Molly Ringwald Says Johnny Carson's Ex-Wife Joanne Was Like a Social 'Outcast' After They Divorced (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Molly Ringwald.Photo:Cindy Ord/Getty

Cindy Ord/Getty

Times have changed in many ways since the era depicted inFeud: Capote Vs. The Swans, one of them being how society views divorce.

“She and Truman were kind of outcasts together,” Ringwald, 55, tells PEOPLE. “After she divorces Johnny Carson, my character is kind of thrown out of this sort of inset in Los Angeles.”

Johnny and Joanne Carson tied the knot in 1963, but split seven years later. They officially divorced in 1972. Joanne maintained a friendship with Capote despite his reputation in New York City. He had a writing room in her home and died there in 1985.

“Joanne was really his last friend and kind of the only person that really seemed to love him unconditionally and really supported his writing, even though he had written some things about her,” Ringwald says. “I think she was one of the few people that said, ‘Well, it doesn’t really matter that much.’ He’s a writer and she just really seemed to understand that, as opposed to these other women who were really scandalized and so insulted.”

Johnny and Joanne Carson.Hulton Archive/Getty

Hulton Archive/Getty

OnFeud,Calista Flockhart,Diane Lane,Demi Moore,Chloë SevignyandNaomi Wattsplay the “swans,” as Captoe called them, who ousted the author from their inner circle afterEsquirepublished “La Côte Basque, 1965” in 1975.

“La Côte Basque, 1965” outed an affair Babe Paley’s (Watts) husband supposedly had with the wife of a New York governor and alleged that Ann Woodward (Moore) murdered her husband. (The1955 shooting of Woodward’s husband, William Jr., had been deemed an accident.)

The swans found themselves constantly in the public eye and always sported the latest designer looks, dined at the poshest restaurants and attended New York City’s most exclusive parties. Joanne’s life in Los Angeles looked a little different.

Molly Ringwald as Joanne Carson.Pari Dukovic/FX

Pari Dukovic/FX

ThePretty in Pinkstar likens the swans to “American royalty.”

“Because we don’t really have one, we had to invent that,” she says. “And then I think it sort of became Hollywood.”

Today, Ringwald thinks the kind of women the public looks up to serve as positive role models.

“I think we’ve come to a place where a lot of the women that people look up to are women that are creating their own destiny, likeTaylor SwiftorBeyoncé,” Ringwald says. “When I’m thinking about these women, it’s not who they’re married to, it’s what they’re doing. That’s definitely an improvement.”

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Feud: Capote Vs. The Swansairs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on FX.

source: people.com