As a child, Redford battled polio, and in his teens, he admitted he was a “bad student.” He lost his scholarship to the University of Colorado in Boulder after turning to heavy drinking. While living in Boulder, he worked as a janitor at the city’s oldest restaurant, The Sink — a place he never forgot. In fact, at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, he wore a shirt with the restaurant’s logo as a quiet tribute to his past.
In his youth, Redford felt weighed down by criticism, but he always had one person who believed in him: his mother, Martha Hart. “The one person who stood behind me was my mother,” he once said. Sadly, her life was cut short. She died at just 40 from complications tied to a rare blood disorder. Redford, only 18 at the time, later admitted his deepest regret was not telling her “thank you” before she passed.
That loss left a permanent scar, but three years later, he found love with Lola Van Wagenen, whom he credited with “saving his life.” The couple married young and went on to have four children.
But tragedy struck again when their firstborn son, Scott, died at only 2½ months from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). “As a parent, you tend to blame yourself,” Redford later revealed. “That creates a scar that probably never completely heals.”
