American radio personality television host, and actor Eleanor Mondale died on September 17, 2011. She was the only daughter of former Vice President Walter Mondale and Joan Mondale. She most recently was working as a host for WCCO in Minneapolis.
Eleanor Mondale talked about her brain cancer diagnosis and treatment after a relapse — including an early misdiagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
Mondale earned a reputation in the media for being a “wild-child” and was known to have dated Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1979 after they met on the set of The Villain (1979), where she was a film production assistant.
She was married three times. Her first marriage was to Chicago Bears tackle Keith Van Horne from April 9, 1988 until August 1989, when Van Horne filed for divorce.
She dated rock singer-songwriter Warren Zevon in 1990, traveling on tour with him to Australia.
Mondale’s second marriage was to Greg Malban (a DJ known as Greg Thunder) from June 21 1991 until November 1991.
In late 1992, Mondale began dating actor James Belushi.
In 1997, she began dating American businessman and investor Ronald Perelman, who himself had been married three times. His fourth wife was Ellen Barkin, who he met in 1999. His fifth wife is Dr. Anna Capman, who he married in 2010. Both Perelman and Mondale had coincidental connection to the Monica Lewinski scandal. In early 1998, Vernon Jordan recommended Monica Lewinsky to Perelman as a potential employee. Lewinsky’s resume was forwarded to Revlon about the time the scandal news broke. In an unrelated event, Monica Lewinski became enraged when she learned — while she was waiting 40 minutes to visit President Bill Clinton — that Clinton was visiting with Eleanor Mondale. Some publications implied there was an affair also going on between Clinton and Mondale.
From June 2005 until her death, Mondale was married to Minneapolis rock musician Chan Poling (of the group The Suburbs). Poling has three children with ex-wife Terri Paul: son Chandler Jr and daughters Maddie and Olivia. Mondale and Poling lived on a small farm in Minnesota.
Eleanor Mondale had at least two Chicago media connections. She began her journalism career in radio in 1986 in Chicago with radio station WGN (AM). She appeared as a frequent contributor to WGN programs. Starting in 1987, Mondale joined Chicago radio station WCKG-FM as a morning news anchor. She left WKQX, but retuned in 1991, working alongside Robert Murphy.
After a bout of seizures, Mondale was diagnosed with brain cancer in June 2005. In the summer of 2006, the cancer was determined to be in remission. In February 2008 a small tumor had returned. Mondale was again diagnosed with brain cancer in August 2009 and was scheduled to undergo surgery later that same month. She died of brain cancer at her home in Minnesota on September 17, 2011.