Susan Deixler: Barry Manilow’s First Wife and Quiet Life After
Most people know Barry Manilow as the voice behind “Mandy” and “Copacabana,” a singer who filled arenas for decades. Far fewer know the name of the young woman who stood beside him before any of that happened. Susan Deixler was his high school sweetheart, his first wife, and the person who shared his life when he was still a struggling young musician in Brooklyn with big dreams and very little money. Their marriage lasted barely two years, yet it has fascinated fans ever since, partly because so little is known about her.
Among the many celebrity stories that begin with a famous name, this one is different. It is not really a story about fame. It is a story about two teenagers who married too young, a husband who chose music over marriage, and a woman who walked away from the spotlight and built a quiet, useful life of her own. Susan Deixler never wrote a book about her marriage, never gave a tell-all interview, and never tried to trade on the Manilow name. That silence is exactly why people keep searching for her.
This article looks at what is actually known about Susan Deixler, separates the solid facts from the claims that keep getting repeated online without proof, and explains where she is believed to be now. Where a detail cannot be checked, it is flagged as such, because a private life should not be filled in with guesswork.
Susan Deixler Quick Facts
- Full name: Susan Deixler
- Born: Reported as August 1944, Brooklyn, New York — exact date not confirmed by an official record
- Known for: First wife of singer Barry Manilow
- Married: Barry Manilow in 1964, aged 19
- Marriage ended: Annulled in 1966 (some sources give 1965)
- Career: Secretary, then nurse and nursing home manager, later a holistic healer
- Home: Reported to live in Point Reyes Station, California
- Public profile: Very private; no confirmed interviews, memoir or public social media
Who Is Susan Deixler?
Susan Deixler is best known as the first wife of Barry Manilow, the American singer-songwriter whose career took off in the 1970s. She met him when they were both teenagers at Eastern District High School in Brooklyn, long before he became a household name. They married in 1964, when she was 19 and he was 21, and the marriage was annulled about two years later.
After the marriage ended, Susan Deixler stepped out of public view almost completely. She went on to work in healthcare, first as a nurse and later as a manager in a nursing home, and in later life she is reported to have worked as a holistic healer in California. She is not a celebrity in her own right, and she has never tried to be one. Her name comes up today almost entirely because of who she was married to for a short time more than sixty years ago.
That is what makes her story worth telling carefully. She is a real person who made a deliberate choice to live privately, and the little that is known about her comes from a handful of interviews Manilow gave decades later and from biography sites that often copy each other without checking. This article sticks to what can be supported and says so plainly when it cannot.
Early Life in Brooklyn
Susan Deixler grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in the 1940s and 1950s. Most biography sites give her birth month as August 1944 and her birthplace as Brooklyn, but that date traces back to celebrity birthday listings rather than to an official record or anything she has confirmed herself. It should be treated as reported rather than proven. Her parents are named in some accounts as Nettie and Al Deixler, and the family is described as Jewish, though again, the details come from low-quality sources and have not been verified by a major newspaper or reference work.
What is better supported is her schooling. She attended Eastern District High School in Brooklyn, a large public school that served the neighbourhood. Her high school yearbook is said to have listed nursing as her career goal, which fits with the path she later took. School records also place her in the same circles as the young Barry Manilow, then still known by his birth name, Barry Alan Pincus, who was born in Brooklyn on 17 June 1943.
Brooklyn in those years was a working-class borough full of families like hers, and the world she grew up in was a long way from the concert halls and television studios her future husband would later fill. She was an ordinary teenager in an ordinary neighbourhood, and nothing about her early life suggested that her name would one day appear in articles about one of the biggest-selling singers of the 1970s.
Meeting Barry Manilow
The two met at Eastern District High School around 1961, when they were both still teenagers. Manilow was already serious about music. He played piano, wrote songs, and was beginning to think of music as more than a hobby. She was drawn to his talent and his ambition, and he was, by his own later account, taken with her from the start. They began dating, and the relationship moved quickly, as teenage romances often do.
Manilow later described Susan Deixler as the “perfect wife,” a phrase that has been quoted in almost every article about her since. He meant it as a compliment, but it also hints at the problem. She was steady, loyal and supportive, the kind of partner who made a home while he chased a career. At the time, that seemed like a good match. Within a few years, the demands of his music would pull them apart.
