Jaclyn Smith, 80, Exposes the Woman Her First Husband Was Secretly Having an Affair with Behind Her Back – Details

A deeply personal confession from the actress' memoir is showing just how complicated her first marriage really became.

Jaclyn Smith spent decades keeping some of the most painful chapters of her romantic life largely out of the spotlight. Now, at 80, she is revealing a betrayal involving two people she trusted and a discovery she initially found almost impossible to accept.

The "Charlie's Angels" star has opened up about her marriages in her new memoir, "I Once Knew a Guy Named Charlie," including the shocking unraveling of her relationship with her first husband.

And as Smith tells it, the affair itself was only part of the heartbreak. The identity of the woman involved made the betrayal hit much closer to home.

Jaclyn Smith Thought Her First Marriage Was a 'Match Made in Heaven'

Long before she became famous as Kelly Garrett on "Charlie's Angels," Smith was working as a model and actress when she crossed paths with Actor Roger Davis. According to PEOPLE, the pair met at a commercial casting call in 1968, when Davis was starring on the ABC soap opera "Dark Shadows."

They connected quickly and married within months. "I really thought it was a match made in heaven," Smith recalled. "We both didn't drink, we loved architecture, we both were actors, we were both from the South, we liked the same food," she continued. "We liked everything the same, but boy, did I have a lot to learn."

Smith has now been married four times, something she admits might surprise people who know her as someone raised with a strong belief in marriage and family. "I'm a rule-follower from the best family in the whole wide world — no one would think I'd have this many marriages," she said.

Smith added that even her children are surprised by her marital history, although she believes they understand because they know her so well.

Looking back, however, Smith said she does not even feel her first two marriages — to Davis and Actor Dennis Cole — "qualify as marriages in my heart of hearts." Both men, she says, were unfaithful. "But I learned from them," Smith reflected.

A Chance Encounter with Warren Beatty Became Part of a Much Darker Memory

Two years into her relationship with Davis, Smith was walking through New York City with a friend to look at an apartment that she and her then-husband were considering renting. During the outing, they unexpectedly crossed paths with Warren Beatty.

Beatty asked Smith whether she would audition for a movie he was working on, seemingly presenting the young actress with an exciting professional opportunity. But before Smith could properly respond, Davis suddenly appeared.

According to Smith's recollection, Davis stepped in and told Beatty that Smith could not appear in his movie because she only did commercials. At the time, the interruption was strange enough.

What Smith says she later discovered about what had allegedly been happening just moments earlier, however, would completely change the meaning of that encounter.

Another Husband Made the First Move, Then Dropped a Bombshell

Smith says the truth began to emerge in an unexpected way. According to Page Six, a man named Bill made a pass at Smith. But the uncomfortable encounter soon took an even more startling turn. Bill reportedly told Smith that her own husband had been having an affair with his wife, Laura.

Suddenly, Smith was faced with an accusation involving not only the man she had married, but another woman already inside the couple's life. Smith went directly to Laura, and Laura, she says, confessed.

"I couldn't imagine how two people I trusted could have betrayed me, and for so long," Smith wrote in "I Once Knew a Guy Named Charlie." "Laura was telling me to my face what she'd done, but I still couldn't believe it."

Then came the detail that made the situation even more extraordinary: Laura was Smith and Davis' real estate agent. Even more painfully, Smith says Laura revealed that the affair had allegedly been unfolding virtually under her nose. That mysterious New York apartment viewing involving Beatty suddenly took on an entirely different meaning.

While Smith had been downstairs talking with Beatty, she later learned, Davis had allegedly been upstairs having sex with Laura inside the apartment. It was the same apartment Smith and Davis were considering renting together.

Yet even after Laura reportedly admitted what had happened, Smith struggled to reconcile the confession with the man she loved. When Smith confronted Davis, he denied the affair. According to Smith's account, Davis instead claimed Laura was interested in him and suggested that Bill had fabricated the story because he wanted Smith.

"Laura's just jealous. She's always coming on to me, but of course I'm not sleeping with her," Davis allegedly told Smith. "You know, Bill probably wanted to sleep with you, and this is their game." Faced with two radically different versions of events, Smith made a decision that she would later understand very differently: She stayed.

Jaclyn Smith Admits 'Denial' Was Easier than Walking Away

Smith has been candid about why she did not immediately end the marriage. "Denial, I discovered, can be seductive," she wrote. "At that moment, blind belief was easier than truth. And some truths must be seen to be believed."

Leaving meant accepting not only the possibility that Davis had betrayed her, but also that she had misjudged a marriage she believed was built on love and compatibility.

