Suzanne Chase is a name often used online for the first wife of comedian and actor Chevy Chase. But there is an important detail many biography pages miss: stronger biographical records identify Chevy’s first wife as Susan Hewitt, not Suzanne. Chevy married Susan in New York City on February 23, 1973, and their marriage ended on February 1, 1976.
That small name difference has created a surprising amount of confusion. Search for Suzanne Chase today and you may find websites presenting detailed birth dates, careers, photographs, and even family histories. Much of that information cannot be tied confidently to Chevy Chase’s real first wife.
What is certain is more interesting than the invented details. Susan Hewitt was part of Chevy’s life immediately before he exploded into national fame on Saturday Night Live. Their marriage covered a short but important period when Chevy was changing from a struggling young performer into one of American television’s hottest comedy stars.
Is Suzanne Chase Really Susan Hewitt?
This is the first question that needs a clear answer.
Many newer websites call Chevy Chase’s first wife Suzanne Chase and then say her birth name was Susan Hewitt.
However, established biographies of Chevy identify his first wife simply as Susan Hewitt.
They do not clearly establish that Suzanne was another legal or professional first name.
That means it is safer to say that “Suzanne Chase” is a name now commonly used online for Susan Hewitt rather than presenting Suzanne as a firmly documented legal identity.
This matters because once one biography website makes a small mistake, dozens of other sites may copy it.
Soon the repeated claim begins to look like a fact.
For this article, Suzanne Chase refers to the woman reliably documented as Susan Hewitt, Chevy Chase’s first wife.
Why Is So Little Known About Susan Hewitt?
There is a simple reason.
She did not become a celebrity herself.
Susan’s marriage ended just as Chevy was becoming enormously famous.
After the divorce, she did not appear to build a public career around being his former wife.
She did not spend decades giving interviews about Chevy.
She did not write a widely known memoir.
She did not become a reality television personality.
As a result, the public record is extremely small.
That may feel unusual today, when people connected with celebrities can develop their own social-media audiences. But the early 1970s were very different.
A brief marriage could end, and one person could largely disappear from entertainment reporting.
That appears to be what happened here.
What Was Susan Hewitt’s Early Life Like?
Reliable public information about Susan’s childhood is very limited.
Her exact date of birth is not firmly established in major sources.
Neither are her parents, siblings, schools, or childhood home.
Some modern websites provide a 1949 birth year.
Others add detailed stories about her upbringing.
Those claims should not automatically be accepted.
Without an original record or a strong published profile, repeating them would give a false sense of certainty.
This is especially important because Susan Hewitt is not an unusual name.
Records belonging to unrelated people can easily become attached to the wrong woman.
So the responsible answer is simple:
Susan’s life before Chevy Chase remains largely private.
How Did Susan Hewitt Meet Chevy Chase?
The exact story of their first meeting is also not well documented.
Chevy was still developing his entertainment career during the period before their marriage.
He had not yet become the household name audiences would know from Saturday Night Live, Caddyshack, Fletch, and the Vacation movies.
That means Susan knew him during a very different stage of his life.
This was before Clark Griswold.
Before Weekend Update made his face famous.
Before Hollywood was offering him major movie roles.
Their relationship belonged to Chevy’s pre-superstar years.
That alone makes Susan an interesting figure in his personal history.
Who Was Chevy Chase in the Early 1970s?
Chevy Chase was born Cornelius Crane Chase on October 8, 1943, in New York.
Before becoming famous, his career was unpredictable.
He experimented with music.
He performed comedy.
He wrote.
He worked with different comedy groups and projects.
His path did not look like a guaranteed route to Hollywood success.
Chevy eventually became involved with the National Lampoon comedy world.
That experience helped bring him toward the type of comedy that would make him famous.
But when he married Susan in 1973, the television breakthrough was still ahead.
When Did Suzanne Chase and Chevy Chase Marry?
Chevy Chase and Susan Hewitt married on February 23, 1973.
The wedding took place in New York City.
Chevy was 29 years old.
This became his first marriage.
The couple entered married life before one of the biggest changes in Chevy’s career.
Within only a few years, he would be appearing every week on a new late-night comedy program called Saturday Night.
That show would later become Saturday Night Live.
Very few people could have predicted how quickly his life was about to change.
Their Marriage Happened Before Saturday Night Live
This timeline is one of the most important parts of Susan’s story.
