Charles Donald Fegert spent five years married to one of television’s most recognizable faces. But he spent decades building a career that had nothing to do with Hollywood at all.
Long before his name got tied to actress Barbara Eden, he was climbing the ranks of Chicago’s newspaper advertising business. Sales quotas, client meetings, deadlines. A world away from red carpets.
That changed in the mid-1970s. A chance meeting in Chicago put him on a collision course with a kind of fame he never really sought. Their marriage made headlines. Their divorce made more of them. Not long after, Fegert largely disappeared from public view.
He died in 2002. His name still comes up, though, whenever people revisit Eden’s life story, usually with more questions than answers about who he actually was.
Quick Facts
| Full Name | Charles Donald Fegert |
| Known For | Second husband of actress Barbara Eden |
| Born | November 8, 1930, Chicago, Illinois |
| Died | September 25, 2002 (age 71), Chicago, Illinois |
| Education | Loyola University Chicago |
| Career | Advertising and marketing executive, Chicago newspaper industry |
| Spouse | Barbara Eden (m. September 3, 1977; divorced early 1980s) |
| Marriage Length | About five years |
A note on the divorce date: sources aren’t consistent here. Some point to 1982, others to 1983, which likely reflects the gap between when the couple separated and when the divorce was legally finalized.
Early Life and Education
Charles Donald Fegert was born on November 8, 1930, in Chicago. He grew up in a working-class family; his father worked in the steel industry, a job that meant long hours and little room for extras. There wasn’t much glamour in it. What there was, by most accounts, was a strong sense that hard work mattered more than luck.
He later studied business at Loyola University Chicago, earning a degree that would set the direction for the rest of his career. Details about his childhood beyond that remain thin. No confirmed information exists about his parents’ full backgrounds, siblings, or exactly how his upbringing shaped the ambitious, sales-driven personality he’d later become known for in Chicago’s advertising world. What is clear is the trajectory: a South Side kid who ended up running advertising strategy for two of the city’s biggest newspapers.
Career in Chicago Advertising
Fegert’s career took shape at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he started in sales. It wasn’t a glamorous entry point. But he worked his way up steadily, eventually becoming a marketing and advertising executive tied to both the Sun-Times and the Chicago Daily News, two of the city’s most prominent papers at the time.
Colleagues knew him as “Chuck.” People who worked with him described someone driven, persistent, and comfortable pitching clients. In an era when newspaper advertising was still one of the most powerful ways for businesses to reach an audience, that combination mattered. He built a reputation in Chicago’s media and advertising circles well before anyone outside the city had heard his name.
By the time he met Barbara Eden, Fegert had already spent years establishing himself in that world. He had a career, a title, and a life in Chicago that existed independently of any connection to Hollywood.
Meeting Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden was in Chicago for work in the mid-1970s, not long after her divorce from actor Michael Ansara. That’s where she and Fegert crossed paths.
Her first impression of him wasn’t good. In her 2011 memoir, Jeannie Out of the Bottle, Eden described him as rude and aggressive, someone she had no real interest in getting to know better.
He called often. He sent flowers to her every morning and every evening, each one carrying a small card marked only with the initial “C.” No note, no explanation, just the letter. Over time, she started to see a different side of him. He told her she’d always been his dream girl. By his own admission, he’d never actually watched I Dream of Jeannie.
By most accounts, the two dated for a few years, splitting time between Chicago and Los Angeles, before deciding to get married.
Marriage to Barbara Eden
They married on September 3, 1977, in Long Grove, a small town outside Chicago. For Eden, it meant a real move, not just a change of address. She relocated from Los Angeles to live with Fegert in Chicago, settling into a condominium overlooking the lakefront that reportedly cost well over $250,000 at the time, with a mirrored Jacuzzi in the bedroom. It was a different life than the one she’d built in California.
Eden had just lost custody of her son, Matthew Ansara, to her first husband, who wanted him to stay in California near his friends. She later told the Chicago Tribune that period brought her to tears more than once.
Fegert, for his part, went from a private business life to a very public one almost overnight. He’d flown to see Eden more than thirty times while they were dating, and once said, half-joking, that she’d make “a spectacular wife once I get her in the kitchen.” Marrying Eden also brought Fegert into the national spotlight, something his career in Chicago advertising had never required.
The marriage lasted about five years. Depending on the source, the couple either divorced in 1982 or finalized things in 1983; the more consistent picture is that they separated around March 1982, with the divorce becoming official sometime after.
Why the Marriage Ended
Most of what’s known about why the marriage fell apart comes from one place: Barbara Eden’s own memoir. That matters, because it means this is her account of what happened, not an independently confirmed record of Fegert’s behavior.
According to Eden, the man who’d wooed her with daily flowers changed after the wedding. She described him as talented and intelligent, but increasingly insecure and in need of constant attention. She wrote that he began spending time with people who drank heavily and used drugs, and her account includes allegations of domestic abuse during the marriage. Some later summaries of her memoir characterize Fegert as having struggled with alcoholism, though Eden’s own writing focuses more on his behavior and its effect on her than on diagnosing the cause of it.
None of this comes from court records, police reports, or any source beyond Eden’s memoir and the interviews she’s given about it over the years. That doesn’t make her account untrue. It just means it should be read as one person’s experience of a marriage, told decades later, rather than an agreed-upon set of facts. Eden herself has generally avoided painting Fegert as a villain in interviews, even while describing a relationship that clearly became difficult to sustain.
By 1982, the marriage had run its course. Five years after the wedding in Long Grove, it was over.
Death
Charles Donald Fegert died on September 25, 2002, in Chicago, at the age of 71. No confirmed cause of death has been publicly reported, and nothing beyond the date and location has been reliably documented.
By the time of his death, he’d been out of the public eye for two decades. The marriage that once put his name in newspapers across the country was, by then, a footnote from another era of his life. He was buried following cremation.
There’s little public record of what Fegert did professionally in the years after his divorce from Eden. No further high-profile career moves, business ventures, or media appearances turn up in later reporting. Much of what is publicly documented about Fegert today comes from Barbara Eden’s memoir and interviews, together with coverage from newspapers and magazines during the years they were married.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Charles Donald Fegert? He was a Chicago advertising and marketing executive best known for being actress Barbara Eden’s second husband. He worked for the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Daily News before his 1977 marriage to Eden brought him into the public eye.
How did Barbara Eden and Charles Fegert meet? They met in Chicago in the mid-1970s, shortly after Eden’s divorce from Michael Ansara. Fegert pursued her with daily flowers and phone calls until she agreed to date him.
When did Barbara Eden and Charles Fegert get married? They married on September 3, 1977, in Long Grove, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
How long were Barbara Eden and Charles Fegert married? Their marriage lasted about five years. They separated around March 1982, with the divorce finalized shortly after.
Why did Barbara Eden and Charles Fegert divorce? In her memoir Jeannie Out of the Bottle, Eden wrote that Fegert became insecure and difficult during the marriage, describing substance abuse issues around him and alleging domestic abuse. These claims come from her personal account rather than public records.
Did Charles Donald Fegert and Barbara Eden have children together? No. Eden’s only child, Matthew Ansara, was from her first marriage to Michael Ansara.
When did Charles Donald Fegert die? He died on September 25, 2002, in Chicago, at age 71. His cause of death hasn’t been publicly disclosed.
Sarah covers celebrity and entertainment news for Journal Vista, writing about the people and moments shaping pop culture. Her work focuses on accuracy, careful research, and clear storytelling.
