Robert Redford’s marriage to environmental activist Cibilel Cigarger

Robert Redford and Civil Zaggers shared a decades-long romance.

The pair met in 1996 at actor-director Sundance Mountain Resort. There, German environmentalist and multimedia artist Szaggars came to ski. At the time, she didn’t know much about Redford except that he was an actor.

“I knew him. I saw Jeremiah Johnson (one of my favourite movies) and barefoot in the park,” Zaggers said of the Redford film at a 2014 panel at Young Arts Salon.

Szaggers shared that Redford invited her and a group of friends to dinner, and she thought, “Oh, my god, I don’t know his movies.”

Luckily, one of Redford’s friends told her that she could rent his film from the reception. Two nights before dinner, she said she saw “randomly” 15 minutes of six or eight movies he rented. But he didn’t.

“What if he wanted to talk about his film?” I’m not thinking – that’s very embarrassing.

Redford said that what Suzagar doesn’t know much about him actually attracted him to her. He added that they “started from a more uniform playing field,” and that “there was no need to worry about the agenda.”

“It was a great beginning for a relationship because it was because two people met each other and found connections as two people, not coloured by success,” he said.

Since then, the couple has remained private about their relationship.

However, in May 2008, Redford revealed to the German magazine Bunte that he and Szaggars were married. “We’re engaged in it and I’m very pleased. She’s my fiancé and that says it all, right?” he said.

They tied the knot in a private ceremony in front of 30 family and friends at the luxurious Louis C. Jacob Hotel in their German hometown in July 2009.

Pastor Frank Engelbrecht of St. Catherine’s Church in Hamburg told people at the time that the couple “wanted a very intimate ceremony.”

Redford opened about Zaggers in a 2011 cover story of Earp the Magazine in 2011, telling the outlet that his wife is “a very special person,” giving him a “a whole new life.”

Redford and Zagher share their passion for environmental work. In 2015, Szaggars founded the Road of Rain, and Redford served as vice president. The nonprofit organization “dedicates to the development, production and performance of education and arts, designed with themes to promote public awareness to support the protection of our planet.”

Szaggars joined Redford at the gala premiere of his film. Everything was lost at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. A year later, the couple was walking their arms to their arms on the Golden Globes red carpet.

Most of their publications are based on joint philanthropy work advocating for the arts and the environment. In 2015, the pair won the Princess Grace Foundation-USA Prince Rainier III Award at the Monaco Award Gala.

The pair were honored for environmental leaders at Ryerson Woods’ 35th Smith Nature Symposium & Benefits in 2018.

“Sibylle and I were honored to receive this award at the Brushwood Center, a place that inspires thoughts and provides inspiration to protect the natural world,” Redford said.

Both attended Prince Albert II at the Monaco Foundation’s Annual Awards Ceremony in 2021, recognising “a deep commitment to maintaining our planet.”

Although Redford and Zaggers did not have children together, she is the stepmother of the children of Redford’s children from their previous marriages.

Redford passed away on Tuesday morning, September 16th at his mountain home outside Provo, Utah, according to the New York Times. There was no cause for death, but Rogers and Cowan PM CEO Cindy Berger told the outlet in a statement that he died while he was asleep.