Yun Chi Chung, also called Joi Yun Chi Chung in some historical sources, is best known as the third wife of legendary American comedian and Sanford and Son star Redd Foxx. She was a Korean native who was living in the United States when she met Foxx in Las Vegas. The couple married on December 31, 1976, but their relationship later became troubled, and their divorce was completed in 1981. Unlike her famous former husband, Yun Chi Chung did not build a public entertainment career and largely disappeared from celebrity coverage after their marriage ended.
Quick Bio of Yun Chi Chung
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Yun Chi Chung |
| Also Known As | Joi Yun Chi Chung / Joi |
| Famous For | Being Redd Foxx’s third wife |
| Birthplace | Korea |
| Birth Year | Around 1942, based on a 1976 contemporary age report |
| Exact Birthday | Not reliably confirmed |
| Approximate Age in 2026 | Around 83–84 |
| Nationality/Background | Korean-born |
| Early Known Job | Cocktail waitress in Las Vegas |
| Former Husband | Redd Foxx |
| Marriage Date | December 31, 1976 |
| Wedding Location | Thunderbird Hotel, Las Vegas |
| Divorce | 1981 |
| Children With Redd Foxx | None documented |
| Divorce Settlement | Reported $300,000 |
| Current Profession | Not publicly established |
| Current Relationship | Private / unknown |
| Current Residence | Not reliably public |
| Net Worth | Not verified |
| Public Profile Today | Extremely private |
A December 1976 Associated Press report described Yun Chi Chung as a 34-year-old Korean native living in Los Angeles while Redd Foxx was 54. That contemporary report is one of the strongest clues to her approximate age and suggests she was born around 1942.
Who Is Yun Chi Chung?
Yun Chi Chung became known because of her marriage to Redd Foxx.
Before that relationship, she was not a famous actress, singer or television personality.
She appears to have been living a fairly ordinary life in the United States.
Later accounts say she worked as a cocktail waitress at the Las Vegas Hilton, where she met Foxx after arriving from Korea.
That meeting changed her life.
Redd Foxx was already a huge television star.
Millions of Americans knew him as Fred G. Sanford from the hit sitcom Sanford and Son.
Suddenly, Yun was connected to one of the most recognizable comedians in America.
Was Her Name Yun Chi Chung or Joi Yun Chi Chung?
Both versions appear.
Historical reports identify her as Yun Chi Chung, while Redd Foxx reportedly called her “Joi.”
The Associated Press article published just before their wedding said Foxx appeared at the Las Vegas marriage-license office with the woman he called “Joi.” It identified her formally as Yun Chi Chung.
Later biographies often combine the two forms and write:
Joi Yun Chi Chung.
That appears to be the best explanation for why some readers encounter different versions of her name.
It is not necessarily evidence of two different women.
Where Was Yun Chi Chung Born?
Contemporary reporting described her as a Korean native.
That is much stronger evidence than modern biography websites guessing about her nationality from her name.
The 1976 AP report specifically called her a Korean native and said she was living in Los Angeles at the time she and Foxx obtained their marriage license.
Later sources also say Foxx met her shortly after she arrived from Korea.
However, her exact Korean hometown is not clearly documented.
Some websites may give a city without showing a reliable source.
That should be treated cautiously.
When Was Yun Chi Chung Born?
Her exact birthday is not reliably public.
This is one of the biggest gaps in her biography.
But there is a useful contemporary clue.
On December 30, 1976, an Associated Press report identified Yun as 34 years old.
If that report was accurate, she was likely born around:
1942
or possibly late 1941 depending on her birthday.
That would make her approximately 83 or 84 years old in 2026.
But it would be misleading to invent an exact day and month.
The safest wording is:
Yun Chi Chung was born around 1942, but her exact birth date has not been reliably confirmed.
What Did Yun Chi Chung Do for Work?
The best-known job connected with her early life is cocktail waitress.
Later biographical sources say she worked at the Las Vegas Hilton.
It was there that she reportedly met Redd Foxx.
