Editing Brian Wilson (section)

===Relationships and children===

Wilson's first serious relationship was with Judy Bowles, a high school student he had met at a baseball game in mid-1961.{{sfn|Murphy|2015|pp=76, 136}} The couple were engaged during Christmas 1963 and were to be married the following December.{{sfn|Murphy|2015|pp=255, 258}} She inspired his songs "Judy" (1962), "Surfer Girl" (1963), and, according to some accounts, "[[The Warmth of the Sun]]" (1964), the latter being written shortly after they had separated.{{sfn|Murphy|2015|pp=76, 300}} Around then, he had gradually become romantically involved with singer [[Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford|Marilyn Rovell]], whom he had met in August 1962.{{sfn|Gaines|1986|pp=82, 100}}{{sfn|Murphy|2015|p=275}} Inspired by a remark from Marilyn's older sister Diane, Wilson wrote "[[Don't Hurt My Little Sister]]" (1965) about his early relationship with Marilyn.{{sfn|Gaines|1986|p=100}}{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=72}}

[[File:Wilson Phillips.jpg|thumb|Wilson's daughters [[Carnie Wilson|Carnie]] (right) and [[Wendy Wilson|Wendy]] (center) performing with [[Chynna Phillips]] in 2011.]]

Wilson and Marilyn were married in December 1964. They had two daughters, [[Carnie Wilson|Carnie]] and [[Wendy Wilson|Wendy]] (born 1968 and 1969, respectively), who later had musical success as two-thirds of the group [[Wilson Phillips]].{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=376}} His daughters inspired his songs "[[Roller Skating Child]]" (1977)<ref name=Wilson1977>{{cite magazine|last1=Wilson|first1=Brian|title=I'm a Pooper, Not a Buzzer|magazine=[[Crawdaddy!]]|date=May 1977|page=63|url=https://40.media.tumblr.com/92589f007104051b8edbe566697d1303/tumblr_ns20qse72z1trpswuo2_1280.jpg}}</ref> and "[[Little Children (Brian Wilson song)|Little Children]]" (1988).{{sfn|Matijas-Mecca|2017|p=131}}

Much of the lyrical content from ''Pet Sounds'' reflected early marital strains{{sfn|White|1996|p=251}} that later intensified.{{sfn|Gaines|1986|p=249}} Wilson later described himself as a neglectful father and husband during his first marriage.{{sfn|Wilson|Greenman|2016|p=194}} He had encouraged his wife to pursue extramarital affairs, including one with songwriter [[Tandyn Almer]],{{sfn|Gaines|1986|pp=249–250}} while he engaged in an affair with her sister,{{sfn|Gaines|1986|pp=249, 280}}{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=108}} the subject of his song "[[My Diane]]" (1978).{{sfn|Stebbins|2000|p=175}} Concurrently, Wilson maintained an affair with Debbie Keil,{{sfn|Gaines|1986|pp=249, 280}} who inspired his song "[[The Night Was So Young]]" (1977).{{sfn|Gaines|1986|pp=249, 280}}{{refn|group=nb|Keil later provided many anonymous quotations for [[David Leaf]]'s 1978 biography ''[[The Beach Boys and the California Myth]]''.{{sfn|Leaf|2022|p={{page needed|date=July 2022}}<!-- page 598 on Kindle edition --->}} Gaines describes Keil as a Beach Boys fan who had moved from Kansas to Los Angeles when she was 19 with the purpose of getting close to Wilson.{{sfn|Gaines|1986|p=249}} Writing in his 2022 revision of ''California Myth'', Leaf explained, "Debbie never tried to shape the narrative. I felt her observations were insightful, very different from what I'd been reading."{{sfn|Leaf|2022|p={{page needed|date=July 2022}}}}<!-- page 598 on Kindle edition --->}}

In July 1978, Wilson and Marilyn separated, and he filed for divorce in January 1979.{{sfn|White|1996|p=321}} Marilyn received custody of their children{{sfn|White|1996|p=322}} and a half share of Wilson's songwriting royalties.<ref name=rolling/> Wilson continued his relationship with Keil until 1981.{{sfn|Leaf|2022|p={{page needed|date=July 2022}}<!-- page 606 on Kindle edition --->}} After the separation, Wilson dated one of his nurses, Carolyn Williams, until January 1983.{{sfn|Gaines|1986|pp=330, 341}}{{refn|group=nb|During that period, Williams had claimed that Wilson was being held captive by Landy. In response, Wilson held a press conference to announce that he was disassociating himself from her.{{sfn|Gaines|1986|p=341}} Carlin described Williams as generally considered to be "a sweet, well-intentioned woman",{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=239}} while Wilson, via his 2016 memoir, attributed their split "mostly because of me", citing an incident in which he berated Williams, a black woman, with a racist remark.{{sfn|Wilson|Greenman|2016|pp=199–200}}}} Singer [[Linda Ronstadt]], in her 2013 memoir ''Simple Dreams'', implied that she had briefly dated Wilson in the 1970s.{{sfn|Leaf|2022|p={{page needed|date=July 2022}}<!-- page 593 on Kindle edition --->}}

Wilson initially dated [[Melinda Ledbetter|Melinda Kae Ledbetter]] from 1986 to late 1989.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|pp=286, 271}} Ledbetter attributed the premature end of their relationship to interference by Landy.{{sfn|White|1996|p=361}} After 1991, he and Ledbetter reconnected and married on February 6, 1995,{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=281}}{{refn|group=nb|Wilson chose the date because it was Marilyn's birthday, and thus easy to remember for future anniversaries.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=281}} Marilyn attended the wedding.{{sfn|White|1996|p=359}} }} Ledbetter became Wilson's manager.<ref name=Fine1999>{{cite magazine |last1=Fine|first1=Jason |title=Brian Wilson's Summer Plans|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=July 8, 1999|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/brians-summer-plans-19990708}}</ref> They adopted five children.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=O'Donnell|first=Kevin|magazine=People|title=Inside the Beautiful Mind of Brian Wilson|url=https://www.brianwilson.com/news/2012/11/30/brian-featured-in-people-magazine|date=December 10, 2012|access-date=July 9, 2021|archive-date=July 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709190718/https://www.brianwilson.com/news/2012/11/30/brian-featured-in-people-magazine|url-status=dead}}</ref> By 2012, Wilson had six grandchildren, two daughters of Carnie and four sons of Wendy.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=283}} Ledbetter died on January 30, 2024.<ref name="melindadeath">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/arts/music/melinda-wilson-dead.html | title=Melinda Wilson, 77, Who Helped Brian Wilson Through Mental Illness, Dies | work=The New York Times | date=January 31, 2024 | last1=Williams | first1=Alex | last2=Ives | first2=Mike }}</ref> In his social media, Wilson declared she "was my savior. She gave me the emotional security I needed to have a career. She encouraged me to make the music that was closer to my heart".<ref>{{Cite Instagram |user=brianwilsonlive |postid=C2vSn-zO_32|title= My heart is broken. Melinda, my beloved wife of 28 years, passed away this morning.|date=January 30, 2024}}</ref>