Editing Johnny Bench (section)

==Personal life==
Bench has been married five times. Once hailed as "baseball's most-eligible bachelor," he shed that distinction before the 1975 season when he married Vickie Chesser, a toothpaste model who had dated [[Joe Namath]]. Four days after they met, Bench proposed, and they were married on February 21, 1975.<ref name=wmlamt>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xmRYAAAAIBAJ&pg=1393%2C3880537 |work=The Bulletin |location=(Bend, Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |title=Women lament marriage of Bench |date=February 21, 1975 |page=10 |access-date=October 5, 2020 |archive-date=August 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230829001854/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xmRYAAAAIBAJ&pg=1393,3880537 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=thgahwl>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zoFIAAAAIBAJ&pg=2617%2C2534073 |work=Youngstown Vindicator |location=(Ohio) |agency=Associated Press |title=1,000 guests attend Bench wedding in Hollywood-like setting |date=February 22, 1975 |page=8 |access-date=October 5, 2020 |archive-date=August 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230829001852/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zoFIAAAAIBAJ&pg=2617,2534073 |url-status=live }}</ref> Quickly, the pair realized they were incompatible, especially after Bench suggested that his wife accept ''[[Hustler (magazine)|Hustler]]'' magazine's offer for her to pose nude for $25,000.<ref name=pwppdh>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VjBYAAAAIBAJ&pg=3415%2C3243289 |work=The Bulletin |location=(Bend, Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |title='Marriage of the century' over; post-wedding Ping Pong didn't help |date=February 2, 1977 |page=15 |access-date=October 5, 2020 |archive-date=August 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827200314/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VjBYAAAAIBAJ&pg=3415%2C3243289 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Post77">{{cite news |last1=Rosen |first1=Ron |title=Barons and Benches Troubled |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1977/02/02/barons-and-benches-troubled/b18f42c6-2d93-41f4-9e17-f686b551b0ee/ |access-date=May 27, 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 2, 1977 |quote=I did have one offer: Hustler magazine offered me $25,000 to pose in Hustler style. I rejected the idea but Johnny said, 'Why not, it's good money.' |archive-date=May 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190527234709/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1977/02/02/barons-and-benches-troubled/b18f42c6-2d93-41f4-9e17-f686b551b0ee/ |url-status=live }}</ref> They broke up at the end of the season (Bench reportedly said to her, "Now I'm done with two things I hate: baseball and you"), divorcing after just 13 months. "I tried. I even hand-squeezed orange juice," Chesser told [[Phil Donahue]] in December 1975. "I don't think either of us had any idea what marriage was really like." After returning to Manhattan, Chesser said, "Johnny Bench is a great athlete, a mediocre everything else, and a true tragedy as a person."<ref name="The_Long_Ball">{{cite book |last1=Adelman |first1=Tom |title=The Long Ball |date=April 1, 2004 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |isbn=0316796441 |url=https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/long-ball-tom-adelman/1112360128#/ |access-date=May 27, 2019 |archive-date=August 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230829001853/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/long-ball-tom-adelman/1112360128#/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="TheArgus">{{cite news |title=Bench prefers ping-pong to wife on wedding night |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/argus-feb-04-1977-p-16/ |access-date=May 27, 2019 |work=The Argus |agency=United Press International |date=February 4, 1977 |location=Cincinnati, Ohio |page=16 |archive-date=May 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190527233312/https://newspaperarchive.com/argus-feb-04-1977-p-16/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Before Christmas 1987, Bench married Laura Cwikowski, an Oklahoma City model and aerobics instructor. They had a son, Bobby Binger Bench (named after [[Bob Hope]] and [[Bobby Knight]], and Bench's hometown), before divorcing in 1995. They shared custody of their son. "He was, and is, a great dad," according to Bobby, who works in Cincinnati as a production operator on Reds broadcasts. Bench's third marriage, to Elizabeth Benton, took place in 1997. Johnny filed for divorce in 2000 on grounds of marital infidelity. His fourth marriage took place in 2004, to 31-year-old Lauren Baiocchi, the daughter of pro golfer [[Hugh Baiocchi]]. After living in [[Palm Springs]] with their two sons, Johnny wished to return to South Florida, where he lived from 2014 to 2017. However, Lauren would not relocate to Florida, leading to their divorce. As of 2018, Bench has primary custody of their sons.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.si.com/mlb/2018/07/05/johnny-bench-cincinnati-reds |title=Johnny Bench Is Already a Hall-of-Famer, But He's Looking For a New Distinction |magazine=Sports Illustrated |date=July 2, 2018 |first=Jon |last=Wertheim |access-date=October 25, 2018 |archive-date=October 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026025033/https://www.si.com/mlb/2018/07/05/johnny-bench-cincinnati-reds |url-status=live }}</ref>

Bench was married for the fifth time in March 2024.<ref name="n945">{{cite web | last=Wysong | first=David | title=Cincinnati Reds legend Johnny Bench confirms fifth marriage | website=Cincinnati Enquirer | date=2024-08-07 | url=https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/reds/2024/08/07/cincinnati-reds-legend-johnny-bench-fifth-marriage/74707694007/ | access-date=2024-11-28}}</ref>

While still an active MLB player, he made a [[cameo appearance]] as a [[Kings Island|Kings Island Inn]] poolside waiter in "I Left My Heart in Cincinnati," a Season 3 episode of ''[[The Partridge Family]]'' which first aired on January 26, 1973.<ref>[https://www.wvxu.org/media/2017-01-26/the-partridge-family-kings-island-episode-aired-in-1973 Kiesewetter, John. "''The Partridge Family'' Kings Island Episode Aired In 1973," WVXU-FM 91.7 (Cincinnati, OH), Thursday, January 26, 2017.] Retrieved October 28, 2024.</ref>