Most people’s knowledge of Samantha Marie Olit is limited to her marriage to the lead singer and frontman of the iconic rock band Linkin Park, Chester Bennington. It is not common knowledge that she is a talented singer, who can sing circles around a lot of musicians, and started to sing at an age as young as seven.  She has been referred to as the Mother Teresa of Punk rock, a name that was given to her by Scott May the artist, not the football player.

Are you interested in learning more about this woman and the type of life she has led as a musician and as the wife to the great Chester Bennington? then keep reading.

Who is Samantha Marie Olit

On the 1^st of December in 1975, Samantha Marie Olit was brought into the world, her biological parents are not known as she was adopted during her childhood. The family she got adopted into, does not have much about them as public knowledge either. Her career in music started when at the age of seven upon hearing that her mother (the woman who adopted her) was taken to the hospital, seven-year-old Samantha ran to the neighbors, who had a makeshift recording studio and begged that they let her record a song to her mother wishing her a quick recovery. By the time Samantha was done singing, it was obvious that she had a voice that would introduce her to the world.

While she was recording the song, her mother had already been declared dead, but her grandmother insisted that the song be played in the same room with the dead body, as the song started to play, Samantha’s mother reacted to the song by moving her fingers, hence Samantha helped bring her mother back to life. The news of what had happened spread far and wide, Olit started to get more involved in music as she grew older: attending shows and honing her career. In all this time, it is not certain if she ever bothered or was bothered by anyone to get any formal education.

All You Need To Know About Chester Bennington’s Ex-Wife

Life with Chester Bennington

Samantha Marie Olit was the first wife of the late Chester Bennington. As at the time of their meeting, which occurred in 1996, Chester was still an unknown musician who sang in clubs and did local shows. The two met when he was part of the bank Grey Daze, as a member of this band, they made three albums but none of them was a hit. The same year the two of them met was the same year they tied the knot, it happened on the 31^st of October in 1996 and it was a quiet affair.

During the early years of their marriage, Bennington struggled to get his career off the ground and almost gave up on music completely.  But things turned around when he was called to California to audition for the group Xero, which later came to be called Linkin Park. The audition was successful and the entire family including Samantha moved to California.

It was during their stay in California that the two had their first and only child together, Draven Sebastian, he was given birth to during the sixth year of their marriage in 2002 on the 19^th of April. By this time, Bennington’s career was on a steady incline while his marriage to Marie Olit suffered from his new fame coupled with his addiction and substance abuse.

The breaking point in the marriage came in 2005 when the two filed for divorce, their break-up was highly publicized because of Bennington’s fame.

Life after Bennington

Samantha has maintained her relevance in the music industry as well as Chester’s surname. She created a record label- SAM Records and was asked to be part of a South African Band called The Narrow. Olit has been recognized for the help and support she gives to upcoming artists.

Regarding her love life, the only other person she has been linked with romantically is a man called AJ Williamwood, it isn’t known when the two started to date or if they are still together.

Olit is believed to be worth $2 million and is an active user of the social media sites Instagram and Twitter.