helps explain just how early this relationship came in both of their lives.

They were not established adults entering a comfortable celebrity marriage.

They were teenagers starting a household.

Willie Nelson Had Just Left the Air Force

Willie’s life was still unsettled.

After finishing high school in 1950, he joined the U.S. Air Force but was medically discharged after a short period because of back problems. He then returned to Texas and married Martha in 1952.

From 1954 to 1956, Willie attended Baylor University and studied agriculture before dropping out.

He also took a remarkable collection of ordinary jobs.

He worked as a tree trimmer.

A nightclub bouncer.

An auto-parts worker.

A saddle maker.

He also worked in radio and performed music wherever opportunities appeared.

Martha experienced these uncertain years beside him.

Martha Was There Before Willie Became Famous

This is perhaps the most important thing to understand about her.

Martha did not marry a country star.

She married a young man who wanted to become one.

That is a very different experience.

The family’s bills could not wait for Willie’s songwriting career to succeed.

Music meant nights away.

Radio work could mean moving.

A better opportunity somewhere else could mean packing up the family again.

Willie’s early career was built through years of small jobs, radio stations, bars and persistence.

Martha and their children lived through that period with him.

Their First Child Was Lana Nelson

Martha and Willie became parents to Lana Nelson, their eldest daughter.

Genealogical records place Lana’s birth on November 11, 1953.

Willie was only 20.

Martha was still a teenager.

Suddenly, the young marriage included the responsibility of raising a baby while Willie was trying to find a stable career.

Lana later remained connected with her father’s extended family and public story, though she never developed the same high-profile music career as some of her younger half-siblings.

She represents the beginning of Willie Nelson’s long story as a father.

Susie Nelson Arrived Next

Their second daughter, Susie Nelson, was born in 1956.

By then, Willie was balancing family responsibilities with a growing determination to make music his career.

The household was expanding.

Money remained important.

And Willie’s path was anything but settled.

Susie later wrote about life inside the Nelson family, giving fans another window into what it was like growing up as one of Willie’s children.

But in the mid-1950s, nobody could know what the Nelson surname would eventually mean in country music.

Billy Nelson Was Their Youngest Child Together

Martha and Willie’s third child was Willie “Billy” Hugh Nelson Jr., born in 1958.

Billy was their only son together.

With three young children, Martha’s responsibilities had grown enormously.

At the same time, Willie was still searching for the opportunity that would transform him from a struggling Texas musician into a successful songwriter.

The family was living through the difficult part of the story that later biographies can compress into a few sentences.

Success had not arrived yet.

The Family Moved as Willie Chased Work

Willie’s early career required movement.

At one stage, he moved his family to Pleasanton, Texas, where he approached radio station KBOP looking for work as a disc jockey despite having little radio experience. He got the job.

Radio became one piece of his education.

He learned how songs connected with audiences.

He performed.

He wrote.

He met musicians.

But none of this automatically produced financial security.

Willie also sold encyclopedias and vacuum cleaners and took other jobs while trying to support his family and continue making music.

Martha’s marriage therefore unfolded alongside constant uncertainty.

Martha Has Been Described as a Barmaid

Reliable details about Martha’s independent working life are limited.

Encyclopedia.com describes her as a barmaid in one biographical record of Willie.

Beyond that, there is not enough strong documentation to build a detailed professional biography for her.

That matters because modern celebrity sites sometimes assign elaborate careers to famous people’s former spouses without evidence.

Martha was raising three children while married to a musician whose work was unstable and frequently took him away.

That family labor was itself substantial.

Their Marriage Was Stormy

Martha and Willie’s relationship has often been described as turbulent.

Willie’s own accounts and later biographies describe serious conflict between them, including physical altercations.

This part of their history should not be treated as a funny celebrity anecdote.

Whatever humor Willie sometimes used when recounting difficult episodes later in life, violence inside a relationship is serious.

The couple were extremely young.

They faced money problems.

Willie’s drinking and lifestyle contributed to instability.

And the marriage eventually became impossible to sustain.

The Famous Bedsheet Story

One incident from their marriage has been repeated in many biographies.