"My options were to leave Roger then, after only two years of marriage, and feel humiliated by my own naïveté, or to give the man I loved the benefit of the doubt and hope I'd made the right decision," she explained. "I chose the latter."

Smith now describes herself at the time as both inexperienced and deeply invested in the idea of romance. "I mean, I was pretty naive and in love with love, but there's a line," she told PEOPLE. Her advice after living through what followed is far less forgiving: "When the paint starts to peel, get out, because it doesn't change."

Their Fourth Wedding Anniversary Brought the Proof She Couldn't Ignore

Smith remained with Davis after Laura's confession. But two years later, the marriage reached a breaking point in a way that left far less room for denial. Smith says she found Davis in bed with another woman on their fourth wedding anniversary. The former couple had married in 1968, the same year they met. Their marriage ultimately ended, with Smith and Davis divorcing in 1975.

It was an experience that Smith carried with her as she moved through fame, motherhood, and three more marriages. Unfortunately, infidelity would surface again in her next relationship.

Her Second Marriage Ended After Another Infidelity Discovery

Smith later married Actor Dennis Cole, whom she met during the first season of "Charlie's Angels." They wed in 1978, but the relationship did not last. Smith says she discovered Cole had been unfaithful after finding a note in his pocket from his son's girlfriend.

She also recalled there being "some jealousy" surrounding the enormous growth of her career during their time together. Still, Smith has not framed Cole entirely negatively. "But he was a nice person," she said. "It just didn't work out." Smith and Cole divorced in 1981.

Motherhood Changed Her Life During Her Third Marriage

Smith's third husband was Cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond, whom she met while working on a 1980 film. After production ended, the two began dating, and Richmond proposed just a month or two into their romance. They married in 1981.

This relationship gave Smith something she once doubted she would ever experience: motherhood. The couple welcomed son Gaston in 1982 and daughter Spencer-Margaret in 1985. "That period in my life was a very beautiful period," Smith recalled.

"I never thought I'd have children, and he gave me these beautiful kids. He was devoted to me, and we worked well together." Their marriage, however, eventually encountered a different kind of struggle.

Smith says Richmond battled addiction, and she ultimately could not continue living with the effects of alcohol and drug abuse. "I think it would've worked, but I couldn't cope with the alcohol and drugs," she said. "The messiness of alcohol and when people abused it turned me off." The pair divorced in 1989.

Smith says Richmond is sober today, and she speaks positively about the progress he has made. "My hat's off to him," she said. "He's doing great. I still respect him." "Thank goodness he saw the light. It can really destroy," the actress added.

She Says She 'Finally Got It Right' with Brad Allen

After three marriages, Smith eventually met the man she believes changed the pattern, and with whom she "finally got it right." Cardiothoracic Surgeon Brad Allen entered her life under circumstances that had nothing to do with Hollywood romance. The pair met in 1991 when Allen helped perform heart surgery on Smith's father.

They married in 1997 and have now spent nearly three decades as husband and wife. For Smith, the relationship appears to represent the kind of marriage she had hoped to find all along. "I got a great husband, great marriage, and the most fantastic stepfather I could ever dream of," she said.

Smith says Allen's relationship with her children has been particularly meaningful. "I mean, he loves my kids like they're his. There's no better gift," she continued. "For a girl that just believed in marriage and kids, I finally got that."

Revisiting These Memories Took an Emotional Toll

Putting decades of her life on paper was far from easy for Smith. Her memoir covers much more than failed relationships; she revisits her Houston childhood, the extraordinary success of "Charlie's Angels," her fashion business, motherhood and the lasting marriage she eventually found.

But returning to the most painful periods proved emotionally exhausting. Smith told USA TODAY that the memories became particularly intense while she was recording the audiobook. "I was crying so much sometimes that we'd have to stop," she said. "It was difficult and exhausting. You think you're at a certain place and you go right back there."

Smith had been working on the memoir long before the 50th-anniversary celebrations surrounding "Charlie's Angels," which premiered on ABC on September 22, 1976. She starred as private detective Kelly Garrett alongside Farrah Fawcett as Jill Munroe and Kate Jackson as Sabrina Duncan.

Smith was also the only original Angel who remained with the series for all five seasons. Yet despite having decades to process the experiences she eventually wrote about, she revealed that finishing the memoir was repeatedly difficult.

"I've been working on this book for a long time, but I've stopped since it was so hard," Smith admitted. Perhaps that explains why her account of her first marriage feels so raw even after so many years.

Smith once had to choose between believing the man she loved and accepting an almost unimaginable confession from another person she trusted; she chose belief. Two years later, she says, she finally saw the truth for herself.