Sinatra was married 4 times.
His
first wife,
Nancy Barbato, was also (
this is so cute) his first girlfriend at
age 16. They married at 20 and had
Nancy Jr. a year later. It was no time until he was noticed by the public, and (
unsurprisingly)
the ladies loved him... perhaps too much. It was a real threat to the marriage.
Time was quoted:
"Not since the days of Rudolph Valentino has American womanhood made such
unabashed love to an entertainer."
Frank Jr. was born 4 years later, and
Tina, 4 years after that.
His popularity led to a
big head,
not big enough britches, and
big time contacts... like the lovely
Ava Gardner, and
Frank soon began running around with her very publicly (
the rat). He was behaving quite badly in other ways too (
I sense there must have been profound emotional troubles, not ratty cad-ness at all), like getting arrested and punching people and whathaveyou. It didn't take long for Nancy to file (
the insensitive dame).
A week after the divorce was final,
Frank married
Ava (
the cad). He got what was coming to him though. They were deemed
"Swingin' Sinatras" because of their dramatic and jealous reactions to each other--even to the extent of
suicide attempts (both phony and genuine) by the man himself. Their marriage lasted 2 years.
Our guy had lotsa lady friends but didn't marry again for 13 years (learn his lesson?)... this time to the precious little hippy chick (30 years younger) Mia Farrow. They tried to make it work but couldn't (didn't see that comin'--actually, that's unfair because Charlie Chaplin and Oona Oneil lasted forever and they had, like, a hundred years age difference), and 16 months later ended it.
In 1976, 9 years later, Barbara Marx (ex of Zeppo) became number 4 and number last.
Although he couldn't seem to cut the mustard with his wives, he was a great buddy to his ex-wives. He tried it. He wanted it (bless his romantic heart), but it didn't seem to suit him in his youth. At least he and Babs made it last.
Love and marriage, love and marriage
go together like a horse and carriage.
This i tell ya brother,
ya can't have one without the other.
Love and marriage, love and marriage,
it's an institute ya can't disparage.
Ask the local gentry,
and they will say it's elementary.
Try, try, try to separate them
it's an illusion.
Try, try, try and you will only come
to this conclusion:
Love and marriage, love and marriage
go together like a horse and carriage.
Dad was told by mother,
you can't have one without the other.
See, the man just had too much love to give. That's why the 4 marriages.
...to Frank. 
