Kenny Rogers’ 5 Children: Everything to Know

Kenny Rogers left behind a legacy of country hits and five children.

The Grammy-winning music star was married five times and had five children with four of his wives: Carole Lynn Rogers, 65, with Janice Gordon; Kenny Rogers Jr., 59, with Margo Anderson; Christopher Cody Rogers, 42, with Marianne Gordon and twins Justin Charles Rogers and Jordan Edward Rogers, 19, with Wanda Miller.

After earning countless accolades — including three Grammys and several ACMs — and a spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame, Rogers retired from music to focus on his family.

Kenny Rogers’ family pay tribute to late icon and his ‘extraordinary musical legacy’ one year after his death

The singer of “The Gambler” announced his retirement Today show in 2015, saying, “I’ve done this long enough.”

“I wrote in my book that sometimes there is a fine line between motivation and selfishness. And I think I crossed that line when I was younger,” he continued. “I really want to be there with my kids and my wife. They are very important to me and I don’t see them enough.”

He later clarified that AZ Central that he “achieved everything and more than I intended”. Rogers added: “And I really got to spend some time with my boys. They are now 11. I have two older boys. I didn’t spend this time with them and I regret it. Now I am 77 years old and you don’t know how much longer you will last.”

The singer added: “Will I miss work? Absolutely. I will miss the faces of the people out there, the laughs and smiles, but not as much as I would miss my boys. They’re getting to that age.”

Rogers died at the age of 81 on March 21, 2020. His family said in a statement that he “passed away peacefully at home of natural causes under the care of hospice and surrounded by his family.”

On the anniversary of his death, his family released another statement.

“It’s so hard to believe it’s been a year since Kenny left us. As you can imagine, some days are better than others, so we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your thoughts, prayers and support over the past year. It means a lot to us” , it is stated in the press release.

“The memories of Kenny and the kind words you shared have inspired and uplifted us…brought tears to our eyes and made us laugh,” it continued. “No matter what we are going through on any given day, we know that we will never stop missing him and will forever celebrate the person he was and his extraordinary musical legacy.”

Here’s everything there is to know about Kenny Rogers’ five children.

Carole Lynne Rogers, 65

Rogers’ first-born child and only daughter is Carole Lynne Rogers, who was born on September 15, 1958, to Rogers and his then-wife, Janice Gordon. Rogers was only 19 at the time of her birth.

“I understood that girls get pregnant and that boys have an obligation when they do,” Rogers wrote in his autobiography, Luck or something, referring to Gordon’s sudden pregnancy. “When my Janice got pregnant, I was completely ready to take a step into married life. It never occurred to me to run away from responsibility.”

However, the relationship between Rogers and Gordon did not last long.

“You know what? I loved her,” Rogers later said Fox News 2012. “At the age of 19, I thought: ‘I’m fine with this.’ It was the thing her parents thought I had ruined her life for and they were determined to break me. It didn’t work, and it’s really sad because I think it could have worked. You can’t say I’m afraid of commitment. I’ve been married five times!”

The couple went their separate ways in 1960, and Rogers did not see his daughter often as his music career began to take off. In 1980, PEOPLE reported that Rogers was granted only two hours of weekly visitation with Carole.

Rogers eventually lost contact with Carole, and she was adopted by his ex-wife’s second husband.

During his interview in 2012 Fox News, Rogers spoke about their estrangement, admitting they haven’t stayed in touch. “That was my promise to them, that I would be her father apart from him [his ex-wife’s second husband] was her father and I don’t want to disturb that,” he said. “He stepped in at a really awkward time for all of us and became her dad, and I love him for that. He was a good guy.”

Kenny Rogers Jr., 59

Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection/Getty

In 1963, Rogers married Margo Gladys Anderson, his third wife, who was the mother of a daughter named Shannon. Together they had Kenny Rogers Jr., born on May 24, 1964.

However, the couple divorced in 1975, and Anderson resettled in Palm Springs with Kenny Jr. In the years after their split, Rogers barely saw his son. “I desperately want my relationship with Kenny Jr. to be better,” he told PEOPLE in 1980.

In a 1982 interview with PEOPLE, when Carole was 23 and Kenny Jr. For 17 years, Rogers said, “While you’re trying to get ahead, it’s all too easy to think that those kids will still be kids tomorrow and that once you get your current project done, you’re going to spend some time with them.”

“Then you say, ‘Well, he’s still a kid, so I’ll go ahead and do another project,'” he continued. “The next thing you know, the child is grown up and you can’t relate to him at all.”

Now, Kenny is an actor and composer, known for his work on films such as Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping and Take him to the Greekamong others.

