Jerry Lewis Purposefully Excludes His Six Children From His First Marriage in His Will

Well, this is unexpected. Just more than one month after Jerry Lewis passed away at age 91, it has been revealed that the comedian purposefully excluded his six children from his first marriage from his last will and testament. In the documents — obtained by The Blast on Thursday, Sept. 21 — Jerry explicitly stated his fortune should go to his wife, SanDee Pitnick, and his six eldest children will inherit nothing.

“I have intentionally excluded Gary Lewis, Ronald Lewis, Anthony Joseph Lewis, Christopher Joseph Lewis, Scott Anthony Lewis, and Joseph Christopher Lewis and their descendants as beneficiaries of my estate, it being my intention that they shall receive no benefits hereunder,” the will — which the late star executed in 2012 — read.

Jerry, Patti, Gary, and Ronald in 1953.

Gary, 71, Ronald, 68, Scott, 61, Christopher, 60, Anthony 58, and Joseph — who sadly passed away at age 45 from a drug overdose in October 2009
— were Jerry’s six children with his first wife, singer Patti Palmer. The comedy icon and Patti were previously married from 1944 until 1980. Three years after finalizing his divorce, Jerry tied the knot with Las Vegas dancer SanDee in February 1983. The couple adopted their only child, 25-year-old daughter Danielle Sara Lewis, shortly after her birth in 1992.

Danielle, Jerry, and SanDee in 2014.

Following his death on Aug. 20, 2017, from end-stage cardiac disease, Jerry left his estimated $50-70 million fortune entirely to SanDee. In the case that something would happen to the star’s wife, his estate would then go to his youngest child, daughter Danielle. Interestingly, it was Danielle — who was working as her famous father’s manager — who confirmed Jerry’s death to the media in late August. “He passed peacefully at home of natural causes with his loving family at his side,” she said in a statement at the time, according to People.