John Wayne met Chata in 1941 while he was visiting in Mexico. In 1946, he divorced his first wife and mother of four of his children and married Chata. She was an alcoholic and had a very dangerous temper. Her mother was also an alcoholic and had moved in with the couple. While Wayne was filming
L'ultima conquista (1947), Chata convinced herself that he and co-star
Gail Russell were having an affair. In truth, Russell, young and in her first major role, did develop a crush on Wayne but he always denied there was ever an affair The night the film wrapped, after a party for the cast and crew, Wayne came home very late and Chata, very drunk and very angry by that time, attempted to shoot him as he walked through the front door. Fortunately, the bullet whizzed past his head. The next day she begged him to forgive her, swearing she would change, stop drinking, and start acting like a real wife. He agreed to reconcile, Chata became sober, but eventually she began to drink again heavily, many times with her mother. Wayne had Chata's mother sent back to Mexico, sobered his wife up again, and asked for a divorce. However, they reconciled again, which became a pattern until Wayne found out that Chata and hotel heir
Conrad Hilton Jr. had an affair while Hilton was staying as a guest at the Wayne residence in May 1952. They separated the next month and Chata returned to Mexico. They were officially divorced in November 1954.
