Celebrities are fickle creatures. We’ve seen Kim Kardashian get divorced after a 72-day marriage, and Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson marry not once, not twice, but three times. Clearly, most celebrity marriages have a shelf life.
However, these lucky few famed families have managed to make their marriages last. Here are some of the longest celebrity marriages.
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne: 37 years
This eccentric couple wed in Maui in 1982, and have been rocking together ever since. We came to know them on a more personal level with their popular MTV reality show, The Osbournes. Their children, Aimee, Jack and Kelly, also starred in the show that detailed their wild and crazy lives.
Their marriage has not been easy, as the Black Sabbath star has battled with drug-related issues for years. They briefly separated in 2016 after it was discovered that Ozzy had an affair, but the couple ultimately decided to stay together.
“There’s no other woman I really want to spend the rest of my life with,” said Ozzy in an interview. “You make a mistake and you learn by it.”
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Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn: 36 years
This couple’s long-term relationship has spawned three decades and a big, blended family. They first met in 1966 whilst filming The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band. However, they were very young at the time and only began dating in 1983 whilst filming Swing Shift. Their first date was a memorable one, as they almost got arrested after breaking into a home Hawn had recently purchased because she didn’t have the key. Luckily, it all seemed to have worked out in their favour.
The couple have been together ever since, and have one child, Wyatt, together. Both have children from previous marriages. Hawn is mother to Kate and Oliver Hudson, both accomplished actors, and Russell has another son called Boston.
On their decision not to marry, Hawn explains that she doesn’t see a need. “We have done just perfectly without marrying,” Hawn said in an interview. “I already feel devoted and isn’t that what marriage is supposed to do? So as long as my emotional state is in a state of devotion, honesty, caring, and loving, then we’re fine. We have raised our children brilliantly; they are beautiful people. We did a great job there and we didn’t have to get married to do that. I like waking up every day and seeing that he is there and knowing that I have a choice. There is really no reason to marry.”
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Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson: 31 years
This loved-up pair are one of Hollywood’s favourite couples, and for good reason. They met on set of the ABC TV series, Bosom Buddies, back in the ’80s, but Hanks had been pining after his future bride long before then. Her guest appearance in The Brady Bunch caught Hank’s eye, but he didn’t act on his feeling for years.
After being friends for a while, they went public with their relationship in 1986 and tied the knot in 1988. They have two sons together, Chester and Truman. Hanks has children Colin and Elizabeth from his previous marriage.
“The success of our relationship was a matter of timing, maturity, and our willingness to have an intimate connection,” Hanks told Oprah. “I won’t deny that providence was part of us finding each other, but our relationship isn’t magic—the way it’s shown in movies. In real life, our connection is as concrete as me sitting here. Not that marriage doesn’t come close to being hell in a handbasket sometimes. But we both know that no matter what, we’ll be with each other—and we’ll get through it.”
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Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick: 31 years
This couple has been working together just as long as they’ve been married. Technically, they first met when Sedgwick, 12, approached Bacon, 19, to tell him she enjoyed his performance in a show she had recently seen him in. By 1997, when they had their second introduction on the set of their TV movie Lemon Sky, Sedgewick had begun an acting career of her own and Bacon was living in post-Footloose stardom. Whilst she thought of him as a jerk, Bacon was instantly besotted.
They began dating later that year, and married in 1998. They quickly welcomed children Travis and Sosie Bacon into the world. Sedgewick advises that couples make their relationship a priority.
“I feel the primary relationship has to be the mother and the father, and then it can be the kids,” Sedgwick explained to Redbook. “Of course the kids come first in planning your life, but it’s incredibly important to keep your relationship as a couple strong and make time for it. It’s the foundation on which everything is built. Kids should know that your needs are important, because if they think your happiness lies only in them, that’s a lot of pressure on them.”
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John Travolta & Kelly Preston: 28 years
Travolta and Preston met in 1989, but only began dating a year later. They married in 1991 while Preston was pregnant with their first child, Jett. They welcomed their second child, Ella, in 2000. However, tragedy struck in 2009 when the couple lost their first born who died from a seizure whilst on a family holiday in the Bahamas. The family tried to find joy again, and welcomed son Benjamin to the world in 2011.
