Here are 30 iconic celebrity couples that have defeated the odds of being another Hollywood break up story. Find out their secrets as to how they have managed to stay together for so long in the public eye.
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Shawn Carter (Jay-Z)
Where would we be without the iconic line “If you like it then you should have put a ring on it”? That’s exactly what Jay-Z did when he asked Beyoncé to marry him in 2008.
The two first met between 1999 and 2000 and started dating almost two years later, in 2001. The couple released Bonnie & Clyde ’03 before going public, but then when they released Crazy in Love, they started to be seen in public together.
The two got married in their penthouse apartment with only 30 guests in attendance. Beyoncé says that having a steady foundation is extremely important for a relationship. Despite the rumors of cheating, they have remained the power couple that everyone knows and loves.
David and Victoria Beckham
In 1997, Posh Spice found herself at a charity soccer game, where David was immediately attracted to her. However, the story starts a bit before this.
According to Victoria, she saw David playing soccer on television and had the Spice Girls manager, Simon Fuller, arrange a trip for her to go to Manchester, where she could “bump” into David. The two met and were inseparable.
They got engaged within a year of being together and got married in 1999 in a castle in Dublin. As the years went by, there was some hardship including rumors of David cheating.
Victoria shut them down and says that the key is to focus on your family and surround yourself with close friends and family whom you trust. Regardless of their fame, David says that he loves Victoria best when she is in sweats and has no make-up on.
Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher
Borat star Sasha Baron Cohen met his now-wife, Isla Fisher at a party in Sydney, Australia in 2002. They got engaged two years later but waited six more years to get married.
During those six years, Fisher converted to Judaism. She studied intensely for two years before the two of them got married in March of 2010. They have three children: two girls, Elula (born 2007), and Olive (2011), and a boy, Montgomery (born 2015).
They split their time between Los Angeles and London. The couple says that communication and date nights are key to a healthy marriage.
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson
Hanks and Wilson met in 1981 on the set of Bosom Buddies. However, they did not hit it off until 1984, when co-starring in Volunteers. Hanks was married to Samantha Lewis, his college sweetheart at the time.
After his separation was finalized in 1986, he and Wilson began to make public appearances. His divorce was finalized in 1987 and the couple got married a year later in April.
Hanks says that marriage is about making changes and having the willingness and maturity to have an intimate connection. They have been married for 31 years and have two children together, Chester "Chet" (born August 4, 1990) and Truman (born December 26, 1995).
Steve Carell and Nancy Walls
These two comedians met while Carell was teaching an improv class at Second City comedy troupe in Chicago. Walls was one of his students. They both liked each other from the start but were too nervous to make a move.
Carell thought that Walls was not interested in him since she was always quiet around him. It turned out, she was just as nervous around him as he was around her.
Finally, after weeks of flirting, Carell asked Walls out. The two got married in 1995 and have two children, Elisabeth (born in 2001) and John (born in 2004).
Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi
After meeting at a party in 2000, de Rossi knew it was love at first sight. However, the television actress on Ally McBeal was not officially ready to come out as a lesbian.
Four years later, the two met again at a VH1 awards show in Los Angeles. The two started dating publicly in 2005 when same-sex couples were not as eager to come out and be openly gay.
The two got married in 2008 after same-sex marriage became legalized by the Supreme Court in California. The two have been married for 11 years.
Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell
“Man, you got a great figure,” was the line that Russel used on Hawn in 1983. They have been together ever since. The two met 17 years prior in 1966 when Hawn was 21 and Russell was 16.
Three years after the "great figure" line, in 1986, their son Wyatt was born. Hawn already had two children from her first husband, Bill Hudson. Russell had one son from his ex-wife, Susan Hubley.
To this day, the two are not married but have such a strong relationship, that they are just fine without tying the knot. Hawn says that the key to their successful 36-year relationship is to share burdens with one another.
Oprah Winfrey and Stedman Graham
The media mogul, Winfrey has been with her partner, Graham for the past 32 years. While they have no kids and have not gotten married, the two have no regrets.
