John Schneider and Dee Dee Sorvino are now husband and wife, more than a year after losing their respective spouses.
The “Dukes of Hazzard” star and television host exchanged vows Wednesday in a “surprise” Las Vegas wedding, their publicist Roger Neal said in a press release. They wed at Vegas Weddings in “the back of a white convertible that was once owned by” R&B star Usher, the release said.
“Just when we thought our happiest days were forever behind us … we happened!,” the newlyweds said in a joint statement.
The marriage is the fourth for Schneider. The 64-year-old actor was married to former Miss America and TV personality Tawny Little from 1983 to 1986. Then he was married to actor Elly Castle from 1993 to 2019, and he remarried for the third time to filmmaker and music producer Alicia Allain, who died in February 2023 of breast cancer. She was 53.
Sorvino (née Benkie) marries Schneider almost exactly two years after the death of her husband, “Goodfellas” and “Law & Order” actor Paul Sorvino, whom she married in 2014. Paul Sorvino died July 25, 2022, of natural causes with Dee Dee by his side. He was 83.
Schneider shares three children with ex-wife Castle. Sorvino is the stepmother of Mira Sorvino, Amanda Sorvino and Michael Sorvino, Paul Sorvino‘s children with Lorraine Davis.
Months before telling Sorvino “I do,” Schneider touted their relationship in a May episode of the “Grace Begins” podcast. He told hosts Cathy Cardenas and Catherine Sutherland, “God sent a widower to a widow and a widow to a widower.
“I was ready to give it up, all of it up — everything,” he said. “And then just when I thought the very notion of dating or holding another hand was repulsive … I met that crazy dame over there.”
He added: “Truly, that was a miracle.”
The newlyweds will celebrate their marriage at a later date at the Hollywood Museum, where they first met in person, Hollywood Museum president and founder Donelle Dadigan said in the release.
“I felt it would be appropriate that we host their official wedding celebration,” Dadigan said. “We are looking forward to celebrating Dee Dee and John, and their love for each other.”
