Last updated: October 2026
Myrna Colley-Lee is an American costume designer who is widely recognized as one of the leading costume designers of the Black Theatre Movement. She is also known to many people as the second ex-wife of actor Morgan Freeman. Her own career, which began in the late 1960s, is far more documented than her private life, and it deserves to be the main part of her story. This profile covers her work first, then the marriage, and it marks the many details that websites repeat without a source.
Quick Facts About Myrna Colley-Lee
| Full name | Myrna Colley-Lee |
| Known for | Costume design in the Black Theatre Movement; former wife of Morgan Freeman |
| Born | Hamlet, North Carolina, reported as 1941 (the exact date is disputed) |
| Education | Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina; Brooklyn College (scene painting); MFA in scenic and costume design, Temple University (1980) |
| Active since | The late 1960s |
| Marriage | Morgan Freeman, 1984 until the divorce was finalized in 2010 |
| Children | No biological children reported |
| Net worth | Not confirmed; online figures vary wildly |
Who Is Myrna Colley-Lee?
Myrna Colley-Lee is a costume designer, curator and arts supporter whose career is tied to American theater. A theater company biography says she has been designing since the late 1960s and is credited as one of the forefront costume designers in the Black Theatre Movement. Many entertainment websites introduce her as Morgan Freeman’s former wife, but that framing leaves out decades of work. Reading about her professional record is the best way to understand who she is.
Early Life and Education
Most sources say Myrna Colley-Lee was born in Hamlet, North Carolina, in 1941. The exact date is not settled: one website says September 16, another says January 1, and a few give only the year. One older profile even says she was born and raised in New York, which does not match the others,
so I treat the North Carolina birthplace as the most common report. Her parents and early childhood are not documented.
Several profiles say she earned a bachelor’s degree in art education at the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina, and that she later studied scene painting and properties at Brooklyn College in New York. She earned a master’s degree in scenic and costume design at Temple University in Philadelphia in 1980, according to multiple pages. One profile adds that before committing to costume design she worked as an art supervisor for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and as a social worker. These details come from a small set of biography sites, but they are consistent with each other.
Career in the Black Theatre Movement
A theater company’s artist page lists a long run of credits for Myrna Colley-Lee. They include Radio Golf at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, The Ballad of Emmett Till at the Goodman Theatre, Gee’s Bend and The Piano Lesson at the Cleveland Playhouse, Wedding Band at Steppenwolf Theatre, and Relativity with the St. Louis Black Repertory Company. She is also credited with designs for the August Wilson plays Fences and Two Trains Running at regional theaters. This list shows steady work on important plays by Black writers across the country.
An exhibition website describes her as a designer who sees costumes as an extension of a person’s quirks, strengths and weaknesses within a specific social and historical context. It says she played a pivotal role in creating costumes for Black theater at a time when budgets were tiny and plays struggled to find mainstream audiences. A director quoted there calls her his first choice when he can pick a costume designer. These are the strongest descriptions of her work I found, because they come from the people and organizations she worked with.
Exhibitions and Awards
Myrna Colley-Lee is the creator of a touring exhibition called A Theatre of Color: Costume Design for the Black Theatre, which was offered to museums and exhibition spaces for the period 2013 to 2015. Some websites also name an exhibit called GladRags and another called Reflections: The Theatre of
Color, but I could only confirm the Theatre of Color exhibition on a dedicated page. Other sites say she won an Outstanding Costume Design award from the National Black Theatre Festival and the Winona Lee Fletcher Award for Outstanding Achievement as a Designer from the Black Theatre Network. Those awards appear on several profile pages, but I could not check them on the organizations’ own websites.
Marriage to Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman’s reference page lists Myrna Colley-Lee as his second wife, with a marriage that began in 1984 and a divorce in 2010. Several websites give the wedding date as June 16, 1984, and describe it as a small ceremony, and say it was her first marriage. One source says the couple separated in December 2007, which would mean they lived apart for about three years before the divorce was finalized. The marriage lasted about twenty-six years in the reports that count from 1984.
Some tabloid-style pages claim the divorce was caused by Freeman’s alleged affairs. Neither she nor Freeman has confirmed any reason in a statement I could find, so I do not repeat those claims. Older
profiles also say the couple had no biological children but raised a step-granddaughter from Freeman’s first marriage, but the details are unclear and I chose not to describe them. What is certain is only that the marriage ended in 2010.
Net Worth and Other Claims
Websites give wildly different net worth figures for Myrna Colley-Lee, and one even claims she is worth “$160 million” including a divorce settlement. None of these numbers cites a court record or a financial filing, and the largest ones look like clear exaggerations. The terms of the divorce settlement are not publicly confirmed. I do not include a net worth, since any figure would be a guess.
Where Is Myrna Colley-Lee Now?
My search found no credible recent news about Myrna Colley-Lee, so I did not add a “Latest Updates” section. One older profile says she lives a single life after the divorce, and another says she is in her early eighties, but neither is based on a recent source. Her most recent documented theater credits are older and come from a company page. Her current projects and location are not publicly confirmed.
It is also worth noting how much of her work is hard to find online. Regional theater programs and old production pages often list costume designers only briefly, and many productions from the 1970s and 1980s were never fully documented on the internet. This means her career is probably larger than any website list suggests. A museum exhibition or theater archive would be the best place to see her designs in full.
For readers who want to learn more, the exhibition website for A Theatre of Color and the artist pages of the theaters she has worked with are the best starting points. They describe her designs in her collaborators’ words, which is more useful than a celebrity profile. They also give a better sense of why her work matters to American theater.
What Is Still Unconfirmed
To be clear about the gaps, these details are not reliably confirmed: her exact birth date and birthplace, her family background, the exact wedding date, the reason for the divorce, the terms of the settlement, details about any step-granddaughter, her current projects and her net worth. I also could not verify the awards on the organizations’ own websites. Readers who need these facts should look for direct statements or official theater records.
How This Was Researched
I wrote this profile after reviewing about a dozen biography pages about Myrna Colley-Lee, a theater company artist page, an exhibition page and Morgan Freeman’s reference biography. I compared dates across sources and left out claims that appeared only once or contradicted each other, such as the birth date and the net worth figures. I did not speak to anyone connected to her and I have no inside access. The gap I tried to fill is that many existing pages define her only by her marriage, while this article puts her theater career first and marks the unverified details.
Accuracy Note
This biography is based on publicly available information, including reference pages and published profiles. Because Myrna Colley-Lee is a private person, some details may be incomplete. If you spot anything outdated or incorrect, please let us know so we can update it.
Written and researched by Usama Khan, contributor at lopin magazine.
FAQ
Who is Myrna Colley-Lee?
She is an American costume designer, recognized as a leading figure in the Black Theatre Movement, and the former wife of actor Morgan Freeman.
When did Myrna Colley-Lee marry Morgan Freeman?
They married in 1984, with June 16, 1984 often given as the date. The divorce was finalized in 2010.
What has Myrna Colley-Lee designed?
Her credits include Radio Golf, The Ballad of Emmett Till, Gee’s Bend, The Piano Lesson, Fences and Wedding Band.
Where was Myrna Colley-Lee born?
Most sources say Hamlet, North Carolina, around 1941, though the exact date is disputed.
What did she study?
She studied art education in North Carolina, scene painting at Brooklyn College and earned an MFA in scenic and costume design at Temple University in 1980.
Does she have children?
No biological children are reported.
What is Myrna Colley-Lee’s net worth?
It is unknown. Figures online vary widely and have no clear source.
Usama Khan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Lopin Magazine, where he oversees the site’s biography and news coverage with a focus on accuracy and well-researched storytelling.
