Danny Zugelder: Danielle Steel’s Former Husband

By | November 24, 2023
Danny Zugelder: Danielle Steel's Former Husband

Who is Danny Zugelder?

Danny Zugelder is a felon and a native American born in 1950. He can be described as a tall man with green eyes and grey hair. He was convicted of rape by threat, robbery, and, according to other sources, convicted with murder also.

However, Danny Zugelder is famous for having been married to the American writer Danielle Steel, for which she has also gained a lot of attention. The couple got married in the year 1975, but things came to an end just after three years in 1978. During their short-lived marriage, they produced no children.

Danny Zugelder first met Danielle Steel while interviewing a prisoner in California. He was incarcerated for narcotics and robbery offences. Following his release from prison in June 1973, Steel moved in with Zugelder. Early in 1974, he was sent back to jail on rape and bank robbery accusations. Steel married Danny in the jail canteen after divorcing Lazard in 1975. The two hit songs, Passion’s Promise and Now and Forever, were released due to their romance

What does Danny Zugelder do for a living?

Danny’s career path is not known. However, he was a felon for bank robbery, raping a woman, beating up another and also drug abuse. Psychiatric reports on Danny Zugelder said he is likely to become involved or interested in women who engaged in reforming him and, at the same time, ostensibly engaged in improving him.

Some details about his life as a criminal are not entirely known, but his former wife, Danielle Steel, wrote books about his life. “Now and Forever” and “Passion’s Promise,” according to Danny Zugelder himself, said they were about him and were terrible books.

Danny Zugelder did not have any children with Danielle Steel

According to sources, Danny Zugelder was only married to Danielle Steel, and even though she has nine children, none are from her marriage with Danny Zugelder. However, It is unknown if Danny has children with someone else, but regarding his relationship with Danielle, no child was born.

Danielle Steel has nine children, seven being her biological children, some from different men, and two step-children. Singer Nick Traina, the band “Punk” leader, was also her child. He died on September 20, 1997, at the age of 19. Danielle, also wrote a book about him.

Danny Zugelder’s Ex-wife: Danielle Steel

As discussed earlier, Danny Zugelder married Danielle Fernandez, an American author born on August 14, 1947, and is renowned for her romantic books. With over 800 million copies sold, she is the best-selling living novelist and among the all-time best-selling fiction writers. She has authored 190 books as of 2021; more than 140 are novels. 

In her late teens, Danielle Steel began composing poems after having started creating stories as a young girl. Raised Catholic, she had considered becoming a nun in her youth. She studied fashion design and book design at New York University and Parsons School of Design after graduating from the Lycée Français de New York in 1965.

Danny’s ex-wife, Prolific novelist Danielle Steel, has had a complicated personal life filled with many marriages. At 18, she wed Claude-Eric Lazard for the first time in 1965. Together, they produced a daughter named Beatrix. But in 1972, Steel and Lazard parted ways. Steel got to know prisoner Danny Zugelder when she married Lazard; they developed a bond despite his confinement. Following her divorce from Lazard in 1975, Steel wed Zugelder while incarcerated; nevertheless, the marriage ended in divorce and miscarriages in 1978.

In 1978, she tied the knot for the third time with William George Toth, and the couple had a kid named Nick. However, in March 1981, they got divorced. She wed winemaker John Traina that same year, and he adopted Nick and gave him the Traina surname. Samantha, Victoria, Vanessa, Maxx, and Zara were their other five children. Steel wrote a lot at night to get by on little sleep since she was determined to spend time with her kids. But in 1995, Steel and Traina called it quits.

Danielle Steel, struggled with her phobia of flying in the early 1980s and took an eight-week course to get over it. Her fourth marriage to businessman Thomas James Perkins of Silicon Valley ended in divorce in 2002 after just four years. According to Steel, her book “The Klone and I” was inspired by a lighthearted private joke she shared with Perkins. Steel was the subject of Perkins’ 2006 dedication to “Sex and the Single Zillionaire.

In 1997, Danny Zugelder’s ex-wife, Danielle Steel’s son Nick Traina, took his own life. Lead vocalist Traina was a member of the punk bands Knowledge and Link 80 in San Francisco. Steel published the nonfiction book His Bright Light about Nick’s life and death to pay tribute to him. Steel established the Nick Traina Foundation with the proceeds from the book, which made it to the New York Times Nonfiction Bestseller List. Steel uses the foundation’s funds to support organizations that tackle mental accessibility difficulties. Steel has advocated for legislation in Washington to improve awareness of children’s mental health, and she has previously hosted The Star Ball, a biannual benefit in San Francisco. She established the Yo Angel Foundation in 2002 to help people in need.