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Gene Wilder’s Widow Looks Back on Their Love-Filled Marriage: ‘It Was Destiny’

Gene Wilder's widow, Karen, looks back on their love-filled 25-year marriage, exclusively telling Closer how 'it was destiny' that they found each other.

A two-time Oscar nominee, Gene Wilder, who was born Jerome Silberman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, became a movie star in the 1970s with films including Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Young Frankenstein and Silver Streak, the first of four comedies costarring Richard Pryor. “I was a clinician for a not-for-profit organization that helps people with hearing loss,” Karen exclusively tells Closer, who recalls herself as “struck” by Gene at first sight. Nick Laham/Getty ImagesAt home, the couple played a lot of tennis — often with famous friends including Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, Carl and Estelle Reiner and Alan and Arlene Alda.

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