Lynda Carter Reflects on Marriage After Husband Robert A. Altman’s Death: ‘We Protected Each Other’

Outside of Hollywood, the former star of TV’s Wonder Woman would introduce herself as Lynda Carter Altman. “Here, I’m my husband’s wife,” she would tell the Washington, D.C., colleagues of her hubby, gaming CEO Robert A. Altman.

Now, Lynda is grieving his loss. On February 3, Robert died following a surgical procedure. “Robert is the love of my life and he always will be,” Lynda, 69, shared. “We protected each other and were each other’s champions always.”

Married in 1984, when Robert, a Washington native, was a hotshot lawyer and Lynda was moving into her post–Wonder Woman career, they welcomed two children together: James, 33, and Jessica, 30. The couple raised their family in a 20,000-square-foot Georgian-style mansion in Potomac, Maryland, they built in 1987.

Throughout their marriage, Lynda and Robert faced challenges that might have torn apart a less-committed pair. In the early 1990s, she stood by Robert when he was tried and acquitted for banking fraud. Robert, who reinvented himself as the chief executive of a multibillion-dollar video game company, also supported Lynda when she entered rehab for alcoholism in 1997.

LOOKING FORWARD

The abruptness of her husband’s death has been hard to face. “Lynda kept his illness pretty quiet,” says a friend, who has heard that Robert, 73, was suffering from cancer. “She never planned on losing Robert like this. It’s never fair, but they had plans. They were supposed to grow old together.”

In an emotional message, Lynda called her husband “the most honorable person that I have ever had the privilege to know” and praised him for their years together. “Thank you,” she shared, “for giving me all the love in my life.”

— Reporting by Rick Egusquiza