In 1972, Rampling married New Zealand actor and publicist Bryan Southcombe and had a son, Barnaby (who became a television director), before divorcing in 1976. The couple was reported to have been living in a ménage à trois with a male model, Randall Laurence, and in 1974, Rampling was quoted by the syndicated columnist Earl Wilson as saying: "There are so many misunderstandings in life. I once caused a scandal by saying I lived with two men [...] I didn't mean it in a sexual sense [...] We were just like any people sharing an apartment."