Dr. Phil McGraw cheated on his high school sweetheart and wife Debbie Higgins throughout their marriage of three years, but the renowned author did not have to wait long to find love again after their divorce.

When Dr. Phil was just 19 years old, he returned home to see his parents because he was sick, and that’s when he met his future wife, Robin McGraw. Phillip was drawn to her despite the fact that she seemed a little disheveled and her hair was a mess, but this did not prevent him from being attracted to her.

Robin claims that the attraction was two-way and that she always felt he would be the one for her. But despite the initial connection they had, Phillip ended up marrying another lady, to whom he had already given a promise ring, a year after they first met. Take a look at the people he has married.

While Phillip and Debbie Higgins were still in high school, they fell in love with one other, and their relationship remained strong even after they graduated. The actor never stopped pursuing Debbie and eventually surprised her with a promise ring.

Debbie uprooted her life and relocated to Springfield, Missouri, to pursue a degree in social work at Southwest Missouri State University, while Phillip attended the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma on a football scholarship.

In order to maintain their blossoming relationship, the two began traveling back and forth between Springfield and Tulsa. Debbie’s financial situation became untenable after two semesters, and she was forced to withdraw from school as a result.

She relocated to Kansas, where she had grown up, and began attending both a junior college and a cosmetology school there. On the other hand, Phillip was dissatisfied with the arrangement, so he proposed that she go to Lubbock and get a job at a fitness center there.

Finally, Debbie gave in, and she moved to Lubbock to be with him on May 11, 1970, the same day that a tornado ripped through the town and claimed the lives of 26 people.

Six months later, the couple tied the wedding at Southbridge Presbyterian Church in Roland Park, Kansas. Higgins had attended this church throughout his youth, so it had special significance for him.

Both of the groom’s and the bride’s sisters were there for the ceremony. The sister of the bride served as the matron of honor, while one of the groom’s sisters was a bridesmaid.

However, the ceremony was not quite as flawless as it might have been since the “Debbie and Ed” monogram was printed in error on the wedding napkins. After that, the newlywed Mr. and Mrs. McGraw went to Vail, Colorado, for their honeymoon before heading back to Lubbock.

After two years of marriage, the pair decided to move to Kansas, where Phillip founded the Gracian Health Spa in Topeka. At the time, the bride’s mother was troubled by the fact that her youngest daughter had relocated to such a distant location.

After some time had passed, the couple’s relationship quickly began to deteriorate. During the relationship, Phillip was a loving and attentive partner, but when they were married, his conduct changed.

He was not as emotional or passionate as he had been in the past, and he seldom expressed his love for his wife. The last straw for Phillip was when he reached an extreme level of control, at which point he barred his wife from the company and prohibited her to go to the spa.

Phillip’s meteoric climb to prominence as a tv personality and the author have resulted in the couple’s combined net worth reaching 460 million dollars.

After that, he began emotionally and vocally isolating her from everyone around her. When Phillip got home from work, he stopped talking to her and even informed her at one point that she did not have the mental ability to hold a discussion with him. He did this after he had been gone all day.

Once, the couple traveled with their children all the way from Topeka to Wichita Falls, and for the whole of the journey, they did not communicate with one another at all. The following, as stated by Debbie:

“That is the path that a troubled marriage takes from bad to worse.

They continue to knock you down until you are defeated. And you start to doubt yourself.'”

Additionally, Phillip began having an affair with Debbie. Friends and neighbors confided in her that they had seen him bring other women into the house while she was not there, which is how she found out about his cheating ways. After that, Debbie approached him, and she provided the following explanation:

“When I questioned him about his infidelity, he didn’t deny these females and told me that it had nothing to do with his sentiments for me, to grow up, that’s the way it was in the world,” she said. “When I confronted him about his infidelity, he didn’t deny these ladies.”

The fact that Phillip did not feel any remorse for cheating on his wife was the last straw for his wife, and it did not take long for the couple to decide to end their marriage as a result.

The majority of people were not taken aback when they heard the news of their divorce, notably, the couple’s acquaintance who had previously characterized Higgins as having rough edges, being unpolished, and not being the kind of lady someone as driven as Phillip should have married.

Some individuals held the belief that she was an archetypal bubblehead cheerleader who had been outgrown by her spouse and anticipated that this would occur.

Their divorce was formalized in December 1973, and they did not see one other again until their 30-year high school reunion in Kansas, when Debbie, who was now Debbie McCall, said hello to Phillip and his new wife. This was the first time they had seen each other since their divorce was finalized.

When Phillip first met Robin, it wasn’t long after he had finalized the divorce from Debbie, and the two hit it off right away. Robin claims that she had no doubt that Phillip was the one from the minute the two of them went out on their first date together.

The newlyweds received their first child, a boy named Jay McGraw, on September 12, 1979, only three short years after they exchanged their wedding vows in August 1996, just a few of years after they had first met each other. On October 21, 1986, the McGraw family welcomed their second son, Jordan McGraw.

Robin said on her Instagram that she and her future husband first met while they were both young, underprivileged college students who needed to hold down two jobs apiece to pay for their wedding ceremony. Even her $99 wedding dress had to be placed on layaway since she couldn’t afford it. To which Robin, who is also an accomplished novelist in her own right, responded:

Back then, we didn’t have much, but we did have the vow that we would love one another, appreciate each other, and respect each other for the rest of our lives.

After Phillip’s rise to prominence as a TV personality and author, the couple’s net worth has increased to a combined total of $460 million in recent years. Robin said that the two of them had maintained their strength throughout the years by being very transparent about their relationship. The woman who was a mother to two revealed:

“We discussed our requirements, and I let him know that I couldn’t be married in a house where there was constant fighting. I explained to him that even if I don’t live in a fairy tale, I still deserved to be treated with respect and decency.”

She stated that balancing their work as well as their obligations as parents and lovers have not been easy for the couple, but the fact that they enjoy being together has helped them make it through the challenging times. Robin declared:

“However, we are both of the opinions that it is a sure thing one hundred percent of the time. Therefore, we both concentrate on marriage, and before to being married, we both completed our research and preparation. We became familiar with one another’s requirements and continue to base our interactions on this knowledge.”

The couple has been married for more than 45 years at this point, and it seems like their connection is just becoming stronger with no indication that it will ever stop growing.