When it comes to marriage in the spotlight, many celebrity relationships seem to ignite and then fizzle as quickly as a season’s fashion trends come and go. Possibly because they assume that bonding over their shared public images will help secure their relationship statuses, stars often choose partners who are also well-known – only for tabloids to report a sudden split shortly after their public commitment to each other.
Other celebrities choose another path, marrying their fans or otherwise normal people who have little interest in becoming the latest gossip column headlines. Unlike everyday people who marry into royalty and quickly become just as famous as their significant others, these couples manage to keep their relationships private.
Matt Damon’s Wife, Luciana Barroso, Put Him To Work Behind The Bar She Was Tending The Night They Met
Like many Hollywood couples, Matt Damon and his wife of almost 20 years, Luciana Barroso, prefer to keep the details of their relationship private. While neither have social media accounts, and rarely speak of their four daughters, the couple has opened up in interviews about how they met in 2003.
Their romance began when Damon was shooting Stuck on You in Miami, and the crew went into a local nightclub to unwind. Barroso was bartending that night and instantly caught the Good Will Hunting star’s attention:
I literally saw her across a crowded room, literally… Eight years and four kids later, that’s my life. I don’t know how else our paths would’ve crossed if that didn’t happen.
While Barroso mostly corroborates her husband’s narrative, she’s a little more modest concerning the details:
Matt’s story is that he saw me across the room and there was a light on me. And I’m like, “Yeah, it was a nightclub – there were lights everywhere!”… He had started getting recognized and asked for pictures and autographs, and then it got kind of aggressive because people are drinking and stuff… So he came and hid behind the bar … [wanting to] just hang out back there and have a drink. He says, “Oh, I saw you and I really wanted to talk to you.”
Instead of allowing Damon to use her station for cover, the Argentinian-born bartender put the A-list actor to work:
[I said] “You know, if you’re going to be back here, you can’t just be standing there!” He had trained as a bartender for a film years before, so he started making drinks. And he made me a ton of money in tips that night, because of course everyone wanted to go and see him… So it turned into a really fun night and then 15 years later here we are!
Despite Damon’s hectic schedule, he and Barroso have strict rules when it comes to spending time apart from each other. As Damon explained:
We have a two week rule. I’m not away for more than two weeks. I think you need to be with the person you love as much as possible. My wife is my soul mate. I don’t like being apart from her.
Paul Rudd’s Marriage To Publicist Julie Yaeger Inspired Moments From His Films
After finding overnight stardom for his role in 1995’s Clueless, Paul Rudd was in the market for a publicist. He walked into a New York firm’s office to hire one and instead ended up meeting Julie Yaeger, who would eventually become his wife of 20+ years. After taking her on a date a few nights after they met, Rudd knew he had found someone special:
She was the first person I met in New York… We started talking and there was a maturity with her – she had experienced some tragedy in her life, I had too, and the impression I got was, wow, this is a woman. This isn’t a girl.
Since their 2003 marriage, they’ve welcomed two children (Jack in 2006 and Darby in 2010) and have remained supportive of each other’s careers. The duo wrote and produced Fun Mom Dinner in 2017, and Rudd’s admitted that some of the lines from Knocked Up and This is 40 were inspired by the conversations he and Yaeger have as a married couple:
We’ll have the “What is annoying you about each other?” conversation, and a lot of that makes its way into the movie… When Judd [Apatow] was writing that movie, my wife once said, “I’m so sick of looking at your back,” because I was just on the computer all day, checking my fantasy football scores.
Dolly Parton Met Her Husband, Carl Dean, Outside A Laundromat Her First Day In Nashville
Dolly Parton met her soon-to-be-husband, Carl Dean, outside a Nashville laundromat called Wishy Washy the first day she arrived in the city, back in 1964. She was only 18, and he was 21. They had a private wedding two years later, and Dean disappeared from the public eye shortly after. He’s been so elusive that rumors have even swirled that he didn’t exist. Ironically, Parton attributes her husband’s introverted nature and distinct differences to their long-lasting marriage:
I like it when people say, “How did it last so long?” I say, “I stay going.” You know, there’s a lot to be said about that. So, we’re not in each other’s face all the time. He’s not in the business, so we have different interests, but yet we have the things we love to do together. So it was meant to be, I think. He was the one I was supposed to have and vice versa.
