Who Did Stevie Nicks Marry: What Really Happened with the Rockstar’s Only Husband

If you’ve ever lost yourself in the lyrics of "Silver Springs" or "Rhiannon," you probably picture Stevie Nicks as the ultimate high priestess of rock—a woman who belongs to the wind, the stage, and maybe a few haunted mansions. She’s spent decades being the face of independent, ethereal cool. So, it catches a lot of people off guard to find out that the woman who famously said she chose her career over being a wife and mother actually walked down the aisle once.

It wasn't to Lindsey Buckingham. It wasn't to Don Henley or Mick Fleetwood, either.

Stevie Nicks married Kim Anderson in 1983.

Honestly, if you’re looking for a classic rock-and-roll romance here, you’re going to be disappointed. This wasn't a story about a whirlwind Vegas elopement or a passionate affair between two stars. It was something much heavier. It was a marriage born out of absolute, crushing grief.

The Heartbreaking Story Behind the Marriage

To understand why Stevie Nicks married Kim Anderson, you have to talk about Robin Snyder Anderson. Robin was Stevie’s best friend since they were teenagers. They were the kind of friends who were more like sisters; Robin was the person who kept Stevie grounded while she was becoming one of the biggest stars on the planet.

In the early 80s, right as Stevie's solo career was exploding with the success of Bella Donna, Robin was diagnosed with terminal leukemia.

The timing was brutal. While Stevie was hitting #1 on the charts, she was spending her nights in a hospital room. Robin was pregnant at the time of her diagnosis. She actually went into remission for a short window, but the cancer came back with a vengeance. She died just two days after her son, Matthew, was born.

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Why Stevie Said "I Do"

Stevie has been very open about the fact that she basically lost her mind when Robin died. Most of us have been there—that "twilight zone" of grief where nothing makes sense and you feel like you have to do something to fix the unfixable.

She looked at Kim, Robin’s grieving widower, and she looked at baby Matthew, and she decided that the best way to honor her friend was to step into her shoes. It sounds wild because it was. She literally told Kim, "I don’t know, I guess we should just get married."

They married in January 1983, only three months after Robin passed away.

Stevie wasn't in love with Kim. Kim wasn't in love with Stevie. They were just two people who loved the same woman and were trying to hold onto a piece of her through a baby boy.

A Marriage That Lasted Only Three Months

It didn't take long for the reality of the situation to set in. You can’t build a life on a foundation of "what if" and "should have."

The wedding itself was a strange affair. Some of Stevie's friends and family reportedly refused to go because they knew she was acting out of a temporary state of insanity. Mick Fleetwood later recalled that he could see the panic and regret in her eyes even on the wedding day.

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"We didn't get married because we were in love, we got married because we were grieving, and it was the only way that we could feel like we were doing anything." — Stevie Nicks

The marriage lasted roughly three months. Maybe eight, depending on which legal filing date you look at, but the actual "living as a couple" part was over almost before it started. Stevie realized that she couldn't be Robin. She also realized that being a stepmother and a wife to a man she barely knew as a romantic partner was a recipe for disaster.

The Breakup and the "Sign"

Stevie has often mentioned a mystical element to the end of the marriage. She felt that Robin was watching over them and was, frankly, pissed off about the whole thing. She’s told stories about being in the nursery and feeling a dark, heavy presence that convinced her Robin wanted the marriage to end.

It was a "terrible, terrible mistake," in her own words. After the divorce, things got messy. Kim eventually remarried and, for a long time, he kept Matthew away from Stevie. The grief turned into a strained silence that lasted for years.

Where Are They Now?

If you're worried about how this story ends for the baby, there's actually a bit of a silver lining. Even though the marriage was a wreck, the bond with the child eventually survived.

When Matthew was a teenager, Stevie reconnected with him. She ended up putting him through college and has remained a constant figure in his life. These days, she’s even a "Grandma Stevie" to his daughter. It’s a full-circle moment that feels a lot more "Stevie" than the marriage ever did.

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What Most People Get Wrong About Stevie's Love Life

Because the Kim Anderson marriage was so brief and born of such specific circumstances, it usually gets buried under the "Stevie and Lindsey" drama. People often assume she's never been married because she speaks so much about her independence.

• The Lindsey Factor: Fans love to think of Lindsey Buckingham as her "soulmate," but she has frequently pointed out that while they were a great musical match, they were a toxic romantic one.
• The Single Life: Stevie has spent the vast majority of her life single by choice. She once told the New York Times that she likes her life and that it’s not very much fun to be "Mr. Stevie Nicks."
• The "Sara" Mystery: Many people link her marriage or her desire for children to the song "Sara," but that song was actually inspired by a different relationship (Don Henley) and a pregnancy she chose not to carry to term because she felt her mission was to write music, not be a mother.

Lessons from Stevie’s Whirlwind Marriage

Stevie Nicks marrying Kim Anderson is a case study in why you should never make major life decisions while you're in the middle of a tragedy. Grief is a powerful drug. It makes the "insane" seem "logical."

If you’re interested in diving deeper into this era of her life, the best way to "hear" her headspace is through the album The Wild Heart. She wrote "Stand Back" on her wedding day—which, if you listen to the lyrics, isn't exactly a glowing tribute to marital bliss.

To truly understand Stevie's perspective on why she chose to remain single after this, you might want to look into her various interviews from the 90s where she finally began to unpack the toll that fame and her brief marriage took on her mental health. You could also compare the lyrics of "Leather and Lace" to her later work to see how her view of partnership shifted from "give and take" to "sovereignty and self."

Next Steps for Fans:

• Listen to "The Wild Heart" (the song) while keeping the timeline of Robin’s death in mind—the emotional weight is palpable.
• Check out Oprah’s Master Class episode featuring Stevie, where she discusses the marriage in her own voice with a lot of vulnerability.
• Read up on the history of "Silver Springs" to see how her refusal to be a traditional wife fueled some of her most iconic songwriting.