Why Bob Barker’s Girlfriend Nancy Burnet Turned Down His Marriage Proposals
Bob Barker and his companion of 40 years, Nancy Burnet, never tied the knot, despite the legendary TV host proposing “several times.”
According to Barker’s publicist, Roger Neal, the former Price is Right host, who died on Saturday (August 26) at 99, asked Burnet to marry him on many occasions, but she always said no.
“Bob actually asked Nancy to marry him several times, she said no,” Neal told ETOnline. “She was fine with the way things were. She loved being his companion, but he did want to marry her.”
Barker was married to Dorothy Jo Gideon from 1945 until her passing in 1981 and later met Burnet at an animal rights event in 1983.
“I think, if you’re lucky, you find your soulmate and the love of your life,” Neal continued. “I think once you find that person, some people don’t want to replace that. I just always felt with him that he had such love and respect for [Gideon].”
Barker and Burnet hit it off, bonding over their love of animals, and would go on to become longtime companions, though they had a unique relationship.
“They never lived together. They had separate residences,” Neal shared. “I think if he ever contemplated marriage again, it would’ve been with Nancy for sure.”
Burnet herself confirmed Barker’s many marriage proposals and how they would joke about it.
“Neither of us had any desire ever to be married again, and he believed it when we first started seeing each other,” she told People. “But as the years went by, he proposed to me many times. I just said, ‘I just don’t want to be married.’ Our humor was very dry. We kidded in a way. And he said, ‘Not even to me?’ And I said, ‘Especially not to you.'”
Barker, however, remained persistent, even drafting up a prenup in 2011. “He had his attorney send it to me,” Burnet explained. “I said, ‘I just don’t want to do this. I’m not going to accept this.’ And he said, ‘Well, if you don’t like the terms of the prenup, take it to your own attorney. You can change it.’ I never did do it.”
Then again, in 2019, Barker brought up the idea of walking the aisle.
“There was a difference, a 19-and-a-half, 20-year difference in our ages, so I said, ‘What would people think here?'” she continued. “And he said, ‘Oh, I don’t care what they think.’ He was interested in doing it anyway. He didn’t care.”
Even though the pair never married, Neal explained that Burnet was always there for Barker, especially over the last few years.
“The last five years of his life, she was completely devoted to making sure that his healthcare, that his care on a daily, around-the-clock basis, was the top,” he stated. “In my opinion, she is a saint for having done that. I don’t think anybody could have done the job she’s done. I think she was the absolute best person to take care of him.”
