Susan Deixler: The Quiet Story of Barry Manilow’s First Wife Before Fame

Susan Deixler is best known as the woman Barry Manilow married long before the world knew him as a famous singer. Their story began when they were young students in Brooklyn, years before songs such as “Mandy” and “Copacabana” made Manilow a household name. Susan and Barry were high-school sweethearts, married in 1964, and separated not long afterward. Yet this short chapter continues to interest fans because it happened before the fame, bright lights, and huge concerts that later shaped Barry Manilow’s life and career. What makes Susan’s story especially interesting is what happened next: while Barry entered show business, Susan largely disappeared from public attention and chose a much quieter life.

Quick Bio of Susan Deixler

Susan Deixler’s story is unusual because she was once very close to a man who became an international celebrity, yet she never tried to build a celebrity identity of her own.

That choice has also created mystery around her.

There are countless interviews, photographs, television appearances, and articles about Barry Manilow. With Susan, the situation is completely different. Only a limited amount of reliable information about her later life is available.

And perhaps that is exactly how she wanted it.

Who Is Susan Deixler?

Susan Deixler was Barry Manilow’s high-school sweetheart and his first wife.

Long before Barry was performing for large crowds, the two knew each other as teenagers in Brooklyn. Manilow attended Eastern District High School, where he met Susan. They developed a relationship during their younger years and eventually decided to marry.

Think about how different their world was at that time.

Barry was not yet the famous singer people recognize today.

There were no giant Las Vegas shows.

There were no worldwide fans.

There was no “Mandy,” no “Copacabana,” and no long list of hit records.

To Susan, he was simply the young man she knew and loved.

That is an important part of understanding their relationship. Looking backward, it can be easy to think of Susan only as “Barry Manilow’s ex-wife.” But when they fell in love, neither of them could know exactly how dramatically Barry’s life would change.

Susan Deixler and Barry Manilow Met in High School

Barry Manilow grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Eastern District High School in 1961.

Susan Deixler was part of this early chapter of his life.

Sources about Manilow’s biography consistently describe Susan as his high-school sweetheart. After school, their relationship became serious enough for them to marry in 1964.

It sounds like the beginning of a simple love story.

Two young people meet.

They fall in love.

They imagine a future together.

They get married.

But life does not always follow the plan people make when they are young.

Barry had another powerful love growing inside him: music.

And music would eventually pull his life in a completely different direction.

When Did Susan Deixler Marry Barry Manilow?

Susan Deixler and Barry Manilow married in 1964.

They were both still very young, and Barry had not yet reached the level of success that would later make his name famous around the world.

Biographical records show that the marriage lasted only a short period. Susan eventually had the marriage annulled, with sources generally placing the annulment in 1966.

An annulment is a little different from a normal divorce.

In simple words, a divorce legally ends a marriage. An annulment treats the marriage differently under the law, essentially declaring it legally invalid or void according to the grounds accepted in that case.

The important point here is simple: Susan and Barry’s marriage ended very early in their adult lives.

Why Did Susan Deixler and Barry Manilow Separate?

This is probably the biggest question people ask about Susan Deixler.

Why would Barry Manilow leave someone he had loved enough to marry?

Barry later explained that his growing desire to build a career in music played an important role. He has spoken about being young, not feeling ready for married life, and wanting to follow the musical path opening in front of him.

Manilow even described Susan in very warm terms years later, calling her essentially an ideal wife while explaining that he was not ready for that kind of life.

This makes the story more complicated than a simple “bad marriage.”

There is no strong evidence that Susan was a terrible partner or that their relationship ended because of one dramatic public fight.

Instead, Barry appears to have reached a point where he wanted something different from life.

He wanted music.

He wanted adventure.

He wanted to see where his talent could take him.

For Susan, that must have created an entirely different future from the one she probably imagined when they married.

Was Their Marriage Really Only About One Year Long?

Yes, their time together as a married couple was very short.

Although records generally list the marriage from 1964 until the annulment in 1966, accounts of the relationship say Barry left after roughly a year.

Parade describes the pair as high-school sweethearts whose marriage did not last, while Biography.com also notes that Manilow’s first marriage was brief.

That difference between the date they separated and the date the annulment became official sometimes causes confusion online.

So the easiest way to understand it is this:

They married in 1964.

Their relationship as husband and wife broke down fairly quickly.

The annulment was finalized afterward.

Did Barry Manilow Love Susan Deixler?

According to Barry Manilow himself, yes.

This part of the story became especially important after Manilow publicly discussed being gay.

Some people naturally wondered whether his marriage to Susan had simply happened because he was hiding his sexuality.

But Manilow later made clear that he had genuinely been in love with Susan. He said the marriage failed because he was young and deeply focused on following a music career—not because his feelings for Susan had been fake.

