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While Fosse was influenced by many leading dancers of the time- like Jack Cole and Jerome Robbins- his love life also influenced his choreography. Fosse was married three times, all to dancers he was working with. First came Mary Anne Niles. Mary was his first dance partners, and they premiered together in Call Me Mister. The marriage only lasted for two years, from 1949 to 1951.

Fosse met his next wife in 1949, an actress and dancer named Joan McCracken. His first marriage actually ended because of his relationship with McCracken, but this marriage was doomed for a similar fate. Despite their romantic demise, McCracken played a major role in Fosse’s choreography and career. McCracken actually convinced Fosse he was too good just for nightclubs, and because of her praise Abbott was convinced to hire Fosse as the choreographer for The Pajama Game. However, McCracken was diagnosed with diabetes as a teen, and fell sick partly due to lack of knowledge surrounding the disease at the time but also due to her poor diet and unhealthy habits. While she was sick, Fosse started choreographing for Damn Yankees, where he fell for the lead dancer, Gwen Verdon.

Gwen Verdon is revered as one of the most celebrated Broadway dancers in history. Her flaming red hair made her easily recognizable, and she brought high standards of technique as well as comedy to her dancing. She had just won her first tony when she started working with Fosse in Damn Yankees, and as a new rising star she was the perfect candidate for Fosse’s new muse. Both dancers had high standards for their art, and the two fit together like a puzzle- Vernon enhancing Fosse’s intricate choreography with an uninhibited performance quality that Fosse never felt he had. Vernon starred in the 1959 musical Redhead,on the condition that Fosse directed and choreographed. They eloped in 1960 and had a daughter, Nicole, and while the two supported each other artistically they habitually had sexual relationships outside of the marriage.