Legendary "country outlaw" musician Johnny Cash boasted a long and storied career prior to his death in 2003 from diabetes complications. The celebrated — and often controversial — performer left his mark on popular music with hits like "Ring of Fire" and "Folsom City Blues." And while his career was anything but ordinary, his personal life was arguably even more chaotic than his often dark and gritty lyrics. From substance abuse to infidelity, Cash's relationships — particularly with his two ex-wives — were downright messy. Still, the ever-talented Cash fathered five children, some of whom found musical success of their own and followed in their father's footsteps. So let's explore a simple question: What happened to Johnny Cash's children?
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00:00For much of his decades-long career, Johnny Cash's personal life was as much a part of
00:04the public conversation as his music. Indeed, as one of the original so-called country outlaws,
00:09Cash lived the life he sang about, often battling drug addiction and various other troubles.
00:14His relationships have also played a part in the Johnny Cash narrative, including his
00:17toxic marriage to his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash, to whom he was unfaithful and inattentive.
00:22Similarly, his marriage to June Carter Cash was far from perfect, and also marred by substance
00:26abuse issues and infidelity.
00:28I never did cocaine or heroin or never did shoot-up, but I did every pill they ever made.
00:34I was a connoisseur."
00:35Over the course of his two marriages, Cash fathered five children, four girls with his
00:39first wife and a son with his second. All his kids have followed in their father's footsteps,
00:43if not necessarily into country music, then into the entertainment industry more broadly.
00:48Though none have achieved the same iconic level of recognition or fame as Cash himself,
00:52two of Cash's children are Grammy winners, including the popular recording artist and
00:55writer Roseanne Cash.
00:57Roseanne, Johnny Cash's oldest child with his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash, followed
01:01her dad into country music, had a few hits, and is active to this day. Over her 14 studio
01:06albums, she has won four Grammy Awards and been nominated for 16 in total, most recently
01:11winning three in 2014 for her Americana album, The River and the Thread. She was honored
01:15by the Country Music Hall of Fame as its 2015 Artist-in-Residence, and also inducted into
01:20the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame the same year.
01:23Her Billboard-topping hits include I Don't Want to Spoil the Party, I Don't Know Why
01:26You Don't Want Me, and 7-Year Ache.
01:29Roseanne Cash is also the author of four books, including her best-selling memoir Composed
01:33about life with and without her father, as well as her own growth as a performer.
01:37Cindy Cash, Johnny Cash's third child with Vivian Liberto, took a page out of both her
01:41father and her sister's books, performing as a country musician in the group Next Generation,
01:45which also included the children of such music icons as Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, and
01:50George Jones and Tammy Wynette. This group, sadly, did not last very long.
01:54John Carter Cash, the only son of Johnny Cash and the only child from his marriage to June
01:58Carter, followed a similar path. He primarily works in country music as a producer, winning
02:02a Grammy for his work on his mother's album Press On in 1999, and working with other musicians
02:07such as Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, George Jones, and Sheryl Crow. He also recorded several
02:12albums of his own music, beginning in 2003 with Bitter Harvest.
02:16John Carter Cash is also a writer, penning three children's books, a biography of his
02:19mother, and a memoir about his relationship with his father. Kathleen Cathy Cash had probably
02:24the lowest public profile of her siblings, appearing in a single movie but otherwise
02:28living a life of relative obscurity. In 2005, she publicly complained that the movie Walk
02:32the Line inaccurately portrayed her mother Vivian as a shrew. Cathy told Today,
02:37"[My mom was basically a non-entity in the entire film except for the mad little psycho
02:41who hated his career. That's not true. She loved his career and was proud of him until
02:45he started taking drugs and stopped coming home."
02:47Reportedly, Cathy walked out of a family-only screening of the movie five times. Released
02:52in 2020, the documentary My Darling Vivian takes a closer, and arguably more accurate,
02:57look at Cash's first wife and their 13-year marriage. Pulling from interviews with the
03:01former couple's daughters, old letters, and photographs, the film is an homage to a woman
03:05who faded into negative obscurity after Vivian and Johnny split.
03:09Vivian and Johnny's youngest daughter, Tara, also appears to have chosen a life of relative
03:12obscurity, although she contributed photographs to a book about her father. She has also done
03:17some work in costuming as a designer and as wardrobe assistant on a couple of TV shows
03:21and movies.