A cocktail waitress in a major Las Vegas hotel could meet entertainers, tourists, gamblers and celebrities almost every night.
Foxx spent a great deal of time performing in Las Vegas.
Their paths therefore crossed naturally.
There is no strong evidence that Yun later became an actress or entertainment executive.
Her career after the divorce is largely unknown.
How Did Yun Chi Chung Meet Redd Foxx?
The most widely documented story says they met in Las Vegas.
Yun had recently arrived from Korea and was working as a cocktail waitress at the Las Vegas Hilton.
Foxx was around 20 years older than her.
At that point, Foxx was already famous.
Sanford and Son had made him a household name.
The sitcom began in 1972 and turned his character, Fred Sanford, into one of television’s most memorable comedy figures.
Yun entered his life during the final period of the show’s original run.
Their relationship apparently became serious quickly enough that by the end of 1976 they were ready to marry.
Redd Foxx and Yun Chi Chung’s Age Difference
Redd Foxx was born on December 9, 1922.
The AP described Yun as 34 just before their wedding.
Foxx was 54.
That puts their age difference at about 20 years.
Modern articles sometimes give different numbers because Yun’s exact birthday is uncertain.
But the 20-year figure is consistent with historical biographical accounts.
The age difference attracted some attention, but their marriage itself was publicly documented and they regularly appeared together.
When Did Redd Foxx and Yun Chi Chung Get Married?
They married on December 31, 1976.
It was New Year’s Eve.
The wedding took place at the Thunderbird Hotel in Las Vegas.
Their marriage license had attracted press attention even before the ceremony.
An AP story published December 30 described Foxx arriving at the license bureau smiling with Yun beside him.
The comedian joked with the clerk when asked whether he wanted a marriage license.
The ceremony made Yun Foxx’s third wife.
Was Yun Chi Chung Redd Foxx’s Third Wife?
Yes.
Redd Foxx was married four times.
His marriages were generally listed as:
- Evelyn Killebrew
- Betty Jean Harris
- Yun Chi Chung
- Ka Ho Cho
Encyclopedia.com identifies Yun among his wives, while IMDb lists her marriage from December 31, 1976 to September 1981.
Yun therefore came into Foxx’s life after his long second marriage ended.
Who Was Redd Foxx?
Redd Foxx was born John Elroy Sanford on December 9, 1922, in St. Louis, Missouri.
He became one of the most influential Black comedians of his generation.
Long before television fame, Foxx was known for comedy records and nightclub performances.
His biggest mainstream breakthrough came through Sanford and Son.
He played Fred Sanford, a junk dealer who constantly argued, joked and pretended to suffer heart attacks whenever life became difficult.
The series ran from 1972 to 1977.
Foxx later appeared in other shows including Sanford, The Redd Foxx Show and The Royal Family.
Yun Appeared Publicly With Redd Foxx
Yun did not completely avoid the spotlight while they were married.
Photographs show the couple attending public entertainment and political events together.
One surviving photograph identifies Redd Foxx and Yun Chi Chung at the Kennedy Center in 1977.
Another archival Florida photograph shows Yun standing with Foxx during a public appearance.
These images help confirm that she was not simply a name found later in biographical databases.
She was visibly part of Foxx’s public life during the marriage.
Their Marriage Was Connected to Foxx’s Financial Problems
Money became a serious issue in Foxx’s life.
And Yun’s marriage overlapped with some of those difficulties.
In April 1979, The Washington Post reported that the IRS had placed a lien of $248,789 against a Las Vegas home connected with Foxx and his third wife, Yun Chi Chung, following an investigation of 1977 tax records.
That does not mean Yun personally created Foxx’s financial problems.
Foxx’s finances were complicated and continued becoming worse long after their marriage ended.
But it shows that tax pressure was already affecting their household before the divorce.
When Did Their Marriage Begin to Break Down?
Foxx filed for divorce in October 1979, according to biographical accounts drawing on contemporary Jet reporting.