According to Willie’s account, he returned home intoxicated and fell asleep. Martha sewed him into a bedsheet and struck him with a broom before leaving with the children and belongings.

It is an extraordinary story.

But it should be understood as Willie’s account of an already deeply troubled relationship, not as a playful marriage prank.

The incident became famous because Willie repeatedly told colorful stories about his life.

Martha did not have the same enormous public platform to tell her version.

That imbalance is important.

We Mostly Know the Marriage Through Willie

Willie Nelson became famous.

Martha did not.

That means much of what survives publicly about their conflicts comes through his memoirs, interviews and biographies built around his life.

Martha’s perspective is much harder to recover.

Good biography writing should recognize that limitation.

We can report documented incidents.

We can say the marriage was turbulent.

But we should be careful about pretending to know Martha’s thoughts, motives or feelings unless she actually expressed them in a reliable source.

Her side of the marriage is far less visible.

Willie Was Still Struggling as a Songwriter

By the late 1950s, Willie was writing songs seriously.

He sold “Family Bible,” one of his early compositions, and continued working in Texas before eventually moving toward Nashville.

Nashville would become crucial.

Willie’s songwriting talent began attracting attention even before his own recording career became successful.

Songs he wrote would eventually become hits for other performers.

But the transition from struggling musician to respected songwriter happened during the final years of his marriage to Martha.

She had lived through the long period before anyone knew whether the gamble would work.

The Marriage Ended in 1962

Martha and Willie divorced in 1962, approximately ten years after marrying.

The Los Angeles Times reported in its discussion of Willie’s relationships that he left Martha for singer Shirley Collie, whom he married the following year.

By the time the first marriage ended, Martha and Willie had three children and a decade of complicated history.

Willie’s career was also beginning to move.

His first studio album appeared in 1962.

In other words, Martha’s marriage to him ended almost exactly when his professional recording story was starting to become much more visible.

Willie Married Shirley Collie in 1963

After divorcing Martha, Willie married country singer Shirley Collie in 1963.

That marriage lasted until 1971.

Willie then married Connie Koepke, with whom he had daughters Paula and Amy.

After that marriage ended, he married Annie D’Angelo in 1991.

Annie and Willie have sons Lukas and Micah and remain married.

Martha was therefore the first of Willie’s four wives.

But her position in the timeline is unique.

She knew him before the world did.

Willie Later Admitted He Hurt His Wives

One reason it is unfair to place all responsibility for the failed marriage on Martha is that Willie himself has been candid about his complicated romantic history.

While discussing his marriages, he acknowledged causing pain to Martha, Shirley and Connie and said he had no excuses for his behavior.

That does not erase the violence reported within his first marriage.

It does provide important context.

Willie’s personal life was complicated.

He has publicly acknowledged infidelity and what he described as “wandering ways.”

The collapse of the marriage should therefore not be reduced to a single sensational incident.

Martha Remarried After Willie

Martha’s life did not end when she stopped being Mrs. Willie Nelson.

IMDb records that she later married Mickey Scott and Charlie Andrews.

Her obituary-based family record shows that her later family became considerably larger.

In addition to Lana, Susie and Billy, it lists sons Mike Scott and Brandon Scott, as well as David Andrews and Charlie Andrews.

This is an important part of Martha’s biography.

For decades, online profiles have often frozen her in 1962 as “Willie Nelson’s ex-wife.”

Her actual life continued for another 27 years.

Martha Eventually Had a Large Family

By the time Martha died, her family extended far beyond the three children she shared with Willie.

Her obituary record listed seven children in total and eight grandchildren.

That gives us a much fuller picture.

Martha was not simply part of Willie’s past.

She became a wife again.

She became a mother again.

She became a grandmother.

Her life continued on its own path while Willie’s career grew into something neither of them could have imagined during their teenage marriage.

Willie Became a Major Country Songwriter

After the divorce, Willie’s career accelerated.

His songs were recorded by major artists.

Patsy Cline’s version of “Crazy” became one of the most famous recordings associated with his songwriting.

Other compositions such as “Hello Walls” and “Funny How Time Slips Away” established him as an exceptional writer.

