Off-screen, Bixby faced significant tragedies. He divorced his first wife, actress Brenda Benet, in 1980. In 1981, their six-year-old son Christopher died suddenly from a rare throat infection.
Just a year later, Benet died by suicide. Despite these hardships, Bixby continued working, moving into directing in the 1980s on shows like Goodnight, Beantown and Sledge Hammer!, and eventually becoming a regular director on Blossom.
“I’m a very private person. I rarely go to cocktail parties because I can’t stand the idle chatter of drunks. My weekends are spent at Malibu. I take a lady and got ot the beach and enjoy the beauty of the beach and the lady,” he said.
But in the end, he would find the love of his life.
He married Laura Michaels in 1990, but they divorced in 1991, the same year he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Bixby openly discussed his illness, hoping to raise awareness and encourage others to seek treatment. Reflecting on his hopes, he admitted:
“My prayer was that I would die in my sleep.”
Months before his passing, Bixby married Judith Kliban on October 3, 1993. His health declined rapidly, and on November 15, he was so weak while directing Blossom that he had to work from a sofa. Kliban cared for him at their home near Century City for six days until he peacefully slipped into a coma and passed away on November 21, 1993, at just 59 years old. She later recalled:
”I prayed for some extra time, but what we got was really intense and quite fabulous.”
