Ernest Hemingway may be best known for his literary accomplishments, but his romantic relationships, which often heavily influenced his writing, are also notorious and, at times, surprising. His wives all heavily supported him during their marriages. This support ranged from financial to emotional to within the household. His death mainly affected the financial situation of his 4th wife, and widow, Mary Welsh, as she inherited Hemingway’s estate. However, his first wife did receive significant earnings affiliated with her relationship with Hemingway.

Hemingway’s first two wives, Hadley Richardson and Pauline Pfeiffer, most significantly supported Hemingway financially during their marriages to him. Martha Gellhorn has her own literary following and success through a decade-spanning career as a war correspondent and novelist. Ultimately, Hemingway's relationships with all of his wives were generally marked by problematic behavior. Hemingway, like other prominent authors, is a controversial figure. Not one of Ernest Hemingway's relationships with his multiple wives ever resembled the romance between Jim and Pam from The Office, but they all contributed to his creative works.

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How Much Did Hadley Richardson Make?

Hadley Richardson was the first of Ernest Hemingway’s wives. She and Hemingway married soon after meeting and spent much of their relationship in Paris. They were largely financially sustained by Richardson’s inheritance left to her by her uncle. Richardson and Hemingway had a son before Hemingway had an affair with Pfeiffer that eventually led to the couples’ divorce.

Richardson largely supported Hemingway during their early marriage although Hemingway began to gain notoriety and high compensation for his journalism during their marriage. He was working on The Sun Also Rises during their divorce and gave Richardson royalties on the novel. These royalties amounted to $30,000 per year. This is a hefty amount but many argue that Richardson largely uplifted Hemingway’s writing during their marriage and Richardson certainly served as muse for Hemingway with much of their life being an inspiration for his writing.

Richardson's role as muse proved lucrative in this instance, but critics have suggested that her contributions far surpassed $30,000 a year in royalties. Hemingway plagiarized his and Richardson's life together. One critic has even suggested that his "novel, The Sun Also Rises, was so autobiographical, it was essentially gossipy reportage." The idea of one great genius may be romantic but seems to be dismissive of those who supported, inspired, and provided the plot points for his work.

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How Much Did Pauline Pfeiffer Make?

Hemingway quickly married Pauline Pfeiffer less than a year after his and Richardson’s divorce. Pfeiffer came from a wealthy family and like, Richardson, largely supported Hemingway’s, at times, extravagant lifestyle. Pfeiffer worked as a journalist herself and was friends with both Richardson and Hemingway before the affair.

The couple had two sons together. Pfeiffer’s uncle funded a hunting safari trip for Hemingway. They remained together for fifteen years, longer than Hemingway’s and Richardson’s relationship, but Hemingway seemed to romanticize his time with Richardson much more, as suggested in A Moveable Feast.

The couple divorced because of Hemingway’s affair with Martha Gellhorn, who like Pfeiffer, was friends with the married couple before the affair. Pauline did not make anything after Ernest Hemingway’s death as she died before him, in 1951.

How Much Did Martha Gellhorn Make?

Martha Gellhorn, Hemingway’s third wife, had a strong writing career of her own, especially as a journalist. Their union lasted five years, from 1940 to 1945. Gellhorn and Hemingway's relationship was depicted on the big screen in Hemingway & Gellhorn starring Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen. Kidman was nominated for an Emmy in this film, but has had far more successful films.

Gellhorn built a career as a journalist and foreign correspondent with notable friendships to literary and political figures including Eleanor Roosevelt. Gellhorn made her own career and money through their marriage, a fact Hemingway resented. Gellhorn herself stated that she had “no intention of being a footnote in someone else’s life.” She continued to work as a war correspondent and published multiple novels after his death.

She married again after Hemingway and divorced again. At the time of her death, it is suggested that she had a net worth of $1.5 million. It seems unlikely that the majority of these funds were at all related to Hemingway.

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How Much Did Mary Welsh Make?

Mary Welsh received $1 million as the sole beneficiary of Hemingway’s estate. However, modern interpretation of this amount’s current significance is subject to dispute as the conversion method from 1961 to the present is imperfect and the exact division of funds between taxes, post-humous tasks, ceremonies, and procedures is unknown.

Mary Welsh and Hemingway married last and spent much of their time traveling. Hemingway’s death wasn’t only reported in 1961 but was first falsely reported in 1953 due to a plane crash. Hemingway and Welsh were in not one, but two, plane crashes. Luckily they both survived these disasters.

Of Hemingway’s wives, Welsh received the most funds directly from his writings and earnings. The couple never had children, but Welsh was his final wife and married to him at the time of his death.

After Hemingway’s death, Welsh functioned as his literary executor and she edited A Moveable Feast then got A Moveable Feast, Islands in the Stream, and The Garden of Eden. Therefore, her ongoing support, even post-humously, greatly contributed to his body of work. As far as four marriages go, one should probably look to other exemplars than Hemingway. For instance, William Shatner's four marriages all ended amicably.

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