But Nashville’s polished production system did not completely suit him.

Eventually, Willie returned to Texas and developed the sound and image that helped reshape country music.

By then, Martha had long since moved into another chapter of her own life.

The Outlaw Country Era Came Much Later

The Willie Nelson most people recognize emerged in the 1970s.

Long hair.

Braids.

Bandanas.

Trigger, his famous guitar.

A looser sound.

Albums such as Shotgun Willie and Red Headed Stranger helped establish him at the center of outlaw country.

All of that happened years after Martha’s marriage to him ended.

This makes old photographs from the Martha years especially striking.

Willie looked different.

His career was different.

His entire public identity was still forming.

Martha’s Three Children Remained Part of Willie’s Family

Divorce ended the marriage.

It did not erase the children.

Lana, Susie and Billy remained Willie’s children throughout their lives, and modern accounts of the Nelson family continue to identify all three as the children from his first marriage to Martha.

Willie’s family eventually became much larger.

People currently identifies him as father to eight children across several relationships.

But Lana, Susie and Billy belong to the earliest family he created.

That makes Martha foundational to the Nelson family story.

Billy Nelson’s Life Ended Tragically

The most painful later event connected with Martha’s children involved her son Billy.

Billy Nelson died by suicide on Christmas Day in 1991.

He was only in his early thirties.

Importantly, Martha did not live to experience that tragedy.

She had died two years earlier, in 1989.

When discussing Billy, it is better to avoid turning his death into dramatic entertainment.

He was a son, brother and father whose life ended far too young.

His death became one of the deepest losses in the Nelson family’s history.

Martha Died Before Billy

Martha died on November 29, 1989, in Austin, Texas.

IMDb reports the cause as liver failure. She was 53.

Her obituary record identifies her at the time as Martha Mathews Scott, reflecting one of the later marriages that followed her divorce from Willie.

This is another useful reminder that her life had moved on.

She had spent less than one-fifth of her life married to Willie Nelson.

Yet that ten-year marriage remains the reason most people search her name today.

Was Martha Matthews Alive When Willie Became a Superstar?

Yes.

Although their marriage ended before Willie’s greatest fame, Martha lived through the years when he became an international country star.

She saw the success of Red Headed Stranger.

She lived through “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.”

She was alive when Stardust became enormously successful.

She was alive when Willie moved into films and when he helped create Farm Aid in 1985.

We should not guess what she privately thought about that success.

But she certainly lived long enough to see how far the struggling young musician she had married eventually went.

What Was Martha Matthews’ Net Worth?

There is no trustworthy public record establishing Martha’s personal net worth.

Exact figures found on celebrity websites should be treated cautiously.

Her marriage to Willie ended in 1962, before the period that produced most of his enormous commercial success.

She later remarried and lived a life largely outside celebrity coverage.

Without reliable records of her assets, income, property or estate, assigning an exact dollar amount would simply be speculation.

Martha Was Not a Celebrity in Her Own Right

Martha did not pursue fame in the way Willie did.

There is no substantial acting career attached to her.

No famous album.

No long list of television appearances.

No public business empire.

The available record instead shows a Texas woman whose life became historically interesting because she married a young musician before he became a legend.

That does not make her story unimportant.

It makes it different.

Martha’s life helps show what Willie’s world looked like before fame changed everything.

Her Story Is More Than the Bedsheet Incident

Search Martha’s name and one story appears again and again:

the bedsheet and broom.

It is memorable.

It is dramatic.

But reducing ten years of marriage and 53 years of life to one violent episode does Martha a disservice.

She married extremely young.

She had three children with Willie.

She lived through years of financial instability.

She later divorced him.

She remarried.

She had more children.

She became a grandmother.

She died before reaching old age.

That is a life, not an anecdote.

Martha Knew Willie Before “Willie Nelson” Became an Icon

This is ultimately why her story remains interesting.

Martha knew Willie Hugh Nelson.

Not the cultural symbol.

Not the country legend with braids and a battered guitar.

Not the musician celebrated at huge birthday concerts decades later.

She knew a teenage husband trying to pay bills.

A young father.

A radio worker.

A salesman.