That detail changes how their story should be understood.

Their marriage may have been short, but that does not mean their relationship had no meaning.

People can genuinely love each other and still discover that they want different lives.

It happens every day.

Susan and Barry simply experienced it on a path that later became unusually famous.

What Happened to Barry Manilow After Susan?

Barry Manilow’s life became almost completely centered around music.

During the 1960s, he worked in television and wrote and performed advertising jingles. He eventually moved into recording and performing, becoming one of the most recognizable pop entertainers of his generation.

His famous recordings would later include songs such as:

• “Mandy”
• “Could It Be Magic”
• “Can’t Smile Without You”
• “Copacabana”
• “Looks Like We Made It”
• “I Write the Songs”

His career grew far beyond what two young Brooklyn high-school students could probably have imagined.

In that sense, Barry’s decision to follow music changed everything.

He lost one kind of life but built another.

What Happened to Susan Deixler After Barry Manilow?

This is where Susan Deixler’s story becomes much quieter.

Unlike Barry, she did not become a public celebrity.

She did not spend decades giving television interviews.

She did not build a public brand around being Barry Manilow’s former wife.

And she apparently had little interest in competing with his fame.

Various later reports have described Susan as building a life centered on family, wellness, helping others, and community work. Some reports have called her a holistic healer, while others have connected her with senior services in California. However, these details are not documented as strongly by major biographical sources as the basic facts about her marriage.

For that reason, they should be treated carefully rather than presented as unquestionable facts.

What is much clearer is that Susan lived outside the celebrity spotlight.

That alone tells us something important about her story.

Susan Deixler Chose Privacy Instead of Celebrity

Imagine being able to say:

“I was married to Barry Manilow before he became famous.”

For many people, that connection would become an entire career.

They might write books.

Give interviews.

Appear on television.

Talk repeatedly about the relationship.

Susan appears to have taken almost the opposite path.

She rarely became part of Barry’s public story.

Even as interest in Manilow’s private life increased, Susan remained largely outside the entertainment world.

There is something interesting about that choice.

Fame was available to her in a small way simply because of who she had married.

But she apparently did not chase it.

Did Susan Deixler Remarry?

There is no widely documented, authoritative public record giving a clear picture of Susan Deixler’s later romantic relationships.

Some websites claim she never remarried. Others repeat details about later family life.

However, Susan has lived so privately that it is difficult to confirm every claim found online.

This is an important point when reading celebrity biographies.

Just because something appears on dozens of websites does not automatically make it true.

Sometimes one website publishes an unconfirmed detail, and many other websites simply copy it.

For Susan Deixler, it is safer to say that her later relationship history has remained largely private.

Did Susan Deixler Have Children With Barry Manilow?

There are no publicly documented children from Susan Deixler and Barry Manilow’s marriage.

Their marriage was brief, and Barry did not have biological children with Susan.

Manilow later helped raise Kirsten Kief, the biological daughter of his longtime partner and later husband Garry Kief. People has reported that Barry became a stepfather figure to Kirsten after beginning his relationship with Garry.

Susan’s later family life has received far less reliable media coverage.

Some older reports say that she later became a mother, but because her family members are private individuals, it is better not to turn uncertain personal details into definite claims.

Susan Deixler and Barry Manilow’s Relationship in Perspective

One reason people continue searching for Susan is that Barry Manilow’s later personal life became an important part of his story.

In 1978, Manilow began a relationship with Garry Kief, who also became his manager. They remained together for decades and married in 2014. Barry publicly discussed his sexuality years later.

That caused people to look back at Susan and ask questions about his first marriage.

Was Barry really in love with her?

Did Susan know what his future would look like?

Did his sexuality end the marriage?

Barry’s own explanation answers at least part of that.

He has said his love for Susan was real and that the marriage did not end because of his sexuality.

Instead, he described himself as young and strongly pulled toward his career.

That distinction matters.

It allows Susan and Barry’s marriage to be understood as a real relationship from a very different period of both their lives.

Susan Deixler Was There Before the Fame

This may be the most fascinating part of Susan Deixler’s story.

She knew Barry before millions of people did.

She knew him before the hit records.

Before the awards.

Before his famous performances.

Before generations of fans learned his songs.

Susan met the young Barry Manilow who was still trying to understand what kind of future he wanted.

That gives her a unique place in his life story.

She was part of the beginning.

Not the famous beginning people saw on television.

The real beginning.

Why Is There So Little Information About Susan Deixler?

The answer seems simple: Susan Deixler is not a public entertainer.

Many celebrity relatives and former partners become famous only because the internet keeps searching for them. Susan’s name is connected to Barry Manilow, but that does not mean every part of her life is public information.

