“Total Eclipse of the Heart” hitmaker Bonnie Tyler has died at the age of 75. The Welsh singer passed away at a hospital in Portugal, where she had been receiving treatment for an illness.
While Tyler’s decades-long music career made her a global icon, she also cherished a close-knit family away from the spotlight. Here’s a look at the loved ones she leaves behind.
A Closer Look at Bonnie Tyler’s Family Life
Bonnie Tyler was born Gaynor Hopkins in Skewen, Wales, in 1951. She was one of the seven children of her mother, Elsie, and father, Glyndwr.
Tyler has three sisters, Marlene, Angela, and Avis, and two brothers, Lynn and Paul. She also has another sister, Paulene, who was stillborn.
Out of her surviving siblings, her sister Avis and brother Paul both became singers.
Who Is Bonnie Tyler’s Husband?
GettyBonnie Tyler married her “first serious boyfriend,” Robert Sullivan, in 1973. The couple dated for four years before tying the knot.
“I am still very much in love with him and he with me,” Tyler gushed about her husband in 2012. “We never fall out. He is very easy on the eye, which helps.”
Sullivan was an accomplished judoka who represented Great Britain at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, finishing 18th in the men’s half-middleweight event. He also earned a silver medal at the 1972 European Team Championships in the Netherlands.
Following his retirement from judo, Sullivan transitioned into real estate, where he found success as both an estate agent and property developer.
The couple reportedly invested in properties worldwide and has a joint net worth of about $40 million.
Did Bonnie Tyler and Robert Sullivan Have Children?
Bonnie Tyler and her husband, Robert Sullivan, did not have any children. In 2012, the singer opened up about the subject and revealed that she had suffered a miscarriage.
“We didn’t get to have our own family,” Tyler said in The Guardian. “What happened was that when we got married, we said we’d wait seven years before starting our own, but by that time, my career was massive. We put it off and put it off until I was 39 and he was 41.”
She continued, “I suddenly felt maternal then, so it just felt the right time. I got pregnant very quickly, but after two and a half months, I miscarried, which was bloody awful at the time. We tried again, but after two years nothing had happened, so we just thought it wasn’t meant to be.”
Although they never had children of their own, Tyler said there is no shortage of love in their large, close-knit family.
“I have a large family anyway,” she added. “I have five godchildren, 16 nieces and nephews, and 12 great nieces and nephews, so there is no shortage of children in my life.”
Previously, Tyler revealed that her nieces and nephews love visiting her and Sullivan in their home.
“I was unlucky, but I love all my nieces and nephews,” she told The Times. “Our house in Mumbles is like Paddington station because everyone wants to come and visit Auntie Gaynor.”
