Vivian Liberto was Johnny Cash’s first wife and had four children with him. But after their divorce in 1967, she was cast as the bitter shrew who held his talents back.
Though his story has become a central part of American cultural lore, the tale of Johnny Cash’s first wife Vivian Cash has been all but written out of his story.
In 1954, Johnny Cash married Vivian Liberto of Texas and they stayed together for 13 years. But during that time, Vivian Liberto Cash suffered both her husband’s infidelity as well as widespread hatred over her racial identity. After their divorce in 1967, Cash married singer June Carter, with whom he had an affair during his marriage to Vivian Cash.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesThroughout Vivian Cash’s time as Johnny Cash’s first wife, she endured untold hatred over her racial identity.
And while June Carter Cash has maintained a large part in the story of “The Man in Black,” Johnny Cash’s first wife often goes ignored. This is the widely overlooked story of Vivian Cash.
Vivian Liberto’s Early Years
Before she became Mrs. Cash, she was Vivian Dorraine Liberto. Born on April 23, 1934, in San Antonio, Texas, she grew up as the middle daughter of a strict Italian Catholic father and an alcoholic mother.
My Darling VivianVivian Liberto shared her side of the disastrous marriage in her 2007 memoir I Walked The Line.
In 1951, Vivian Liberto met young Johnny Cash by chance at an ice skating rink. The two ended up skating together and dated for three weeks.
Then, Cash was shipped off to serve in Germany for the U.S. Air Force.
My Darling VivianJohnny Cash, presumably during his deployment in Germany.
But that didn’t end their whirlwind courtship. The young couple exchanged heartfelt love letters over the next three years that Cash served abroad. As is the way with young love, Johnny Cash wrote to Vivian Liberto often.
The couple shared everything through their correspondence, from their favorite foods to their deepest insecurities. Cash was earnest, funny, and vulnerable, and he often signed the letters with “your husband to be.”
In one of their love letters, he talks about getting made fun of at the post office for mailing her letters back for safekeeping:
“Honey, the people at the post office laughed at me today. On the customs card, under ‘description of contents,’ I put ‘500 love letters.’ They are love letters, and those people probably thought they were just the average run-of-the-mill love letters, but they’re priceless to me. I love you Viv honey. I love you so very, very much.”
CBS Photo Archive/Getty ImagesJohnny Cash worked as a salesman before he secured a major deal with Sun Records.
Some of these letters, evidence of their once tender relationship, were published in Liberto’s 2007 memoir I Walked The Line: My Life With Johnny.
Vivian Cash’s Life As Johnny Cash’s First Wife
My Darling VivianVivian Liberto Cash and Johnny Cash were married for 13 years before they divorced in 1967.
When Johnny Cash returned from his military service on July 4, 1954, Vivian Liberto, along with both their families, drove to the West Memphis airport to greet him. When she saw him for the first time in three years, Liberto later wrote, she couldn’t speak.
“I just fell into his arms, he scooped me up, and we kissed,” Liberto recalled. They married the next month at St. Anne’s Catholic Church in San Antonio. Vivian Cash and Johnny Cash then moved to Memphis, where he took a job as a salesman to provide for the family.
But their lives would never be the same after Cash went to audition for Sam Phillips at Sun Records, an event Vivian Liberto described as the “one hour that would change everything.”
My Darling VivianThe couple’s four daughters all appear in the 2020 documentary chronicling their parents’ turbulent marriage.
Cash joined other Sun Records artists like Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Elvis Presley, constantly touring and of course attracting the attention of other women. When Vivian Liberto asked Cash if he was ever tempted to cheat on her, he told her, “I walk the line for you.”
That lip service turned into Cash’s 1956 hit single “I Walk The Line.” The couple soon moved to California at the behest of Cash’s new manager, Stu Carnall.
My Darling VivianJohnny Cash with his wife and daughters.
Things took a turn for the worse after the birth of their third child, Cindy, in 1958. The couple entered what Vivian Cash referred to as “a dangerous current” of partying that swept into their new Hollywood life.
Cash began to fall into drunken stupors and started popping pills. “All of the things that Johnny had called filthy and dirty’ and had insisted would destroy our lives were things he began to embrace,” Liberto wrote.
In 1961, following the birth of their fourth and last child together, Tara, the couple moved to Casitas Springs. Liberto hoped the move would help fix their crumbling marriage, but her husband’s shenanigans continued.
Cash often escaped to Lake Casitas, where he explored his love of fishing, booze, and drugs — a combination that made him a fixture for the local police. Most notably, Cash set off a forest fire in the area during one of his drunken stupors, which led to a hefty fine of $82,000.
In spite of his reckless behavior, Vivian Cash mostly blamed the destructive behavior of her ex-husband on drugs. Following Johnny Cash’s death on Sept. 12, 2003, Liberto wrote, “To me he is and will always be my wonderful, caring, protective husband.”