Before the wedding, she worked as a secretary in New York. It was steady, ordinary work, and it paid the bills while Manilow worked on his music, taking jobs as a pianist and arranger and trying to get noticed. They were young, they were in love, and they had very little money. In 1964, they decided to get married.
The 1964 Marriage
Susan Deixler married Barry Manilow in 1964, when she was 19 and he was 21. The couple went through both a civil ceremony and a rabbinical ceremony, honouring the Jewish traditions of both families. It was a young marriage by any measure, and it happened before Manilow had any real success to speak of. He was still years away from his first hit.
The early months of the marriage were, by most accounts, happy enough. They set up a home together and lived the life of a young working couple in New York. She kept working, and he kept working on his music, playing piano bars and arranging songs for other people. The problem was not a lack of love. It was that Manilow’s ambitions were growing faster than the marriage could hold.
Manilow has spoken about this period in interviews over the years, and his version is consistent: he was too young, too driven, and too focused on his career to be a proper husband. He has said he was not ready for marriage and that his work came first. That honesty is rare for a famous person talking about a failed first marriage, and it is one reason the story has lasted. He does not blame her. He blames himself, and his own unreadiness.
Why the Marriage Ended
The marriage did not last long. Within about a year, it was clear that the two of them wanted different things. Manilow was spending more and more time on his music, and the home life that Susan Deixler had expected was slipping away. She felt neglected, and the marriage began to break down.
The union was annulled in 1966, according to the most detailed accounts, though some biography sites give 1965 as the year. The difference is small, and it probably comes down to when the paperwork was filed and when it was finalised. What matters is that the marriage lasted roughly two years, and it ended not with a scandal but with a quiet legal annulment. There were no public rows, no competing interviews, and no bitter court battle in the press.
Manilow has said more than once that he was simply not ready to be married at 21. He wanted to make music, and marriage got in the way of that. It is a plain, unflattering admission, and it is probably the truest thing that has been said about the whole episode. She, for her part, has never spoken publicly about the end of the marriage at all.
Life After the Annulment
After the marriage was annulled, Susan Deixler did something that very few people in her position do: she walked away and stayed away. She did not give interviews about Manilow, did not write a book, and did not appear on television to talk about her famous ex-husband. She went back to building a life of her own, and she has kept it private ever since.
Her working life after the marriage is described in most accounts as a move into healthcare. She trained as a nurse and later worked as a manager in a nursing home, looking after elderly residents. That work fits with the career goal listed in her school yearbook, and it fits with the picture of a person who wanted to help others rather than seek attention. Nursing home management is demanding, unglamorous work, and it is about as far from the music business as a person can get.
Some biography sites report that she later became a mother of two, though the children’s names and details are not publicly confirmed, and she has kept that part of her life private. That privacy deserves respect. The public record gives us the outline of her working life, and the rest belongs to her.
A Career in Care and Healing
In later life, Susan Deixler is reported to have worked as a holistic healer in Point Reyes Station, California, a small community in Marin County, north of San Francisco. Holistic healing covers a range of practices, from massage and energy work to nutritional and lifestyle advice, and it is a field that suits someone with a background in nursing and a wish to help people one at a time.
Point Reyes Station is a quiet place, a village surrounded by farmland and coastline, and it is an easy place to disappear into. That seems to have been the point. She built a life there far from the music world, in a community where her name meant nothing more than the work she did. Several accounts describe her as a certified holistic healer, though the details of her training and practice are not publicly documented.
The move from nursing home management to holistic healing is not a strange one. Both are caring professions, and both are about looking after people who need help. The difference is one of scale: a nursing home is an institution, while a healing practice is personal. For someone who had spent her early adult life in the shadow of a famous husband, the smaller, quieter work may have been exactly what she wanted.
Where Is Susan Deixler Now?
As far as the public record shows, Susan Deixler still lives a quiet life in California, in or around Point Reyes Station. She is reported to be around 81 or 82 years old in 2026, based on the widely reported birth year of 1944, though that age rests on an unconfirmed date. She has no confirmed public social media presence, no interviews, and no public appearances linked to her former husband.
