4. His first wife blamed drugs and June Carter for destroying their marriage
In the 2005 biopic I Walk the Line, Johnny Cash was depicted by Joaquin Phoenix as being relentless in his pursuit of June Carter, who helps him overcome his addiction to drugs and alcohol. According to his first wife the opposite was true. Vivian Liberto married Johnny Cash in 1954 and together they had four daughters, Rosanne, Kathy, Cindy, and Tara. In 2007, Vivian’s story was published in I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny, in which she described June Carter as pursuing Johnny for years, as well as supplying him with the amphetamines to which he was addicted. According to Vivian’s account, June was addicted to amphetamines herself. Vivian claimed that June once told her, “Vivian, he will be mine.”
Vivian remarried after her divorce from Johnny Cash became final in 1967, and died in 2005 before her manuscript was published. In her book she expressed regrets for not having worked harder to save her marriage to the star, and her assertions regarding the threat presented by June Carter have been supported by her daughters in subsequent interviews. Johnny and June had a son together, John Carter Cash, who confirmed Vivian’s description of June as a drug user in a book in 2007, later telling Reuters, “She maintained strong control of her addiction”. Johnny Cash entered rehab for drugs and alcohol several times during his life, though June Carter Cash did not.