Patrick Duffy Never Thought That He Could Fall In Love Again After His Wife's Tragic Death

Mar 04, 2022

Patrick Duffy is an American actor best known for playing the role of Bobby Ewing on the hit series "Dallas." Duffy appeared on the show from 1978 to 1985 and then again from 1986 to 1991. He also reprised his character in the continuation of "Dallas" that aired on TNT from 2012 to 2014. The actor is also well known for playing Frank Lambert on the sitcom "Step By Step." 

Duffy was born in Townsend, Montana, in 1949, and he later attended Cascade High School in Everett, Washington. After graduating, Duffy went on to study Drama at the University of Washington and received his degree in 1971. His parents were Marie and Terence Duffy, and they owned a tavern in Boulder, Montana but were murdered while working there in 1986.

In 1974, Duffy married his beloved late wife, Carlyn Rosser. She was a ballerina and also ten years older than her husband. The couple lived in the Eagle Point, Oregon area and raised two sons: Padraic and Conor. Rosser was a Buddhist and introduced Duffy to the religion. He later converted, and his family is members of Soka Gakkai International. Tragically, Rosser passed away in 2017, and Duffy said the death came as a surprise with no prior indicators that something was wrong.

It took the actor a long time to grieve the sudden death of his wife. He said at first that he still considered himself to be married to Rosser after her passing, but in 2020 the actor began dating fellow Hollywood star Linda Purl. According to Duffy, moving on and finding happiness again is what Rosser would have wanted. Read on to learn more about how Duffy coped with losing his wife and what he has to say about his current girlfriend. 

Actor Patrick Duffy still considers himself a married man, even though his wife died in 2017. Even after years have passed, the Dallas actor says it has been rough for him, and Duffy wishes he'd had more time with his late wife.

Rosser died on January 23, 2017. The couple had been married for 43 beautiful years, and that's an astonishingly long time for a Hollywood couple to stay together. But Duffy doesn't feel like he's a widower and states that he can still feel her presence. His noble goal is to live his life to Caryln's expectations.

Despite feeling his late wife's presence, Duffy does miss certain aspects of their lives together. He says he misses her touch and their physical closeness. For this reason, Patrick Duffy told Closer Weekly in 2019, "I still consider myself a married man."

Duffy didn't expect Carlyn's death, which came as a surprise to him. Like many people who've lost a loved one, Patrick Duffy now understands how short life feels and how quickly time flies.

He lives on, supported by his two sons, Padraic Terence Duffy and Conor Frederick Duffy. Learning to live life without his wife has been a challenge, he admitted to Closer Weekly. Duffy didn't have any warning before Caryln died.

After becoming famous by starring in the hit TV series "Dallas" as the younger of the Ewing brothers, the actor has gone on with his life and raised his family. His wife's passing has made him realize how precious time is and how none of us can know when our end comes. Duffy also had the love and support of his four grandchildren to help see him through his loss.

When asked in 2014 about the secret to his long marriage to Rosser, Duffy shared:

"I think everybody has their own secret, and there's not an actual formula. My secret is I had to learn how to acquiesce to a certain number of things without feeling like I was giving up, or I was owed something for it, and that was a big transition for me to stop keeping a tally book of, 'Okay, I did this for you, and now you'd better do this for me,' or, 'I gave up this and didn't do that, so you owe me something.' Once I got over that then everything just became as easy as can be, and we started doing things, I would say, close to 100 percent of the time to make the other person happy."

The actor wasn't ready to date for years after his wife passed away but grieved her loss and did his best to live his life in a way that she would approve of. To Duffy, this meant letting himself move on and find happiness again with someone else. He did just that in 2020 when he began to date Linda Purl. "I'm in an incredibly happy relationship," he said to People. "I never thought for a minute this would happen again. I never thought I'd feel this way again."

Because Duffy knows that Rosser had his best interests at heart, moving on and finding love again honors her memory. "I feel quite honestly, that it is keeping with the desires of my wife, the fact that we are intended to be happy," he said. "So when it's offered, think about it, do whatever you do, but don't let it pass you up if it's the right thing."

Are you a fan of Duffy? What do you think about him finding love again after his wife passed? Let us know, and feel free to pass this along to your friends and family.