Celebrities Who Never Remarried After Their Partner Died
In the celebdom, dating, relationships, and marriages come and go. While many simply did not work out, a few others were abruptly cut short by death. Despite this kind of tragedy, however, some celebrities have gone on to get second chances. Three years after losing his first wife, Kathryn Spath-Tucci, to breast cancer, "The Devil Wears Prada" star Stanley Tucci got married to his second wife, Felicity Blunt, with whom he has since welcomed two children. Similarly, Biggie Smalls' longtime partner, Faith Evans, remarried only one year after the rapper's tragic murder in 1997.
But while some celebrities quickly found love after their loss, many have been unable to move on from their grief. Until her death in December 2021, veteran actor Betty White, who lost her husband Allen Ludden to stomach cancer in 1981, remained unmarried. In the same vein, singer Courtney Love, who was married to Kurt Cobain in the early '90s, never tried for marriage again — though she knows she should. "I've had great loves since Kurt," she admitted to The Telegraph in 2014. "I probably should have married again. But I couldn't put my tiara and my little slip dress in a box and go and be Mrs. Somebody who used to be Courtney Love."
And like Betty White and Courtney Love, a few other celebrities did not get around to walking down the aisle again after experiencing such tragedy. From supermodel Iman to actor Rick Moranis, here are stars who never got remarried after their partner died.
Iman
In 1992, Somalian-American model Iman Abdulmajid, popularly known as Iman, married British singer David Bowie, whom she met through a mutual friend two years prior. "My attraction to her was immediate and all-encompassing. I couldn't sleep for the excitement of our first date," Bowie told Hello! of their first meeting. "That she would be my wife, in my head, was a done deal. I'd never gone after anything in my life with such passion in all my life. I just knew she was the one." An unlikely pair at first glance, Iman and Bowie went on to give Hollywood one of its most epic love stories. Sadly, the pair's fairy tale was cut short in January 2016, when Bowie died of liver cancer at the age of 69. But not even death has been able to separate Iman from her soulmate.
During a 2020 interview with Porter, the supermodel opened up about the grief of losing Bowie, revealing then that she had no plans to remarry. "I do feel very lonely," she added. "But do I want a relationship? I can't say never, but no, not now." Though people have since spoken about Bowie in the past tense and referred to him as 'the late David Bowie,' Iman says he remains alive in her heart. "I mentioned my husband the other day with someone, and they said to me: 'You mean your late husband?' I said, no, he is always going to be my husband," she told Porter.
Celine Dion
In 1980, 12-year-old Celine Dion met René Angélil, the man who would become first her manager, and then her husband. "While I was singing he started to cry. I knew then I had done a good job," the singer told People of their first meeting. Though they started working together the following year, their relationship took a romantic turn a few years down the line. In 1987, Dion went on her first date with Angélil. "We kind of kept it cool because of my career. I was living that love secretly," she recounted in a 2016 interview with People. The couple would later go public with their romance, eventually getting married in December 1994.
Sadly, in 2016, Angélil tragically died of throat cancer. "I think I will probably grieve for the rest of my life," Dion admitted to The Sun in 2017. "I miss him a lot. I miss him a lot — for my partner, for the man I was embracing, kissing, making love with. My worries, my dreams." Since his death, Dion focused primarily on raising her three kids with Angélil. As for whether she would ever consider remarrying, Dion remains skeptical. "He's the love of my life," she told The Sun of Angélil. "It's very difficult for me to see myself with another person. The love that I have for him, I live it every day."
Liam Neeson
He will always be known as one of Hollywood's biggest action film stars — but Liam Neeson will also always be remembered as the love of Natasha Richardson's life. After meeting on Broadway in the early '90s, Neeson and Richardson fell madly in love. One year after meeting, the pair got married in 1994, welcoming two sons Michael and Daniel in the years that followed. But while their love story was reminiscent of a Hollywood script, tragedy was lurking around the corner, waiting to strike.
In March 2009, while on a ski trip to Quebec, Canada, Richardson hit her head after falling on a ski slope. While her injuries initially appeared mild, Richardson soon started showing symptoms pointing to a more serious injury. Upon getting to the hospital, "The Parent Trap" star was declared brain dead and subsequently placed on life support. On March 18, 2009, surrounded by Neeson and many of her loved ones, Natasha Richardson took her last breath.
In the years that have since passed, Neeson has remained unmarried. Instead, when asked about Richardson, Neeson continues to sing her praise. "They say the hardest thing in the world is losing someone you love. "My wife died unexpectedly. She brought me so much joy. She was my everything," the "Cold Pursuit" star once wrote on Facebook, via Country Living. As for how he keeps her alive in his heart, Neeson says he visits his late wife's grave often. "I go down there quite often, so I do speak to her as if she's here. Not that she answers me," he told Inquirer in 2020.