The couple celebrated their 28 year anniversary this year, and took to Twitter to express their love for each other.
“You have given me hope when I have felt lost, loved me patiently and unconditionally… made me laugh harder than any other human being possible… shared the most beautiful highs and at times lows.” Preston wrote in an Instagram post.”You’re a dream Daddio and make life so much fun!! I trust my love with you implicitly… with you I know I will always be okay no matter what happens… I love you forever and completely. Happy 28th Anniversary.”
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Annette Bening & Warren Beatty: 27 years
Once one of Hollywood’s most legendary bachelors, Warren Beatty changed his ways after meeting Annette Bening. The pair met after Beatty cast Bening in his 1991 film Bugsy. There was an instant attraction, and soon after filming, the couple began dating. They married in 1992, and share four children: Stephen Ira, Benjamin, Isabel and Ella.
Of their relationship, Beatty has said, “It didn’t really surprise me, I always felt I wasn’t trying to avoid marriage, I was trying to avoid divorce. I had no doubt when I met Annette that it was time to get married.”
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Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick: 22 years
The famed actors met in 1991, following SJP’s highly public relationship with Robert Downey Jr came to an end. But it was months later that Broderick would have the courage to ask her out. They began dating in 1992 and married five years later in 1997 in a surprise wedding. Their 100 guests didn’t even know they were attending a wedding until it started. Of course, everyone remembers SJP’s iconic black wedding dress.
They have had three children over the course of their marriage: 17-year old James Wilkie and 10-year-old twins Marion and Tabitha, whom they welcomed via surrogate.
“Relationships are hard,” SJP said in an interview. “I always felt that I wanted to invest more. I love him, and I think he’s brilliant. I’m sure I annoy him. He annoys me sometimes. I’m enormously proud of the person he is. I think the longer you can last, the more invested you just are.”
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Felicity Huffman & William H. Macy: 22 years
The Desperate Housewives star met Shameless actor William H. Macy in the early 1980s and they dated on and off for 15 years. Throughout their relationship, Macy proposed to Huffman but she always rejected him. In 1997, however, she had a change of mind, and said yes to the big question. They tied the knot later that year. Together they have daughters Sophie, 19, and Georgia, 17.
“What’s the secret? I don’t think there is a secret,” Macy told Us Weekly. “But mostly, I’m lucky. I met her, she said yes, we grew up in the theater together, we have shared interests, and she’s a good woman to her core and evolving always. And no one has ever seen me the way she sees me.”
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Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith: 22 years
This power couple will celebrate their 22-year wedding anniversary in December this year. They first met in 1994 when a then 19-year-old Jada auditioned to play Smith’s girlfriend in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. While she din’t get the role, she ended up getting the guy. However, at the time Smith was in the process of a divorce, so the couple only officially began dating in 1995.
They married in December 1997, and quickly had their first child together, Jaden in 1998. Soon after that, they welcomed second child Willow in 2000. Smith has another son, Trey, from his first marriage.
Despite constant rumours on the state of their marriage, the Smith’s maintain that they are still together and happy.
“We refer to ourselves as life partners, where you get into that space where you realise you are literally with somebody for the rest of your life. There’s no deal breakers,” Will said in an interview. “There’s nothing she could do — ever. Nothing that would break our relationship. She has my support till death and it feels so good to get to that space.”
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David and Victoria Beckham: 20 years
The world of pop music and sports collided when the Spice Girl began dating the sports star in 1997. According to David, it was love at first sight when he saw the pop sensation in a music video for her band’s song, Say You’ll Be There. They met months later in the United players’ lounge and they quickly fell in love. They wed in 1999 in an elaborate Irish ceremony that featured a massively poofy wedding dress and matching haircuts.
Since getting married, the loved-up pair have become parents to four children: Brooklyn, Romeo; Cruz; and Harper. Their relationship has been rocked from cheating allegations over the years, but they have remained steadfast in their commitment to each other.
“Of course you make mistakes over the years, and we all know marriage is difficult at times. It’s about working through it,” David said. “We stay together because we love each other, because we have four amazing children. Do you go through tough times? Of course. That’s part of relationships. It’s part of marriages. It’s part of having children. It’s part of having responsibilities.”
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Picture: Instagram / David Beckham