Dean kept to running his asphalt business while Parton skyrocketed to country music fame; he even avoided attending his wife’s concerts. As Parton explained:
He gets nervous seeing me perform. It’s almost like seeing your kid in a recital. He’s afraid I’ll mess up. Actually, he has seen me a time or two and it did relax him a little. He saw that I do mess up and it’s OK because people are not gonna punish me for it.
The couple have no children, and while Parton said they once expected otherwise, they now have a different attitude:
Early on, when my husband and I were dating, and then when we got married, we just assumed we would have kids. We weren’t doing anything to stop it. In fact, we thought maybe we would. We even had names if we did, but it didn’t turn out that way.
Now that Carl and I are older, we often say, “Aren’t you glad we didn’t have kids? Now we don’t have kids to worry about.”
The pair have clearly not let fame get in the way of their relationship, and they still reside in the same home they purchased in Brentwood (a Nashville suburb) in 1999 for just $400,000.
Christian Bale’s Wife, Sibi Blazic, Was A Stunt Driver Who Chased Him In ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Christian Bale’s wife, Sibi Blazic, is a woman of many talents. After working as an assistant to Winona Ryder, who introduced the pair, she also worked as a model, make-up artist, and stunt car driver. As Bale revealed in a 2014 interview:
My wife was a stunt driver, she was chasing me through the city in Batman. She was driving one of the cop cars. She can do 180s and stunts and all that. She terrifies me. My wife terrifies me.
Bale also credits his wife of nearly 20 years – and mother of his daughter and son – for being the backbone of his career, in which he has taken on many different personas to fulfill physically and psychologically demanding roles:
I truly believe you can’t really celebrate something like this without having your partner with you because making movies takes so much time… She’s had to be married to so many different characters over our marriage … I know it truly would be impossible to do it without her. She’s such a good, strong woman.
Still, the American Psycho star recognized that Blazic preferred some characters more than others:
My wife definitely had favorites. She was like, “Ah, I miss him. He’s gone… I want you to be that character again.”… [Sibi] actually really liked Trevor Reznik, from The Machinist. I think it’s just about him and me just f*cking sitting there being too weak to be able to do anything. Totally incapable.
Meryl Streep Met Her Husband Of 40+ Years, Don Gummer, When He Helped Her Move From Her Late Boyfriend’s Apartment
When her boyfriend and fellow actor, John Cazale, passed from lung cancer in 1978, Meryl Streep asked her brother to move her things out of the apartment the two had shared. Her brother obliged, bringing his friend Don Gummer along to help with the heavy lifting. While Gummer traveled and Streep worked on Kramer vs. Kramer, she sublet his apartment and they corresponded by letter. The connection must have grown quickly, as they married just six months later.
They’ve now spent more than 40 years together and raised four children, a feat not commonly reached in a typical marriage, much less one subjected to the Hollywood spotlight. Streep said of their success:
[The secret is] goodwill and willingness to bend – and to shut up every once in a while… There’s no road map on how to raise a family: It’s always an enormous negotiation… But I have a holistic need to work and to have huge ties of love in my life. I can’t imagine eschewing one for the other…
Teamwork is everything. My husband Don was… very involved. He was a little more relaxed when it comes to raising kids. I was more of a tiger mom.
Gummer and Streep make for an impressively creative pair – he works as a visual artist creating large-scale abstract sculptures.
Rob Lowe Met His Wife Of 30+ Years, Sheryl Berkoff, On A Blind Date
Rob Lowe met his wife of more than 30 years, jewelry designer and makeup artist Sheryl Berkoff, on a blind date in 1983. While the St. Elmo’s Fire star was initially attracted to Berkoff, the two didn’t begin a serious relationship until 1989, when they were both working on the set of the movie Bad Influence.
