Beach Boys' Brian Wilson mourns death of wife Melinda Ledbetter: 'She was my savior'

Brian Wilson is mourning the death of his wife, Melinda Ledbetter.

The Beach Boys songwriter and bassist announced Ledbetter's death at 77 in a heartfelt social media post Tuesday. "My heart is broken," he wrote. "Melinda, my beloved wife of 28 years, passed away this morning. Our five children and I are just in tears. We are lost."

Born in Pueblo, Colo. and raised in Whittier, Calif., Ledbetter worked as a model and a car salesperson before meeting Wilson in 1986. Wilson, who has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and mild bipolar disorder, was under the strict supervision of psychologist Eugene Landy at the time. Ledbetter reported Landy to the attorney general in 1989; the case was dismissed and the couple went their separate ways at Landy's behest.

Two years later, Wilson's family filed a conservatorship lawsuit and removed him from the psychologist's care. Ledbetter and Wilson then rekindled their relationship, and they married in 1995. The couple went on to adopt five children together, and Ledbetter served as Wilson's manager from 1999 onward.

In his social media post, Wilson praised his late wife for her care and support. "Melinda was more than my wife. She was my savior," he wrote. "She gave me the emotional security I needed to have a career. She encouraged me to make the music that was closest to my heart. She was my anchor. She was everything for us. Please say a prayer for her."

Wilson's post also contained a message from his children. "It is with a heavy heart that we let everyone know that our mom, Melinda Kay Ledbetter Wilson passed away peacefully this morning at home," they said. "She was a force of nature and one of the strongest women you could come by. She was not only a model, [but also] our [father's] savior, and a mother, she was a woman empowered by her spirit with a mission to better everyone she touched."

They continued, "We will miss her but cherish everything she has taught us. How to take care of the person next to you with out expecting anything in return, how to find beauty in the darkest of places, and how to live life as your truest self with honesty and pride."

Ledbetter was portrayed by Elizabeth Banks in the 2014 biopic Love & Mercy, which saw Paul Dano and John Cusack play Wilson at two distinct points in his life. Screenwriter Oren Moverman told Collider that he primarily based the Cusack and Banks section of the movie on Ledbetter's firsthand accounts of her courtship with Wilson.

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