The two started dating in the mid-1980s and have been together ever since. They were briefly engaged in 1992 and entertained the idea of having children, but decided against it.
Winfrey admits that they would work 17 hours a day, if not more, and did not see motherhood as something that was in the cards for them. She goes on to say that if the two of them had gotten married, they would not have stayed together since they have different views of what marriage is supposed to be.
That being said, the two are still going strong, and Winfrey considers the students at the school she opened in South Africa to be her children.
Hugh Jackman and Debora-Lee Furness
The triple threat actor Jackman met his now-wife, Furness on the set of Correlli, an Australian television show in 1995. Furness was already famous in the acting world, while Jackman was still waiting for his big break.
He admitted later on that this was the reason why he was intimidated by her, but she didn’t act like she was famous, which put him at ease.
After admitting his feelings to her at a dinner party, they two began dating. Jackman was 26 and Furness was 39, giving them a 13 year age difference.
The two got married one year later in 1996. The couple has a rule that they cannot spend more than two weeks apart from one another, which they have kept for the last 25 years.
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
These two country music stars met in Nashville, the capital of country music, in 1994. At the time, Hill was finalizing a divorce with former husband, Daniel Hill, a music publishing executive. McGraw was in a relationship with Kristine Donahue.
The two reconnected two years later when Hill opened for McGraw during his “Spontaneous Combustion” tour in 1996.
McGraw was recently single, after calling off his divorce with Donahue, but Hill was engaged to Scott Hicks, a producer. Hill called off her engagement, and the two started dating.
Later on that year, McGraw proposed to Hill while on tour together. They are going on 22 years of marriage, and have three daughters, Gracie (born May 5, 1997), Maggie (born August 12, 1998), and Audrey (born December 6, 2001).
Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick
The Sex and the City star met our beloved Ferris Bueller in 1991 while working on Broadway. Broderick was directing a show for the theater company that Parker’s brother co-founded.
After dating for five years, the couple got married in 1997, where Parker decided to wear a black dress.
The couple celebrated their 22nd anniversary in May of this year and they have 3 children, a boy (James Wilkie in October 2002) and twin girls (Marion and Tabitha in June 2009) by a surrogate. The couple says that they do not talk about their marriage to reporters or anyone else.
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith
The Fresh Prince finally met his match in 1994 on the set of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air back in 1994. Pinkett-Smith (then Pinkett) auditioned to be Smith’s girlfriend on the show but did not get the part because of their 14-inch height difference. (She is 5’ while he is 6’2”.)
They started dating in 1995, while Smith was going through a divorce with his first wife, Sheree Zampino. Smith and Pinkett got engaged in 1996 and tied the knot in 1997.
They celebrated 22 years of marriage this year and have two kids, Jaden (born July 8, 1998) and Willow (born October 31, 2000). Pinkett-Smith says that communication is the key to their happy marriage.
Smith says that the key is to work on yourself first so that you can be the best version of yourself to your significant other.
Denzel Washington and Pauletta Pearson
Having a first date on Valentine’s Day doesn’t always end in disaster. At least, it didn’t for Washington and Pearson, who have been together for 36 years. They met on the set of Wilma in 1977.
After proposing on two separate occasions, Pearson finally said yes to Washington on the third try. The two got married in 1983 and they have four children together, who all have careers in acting. The two agree that in order to keep a happy relationship, you have to make your house into a home.
Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest
How many times have you flipped through a magazine, pointed to a celebrity, and thought “I’m going to marry him”? Well, for Curtis, this was a reality. At 25, she looked at a picture of Guest and remarked those words to her friend.
The friend knew Guest’s agent and gave Curtis his number. Curtis called, left her number, but never got a call. Later that year, the two happened to be at the same restaurant, where they acknowledged each other but did not speak.
The next day, he called her, and the rest is history. They two got engaged after just two months of dating. They are now celebrating 34 years of marriage.
Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick
Bacon and Sedgwick met on the set of Lemon Sky in the 1980s and shortly got married afterward in September of 1988. However, Bacon claims that they met in the 1970s.
