She married Dr. James Slater Murphy, a virologist associated with Rockefeller Institute who was a close friend to Nelson Rockefeller on December 11, 1945, they divorced on April 1, 1963. They had the following four children, James B. Murphy II, Margaretta Harrison Murphy, Carol Slater Murphy, and Malinda Fitler Murphy, who married Francis Menotti, the adopted son of composer Gian Carlo Menotti.