If there is one thing we know, Leroy Jethro Gibbs has been married more than once on NCIS. However, one of those wives will always stand out more than others.
Gibbs’s first wife, Shannon, was the love of his life. He never got over her, and part of that will have been the nature of her death. Shannon and Kelly were killed by a cartel boss while Gibbs was on duty in the Marines. It changed everything for Gibbs, and had Shannon not died, I would like to say the two of them would have made it work.
However, Gibbs didn’t remain single after her death. And sure, most people wouldn’t expect him to. He just didn’t have a good track record with marriages after Shannon.
Gibbs was married four times in total on NCIS
Shannon was the first wife of four. The other three marriages all ended in divorce, and when we came to meet Gibbs in NCIS season 1, we learned he was now living alone. The hasn’t stopped him dating since, but he hasn’t been married since we initially met him.
He married Diane Sterling next, who ended up going on to marry FBI Agent Tobias Fornell after divorcing Gibbs. This was one of those weird relationships where Gibbs and Fornell would eventually become friends, and Gibbs is even close to Fornell’s late daughter, Emily. It would be during season 9 that we would learn that while Diane loved Gibbs, she could never compete with Shannon, and ultimately that was why their marriage ended.
Diane was later shot dead by terrorist Sergei Mishnev. It’s Fornell who manages to get revenge for Diane’s murder.
While Gibbs was stationed in Moscow, Russia, he lived with Stephanie Flynn for about a year. They married, but their relationship was extremely short, and Gibbs shared that she was the one to leave. However, she does obsessively call on their former wedding anniversary, and she had held onto his military dog tags after their split.
Stephanie came to Gibbs and the others for help when her boyfriend was arrested. It turned out that while he was innocent of the charges, he was cheating on Stephanie. At the end of the case, Stephanie gave Gibbs his dog tags back.
The fourth and final wife was Rebecca Chase, who cheated on Gibbs during their marriage and that’s what ended things. She was set to marry that man, and it turned out that the man had no idea about Gibbs at the time. That sounds about right for cheaters. Rebecca tries to make amends with Gibbs, but he’s not interested in that.
NCIS is available to stream on Paramount+.
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