Harris avoids publicity and participated in few interviews between 1976 and 2019. At Baylor University, he met fellow student Harriet Anne Haley and they married in June 1961. They had one daughter, Elizabeth Anne, and divorced in August 1968. Harris remained close to his mother, Polly, and called her every night no matter where he was. He often discussed particular scenes from his novels with her. Polly died on December 31, 2011. As of 1991, Harris lived in
South Florida and had a summer home in
Sag Harbor, New York. Harris' friend and literary agent
Morton Janklow described him as a "wonderfully jovial" and passionate chef, with "a courtliness you associate with the South". In his first major interview in 43 years, with
The New York Times in 2019 to promote
Cari Mora, Harris said he was a nature lover, and a long-time visitor and volunteer of the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station, an animal rescue center in Miami, Florida, for 20 years. The staff were not aware of Harris's fame until a few years before the 2019 interview. He described fame as "more of a nuisance than anything else". == Works ==