He was at a deli after a matinee performance of a play he was in, and a girl came up to talk to compliment him. This girl was 12-year-old Sedwick. The couple is celebrating 31 years of marriage and has two children: son Travis (born 1989) and daughter Sosie (born 1992).
Mark Wahlberg and Rhea Durham
Wahlberg, once known for his dance moves in the 90’s group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, met his now-wife, Durham in 2001. Before they met, he was in a dark place.
He had gone to jail at 16 and had become very insensitive towards people after getting his heart broken in his teens. However, when the two met, Wahlberg’s perception of people changed.
Their first date was technically at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. The couple dated for eight years and got married in 2010. They have four children: Ella (born 2003), Michael (born 2006), Brendan (born 2008), and Grace (born 2010).
Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden
It is not common knowledge that Diaz and Madden are dating, let alone have been married for the past four years. The Good Charlotte band member and retired actress knew each other years before they started dating.
Diaz explains that timing is everything. It is important to be in the same place mentally as someone and to have someone who is willing to be there for you. Also, sharing the same values in very important for both of them.
They two got married in an intimate ceremony of just 100 people in their Beverly Hills home in 2015. To make it even more officials, that same year, Madden got the name “Cameron” tattooed across his chest.
Tom Selleck and Jillie Mack
Selleck, Magnum P.I. star was a complete heartthrob in the 1980s. However, at 38 found himself divorced and while in London filming, had an obsession with the show Cats.
It turned out though, that his obsession was with one of the actresses in the show, Jillie Mack. Once he was able to introduce himself to her after the show one night, the two started dating.
They got married in secret in 1987. A year later, Mack gave birth to their daughter. Selleck decided to quit Magnum P.I. in order to be with his family. Selleck says due to his fame, it is important to conduct himself in an ethical way for his family.
Sean Connery and Micheline Roquebrune
The original James Bond actor has been married for the last 44 years. He first met the French-Moroccan painter in 1970 at a golf tournament in Morocco, where they had a fling. However, it was two years later that the two reconnected in Marbella, Spain.
Language barriers were no match for them. Even though Roquebrune did not know English very well, and Connery’s French was barely existent, the two persevered. As Roquebrune described it, body language was the way in which they communicated.
They maintained a long-distance relationship with Connery in Los Angeles and Roquebrune in Morocco, and this was in the days before cell phones. The two tied the knot in 1975.
Julia Roberts and Danny Moder
Roberts and Moder met in 2000 on the set of the movie The Mexican. Roberts starred in the film while Moder was working as a cameraman. The two dated for two years and got married in 2002.
Roberts says that her marriage opened her up to a new life and new experiences, and made her into a better, less selfish person. She also says that it is important to wait for the right person, rather than rushing into something.
Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr.
There is no question that the power couple of the 1990s is Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. The two met on the set of I Know What You Did Last Summer in 1997.
This is where they created the two-year foundation of their friendship, which Prinze says is the key to their successful relationship. Their first date happened by accident.
The mutual friend they were meeting for dinner canceled, so it ended up just being the two of them. The rest is history. They got married in 2002. They both agree that marriage is something that you have to put work into, but the two are going strong.
Lisa Kudrow and Michel Stern
When Stern first met Kudrow in the late 1980s, he was in a relationship…with her roommate. The attraction was there, but so was girl code. Stern and Kudrow’s roommate called it quits after only two and a half months.
They never thought they would see each other again, but ran into each other at the roommates birthday six years later. They started dating and got married in 1997.
They had their son, Julian, in 1998. While Kudrow is known as Phoebe Buffay to the world, Stern is a very successful advertising executive. The couple says that they respect each other’s independence. Even if they differ in opinions at times, they still have the same end goals.
Matt and Luciana Damon
While filming Stuck On You in Miami, Damon went to a bar, where Luciana was working. At one point, after being bombarded by people, Damon decided to hide behind the bar.