Lowe was then more interested in the idea of settling down:
I had met my now wife, Sheryl, and was attempting my first try at monogamy – which was not really in my nature at the time – and I wasn’t able to do it. It made me examine how I was living my life. That led me to getting sober, which led me to changing my life – giving me everything I now have.
The actor says the key to a lasting marriage and a happy family (the couple also has two adult sons with whom they’re close) is true companionship:
It really is all about who you pick. I always say to people, “If there’s any way to marry your best friend, do it”… Cause the rest of it comes and goes, and I was very lucky there.
Berkoff is the owner and founder of Sheryl Lowe Jewelry, which has a men’s line called “Mr. Lowe” in honor of her husband and their sons.
Elton John And David Furnish Wed Exactly Nine Years After Their Civil Partnership
Elton John first met his husband, David Furnish, through a mutual friend in 1993:
I went back to my house in Windsor for a while… I wanted meet new people so I rang up a friend in London and said, “Could you please rattle some new people together for dinner here Saturday?”
One of said new people was Furnish. The “I’m Still Standing” singer was instantly attracted to his “very shy” guest and asked him to dinner the following evening. The feelings were apparently mutual, because the two have been together ever since.
Furnish, who hails from Toronto, is a filmmaker, producer, and director. He collaborated with John when he directed his 1997 documentary, Tantrums & Tiaras. Some of his other credits include Pride and Predator, Gnomeo and Juliet, and It’s a Boy Girl Thing.
John and Furnish were some of the first couples to enter a legal civil partnership in the UK on December 21, 2005, and were also some of the first to officially tie the knot when same-sex marriage became legal nine years later. To celebrate the life they built together, they chose to get married on the same date their civil partnership was recognized.
The couple are parents to two boys: Zachary Jackson Levon, born December 25, 2010, and Elijah Joseph Daniel, born January 11, 2013. Over the years, John has expressed how grateful he is for his family:
Our boys came into our life at a late time… I’ve never experienced anything like it, being a father and being a parent. There’s no contest. I’d rather be with my children than playing shows…
If you’d had said to me 10 years ago I’d be sitting on your show married to the man I love and have two beautiful children I would have said, “You put acid in my drink…” But life throws you challenges and life throws you curveballs – and great curveballs. These two children have come along at a time I never thought I’d have children. They are the greatest thing in our lives.
Jerry Seinfeld And Wife Jessica Bonded Over Their Unhappy Engagements To Other People
Over the years, media outlets have portrayed Jerry Seinfeld’s wife, Jessica Sklar Seinfeld, in a less-than-flattering light, as she was newly wed to another man when the couple initially met. Still, she and Jerry have been together since 1998, proving there’s more to the story than the press led fans to believe.
In 2007, Jessica opened up about their chance meeting for The New York Times. She said she had just returned from an unhappy honeymoon with then-spouse Eric Nederlander, ready to move out and re-enter the single life:
I was going through a difficult time, and I was approached by Jerry Seinfeld [at the gym] and he attempted to make me laugh, and I was really not interested in being entertained at that moment… He came around again and said something funny, and I actually had to laugh.
[When he asked me out] I told him I didn’t think this was the right time for me to be involved with anybody… I told him the story and he looked at me with such compassion and said, “Give me a hug.” I barely know this person and all he has is compassion for how much pain I was in… And he said, “Let me tell you a story about what I did,” and he had done the exact same thing. Except he cut his engagement off before he got married.
Though not in the Hollywood biz like her husband, Jessica’s name still might ring a bell – she’s authored five New York Times bestselling cookbooks.