Yun then filed her own divorce action and accused Foxx of cruelty.
It is important to describe this correctly.
A divorce filing contains one party’s allegations.
It does not automatically mean every allegation was proven in court.
The safest wording is:
During the divorce dispute, Yun alleged cruelty.
The legal fight then continued for a considerable period.
Why Did Yun Chi Chung and Redd Foxx Divorce?
There is no simple, neutral public explanation agreed upon by both parties.
What we know is that the relationship became highly troubled.
Foxx filed for divorce.
Yun responded with her own legal action.
The case involved financial arguments and requests for support.
The marriage finally ended in 1981.
Foxx himself sounded deeply frustrated by marriage during this period.
Later reporting quoted him as saying he was finished with marriage after three attempts.
Interestingly, he changed his mind years later and married again shortly before his death.
When Was Yun Chi Chung’s Divorce Finalized?
The divorce was completed in 1981.
IMDb lists September 11, 1981, while another biographical source gives September 9.
Because those dates differ slightly, it is safer for a general biography to emphasize the well-established year rather than pretend there is no source conflict.
So the most dependable wording is:
Yun Chi Chung and Redd Foxx divorced in September 1981.
Their marriage had lasted for a little under five years.
Did Yun Chi Chung Receive a Divorce Settlement?
Yes.
Contemporary reporting later summarized in biographical sources says Foxx paid Yun approximately $300,000 as part of the 1981 divorce settlement.
That was a large amount of money at the time.
It also became part of later discussions about Foxx’s worsening finances.
However, it would be misleading to say the divorce alone caused his financial collapse.
Foxx later had major tax problems, spending issues, management problems and bankruptcy proceedings.
His financial situation had many causes.
Did Redd Foxx Pay Yun Monthly Support?
Historical reports say Foxx was ordered to pay approximately $2,500 per month while the divorce proceedings were continuing.
The later $300,000 settlement ended the marriage financially.
These numbers often appear in articles about Foxx because his divorces became part of the larger story of his money problems.
Still, Yun’s personal finances after the divorce are unknown.
Receiving a settlement in 1981 does not tell us what her net worth was decades later.
Did Yun Chi Chung and Redd Foxx Have Children?
There are no documented children from their marriage.
This is important because online family trees can become confusing.
Redd Foxx had an adopted daughter named Debraca Foxx from his second marriage to Betty Jean Harris.
Debraca was Betty Jean’s daughter before her marriage to Foxx, and Foxx adopted her.
Debraca was therefore not Yun Chi Chung’s daughter.
There is no reliable evidence that Yun and Redd had a biological or adopted child together.
Did Yun Chi Chung Have Children From Another Relationship?
Her later family life is not publicly documented well enough to answer confidently.
After her divorce from Foxx, she mostly disappeared from celebrity reporting.
No strong source clearly confirms:
a later husband,
later children,
or grandchildren.
That does not mean she never had another family.
It simply means those details were kept private.
A careful biography should not fill those blanks with guesses.
Do Not Confuse Yun Chi Chung With Ka Ho Cho
This is one of the biggest sources of confusion online.
Redd Foxx later married another Korean-born woman named Ka Ho Cho.
They were different people.
Yun Chi Chung was Foxx’s third wife.
Ka Ho Cho was his fourth and final wife.
Foxx married Ka Ho Cho on July 8, 1991.
He died only a few months later, on October 11, 1991.
Because both women had Korean backgrounds and were married to the same famous comedian, some low-quality websites accidentally mix their photographs and biographies.
They should never be treated as the same person.
Was Yun Chi Chung With Redd Foxx When He Died?
No.
They had been divorced for roughly ten years.
Foxx was married to Ka Ho Cho when he died in 1991.
Yun was no longer his spouse.
There is also little dependable public information showing what kind of relationship, if any, they maintained after their divorce.
When Did Redd Foxx Die?
Redd Foxx died on October 11, 1991, at age 68.
He suffered a heart attack while working on the television series The Royal Family.
