A Look Back at Brian Wilson’s Decades-Long Love Story with His Wife Melinda Before Their Deaths

Brian Wilson and his wife, Melinda Ledbetter Wilson, had a decades-long love story before both of their deaths.

On June 11, The Beach Boys founding member’s family announced that his death on Instagram, writing, “We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away.”

“We are at a loss for words right now,” the statement continued. “Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world. Love & Mercy.”

Years before his death, Brian was married to Melinda, who he met at a car dealership in the 1980s. The pair wed in 1995 and remained together for nearly three decades, until Melinda died on Jan. 30, 2024.

During their marriage, Brian and Melinda welcomed five children together via adoption: Dakota Rose, Daria Rose, Delanie Rose, Dylan and Dash. Brian also had two daughters, Carnie and Wendy, from his first marriage.

“I’ve never had a relationship with a girl like we have,” Brian told PEOPLE of Melinda in 1998. “She’s a partner who’s also a best friend.”

From their first encounter at a Cadillac dealership to Brian’s touching tribute to Melinda after her death, here’s a look back at the couple’s decades-long love story.

They met while Melinda was working as a saleswoman in 1986

When Brian first met Melinda, she sold him a car — a brown Cadillac Seville, to be exact. It was the first car she showed him.

“I remember meeting her at her dealership, Cadillac, and I said, ‘God, she’s a pretty girl. That’s a pretty girl,’ ” Brian told ABC News in 2015. “I just said to myself, ‘God, I think I’ll see her again sometime.’ ”

Speaking of her first thoughts on Brian, Melinda told the outlet she liked his personality. “That’s what attracted me to him,” she recalled. “He was so nice.”

In a 2004 interview with Larry King, Melinda said that she knew who Brian was, but didn’t realize the important role he played in his band. “I knew of the Beach Boys, but I really didn’t know that Brian was the genius behind the Beach Boys,” she said.

They dated on and off before rekindling their relationship in 1992

After reconnecting in 1992, Melinda and Brian wed in California on Feb. 6, 1995.

“The vibrations in that chapel were so wonderful,” Brian said after the ceremony, referencing his Beach Boys hit song “Good Vibrations.”

Brian’s daughters Carnie and Wendy performed one of their dad’s most iconic songs, “God Only Knows.” The song was “our special gift to him,” said Carnie, adding, “It means so much to see Dad happy.”

Brian and Melinda celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary in 2023, marking the occasion with a post on Brian’s professional Instagram.

Melinda served as Brian’s manager

In 1999, Melinda became Brian’s manager, taking charge of all his bookings.

Speaking to Rolling Stone in 1999, Melinda said the managerial job was “basically negotiating, and that’s what I did every single day when I sold cars.”

Before Melinda took the managerial reins, Landy was Brian’s manager — and Melinda told Rolling Stone his control over the Beach Boys singer reached a parental level.

“There was a total parallel between Murry and Landy,” Melinda said, referencing Brian’s dad and former manager of the Beach Boys, Murry.

They welcomed five children together

Brian and Melinda welcomed five children through adoption during their 28 years of marriage: Dylan, Dash, Daria, Delanie and Dakota. Brian also previously welcomed two daughters, Carnie and Wendy, with his first wife, Marilyn.

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“About a year into our marriage, we decided we wanted children, and we didn’t get married til I was 48,” Melinda explained in her 2004 with King. “We decided we would adopt.”

“I was thrilled to be able to do it,” Brian added.

Shortly after Melinda’s death, Brian’s children filed for a conservatorship, which was approved in May 2024. At the time of the filing, his family claimed that he was suffering from a “major neurocognitive disorder (such as dementia)” that means that he now “lacks the capacity to make his own healthcare decisions.”

Their love story was immortalized in the 2015 film Love & Mercy

In 2015, Elizabeth Banks and John Cusack teamed up to portray Melinda and Brian on the big screen. The biopic, Love & Mercy, recreated the couple’s introduction at the Cadillac dealership. It also documented Brian’s struggles with mental health and the complicated relationship with his overbearing psychiatrist and legal guardian, Landy, played by Paul Giamatti.

“I didn’t know how tough it would be,” Melinda told ABC News of seeing the film for the first time. “I think I was more nervous than him when I took him to see it, and after, I said, ‘So what did you think?’ And he goes, ‘Oh, it was really a lot worse in real life.’ ”

Banks spoke to Melinda while she was preparing to play her in the movie.

“She said to me, ‘Music is his first love. Nothing can replace it. It’s his being, it’s his essence, it’s his everything, So I’m settling for second, but it’s a pretty good — it’s a pretty good second,’ ” Banks said of her conversation with Melinda to ABC News.

“Not many people understand how hard it was for Brian then, because not many people were around,” Melinda told USA Today in 2015. “It was mind-boggling. But the goal in doing the film was to be honest,” she continued.

Brian called Melinda his “savior”

When Melinda died on Jan. 30, 2024, at 77 years old, Brian shared a heartfelt tribute to her on Instagram. In the post, which featured two throwback photos of Melinda and the couple, Brian called his late wife his “savior.”

“Our five children and I are just in tears. We are lost,” Brian wrote. “Melinda was more than my wife. She was my savior. 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.”

Brian and Melinda’s children also left a message for their mother in the same caption, writing, “She was a force of nature and one of the strongest women you could come by. She was not only a model, our father’s savior, and a mother, she was a woman empowered by her spirit with a mission to better everyone she touched.”

The message 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. We love you mom. Give Grandma Rose and Pa our love.”