Wanda Sykes Met Her Countertop-Selling Wife, Alex Niedbalski, On A Ferry When She Was Remodeling Her Kitchen
Wanda Sykes first locked eyes with now-wife Alex Niedbalski while taking a ferry to Fire Island – off the coast of New York’s Long Island – in 2006. At the time, Sykes was remodeling her kitchen and also reconsidering her domestic life. As Niedbalski played with a baby also in transport, Sykes recognized the kind of stability she longed for in a relationship:
Something really said to me – like, audibly – “Wow, that’s what you need, Wanda.”
After her friends joked that she shouldn’t open every conversation with a stranger about her home remodeling projects, Sykes defiantly turned to the first person she met on the island to recount her grand kitchen renovations. That person happened to be friends with the playful woman on the ferry (Niedbalski), who happened to be a granite countertop dealer.
The two married in 2008 and have a set of twins, Lucas Claude and Olivia Lou.
Ellen Pompeo’s Husband, Chris Ivery, Co-Wrote A Song For Rihanna And Brought A UK Fashion Line To The US
Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo met her husband, Chris Ivery, at a Los Angeles grocery store in 2003. Having both been born and raised in Boston, MA, the two immediately hit it off and began dating. They were engaged three years later, and officially became husband and wife with a private ceremony in New York City in 2007.
Ivery was a writer and music producer for 25 years and co-wrote Rihanna’s 2011 hit, “Cheers (Drink to That).” After an extensive career in the music industry, he switched gears by focusing on fashion. After working for the UK division of Sergio Tacchini clothing for years, Ivery reached out to the brand to become an ambassador. The company created an exclusive line just for him, and Ivery launched the STLA Collection 2019.
The couple share three children: Stella Luna, Sienna May, and Eli Christopher.
Ashley Olsen And Artist Husband Louis Eisner Kept Their Relationship Under Wraps
Compared with their high-profile careers early in life, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have kept their adult lives private and out of the Hollywood spotlight. While neither of the twins speaks of their love lives in interviews, their rare public appearances with significant others have kept paparazzi and tabloids fueled with speculation.
Although Mary-Kate’s 2015 marriage to banker Olivier Sarkozy didn’t make it through the pandemic (she filed for divorce in April 2020; it was finalized in January 2021), Ashley and Louis Eisner have remained in a quiet relationship since 2017.
The two long-time friends met through mutual high school buddies. They were first spotted together at the Hammer Museum’s Gala in the Garden in October 2017. No official announcement of their relationship was ever given to the press, but Eisner attended Ashley and Mary-Kate’s 33rd birthday party as Ashley’s guest, and the two were spotted again entering a theater to see Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in 2019.
Still, Ashley and Eisner didn’t make their first official appearance until September 2021 at the YES 20th Anniversary Gala. When paparazzi captured photos of Ashley with a band on her left finger in May 2022, rumors abounded that she and Eisner had tied the knot. In January 2023, the news finally broke that the pair had a very private matrimonial ceremony – with fewer than 50 guests – the previous December.
Eisner is a bicoastal artist who grew up in California. Art runs in the family, as his mother is a famous fashion photographer and jewelry designer. His work appears to be more on the abstract side, and he has had some famous clientele, including Ivanka Trump.
Ashley Benson’s Fiancé, Oil Fortune Heir Brandon Davis, Has Dated Other Celebs
Over the years, Ashley Benson has made it clear she’s not interested in sharing her more intimate relationship details with the public. Still, when oil fortune heir Brandon Davis announced their engagement on social media with a shot of her massive engagement ring in July 2023, the Pretty Little Liars star followed up by resharing the photo with “My best frienddddd, I love you.”
The couple has had a relatively short and private relationship, having first been spotted together courtside at a Laker’s game in January 2023. Although Davis’s name has remained out of the spotlight in recent years, he’s rubbed elbows with many a celebrity. He dated Mischa Barton for a year in 2004 and shared a very public long-term friendship with Paris Hilton.
Davis is the grandson of billionaire oil tycoon Marvin Davis. According to his obituary, he amassed his wealth through lucrative deals in oil, entertainment, and real estate, acquiring companies such as 20th Century Fox and the Beverly Hills Hotel.
