Vivian Cash

Vivian Distin (née Liberto, formerly Cash; April 23, 1934 – May 24, 2005) was an American homemaker and author. She is notable as the first wife of singer Johnny Cash and mother of their four daughters. She inspired his first hit single "I Walk the Line".^[1]

Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, she grew up in Sicilian-American culture and was raised Catholic. Following her marriage to Cash in Texas, she was subject to discrimination in 1965–1966 related to her racial identity because of publicity after her husband's arrest for drug possession. White supremacists stated that she was black and thus married illegally to her husband. She and her husband were subject to harassment and he was boycotted for a year in the South before his manager documented her background as white.

After the couple divorced in 1966, they each married again. Cash had chief responsibility for raising their daughters. They typically spent time in the summer with their father and stepmother, both singer/songwriters.

In 2007 Distin published a memoir, prepared with Ann Sharpsteen, under her former married name of 'Vivian Cash'. It was based on her years with Johnny Cash and their many letters before their marriage.