Inside Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner's Tumultuous Romance

Where Is Robert Wagner Now?

In 2013, Wagner's attorney Blair Berk said in a statement to E! News, "Mr. Wagner has fully cooperated over the last 30 years in the investigation of the accidental drowning of his wife in 1981. Mr. Wagner has been interviewed on multiple occasions by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and answered every single question asked of him by detectives during those interviews. After 30 years, neither Mr. Wagner nor his daughters have any new information to add to this latest investigation, which was unfortunately prompted by those seeking to exploit and sensationalize the 30th anniversary of the death of his wife and their mother."

There's been too much chatter for Wagner to comment every time Wood's death is back in the news, but he wrote in his 2008 memoir Pieces of My Heart, "Yes, I blamed myself. Natalie would have felt the same way had it happened to me. Why wasn't I there? Why wasn't I watching?"

Reminiscing about happier times in December 2017, Wagner told the Express that life with Wood "was different the second time around because we realized that we had a very special and marvelous love for each other. It was very fortunate that we found each other again."

The actor did sit down with stepdaughter Natasha to discuss that tragic night and how their family got through it for the 2020 HBO documentary Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind, which the actress hoped could help her mother rest more peacefully.

"Everything just went out from under me," Wagner recalled of being told Wood's body had been found. "We were all stunned, everybody. That night's gone through my mind so many times. You can imagine."

Gregson Wagner, who never suspected her stepfather of anything nefarious, told Vanity Fair about coming together to have that talk for the cameras, "I wasn't really concerned with disproving these outlandish theories, I was more just wanting to have the kind of conversation that he and I have had in the past about other things, but on camera. I wanted him to feel safe enough to unfold, like a flower, and be honest, and show his humanity."

(Originally published Feb. 3, 2018, at 6 a.m. PT)