Yoko Ono
Art. Music. Activism. These are things that may come to mind when you think of Yoko Ono and The Beatle's John Lennon. A creative power couple in every sense of the word, Ono and Lennon first met in 1966 while attending an art exhibition. Though Lennon was married to his first wife, Cynthia Powell, at the time, that did not stop him from pursuing a romantic relationship with Ono. In 1969, one year after Lennon's divorce from Powell was finalized, he married Ono in Gibraltar, having failed to secure their preferred locations. "We chose Gibraltar because it is quiet, British, and friendly. We tried everywhere else first," Lennon said of their wedding venue, according to Robin Bell's "The History of British Rock and Roll" (via The New York Times). "I set out to get married on the car ferry and we would have arrived in France married, but they wouldn't do it. We were no more successful with cruise ships. We tried embassies, but three weeks' residence in Germany or two weeks in France were required."
The pair's marriage however lasted only 11 years, as Lennon was assassinated on the night of December 8, 1980. "The death of a loved one is a hollowing experience. After 39 years, Sean, Julian and I still miss him," Ono wrote on Twitter in 2019, referencing the couple's son Sean who was born in October 1975, and Julian, Lennon's son from his first marriage. Since Lennon's death, Ono has remained unmarried. At some point, though, she was in a long-term relationship with artist Sam Havadtoy.
Mel Brooks
The first time Mel Brooks set his eyes on Anna Bancroft on Broadway in 1961, he knew he wanted her to be in his life. "She was wearing a stunning white dress, and she was singing in a sultry voice a Gertrude Niesen favorite, "I Wanna Get Married." She was just incredibly beautiful," Brooks recounted in his 2021 memoir "All About Me!" via Vulture. In 1964, the couple got married. Eight years later, their son Max — the couple's only child together — was born.
Unsurprisingly, during their marriage, they also collaborated together on different movies, including "The Elephant Man," where Brooks served as producer and Bancroft as an actor. Beyond the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, Brooks and Bancroft's commitment to each other was unwavering. "You know, it took because Anne and I both grew up during the marriage, we both grew up, we both knew what was really important, and what love meant and ... what doing for each other meant," Brooks said in PBS's "Mel Brooks: Make a Noise," per People.
Sadly, after four decades of marriage, Brooks's happily-ever-after fairy tale with Bancroft was cut short. In June 2005, the "Deep in My Heart" star died of uterine cancer. "Living this life without her is not easy," Brooks admitted in an interview with People. As for why he never dated or got married again, Brooks, now in his '90s, told The New York Times: "Once you are married to Anne Bancroft, others don't seem to be appealing. It's as simple as that."
Courtney Love
Not since the days of Tina Turner and Ike Turner did Hollywood have an epic rock 'n' roll love story like Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain's. As written in Charles R. Cross' 2001 biography about Cobain, "Heavier than Heaven," Cobain and Love hit things off immediately when they first met in January 1990. "I probably wanted to fu** her that night, but she left," Cobain said of his initial attraction to Love, per Daily Beast. In February 1992, the pair got married in an intimate Hawaiian ceremony attended by only their closest friends. Five months later, Cobain and Love welcomed their first child together, Frances Bean.
While their marriage was not perfect, there was no doubt that the twosome had a lot of love between them. "Kurt Cobain picked Courtney Love, and Courtney Love picked Kurt Cobain," Cross told The New York Post. "No matter how flawed they were at times as individuals, they were two people that loved each other." Despite their epic love, however, Cobain and Love were soon separated by a tragedy.
Cobain died by suicide and was found dead in his Seattle home on April 8, 1994 — three days after his estimated time of death, per The Seattle Times. Though she has been linked with many men through the years, Love never remarried. Most notably, in 2020, she penned a touching tribute to the former Nirvana singer on social media, per USA Today.
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Martin Short
Nancy Dolman died of ovarian cancer back in 2010, but even now, years later, Martin Short remains connected with his late wife. "She died in 2010, but I still communicate with her all the time," he confessed in a 2019 interview with AARP. "It's 'Hey, Nan,' you know? How would she react to this decision or that, especially regarding our three kids. I believe that when people die, they zoom into the people that love them. This idea that it just ends, and don't speak of them — that's wrong."
According to People, Short and Dolman first crossed paths in the '70s, during their earliest days as actors. By 1980, the pair got married, eventually going on to have three kids together. Like her husband, Dolman was a talented actor who earned credits in the 1977 show "Custard Pie," 1980's "Landon Landon & Landon," as well as "Soap," starring in the latter between 1980 and 1981.