His death received widespread attention because television viewers initially thought he might be performing one of Fred Sanford’s famous fake heart-attack jokes.
But this time the emergency was real.
Foxx’s death brought renewed public attention to his career, marriages and serious financial problems.
What Happened to Yun Chi Chung After the Divorce?
This is the biggest mystery in her story.
She appears to have deliberately left public life.
There is no dependable trail showing that she:
became an actress,
started a famous company,
gave regular interviews,
wrote a book,
or built a social-media following.
That makes her very different from many modern celebrity spouses.
After the divorce, Yun seems to have returned to a private lifestyle.
Most later references to her exist only because writers are documenting Redd Foxx’s marriages.
Is Yun Chi Chung Still Alive in 2026?
Her current status is not reliably established.
There is no widely recognized obituary that can confidently be connected to Redd Foxx’s former wife.
But absence of an obituary does not allow us to guarantee that she is alive.
Because Yun has lived privately for decades, reliable modern updates are extremely limited.
The responsible wording is:
Yun Chi Chung’s current status has not been publicly confirmed by a strong recent source.
Where Is Yun Chi Chung Now?
Her present residence is also unknown.
She was living in Los Angeles when contemporary press covered her upcoming 1976 marriage.
During the marriage, she was strongly connected with Las Vegas through Foxx.
But there is no trustworthy reason to publish a current city or address.
Any website claiming an exact modern residence should provide clear evidence.
Otherwise, it is speculation.
Did Yun Chi Chung Remarry?
No later marriage is reliably documented in major sources.
Foxx remarried.
Yun’s later romantic life remained private.
There are websites that may call her single, but that wording also creates a problem.
If someone has not appeared publicly for decades, we cannot know whether she is single, married or widowed simply because search engines do not show a partner.
The better answer is:
Her relationship status after Redd Foxx is unknown.
Was Yun Chi Chung an Actress?
There is no established acting career attached to her name.
This matters because old photographs sometimes appear on entertainment sites and can make readers think she worked in Hollywood.
She attended events because she was married to Redd Foxx.
That does not mean she was an actress.
No credible filmography shows Yun building a professional screen career.
Her best-documented occupation before marriage was cocktail waitress.
What Is Yun Chi Chung’s Net Worth?
There is no verified figure.
Some celebrity websites may try to estimate her wealth from the $300,000 divorce settlement.
That would be unreliable.
A payment received in 1981 does not tell us someone’s financial condition in 2026.
To calculate net worth, we would need information about:
income,
property,
investments,
business ownership,
savings,
and debts.
None of that is publicly established for Yun.
Therefore:
Yun Chi Chung’s net worth is unknown.
Why Is Yun Chi Chung Still Searched Today?
Because Redd Foxx remains famous.
Sanford and Son is still remembered as one of the most important American sitcoms of the 1970s.
Foxx also influenced generations of comedians.
When people discover that he was married four times, they naturally search each wife.
Yun becomes especially interesting because:
she was Korean-born,
she was significantly younger than Foxx,
they married during his peak fame,
their divorce involved a substantial settlement,
and then she largely disappeared from public life.
That combination creates curiosity.
What We Actually Know About Yun Chi Chung
The confirmed story is fairly clear once internet guesses are removed.
Yun Chi Chung was a Korean native.
A December 1976 AP report said she was 34 and living in Los Angeles.
She was reportedly working as a cocktail waitress at the Las Vegas Hilton when she met Redd Foxx.
Foxx called her “Joi.”
They married on December 31, 1976, at the Thunderbird Hotel in Las Vegas.
She became his third wife.
They attended public events together during their marriage.
In 1979, The Washington Post reported that an IRS lien affected Foxx and Yun in connection with 1977 taxes.
Foxx filed for divorce later that year.
Yun responded with her own suit.
Their divorce was completed in 1981, and she reportedly received a $300,000 settlement.
They had no documented children together.
Afterward, Yun largely disappeared from public life.
Her later career, relationships, exact residence and present status remain private.