A musician playing clubs and trying to get someone to listen to his songs.

Their relationship was troubled and eventually failed.

But it belonged to the foundation of Willie’s adult life.

Final Thoughts

Martha Matthews was Willie Nelson’s first wife, but that simple description hides a much larger and more complicated story.

Born Martha Jewel Matthews in Corsicana, Texas, in 1936, she married Willie in 1952 while still very young. Willie was only 19 and had recently returned from a short period in the Air Force.

They became parents to Lana, Susie and Billy Nelson.

Those were difficult years.

Willie moved between ordinary jobs, radio work and music while trying to support his family and build a career. Martha was raising their children while the future remained uncertain.

Their relationship was also deeply troubled.

Biographies describe violence and serious conflict, including the famous incident in which Martha sewed an intoxicated Willie into a bedsheet and struck him with a broom.

Yet the marriage should not be reduced to that episode. Willie himself later acknowledged the pain his behavior caused his former wives and admitted that his romantic life was complicated.

Martha and Willie divorced in 1962.

He married Shirley Collie the following year and eventually became one of the most important figures in country-music history.

Martha moved forward too.

She remarried, had additional children and became a grandmother. Her obituary record shows a large family surrounding the later decades of her life.

She died in Austin on November 29, 1989, at age 53. IMDb lists liver failure as the cause.

Two years later, her son Billy died by suicide, a tragedy Martha did not live to see.

Today, Willie Nelson is still performing at 93, more than seven decades after his marriage to Martha began.

That makes Martha’s place in his story extraordinary.

She was there at the beginning.

Before Nashville success.

Before outlaw country.

Before Trigger became famous.

Before the braids.

Before millions of records.

Martha Matthews knew Willie Nelson when becoming a music legend was still only a dream.

FAQs About Martha Matthews

Who was Martha Matthews?

Martha Matthews, born Martha Jewel Matthews, was Willie Nelson’s first wife. They married in 1952 and had three children before divorcing in 1962.

When was Martha Matthews born?

IMDb and obituary-based family records give her birth date as April 3, 1936, in Corsicana, Texas.

When did Martha Matthews marry Willie Nelson?

Major sources place their marriage in 1952. IMDb gives the specific date as October 27, 1952.

How old was Martha when she married Willie Nelson?

Using the documented 1936 birth date and 1952 marriage year, Martha was about 16 years old.

How long were Martha Matthews and Willie Nelson married?

They were married for approximately 10 years, from 1952 until their divorce in 1962.

How many children did Martha and Willie have?

They had three children: Lana Nelson, Susie Nelson and Willie “Billy” Hugh Nelson Jr.

What did Martha Matthews do for a living?

Detailed records of her career are limited. One established biographical reference describes Martha as a barmaid.

Why did Martha Matthews and Willie Nelson divorce?

Their marriage was turbulent and included serious conflict. The Los Angeles Times reports that Willie left Martha for Shirley Collie, whom he married in 1963.

Did Martha Matthews really sew Willie Nelson into a bedsheet?

Willie’s biographical accounts say that during one serious marital confrontation, Martha sewed him into a bedsheet while he was asleep and struck him with a broom.

Did Martha Matthews remarry?

Yes. IMDb records later marriages to Mickey Scott and Charlie Andrews.

Did Martha have children after Willie Nelson?

Her obituary-based family record lists additional sons from her later life, including Mike and Brandon Scott and David and Charlie Andrews.

When did Martha Matthews die?

Martha died on November 29, 1989, in Austin, Texas.

How old was Martha Matthews when she died?

She was 53 years old.

What was Martha Matthews’ cause of death?

IMDb lists her cause of death as liver failure.

Did Martha Matthews live to see Willie Nelson become famous?

Yes. Martha died in 1989, long after Willie became a major country star during the 1960s and especially the 1970s.

What happened to Martha and Willie’s son Billy?

Billy Nelson died by suicide on Christmas Day in 1991, two years after Martha’s death.

What was Martha Matthews’ net worth?

No reliable financial source establishes Martha’s individual net worth. Exact figures found on unsourced celebrity websites should therefore not be treated as verified facts.

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