Given their bond and the longevity of their marriage, Short has unsurprisingly struggled to move on since Dolman's death — an event he claims took a toll on his family. "It's been a tough two years for my children," Short told The Guardian in 2012. "This is the thing of life that we live in denial about, that it will ever happen to us or our loved ones, and when it does you gain a little and you suffer a little. There's no big surprise."
Debbie McGee
After a brain tumor diagnosis, magician Paul Daniels died in March 2016 at the age of 77, leaving behind Debbie McGee, his wife of 28 years. "The way to describe Paul was that, yes he did television shows and people knew who he was and he did shows for royalty and we flew around the world. You know we had a fairy tale life and we were so happy together," McGee said of her husband in an interview with the BBC. Having spent nearly half her life married to him, McGee has struggled with the reality of Daniels' death — albeit privately. "I'm not very good at crying in front of people so, most of the time, I can choose my moments when I recall Paul and think about him," she revealed during a 2018 appearance on "Loose Women," via DailyMail.
But while she has not been publicly linked to man since Daniels' death, McGee is seemingly ready to give love another shot — if it comes her way. "Well, I've never said I'm ready for it. I've just said that if it happens it happens," she said during an April 2023 appearance on "Good Morning Britain," per Mirror. "All the people I know that say 'Oh I wish I could find somebody don't seem to find it or find the right person," she added.
Rick Moranis
If you've ever wondered about fatherly commitment, you might want to look to Rick Moranis. In 1996-1997, the "Ghostbusters" star took a break from Hollywood to focus on raising his two kids, Rachel and Mitchell, whom he shared with his late wife Ann Belsky, who died of cancer in 1991. Despite missing out on the chance to work on so many great projects, Moranis wouldn't have had it any other way. "I was working with really interesting people, wonderful people," Moranis once recounted to The Hollywood Reporter of his busy days in the movie industry. "I went from that to being at home with a couple of little kids, which is a very different lifestyle. But it was important to me. I have absolutely no regrets whatsoever. My life is wonderful."
Though Moranis has since made a return to the big screen, not much has changed in his love life. Since Belsky's death, the "Spaceballs" actor has remained unmarried. Now in his '70s, it is safe to assume that Moranis is not looking to replace the love he shared with Belsky.
Betty White
A "Golden Girl" with a golden love story, Betty White's life could have made for something of a fairy tale. After two short-lived marriages, first to Air Force pilot Dick Barker and then to talent agent Lane Allen, White found love for the third time with television host Allen Ludden. Per People, the pair first met in 1961, when White appeared as a guest on Ludden's game show "Password," which had been on air for only a few weeks at the time. "He was so nice and he had watched me on life with Elizabeth and I had watched him on another show he was doing. So we felt like we knew each other," she recounted to Television Academy of their first meeting.
Two years after their first meeting, Ludden and White got married in a Las Vegas ceremony, kicking off the beginning of their beautiful love story together. Sadly, this lasted only 18 years before White lost the love of her life. In June 1981, Ludden died of stomach cancer, but even though he was gone, White held him close to her heart till the very end. Speaking to Anderson Cooper in 2011, White opened up about her romance with Ludden, reaffirming then that she had no interest in getting married again. "I had the love of my life. When you've had the best, who needs the rest?" she gushed at the time.
On December 21, 2021, White died at the age of 99. According to Vicki Lawrence, her last moments were spent calling out to Ludden. "Allen," she reportedly said, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Joan Rivers
In 1957, Joan Rivers married her first husband, James Sanger. Barely six months later, however, the union was annulled after Rivers discovered that Sanger omitted telling her that he didn't want kids, per The Epoch Times. Eight years later, the comedienne walked down the aisle again, this time tying the knot with film producer Edgar Rosenberg. "We filled each other's gaps like two pieces of a puzzle. I gave him warmth. He gave me style," she reportedly once said of Rosenberg. Despite their seemingly happy marriage, Rivers and Rosenberg had their fair share of ups and downs. According to The Telegraph, she once accused Rosenberg of treating her badly during the marriage, which she described as a sham.
Sadly in 1987, a few months after Rosenberg and Rivers were fired from "The Late Late Show with Joan Rivers," the producer died by suicide. As reported by PBS, Rosenberg struggled to get along with Fox executives Rupert Murdoch and Barry Diller, eventually leading to tension on set. When presented with the option of firing Rosenberg, Rivers couldn't do it — so the network let them both go. "Everything just went to smithereens. He left me with no career, and a lot of debts because he wasn't a good businessman and a lot of tough times," she later said of Rosenberg's sudden death.
Up until her death in 2014, Rivers never remarried, but perhaps that was because she had seen it all!
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