Final Thoughts
Yun Chi Chung’s biography is short not because her life was unimportant, but because she chose—or was able—to live most of it outside the public eye.
She entered celebrity history during the 1970s.
At the time, Redd Foxx was one of America’s biggest television comedians.
She had recently come from Korea and was working in Las Vegas.
They met.
They fell into a relationship.
And on New Year’s Eve 1976, they married in Las Vegas.
For several years, Yun attended events beside Foxx and lived inside the strange world that surrounds a major television star.
But the marriage became difficult.
Tax problems appeared.
Divorce filings followed.
And by 1981, their relationship was over.
Foxx reportedly paid her a $300,000 settlement.
Then something unusual happened.
Yun did not spend decades discussing the comedian.
She did not become a reality personality.
She did not publish a famous memoir.
She simply faded from entertainment coverage.
That is why so many basic questions about her remain unanswered.
Her exact birthday is unknown.
Her current profession is unknown.
Her later relationships are unknown.
Her current residence is unknown.
And even her present status has not been reliably documented.
For readers searching for Yun Chi Chung, the clearest answer is this: she was Redd Foxx’s Korean-born third wife, reportedly a Las Vegas cocktail waitress when they met, approximately 34 when they married in 1976, and part of his public life until their difficult divorce was completed in 1981. After that, she chose a far more private path than the famous comedian she once married.
Frequently Asked Questions About Yun Chi Chung
Who is Yun Chi Chung?
Yun Chi Chung is best known as the third wife of comedian and Sanford and Son star Redd Foxx. They married in 1976 and divorced in 1981.
Is Yun Chi Chung also called Joi?
Yes. A contemporary AP report said Redd Foxx called her “Joi,” and many later sources identify her as Joi Yun Chi Chung.
Where was Yun Chi Chung born?
Historical reports describe her as a Korean native. Her exact hometown is not reliably established.
How old is Yun Chi Chung?
She was reported to be 34 in December 1976, suggesting a birth year around 1942. That would place her around 83–84 in 2026 if the contemporary age report was exact.
What did Yun Chi Chung do for a living?
She is reported to have worked as a cocktail waitress at the Las Vegas Hilton when she met Redd Foxx.
How did Yun Chi Chung meet Redd Foxx?
They reportedly met while Yun was working at the Las Vegas Hilton shortly after arriving from Korea.
When did Yun Chi Chung marry Redd Foxx?
They married on December 31, 1976.
Where did Yun and Redd Foxx marry?
Their wedding was held at the Thunderbird Hotel in Las Vegas.
Was Yun Chi Chung Redd Foxx’s third wife?
Yes. She was the third of his four wives.
When did Yun Chi Chung and Redd Foxx divorce?
Their divorce was completed in 1981. IMDb gives September 11, while some biographical databases give a nearby September date.
How much did Yun Chi Chung receive in the divorce?
Foxx reportedly paid her a $300,000 settlement.
Did Yun Chi Chung and Redd Foxx have children?
No children from their marriage are publicly documented.
Is Debraca Foxx Yun Chi Chung’s daughter?
No. Debraca was the daughter of Foxx’s second wife, Betty Jean Harris, and was adopted by Foxx.
Is Yun Chi Chung the same person as Ka Ho Cho?
No. Yun was Foxx’s third wife. Ka Ho Cho was his fourth and final wife.
Was Yun Chi Chung with Redd Foxx when he died?
No. They had divorced about ten years earlier. Foxx was married to Ka Ho Cho when he died in 1991.
Did Yun Chi Chung become an actress?
There is no established professional acting career connected with her.
Did Yun Chi Chung remarry?
No later marriage has been reliably documented in strong public sources.
Where is Yun Chi Chung now?
Her current residence and everyday life are private.
Is Yun Chi Chung still alive?
Her current status is not reliably confirmed by recent authoritative public reporting.
What is Yun Chi Chung’s net worth?
Her exact net worth is unknown. Online estimates are speculative.
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