Chevy married Susan in 1973.
Saturday Night Live premiered in October 1975.
So they had already been married for more than two years when Chevy joined the original cast.
Suddenly, a marriage that began before major fame was being affected by a completely different professional world.
Chevy was appearing on national television.
Audiences loved his sarcastic style.
His physical comedy became recognizable.
And Weekend Update helped make him the program’s first major breakout performer.
Fame arrived extremely quickly.
The marriage did not survive much longer.
Was Susan Hewitt With Chevy During His First SNL Season?
Yes, at least during the beginning of it.
The first episode aired on October 11, 1975.
Susan and Chevy’s divorce was finalized on February 1, 1976.
So Chevy was still legally married to Susan when Saturday Night Live began.
That is an important correction because people sometimes associate his first SNL period only with Jacqueline Carlin, his second wife.
Jacqueline certainly became important to Chevy during the show’s early history.
But Susan was still his wife when the program premiered.
A useful internal-link opportunity would be Chevy Chase’s Saturday Night Live career.
How Long Were Suzanne Chase and Chevy Married?
The marriage lasted just under three years.
They married in February 1973.
Their divorce became final in February 1976.
That makes it Chevy’s shortest documented marriage.
His second marriage to Jacqueline Carlin lasted from 1976 until 1980.
His third marriage, to Jayni Luke, began in 1982 and has lasted for decades.
Susan therefore belongs to a very early chapter of Chevy’s adult personal life.
Why Did Chevy Chase and Susan Hewitt Divorce?
The complete private reason is not firmly documented in mainstream sources.
That means we should be careful.
It is easy to look at Chevy’s rapidly changing career and assume fame destroyed the marriage.
Perhaps fame created pressure.
Perhaps there were problems already.
Perhaps the relationship simply stopped working.
Without Susan or Chevy providing a clear, reliable account that explains everything, one simple cause should not be presented as fact.
A divorce is usually more complicated than one headline.
The established fact is that the marriage ended on February 1, 1976.
The private reasons belong largely to the two people involved.
Did Susan Hewitt and Chevy Chase Have Children?
There is no reliable evidence that Susan and Chevy had children together.
Chevy’s widely documented children come from later relationships.
He has three daughters with his third wife, Jayni Chase:
Cydney Chase.
Caley Chase.
Emily Chase.
Chevy also has a son, Bryan Perkins, from an earlier relationship.
But none of those children should be incorrectly identified as Susan Hewitt’s child.
A useful internal-link opportunity would be Chevy Chase’s children and family life.
Claims About a Pregnancy Should Be Treated Carefully
Some accounts of Chevy’s early life discuss a pregnancy connected with his relationship with Susan before or around their marriage.
These stories generally trace back to later accounts about Chevy rather than independent public statements from Susan.
That distinction matters.
Susan has not become a public figure who has given her own detailed version of events.
For sensitive personal subjects, especially pregnancy, it is better not to turn one person’s account into a fully established two-sided fact.
The safest approach is to recognize that such claims exist without using them to define Susan’s life.
What Happened in 1976?
The year 1976 became a major turning point for Chevy.
His marriage to Susan officially ended in February.
At the same time, Saturday Night Live was transforming his career.
Chevy won major television recognition for his work on the show, including Emmy success.
He then began moving toward Hollywood.
His personal life also changed quickly.
Within the same year, he married Jacqueline Carlin.
Chevy and Jacqueline were married on December 4, 1976.
That means less than a year separated his divorce from Susan and his second marriage.
Who Was Jacqueline Carlin?
Jacqueline Carlin was an actress and model who had connections to the early Saturday Night Live world.
Her relationship with Chevy became serious while his career was moving rapidly.
Chevy eventually left his full-time role on SNL.
His desire to live in California near Jacqueline has often been discussed as part of that decision.
Their marriage lasted until November 14, 1980.
Like Susan and Chevy, Jacqueline and Chevy did not have children together.
A natural internal-link opportunity would be Jacqueline Carlin and Chevy Chase’s marriage.
Susan Did Not Compete With Chevy’s New Celebrity Life
This may be one of the most revealing aspects of her story.
After the divorce, Susan did not appear to launch a public campaign against Chevy.
She did not become a permanent part of the entertainment press.
There were no decades of highly public interviews about their former marriage.
Instead, her name largely disappeared.
