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Vanna White has been a beloved television fixture for more than four decades, best known for her iconic role revealing letters on Wheel of Fortune since the early 1980s. After longtime co-host Pat Sajak retired in 2024, she continued her hosting duties alongside Ryan Seacrest into the 2025–26 season.
While the show remains her signature role, White’s personal life made headlines in January 2026 when she revealed that she and her longtime partner, John Donaldson, had quietly married in a private ceremony. Announcing the news via Instagram on January 21, she wrote, “Surprise! We got married!” after more than a decade together.
Before her marriage to Donaldson, White was married to restaurateur George Santo Pietro from 1990 to 2002, with whom she shares two children. Keep reading to find out more about John and Vanna’s relationship as well as her past loves!
Vanna White has been dating John Donaldson since 2012
Vanna and John began dating in 2012, and their relationship quietly grew stronger over the years. The longtime Wheel of Fortune co-host has often spoken about the simplicity of their life together, once describing her ideal date night in a 2019 interview with Closer Weekly as “a very simple dinner with a bottle of wine… at home or at a restaurant — as long as I’m not cooking!”
Over the years, Donaldson has also become close with White’s two children, and the TV personality has frequently shared photos of the blended family on her Instagram celebrating holidays and milestones together. She’s consistently praised Donaldson in interviews, telling Closer in 2016, “He is kind, understanding, and lets me be me… The biggest surprise to my fans is probably how simple I live in real life.”
For years, White downplayed the importance of marriage, even saying in 2019, “We feel married,” and explaining that a legal document wasn’t necessary for everyone. However, in a surprise announcement, White revealed in January 2026 that she and Donaldson had officially tied the knot in a private ceremony, sharing the joyful news on social media after more than a decade together.
John is a Contractor
While Vanna is a show business icon, John has been a business owner for about 30 years. He owns a contracting couple, which he began in 1992 and formally incorporated in 1998, according to his website. As a contractor, he’s worked on homes for stars like Richard Dreyfuss and Dan Akroyd, but he has skills that are perfect for a wide array of jobs. “For more than two decades JDC has been trusted by individuals, families and institutions throughout Southern and Northern California to complete a variety of residential property renovations, from custom single family homes to apartment communities ranging from 100 to 600 units,” his website says.
Vanna’s first husband was George Santo Pietro
She was married once before to George Santo Pietro from 1990 to 2002. The exes share two kids: a son Nikko and daughter Gigi. While the pair have mostly kept quiet about their relationship, they did reveal that Vanna was pregnant during a puzzle on Wheel in 1992, but she sadly suffered a miscarriage shortly after. She opened up about the heartbreak of the miscarriage in a 2019 interview with People. “Obviously I lost the baby, which was devastating after announcing it. The good news is I was able to get pregnant again and had two beautiful, healthy children,” she said. “But losing a child — there’s nothing good about that.”
She was engaged two other times
Besides her marriage to George, Vanna was planning on walking down the aisle on at least two other occasions. She got engaged to dancer and actor John Gibson in the 80s. John was tragically killed in a plane crash in May 1986. She opened up about fans from the show sharing their stories about similar experiences with her in the above-mentioned People interview. “I heard from so many people who had shared the same experience of losing someone instantly in an accident, and that really helped me. I didn’t feel like I was alone,” she said.
After her divorce from George, Vanna began dating businessman Michael Kaye. The couple got engaged in 2004, but they never exchanged vows, and the pair split up.
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