Where Is Rita Marley Now? She Still Feels Like His Partner 43 Years After His Death

After the release of the highly-anticipated biopic Bob Marley: One Love, many people might be wondering where his wife Rita Marley is now. Rita Marley has been involved in Bob Marley’s estate and continues to prove herself as a powerhouse in reggae and continuing her late husband’s legacy.

Bob Marley was born in Nine Mile, Jamaica, on February 6, 1945, and became friends with Bunny Wailer with whom he would eventually form Bob Marley and the Wailers. He converted to Rastafari, where his songs “Redemption Song,” “Jah Live,” and “So Jah S’eh” were influenced by his own beliefs. Other popular songs of him include “Buffalo Soldier,” “No Woman, No Cry,” and “Three Little Birds.”

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Bob met the young Alfarita “Rita” Constantia Anderson in the mid-1960s and eventually married in 1966. The two have had a tumultuous, but loving, relationship as they continued their music careers. Both Bob and Rita had affairs and had children with each other people, but they continued to love each other until his death.

Bob’s life is now the subject of a new biopic titled Bob Marley: One Love. The movie stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as the musician while Bob Marley’s son Ziggy produced the film. While debuting the film details at CinemaCon in 2023, Ziggy revealed that the movie will be able to deepen their connection with the late icon and learn more about the adversity he faced in spreading his layered messages of rebellion, love and unity. Ziggy also gave “huge thanks” to the people of Jamaica “who were critical in ensuring the authenticity of this production.”

“I never see myself as Bob Marley’s widow,” Rita said in 2000 to Rolling Stone. “I still feel I’m working with him. I feel I’m still his partner.”

So where is Rita Marley now? Read more to find out.

Where is Rita Marley now?

Rita Marley currently lives in Miami, Florida after suffering a stroke in 2016. “I said to her, ‘You’ve worked all your life, and this is God’s way, as cruel as it might seem, of saying you need to just relax now,” her daughter told Rolling Stone in a 2021 profile. “The grave is not calling you, so I’m’a just make you chill.’ So that’s how we look at it.”

Cedella recalls seeing glimmers of the “fierce” woman she’s known. “I know when she’s watching too much YouTube because her [blood] pressure goes up,” Cedella recalled. “She was just watching something on Instagram about the flood in Jamaica for the storm that just passed. I had to tell her, ‘Mom, you have to stop watching this stuff because it’s not healthy.’ She thinks Trump doesn’t like black people, and she was very nervous about what she saw happening in America with the election.”

Rita Marley was responsible for much of Bob Marley’s estate and is the Founder and Chairperson of the Bob Marley Foundation, Bob Marley Museum, Tuff Gong International, and the Rita Marley Foundation.

Bob and Rita’s son Ziggy talked to People about how she impacted the film Bob Marley: One Love. “My mom is the backbone of everything. Without her, none of this would’ve been happening. My father’s career wouldn’t be what it is,” Ziggy told the publication. “They really complement each other in that way. You need someone like that by your side. You can’t do it alone. You could never do it alone.”

Who are Bob & Rita Marley’s kids?

Bob and Rita have 3 kids together:

1. Cedella Marley born August 23, 1967

2. “Ziggy Marley” (David Nesta Marley), born October 17, 1968

3. Stephen Marley, born April 20, 1972

Bob and Rita Marley have also adopted Sharon Marley, born 23 November 1964, a daughter of Rita from a previous relationship, and Stephanie Marley, born August 17, 1974, whose father was Owen “Ital Tacky” Stewart, a former Jamaican soccer player. Rita also gave birth to Serita Stewart, was born August 11, 1985 after Bob’s death.

Bob has an additional five children, all from extra-marital affairs.

How did Bob Marley die?

Bob Marley died from acral lentiginous melanoma, an aggressive type of cancer. Marley sought other forms of treatment that substituted western medicine. However, the cancer spread throughout his body to the point that a doctor told his manager Danny Sims that the musician had “more cancer in him than I’ve seen with a live human being.”  Marley was on his way from Germany to Jamaica, but he deplaned in Florida and died at the University of Miami Hospital on May 11, 1981. Bob Marley’s last words to his son Ziggy were, “Money can’t buy life.”

Marley had a state funeral held in Jamaica ten days after he died. A public viewing preceded the funeral where an estimated 100,000 people attended to pay their respects. The casket contained his red Gibson Les Paul guitar, a Bible opened at Psalm 23, and a stalk of ganja placed there by his widow, Rita. Marley also wore dreads, but it was a wig since all his hair fell out during cancer treatment.

The “Redemption Song” musician was diagnosed with melanoma after finding a black spot under his toe. He and his doctor ignored the lesion on his toe since they thought it was a soccer injury. However, it began to spread and a biopsy revealed that it was actually an aggressive melanoma. He rejected doctor’s advice to amputate the toe due to his religious beliefs. But the nail and toe graft were removed instead.

Marley continued to tour—selling out shows in Milan, Italy, and Madison Square Garden in New York City. He collapsed while jogging in Central Park and found out that his cancer spread to other parts of his body. He canceled the rest of his tour and was transferred to the clinic of Josef Issels in Rottach-Egern, Bavaria, Germany, where he underwent an alternative cancer treatment called Issels treatment.

Ziggy Marley revealed his father’s true legacy to Grammy.com. “I think for me what I learned from my father most [from] being around him is a way of having principles and living up to your principles and standing up for your principles,” his son says. “His example is a good example for me. … Selflessness, charity, standing up for what you believe, and having principles. Spirituality too.”

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