When people talk about James Taylor's love life, they almost always jump straight to the "Fire and Rain" era or the high-profile, stormy marriage to Carly Simon. It makes sense. They were the "it" couple of the seventies. But there's this whole other decade—specifically 1985 to 1995—where James Taylor was married to a woman named Kathryn Walker.
Honestly, it’s the era most fans gloss over. It wasn't as loud as the Carly years, and it wasn't as settled as his current life with Kim Smedvig. But if you look closely at the timeline, Kathryn Walker was arguably the person who kept James Taylor from falling off a cliff.
The Quiet Wedding at St. John the Divine
They got married on December 14, 1985. It wasn't a massive paparazzi circus. They held the ceremony at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. To the outside world, it looked like a fresh start. Taylor had finally divorced Simon in 1983, and he was trying to figure out how to be a person again without the weight of that "supercouple" label.
Kathryn wasn't some random fan. She was an accomplished actress—think theater, television, and film. She had a certain intellectual gravitas. Before James, she had been the long-term partner of Douglas Kenney, the brilliant and troubled co-founder of National Lampoon and writer of Caddyshack. When Kenney died in a mysterious fall in Hawaii in 1980, Kathryn was the one left picking up the pieces.
So, when she met James, they were both, in a way, survivors.
The Woman Who Saved His Life?
If you talk to Taylor fans from that era, there’s a common narrative: Kathryn Walker saved James Taylor.
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By the mid-eighties, James was still wrestling with the heroin addiction that had haunted him since his youth. It's a miracle he was still standing. Friends of the couple often credited Kathryn with being the stabilizing force that helped him finally get clean. She was disciplined. She was focused.
During their ten years together, Taylor released albums like Never Die Young (1988) and New Moon Shine (1991). You can hear a shift in the music. It’s less "anguished 20-something" and more "man trying to find his footing in middle age." He was sober. He was touring. Things looked, from the outside, pretty perfect.
But stability can sometimes feel like a cage.
The "Iron Curtain" and the Unhappy Ending
Despite the sobriety and the career resurgence, the marriage wasn't exactly a fairytale. You’ve probably heard Carly Simon's famous "Iron Curtain" quote—how James cut off all contact with her after their divorce. While that was James's choice, many speculated that the rigid boundaries of his life with Kathryn played a role in that distance.
The couple eventually divorced in 1995 (though some records cite 1996 as the finalization date).
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For a long time, both remained pretty tight-lipped about why it ended. Then, in 2008, Kathryn Walker published a novel called A Stopover in Venice.
The Book That Said Everything
Basically, the book is about a woman who leaves her difficult, famous rock-star husband. Sound familiar?
In interviews around the book's release, notably with the New York Daily News and The New York Times, Kathryn admitted that the story was heavily inspired by her marriage to James. She painted a picture of a relationship that was exhausting. Supporting someone through addiction recovery is a monumental task, and it seems that by the end, she had simply run out of steam. She described the "rock star" lifestyle—not the glitz, but the emotional vacuum that often surrounds someone that famous—as something she could no longer inhabit.
It turns out that being a "caretaker" and a "spouse" are two very different jobs. When one person spends years saving the other, the power dynamic gets weird. It’s hard to go back to being equals.
Why the Kathryn Walker Era Still Matters
We shouldn't look at this marriage as just a "bridge" between his two more famous relationships. Kathryn Walker was there for the most critical transition of James Taylor's life.
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- He stayed alive. That’s the big one. The sobriety he found during these years became the foundation for the rest of his life.
- He found his voice again. The albums from the late 80s and early 90s proved he wasn't just a 70s relic.
- The private struggle. Their marriage reminds us that recovery isn't just about the person who is addicted; it's about the people standing next to them.
Today, James Taylor is famously happy with his wife Kim. They’ve been together since 2001, and she’s a constant presence at his shows. Kathryn Walker moved on too, continuing her work in the arts and living a much more private life in Santa Fe.
Moving Forward: Understanding the Legacy
If you’re a fan looking to dive deeper into this specific period of music history, don't just stick to the Greatest Hits.
- Listen to New Moon Shine. Specifically the track "Copperline." It was written during the tail end of his time with Kathryn, and it captures a sense of looking back at one's roots while trying to move forward.
- Read Timothy White’s biography, Long Ago and Far Away. It’s widely considered the definitive Taylor bio and gives a lot of context to the mid-80s transition.
- Check out Kathryn Walker’s writing. Beyond the James Taylor connection, she’s a deeply insightful writer. A Stopover in Venice is worth a read if you want to understand the "spouse of a legend" perspective.
The reality of James Taylor and Kathryn Walker is that they were two people who found each other at a moment of mutual need, did the hard work of survival, and then eventually realized they couldn't survive together anymore. It’s a very human story. No villains, just a lot of complicated history.
Next Steps for Fans: To get the full picture of this era, go back and watch his 1993 Live at the Beacon Theatre performance. It was filmed right toward the end of their marriage, and you can see a version of James Taylor that is healthy, sharp, and sober—the version of himself that Kathryn Walker helped him become.