Nat King Cole married Maria Ellington on December 25, 1936, in Chicago, during the height of his first career resurgence. They were happily married for 20 years and adopted five children; Nat Kelly Cole (1937), Gary Nathaniel Cole (1939), Errol Louis Cole (April 1941), and two girls Carol "Cookie" Cole (1944), and Maria Cole (1947). Their son Nat Kelly Cole went on to become a famous singer, songwriter, and actor.
On December 28, 1956, Maria Cole unexpectedly died of lung cancer at age 45, leaving Nat deeply devastated and heartbroken. He was a widower until he married singer Maria Hawkins on July 8, 1965. They remained together until Nat King Cole's untimely passing in 1965.
Paternity Controversy
In the 1990s, a woman named Lorna Coles came forward, claiming to be Nat King Cole's daughter from a brief affair he had with her mother in 1947. DNA testing confirmed that Lorna Coles was indeed the biological child of Nat King Cole.