One detail that does surface in accounts of her later life is her reaction when Manilow publicly came out and married his longtime manager, Garry Kief, in 2014. She is reported to have responded with grace and genuine good wishes. Whether that account comes from her directly or from people close to her is not clear, but it fits with everything else known about her: she moved on long ago and holds no grudge.
She has also, as far as any public record shows, never remarried. No reliable source names a second husband, and biography sites that cover her say there is no public record of a remarriage. That is not the same as proof, but it is consistent with a person who chose privacy and stuck to it for sixty years.
Common Confusions About Susan Deixler
Because so little verified information exists about her, confusion has built up around Susan Deixler. Some of the most common mix-ups are worth clearing up.
When did the marriage end? The most detailed accounts say the marriage was annulled in 1966, after about two years. Some sites say 1965, and at least one says the divorce came in 1969. The 1965 and 1966 dates are close enough to be a filing-versus-finalisation difference. The 1969 claim does not fit the timeline of Manilow’s early career and is best treated as an error.
Was she born in August 1944? That date is repeated on many biography sites, but it comes from celebrity birthday listings, not from an official record or from Susan Deixler herself. Other sites give only the 1940s, or a different year entirely. Until she or an official record confirms it, August 1944 should be treated as widely reported rather than proven.
What is her net worth? Some sites give a figure of around $500,000, supposedly earned from nursing and holistic healing. No credible financial source supports that number, and it varies from site to site. There is no reliable public record of her wealth, and no figure should be quoted as fact.
Did she have children? Some sites name two children, but the names and details are not confirmed by any reliable source. This article notes the reports without treating them as settled fact.
Is she the same Susan Deixler as the author? There is a newer author with the same name whose books have appeared in online stores. That is a different person, and details about her should not be mixed into the story of Barry Manilow’s first wife.
Did she remarry? There is no public record of a remarriage, and most accounts say she did not. That is the honest position: no evidence of a second marriage, not proof that one never happened.
Frequently Asked Questions About Susan Deixler
Who is Susan Deixler?
Susan Deixler is best known as the first wife of singer-songwriter Barry Manilow. They were high school sweethearts in Brooklyn, married in 1964, and had the marriage annulled about two years later. She later worked in healthcare and holistic healing in California.
How old is Susan Deixler?
Her birth year is widely reported as 1944, which would make her around 81 or 82 in 2026, but the exact date of birth has not been confirmed by an official record or by Susan Deixler herself, so the figure should be treated as reported rather than certain.
When did Susan Deixler marry Barry Manilow?
She married Barry Manilow in 1964, when she was 19 and he was 21. The couple had both a civil ceremony and a rabbinical ceremony.
Why did Susan Deixler and Barry Manilow split up?
The marriage was annulled in 1966, after about two years. Manilow has said he was too young and too focused on his music career to be a proper husband, and that his work came first. There was no public scandal around the split.
What did Susan Deixler do after the marriage?
She worked in healthcare, first as a nurse and later as a manager in a nursing home, and in later life she is reported to have worked as a holistic healer in Point Reyes Station, California.
Where is Susan Deixler now?
She is believed to live a quiet, private life in California, in or around Point Reyes Station. She has given no public interviews and has no confirmed public social media presence.
What is Susan Deixler’s net worth?
There is no reliable figure. A number around $500,000 appears on some biography sites, but it comes from no credible financial source and should not be quoted as fact.
Conclusion
Susan Deixler’s story is a short chapter in a famous life and a long, quiet life of its own. She met a talented teenager in a Brooklyn high school, married him at 19, and watched the marriage end within two years because his music mattered more to him than married life did. Then she did something unusual: she walked away from fame and never looked back.
What came after was not glamorous, but it was useful. Nursing, managing a nursing home, and later holistic healing in a small California town — a life built on looking after other people rather than being looked at. She never cashed in on the Manilow name, never told her side of the story in public, and never asked to be remembered. That choice is the most interesting thing about her, and it is the reason her name still draws searches more than sixty years after the wedding. For readers who want to check the basic facts about the singer and his early life, a general reference is a good place to start, but the heart of this story belongs to the woman who chose privacy over publicity and kept that promise for a lifetime.