That makes it difficult to answer modern questions about her.
But it may also tell us something important:
Her identity was not built around continuing to be Chevy Chase’s ex-wife.
Did Suzanne Chase Have an Acting Career?
There is no strong evidence connecting Chevy Chase’s first wife Susan Hewitt to a documented professional acting career.
This is another area where online confusion has become a problem.
There is an IMDb page for a performer named Suzanne Chase.
That person has credits from around 1990 and 1991.
There is not enough evidence to identify that actress as Chevy’s former wife.
A matching name is not enough.
Two people can easily share a name.
This is especially important when Susan herself is not reliably documented as having used “Suzanne Chase” professionally.
So claims that Chevy’s first wife became an actress should be treated cautiously.
Are Photos Online Really Suzanne Chase?
Many are almost certainly mislabeled.
Search results for “Suzanne Chase Chevy Chase” regularly display photographs of Jayni Chase, Chevy’s third and current wife.
Jayni has appeared with Chevy at many premieres and charity events.
Those photographs are easy to find.
Because some websites wrongly label them as Suzanne, the mistake then spreads.
Other photos may show Jacqueline Carlin.
So readers should not assume that every image appearing beside an article titled “Suzanne Chase” actually shows Susan Hewitt.
This is a common problem with biographies of private former spouses.
What Did Chevy Do After Susan?
After his first marriage ended, Chevy’s career accelerated.
He became a major movie star.
His films included Foul Play, Caddyshack, Seems Like Old Times, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Fletch, Spies Like Us, Three Amigos!, Funny Farm, and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
His role as Clark Griswold became especially important.
The character turned him into part of American holiday-comedy culture.
Much later, television audiences discovered him again as Pierce Hawthorne on Community.
By then, his marriage to Susan was a distant part of his past.
Chevy Eventually Found a Much Longer Marriage
Chevy married Jayni Luke on June 19, 1982, in Pacific Palisades.
They went on to have three daughters together.
That marriage lasted far longer than his first two.
The contrast naturally makes people curious about what happened before Jayni.
That curiosity brings Susan’s name back into searches.
But comparing the three marriages as though they happened under identical circumstances would be unfair.
Chevy was at completely different stages of his life.
When he married Susan, he was not yet an SNL superstar.
When he married Jacqueline, his celebrity was exploding.
When he married Jayni, he had already experienced years of fame and two divorces.
Did Susan Hewitt Remarry?
There is no widely established mainstream source confirming Susan’s later marital history.
Some newer biography websites claim she remarried.
Others say she remained single.
Neither type of claim should be accepted without reliable evidence.
Susan stepped outside the public entertainment record after her divorce.
That means a later marriage could have happened privately.
It also means she could have remained unmarried.
The evidence simply is not strong enough to give a confident answer.
Did Susan Have Children Later?
Again, there is no reliable public documentation that clearly answers this question.
We know she did not have publicly documented children with Chevy.
What happened in her private life after 1976 is another matter.
Absence from celebrity biographies does not prove someone never had children.
It simply means those details are not publicly established.
That distinction is especially important for a person who did not choose a public career.
Where Is Suzanne Chase Today?
Reliable current information about Susan Hewitt is extremely limited.
There are no clearly verified recent interviews.
There is no confirmed public social-media account tied to Chevy’s first wife.
There is no strong mainstream source establishing her current city, relationship status, or occupation.
That may disappoint readers.
But inventing an answer would be worse.
If Susan is still living privately, she has successfully remained outside the celebrity spotlight for around half a century.
That privacy deserves respect.
Is Suzanne Chase Still Alive?
The strongest readily available biographies of Chevy do not provide a confirmed death date for Susan Hewitt.
That does not justify claiming that she is definitely alive in 2026.
It simply means there is not enough reliable public information to state her current status with certainty.
This is another example of why biographies should distinguish “not publicly reported” from “confirmed.”
Those are not the same thing.
What Is Suzanne Chase’s Net Worth?
There is no reliable estimate of Susan Hewitt’s personal net worth.
Any exact figure should be treated skeptically.
Her later career is not firmly documented.
Her assets are not public.
There is no reliable information about her investments, property, income, or divorce settlement.
Chevy’s later wealth does not tell us Susan’s finances.
They divorced in 1976, before much of his movie career even happened.
So claims assigning Susan millions of dollars simply because she was once married to Chevy are not supported.