Christopher Cody Rogers, 42

Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection/Getty

Christopher Cody Rogers was born on December 4, 1981 to Rogers and his fourth wife, Marianne Gordon. He was born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and Rogers handed out Hershey bars to celebrate.

Christopher was born with hyaline membrane disease, a respiratory disorder that was fatal to John F. Kennedy’s infant son in 1963, but he overcame it.

“Before I leave in the morning, I hug him and talk to him and make him smile,” Rogers told PEOPLE in March 1982. “Every day I see what he’s doing that he wasn’t doing the day before. I know the hard way that we can’t recapture this era, and I don’t miss those things, because I don’t think I’ll get another chance. That’s it.”

When Rogers and Gordon decided to divorce, Christopher took it hard. Rogers recounted telling his son the news during a 2006 interview The Independent.

“I remember when I told him — we were out in the golf cart together — I said, ‘Chris, your mom and I are getting a divorce,’ and he started screaming,” he recalled. “I said, ‘That’ll be fine, I won’t spend as much time with you, but the time I do spend will be quality,’ and he said, ‘But will you still be my dad?’ ”

So I said, ‘Sure,’ and he said, ‘I thought mom was going to remarry and someone else was going to be my dad and I could never tell people that you were my dad and you wouldn’t look at me like I was you son,’ he continued. “He was just a 12-year-old putting these things together in his head, but he was fine at the time.”

Christopher is now an actor and director known for his work in The Gambler Returns: Luck of the draw and Loneliness.

Jordan Edward Rogers and Justin Charles Rogers, 19

Kenny Rogers Instagram

Jordan Edward Rogers and Justin Charles Rogers were born on July 6, 2004, in Atlanta, Georgia, to Rogers and his fifth wife, Wanda Miller.

“Man, did it ever change my life,” Rogers told PEOPLE in 2006 about his twins. “They say twins at my age will either make or break you. I’m leaning towards a break right now. I would kill for the energy they have.”

He added: “I’m embarrassed to tell you I can’t tell them apart. Jordan has a little spot in the middle of his forehead. I have to turn them around to see who it is.”

Kenny Rogers’ twin sons look like the late singer as they graduate from high school — see the photo

Kenny Rogers Instagram

In his 2006 interview The IndependentRogers recounted the story of how he decided to have another child.

“Actually, before we got married, my attitude was, ‘Been there, done that,’ so I told her, ‘I don’t want any more kids,’ and she said, ‘Me neither,'” he recalled. “But Wanda didn’t have children, so I said, ‘That might be your choice now, but when you turn 30 your body will say, Have a child now or miss it forever,’ and she said, ‘Not me.'”

“Yet on her 31st birthday Wanda, of course, asked, ‘Can we have one?’ “, added the country star. After some “soul searching,” Rogers agreed to try for a child.

“That’s how we started, and when they told me they were twins, man, I was thrilled,” he told the newspaper. “Like Wanda. It wasn’t just ‘We’re having a baby,’ it was completely devastating.”

As the twins grew up, they began to realize just how famous their dad was.

“I’ll hear Justin telling his friends, ‘My dad is very famous,'” Rogers said on The Bobby Bones Show 2013, adding: “Last year on New Year’s Eve we went on a Disney Cruise, and we’re going to this Disney Island. We go back to get in line, there’s 200 people in front of us, I’m standing in line, and Jordan says, ‘Hey dad. I thought we were supposed to be VIPs.’ ”

Kenny Rogers Instagram

Rogers took Jordan and Justin with him on his farewell tour. “My goal is to spend some time with them and take them to some places they might not go without me,” Rogers said. A rare earth in 2016, trans Village rebel. “So one day I can look back and say, ‘That’s where my dad took me.’ That, in my opinion, is my legacy to them.”

Being there for his two youngest children was very important to Rogers. “I think being a father is what I’m best at,” he said The Independent. “Even if it takes me five tries to get here! But maybe anyone who doesn’t get it right after five marriages doesn’t deserve it!”

In June 2023, Justin and Jordan graduated from high school. Rogers’ team took to Instagram to share a photo of them posing together in caps and gowns, with the boys strikingly reminiscent of their late father.

“Kenny always said ‘Friendships come and go, but families are forever.’ Indeed,” read the headline.

The following month, the twins opened up to PEOPLE about some of their favorite memories of their dad.

“I was often harassed. I would come home crying and my dad would say, ‘Just keep being yourself. You’re so funny,’ Jordan said. “I still live by that every day.”

“I miss everything about him,” Justin added. “He was a really fun dad.”

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Source: HIS Education