Jane Goodall Was Married Twice: Her Husbands Were Hugo van Lawick & Derek Bryceson
Legendary conservationist Jane Goodall was married twice, to Hugo van Lawick and Derek Bryceson.
Goodall was a widow for 35 years, after her second husband died in 1980. The famed zoologist died on October 1 at the age of 91.
"On her way to becoming the world's leading primatologist, Dr. Goodall had a son, Hugo, in 1967 with her first husband, Dutch nobleman and wildlife photographer Baron Hugo van Lawick," according to Jane Goodall.org. "In 1975, she married Derek Bryceson, director of Tanzania's national parks, who died in 1980."
According to People, Goodall was married to van Lawick from 1964 to 1974. Both of her husbands helped Goodall with her work, TMZ reported.
Jane Goodall's 1st Husband Hugo Van Lawick Corroborated Her Observations on the Chimps Through His Photographs
Goodall told Alex Cooper how she met Van Lawick on the Call Her Daddy podcast.
"They wanted to make a film and they wanted good photographs, so they sent Hugo van Lawick and I really didn't want him to come," she told Cooper.
Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images
"I hadn't met him because I just wanted to be there with the chimps, you know. I didn't want anybody and I was afraid they'd be scared of him and, you know, all my hard work would be undone."
She added that his photographs were important. "It was thanks to his photos and film that everything I was saying about the chimps was corroborated," she told Cooper, adding: “And so he really, really helped to share the knowledge that chimpanzees really are like us. They really do have gestures and postures the same as ours that mean the same thing.”
Distance pulled them apart, she said on the podcast, adding, "He had to go on with his career and he got some money to do films on the Serengeti, and I couldn't leave Gombe."
According to Jane Goodall.org: "Dr. Goodall's field research in Gombe revolutionized the field of primatology. In one of the longest-running field studies of any species, she documented her observations that chimpanzees have distinct personalities, minds and emotions and form lasting family relationships."
Goodall told She Knows that she learned about motherhood by watching the chimpanzees.
“I think that I learned the same sort of thing from watching chimpanzees and learning about my own mother and they way she raised me,” Goodall said, to the site. “The most important thing is support. You need to support your child in what they want to do, they might change their mind but don’t try and impose what you want your child to do on them, just support them.”
Jane Goodall's Marriage to 2nd Husband Derek Bryceson Lasted 5 Years
Goodall told People that both of her husbands played a role in her work.
She said that, if she had not married Bryceson, "There wouldn't be a Gombe today. If Hugo hadn't come along, the chimp story [probably] would have ended."
Bryceson died of cancer after a five-year marriage to Goodall, according to TMZ.
Goodall added that she didn't want to marry for a third time.
"I didn't meet the right person, I suppose, or potentially the right person," she told People. "I had lots of men friends, many. I had lots of women friends too. My life was complete. I didn't need a husband."