Why Is She Called Chevy Chase’s “Mysterious First Wife”?
Mostly because so little information exists.
But “mysterious” can be misleading.
Susan did not necessarily disappear because something dramatic happened.
She may simply have chosen an ordinary private life.
The internet has made us expect detailed information about everyone connected with a famous person.
That expectation does not fit someone whose marriage ended in 1976.
Susan lived most of her later life before social media became normal.
A person could simply stop appearing in entertainment coverage.
Why Do People Still Search for Suzanne Chase?
Chevy Chase remains famous across several generations.
Some people know him from the original Saturday Night Live.
Others know Ty Webb from Caddyshack.
Many know Clark Griswold.
Others remember Fletch.
Younger viewers discovered him through Community.
Eventually, fans search his personal history.
Then they see three marriages.
Jayni Chase is easy to research because she remained with Chevy for decades.
Jacqueline Carlin also has an entertainment record.
Susan Hewitt is different.
Her story stops appearing publicly almost as soon as their marriage ends.
That gap creates curiosity.
And unfortunately, it also creates space for unreliable websites to fill the silence with invented details.
What We Can Reliably Say About Suzanne Chase
The most useful facts are actually quite simple.
The woman commonly searched online as Suzanne Chase is associated with Chevy Chase’s first wife, whose documented name is Susan Hewitt.
Chevy and Susan married in New York City on February 23, 1973.
Their divorce was finalized on February 1, 1976.
They were still married when Saturday Night Live premiered in October 1975.
No reliable source establishes children from their marriage.
Chevy married Jacqueline Carlin later in 1976.
Susan then largely disappeared from public entertainment reporting.
Her exact birth date, later career, later relationships, current residence, personal net worth, and present-day status are not strongly documented.
Sometimes a short list of confirmed facts is more useful than a long list of guesses.
Final Thoughts
Suzanne Chase is a perfect example of how internet biographies can become more certain than the historical evidence.
Start with her name.
Many websites call her Suzanne Chase.
But the stronger record identifies Chevy Chase’s first wife as Susan Hewitt.
That should immediately make readers cautious about websites claiming to know every detail of Suzanne’s childhood, career, finances, and current life.
What we actually know tells a clear story.
Susan married Chevy in New York City on February 23, 1973.
At that point, he had not yet become one of America’s biggest comedy stars.
They experienced his early career together.
Then came 1975.
Saturday Night Live premiered.
Chevy became a breakout star almost immediately.
Only months later, his first marriage officially ended.
The divorce was finalized on February 1, 1976.
Chevy’s life then moved at incredible speed.
He married Jacqueline Carlin before the end of that year.
He left Saturday Night Live.
He moved into movies.
Eventually, he became the star audiences remember from Caddyshack, Fletch, Vacation, and many other projects.
Susan went in the opposite direction.
She left the celebrity story.
That is why Suzanne Chase/Susan Hewitt remains intriguing today.
She was present immediately before one of comedy’s biggest careers exploded into fame, yet she did not spend the rest of her life trying to remain attached to that fame.
Sometimes privacy leaves fewer facts.
But those few confirmed facts are more valuable than a biography filled with details that were never properly verified.
FAQs About Suzanne Chase
Who is Suzanne Chase?
Suzanne Chase is a name commonly used online for Chevy Chase’s first wife. Stronger biographical records identify his first wife as Susan Hewitt, so the Suzanne name should be treated cautiously.
When did Suzanne Chase marry Chevy Chase?
Chevy Chase and Susan Hewitt married in New York City on February 23, 1973.
When did Chevy Chase divorce his first wife?
Their divorce was finalized on February 1, 1976.
Did Suzanne Chase and Chevy Chase have children?
There are no reliably documented children from Chevy Chase’s marriage to Susan Hewitt.
Was Suzanne Chase an actress?
There is no strong evidence establishing Chevy Chase’s first wife as a professional actress. Online records for actresses with the same or similar name should not automatically be connected to Susan Hewitt.
Why is there so little information about Suzanne Chase?
Susan Hewitt did not maintain a major public profile after divorcing Chevy. Reliable details about her later career, relationships, family, and current life remain limited.
Is Suzanne Chase still alive?
A reliable current status for Susan Hewitt is not clearly established in major public sources. There is also no sufficiently strong public death record that should be attached to her without further identification.