In reality, he went over there because he really wanted to talk to her. Luciana had a different plan; she put him to work. They served drinks together. As a single mom, Luciana’s priority was her four-year-old daughter.
Damon says that he respected her for this. The two got married in a private ceremony in Manhattan in 2005. They have three children together. Luciana says that there is no secret to making their marriage work. They just got lucky!
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne
The Black Sabbath singer met Sharon, the daughter of Black Sabbath’s manager, when she was 18 years old, in the early 1970s. At the time, he was married to another woman, Thelma Riley and had three children.
Their marriage ended in 1981, and he and Sharon tied the knot in 1982. The two have had many ups and downs in their marriages that include rehab, mental health facilities, jail, and affairs, the two have always managed to work on their marriage to make it stronger.
The two renewed their vows in 2017, during their 35th wedding anniversary. This was after a brief split between the two when Ozzy had an affair. He wanted them to renew their vows to prove his fidelity to her.
Kirk Douglas and Anne Buydens
Having a 64-year marriage is almost unheard of in life, let alone in Hollywood! Douglas, now 102, and Buydens, now 100.
They two met in 1953 in Paris while he was filming Lust for Life. At the time, she was working as a film publicist. At the time, Douglas was known as a playboy, and Buydens did not want to engage in that kind of lifestyle.
Annoyed by her response, he decided to hire her as his publicist. The two began their platonic relationship, which did not last long. They got married in 1954, despite Douglas admitting to having affairs.
The key to their marriage is communication. They used to write each other letters and even today, they make sure to set aside time to talk about their day.
Tina Fey and Jeff Richmond
The two met in Chicago, where Richard was opening a small theater with some friends. As a musician, he became the in-house pianist at Del Close’s ImprovOlympic Theater, where he met Fey in 1993.
He was immediately attracted to her personality. When Fey got a spot on Saturday Night Live in 1997, she moved to New York, with Richmond following her a few years later, where he headed the show’s music department.
They two got married in 2001 and are celebrating their 18th year of marriage together. They have worked together on many productions including 30 Rock, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and the Broadway show, Mean Girls.
Meryl Streep and Don Gummer
In 1978, after morning the loss of her boyfriend, 29-year-old Streep met Gummer, a sculptor, through her brother.
She stayed at Gummer’s apartment while filming Kramer vs Kramer, which was the first film in which she won an Oscar.
After six months of dating, the two got married in 1978 in the garden of her parent’s home. The two have four children together and are extremely supportive of one another in their careers.
Gummer has appeared by her side at numerous red carpet events and movie premiers, showing his love and support for his wife.
Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman
The two met when Banks was 18, at a University of Pennsylvania fraternity party in 1993, where they were college sweethearts. The two dated for a whole decade, before Handelman proposed to her.
Banks recalls that it was completely unexpected, but after 10 years, it was the least he could do. The two are in business together and opened up a film production company called Brownstone Productions in 2002.
They then got married in 2003 and have two sons together, Felix (born 2011) and Magnus, 7 (born 2012). They have worked together on a few projects, including the Pitch Perfect trilogy and the remake of Charlie’s Angels.
Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan
Even though their first kiss was on Family Ties, the couple did not get together until 1987, where they worked together in Bright Lights, Big City.
Fox had heard that Pollan and her previous boyfriend had broken up, and knew this was his chance.
After one year of dating, the couple decided to get married in 1988. 31 years later, they are still together. Pollan says that she was attracted to Fox right away because he was smart and funny.
After Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the early 2000s, their relationship changed. It was a hard period for their marriage, but they continued to love and support each other, which made their relationship even stronger.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Hall
Before Louis-Dreyfus gifted us with the character of Elaine on Seinfeld, she attended Northwestern University in Illinois, where she met her now-husband, Hall.
She met him during an audition for a play that Hall was producing at the university. After college, the two moved to Chicago to join The Second City Improv group.
From there Louis-Dreyfus and Hall were offered a spot on Saturday Night Live from 1982 to 1984. They got married in 1987. The secret to their marriage as Louis-Dreyfus put it, is to find the right person.