Scandals, Affairs and, Finally, Lasting Love: Inside Patty Duke's Colorful Romantic Life

Patty Duke (born Anna Maria Duke) died of sepsis at the age of 69 on March 29, 2016. While her legacy will certainly live on in her many celebrated performances on Broadway and in film and TV, those close to the actress said they'll remember her most for one thing: her ability to love.

"The true story of her life isn't her work, and it isn't her advocacy, it's the love relationship she's had with her husband Mike for the last 30 years," Duke's son, The Lord of the Rings actor Sean Astin, told the Associated Press after her passing.

While Duke found happiness with her husband, Michael Pearce, she traveled a winding road to get there. Duke was married three times before tying the knot with Pearce, a former military drill sergeant, in 1986.

November 26, 1965: Patty Duke marries assistant director Harry Falk Jr.

In a desperate attempt to break free from her abusive surrogate parents and acting managers, John and Ethel Ross, Duke married Harry Falk Jr., a 32-year-old assistant director on The Patty Duke Show, when she was only 19 years old.

March 1970: Patty Duke and Harry Falk Jr. divorce

With a marriage marred by Duke's increasing manic mood swings due to her then-undiagnosed bipolar disorder, which often manifested in bouts of severe drug and alcohol use, the couple split after just four years. As The New York Times reported, Duke and Falk Jr. divorced in 1970 after their separation in 1968.

"I didn't know how to be an adult," Duke told PEOPLE in 1999 about that turbulent time. "I had no preparation."

March 1970: Patty Duke and Desi Arnaz Jr. begin a brief love affair

After her divorce from Falk Jr., Duke, then 23, embarked on an affair with a 17-year-old Desi Arnaz Jr., whose mother, Lucille Ball, publicly opposed the relationship. However, they continued to see each other, off and on, for several months.

June 26, 1970: Patty Duke marries apartment subletter Michael Tell for 13 days

Duke, in a manic state, impulsively wed Michael Tell, a "total stranger" who had been subletting her apartment (they were together for less than two weeks, and the marriage was annulled 13 days later on July 9). Just before their June 1970 wedding, Duke discovered she was pregnant.

1970-1972: Patty Duke and actor John Astin engage in affair and later wed

Duke and The Addams Family star had a romantic affair while he was still married. They kept their relationship secret until John's divorce was final and after Duke gave birth to Sean on Feb. 25, 1971. At the time, it was assumed Arnaz Jr. was Sean's father. When Sean was 14, Duke confirmed this when she reportedly confessed that John was not his dad. Instead, she explained that Arnaz Jr. was, in fact, his biological father.

Duke and John tied the knot on Aug. 5, 1972, and John also adopted Sean. The couple went on to have a child together, son Mackenzie, in 1973.

Mid-1980s: Patty Duke's older son Sean Astin's paternity in question

After his mother told him about Arnaz Jr., Sean and Arnaz Jr. developed a relationship. However, when Sean was in his 20s, he met a relative of Tell's who suggested they were related. To get the final, truthful answer, Sean underwent a DNA paternal test involving all three men.

The outcome? Tell was Sean's father.

"Desi Arnaz Jr. loves me, and I love him. We are so close," Sean told ABC in 2004. "Science tells me that he's not my biological father. Science tells me that Mike Tell is."

Sean maintained relationships with all three men but regards the man who raised him since birth, John, as his father.

"I can call any of them on the phone any time I want to," Sean explained to ABC. "John, Desi, Mike or Papa Mike … my four dads."

November 3, 1985: Patty Duke and John Astin divorce

Duke and Astin divorced in 1985 but remained amicable. 

"There is a deep and abiding love between us, but we just don't get along," she told PEOPLE in 1987. "It's sort of like fingernails on the blackboard. He does it to me, and I do it to him. We even laugh about it sometimes because it's so absurd."

March 15, 1986: Patty Duke marries Army drill sergeant Michael Pearce

In 1986, Duke married Sgt. Michael Pearce, whom she met while filming A Time to Triumph. Duke became an enthusiastic stepmother to his daughters Raelene and Charlene. They also adopted a son, Kevin, in 1988.

The two remained married and lived happily together on a farm in Idaho until Duke's death.

"He became her 30-year project, and she finally in her life had a protector," Sean told the Associated Press (via CBS News). "And so she showed him the world, and he took care of her [...] they were connected with a bond that is impossible to describe."