This is why readers should be careful with claims about her:

her exact birth date,

current location,

finances,

later relationships,

children,

and career history.

Some websites publish very specific answers about all of these things without showing strong evidence.

A responsible biography should make a difference between what is known and what is merely repeated online.

The strongest publicly supported facts about Susan concern her relationship with Barry.

What Is Susan Deixler’s Net Worth?

Susan Deixler’s net worth is not reliably known.

There is no trustworthy public financial record showing how much money she owns.

You may see websites giving very exact numbers, sometimes saying she is worth hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars.

Those numbers should not automatically be trusted.

Susan has not built a major public entertainment career, and her finances are private.

Therefore, putting a made-up number next to her name would be misleading.

Sometimes “we don’t know” is the most accurate answer.

Is Susan Deixler Famous Today?

Susan Deixler is not famous in the traditional sense.

She is mainly a person people discover while reading about Barry Manilow.

Her name usually appears in searches such as:

“Barry Manilow first wife”

“Who was Barry Manilow married to?”

“Susan Deixler and Barry Manilow”

“Why did Barry Manilow divorce Susan?”

“Where is Susan Deixler now?”

So her public recognition comes almost entirely from one short part of her youth.

Yet that chapter continues to attract curiosity decades later.

Why Susan Deixler’s Story Still Interests People

Celebrity stories are often filled with huge houses, expensive clothes, award shows, dramatic breakups, and cameras.

Susan’s story is interesting because it is almost the opposite.

She was connected to someone who became enormously successful and then largely returned to private life.

That creates a simple question:

What is it like to watch someone you once married become world-famous?

We cannot know exactly how Susan felt unless she chooses to tell that story herself.

But the question makes readers curious.

And that curiosity is probably why her name continues appearing online so many decades after her marriage ended.

Susan Deixler and the Life That Could Have Been

It is easy to play the “what if?” game.

What if Susan and Barry had stayed married?

Would she have traveled with him?

Would she have appeared beside him during his rise to fame?

Would Barry’s career have developed in the same way?

Nobody knows.

Life does not come with a second version that allows us to see what would have happened.

What we do know is that their paths separated.

Barry chose the difficult road toward a music career and eventually found extraordinary success.

Susan chose—or at least ended up with—a much more private life.

Both stories continued.

Just in very different directions.

Final Thoughts

Susan Deixler is remembered today mainly as Barry Manilow’s first wife, but her story is more interesting when we remember that she was a real person living through an important moment in both of their young lives.

She knew Barry before he became Barry Manilow the superstar.

They met when they were young, fell in love, married in 1964, and separated after a short time. Their marriage was later annulled in 1966. Barry has said that his feelings for Susan were genuine, but he was young and felt strongly driven toward music.

Barry eventually became a major entertainer.

Susan largely stayed away from fame.

And perhaps that is why people remain so interested in her.

Sometimes the quiet person standing at the beginning of a famous story can be just as fascinating as the star at its center.

Frequently Asked Questions About Susan Deixler

Who is Susan Deixler?

Susan Deixler is best known as the high-school sweetheart and first wife of American singer Barry Manilow.

When did Susan Deixler marry Barry Manilow?

Susan Deixler and Barry Manilow married in 1964. Their marriage was later annulled in 1966.

How did Susan Deixler meet Barry Manilow?

They met during their school years in Brooklyn. Barry attended Eastern District High School, and Susan is widely identified as his high-school sweetheart.

Why did Barry Manilow leave Susan Deixler?

Barry has explained that he was young and deeply focused on pursuing music. His desire for a musical career and his lack of readiness for marriage contributed to their separation.

Did Barry Manilow love Susan Deixler?

Yes. Barry later said he genuinely loved Susan and made clear that their marriage did not fail because of his sexuality.

Did Susan Deixler and Barry Manilow have children?

There are no publicly documented children from their marriage.

Did Susan Deixler remarry?

Her later romantic life is not well documented by reliable public sources, so it would be unsafe to state confidently whether she remarried.

What does Susan Deixler do for a living?

Some reports describe her as having worked in healing, wellness, or community-related roles. However, detailed information about her career is not consistently confirmed by major authoritative sources.

What is Susan Deixler’s net worth?

Her net worth is not publicly verified. Exact figures published on celebrity websites should therefore be treated as estimates rather than facts.

Where is Susan Deixler now?

Susan has maintained a private life away from mainstream celebrity media. Recent, reliably verified details about her location and day-to-day life are limited.

Is Susan Deixler still connected to Barry Manilow?

There is no strong recent public information showing an ongoing close relationship between them. Both went on to live separate lives after their marriage ended.

Why is Susan Deixler still searched online?

Most people discover her while learning about Barry Manilow’s early life. Because she was his wife before his rise to fame and later remained private, people naturally want to know what happened to her.

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