Bob Barker ‘Went in to a Funk’ After Wife’s Death, ‘Price Is Right’ Host Became a ‘Narcissistic Egomaniac’

Bob Barker changed significantly after the death of his wife, according to those who worked with him.

The Price Is Right host was married to his high school sweetheart, Dorothy Jo, from 1945 until her death in 1981.

“They went to Hawaii in August and she was diagnosed with lung cancer and died two months later,” one of the game show’s producers, Barbara Hunter, revealed on the E! documentary series, Dirty Rotten Scandals, which premiered on Wednesday, March 18, per People.

“Bob really went into a funk after that. He was ready to take his own life,” Hunter added. “That’s what he shared with me.”

“He was devastated, really, by her death. There was a long period of mourning,” agreed Holly Hallstrom, who was one of the show’s models, known as Barker’s Beauties, from 1977 to 1995.

“And then, all of a sudden, he became Mr. Man About Town, you know?” said Hallstrom, who later won a protracted discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuit against him. “He knew he was the star of the biggest show in daytime, and Dorothy Jo wasn’t there anymore, keeping him reined in. It was like he was unleashed and turned into this narcissistic egomaniac.”

Barker met Nancy Burnet in 1983, and they stayed together until his death at 99 in 2023. However, he still visited Dorothy Jo’s grave, and was photographed there in 2017.

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