Carol Burnett is basically the queen of making us laugh until it hurts. We’ve all seen her tug her ear or belt out a Tarzan yell. But honestly, behind the legendary variety show and those iconic Bob Mackie gowns, Carol’s personal life was just as full of drama, love, and some pretty heavy heartbreak. If you’re wondering who was Carol Burnett married to, the answer isn’t just a single name. It’s actually a trilogy of very different chapters.
She’s been down the aisle three times. Each marriage happened at a completely different stage of her life—from a struggling student in California to the biggest star on television, and finally, to a place of quiet contentment in her later years.
The College Sweetheart: Don Saroyan (1955–1962)
Carol’s first marriage feels like something straight out of an old Hollywood movie script. She met Don Saroyan while they were both theater students at UCLA back in the early 1950s. They were young, broke, and dreaming big.
There’s this famous story about how they actually got to New York. A mysterious businessman saw them perform at a party in San Diego and offered them each a $1,000 loan to move to the East Coast and try to make it. The only catch? They had to promise to help others if they ever became successful. Kinda wild, right?
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They got married in 1955 and headed for the bright lights. But as we’ve seen a million times in show business, careers don't always move at the same speed. Carol’s star started rising fast with The Garry Moore Show and her Broadway hit Once Upon a Mattress. Don’t get me wrong, Don was working, but he wasn’t becoming a household name. By 1962, the pressure of her skyrocketing fame and the standard "growing apart" stuff led to their divorce. They didn’t have any kids, and they moved on relatively quietly.
The Power Couple Era: Joe Hamilton (1963–1984)
If you grew up watching The Carol Burnett Show, you know the name Joe Hamilton. He didn’t just marry her; he was the architect of her professional peak. They tied the knot in Juarez, Mexico, in 1963, just a year after her first divorce.
This was the big one. Joe was a divorced father of eight when they met, and he ended up producing her most famous work. Together, they had three daughters: Carrie, Jody, and Erin. For a long time, they were the ultimate Hollywood success story. But behind the scenes, things got incredibly tough.
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The marriage started to buckle under some really heavy weights. Their oldest daughter, Carrie, struggled with serious drug addiction as a teenager. Carol has been very open about how "hellish" those years were. She and Joe even went public with the struggle to help other parents, but the stress of it all—combined with the grueling schedule of a weekly show—eventually broke the marriage. They divorced in 1984. Sadly, Joe passed away from cancer in 1991, but Carol has always spoken of him with respect for the family and the legacy they built.
Finding Lasting Love: Brian Miller (2001–Present)
After the divorce from Joe, Carol spent a long time on her own. She focused on her girls and her work. Then, in the late 90s, she met Brian Miller.
Brian is a musician—specifically a principal drummer for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. When they got married in November 2001, it raised a few eyebrows because of the age gap. Brian is about 23 years younger than Carol. But honestly? She didn’t care. She famously joked that as you get older, the gap narrows anyway.
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They’ve been together for over two decades now. Brian was her rock when her daughter Carrie tragically died of cancer in 2002, just months after they wed. You’ll often see him by her side at award shows or out for dinner in Montecito. It seems like after the whirlwind of her early career and the intensity of her middle years, this marriage is the one where she finally gets to just be.
Why Her Marriages Mattered
Carol Burnett’s life proves that you can have multiple acts. She survived the "starving artist" marriage, the "powerhouse professional" marriage, and eventually found a partnership built on companionship.
- Don Saroyan represented her ambition and the start of her journey.
- Joe Hamilton was the partner who helped her conquer the television world.
- Brian Miller is the one who has been there for the quiet, reflective years of her 80s and 90s.
If you’re looking for a takeaway from Carol’s romantic history, it’s probably that "happily ever after" doesn’t always look like a straight line. It’s okay to start over. It’s okay to change. And it’s definitely okay to marry a younger drummer if he makes you happy.
If you want to dive deeper into her life beyond her husbands, her memoir One More Time is a fantastic read. It covers her childhood and those early years with Don Saroyan in much more detail than any tabloid ever could. You might also want to check out her 2023 special 90 Years of Laughter + Love to see Brian and her daughters celebrating her incredible run.