Famous Couples Who Have Been Together For Decades
Divorce is a sad fact of life, and that's particularly true among celebrities. In Hollywood, marriage is often seen not as something that lasts but as something to be attempted over and over until one gets it right. The gold standard remains Elizabeth Taylor, who walked down the aisle an impressive eight times — twice with fellow movie star Richard Burton. In fact, research indicates that the average celebrity marriage lasts just 7.4 years.
These unions can be even briefer — and significantly more tumultuous — when both spouses are famous. Examples are plentiful, ranging from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to Amber Heard and Johnny Depp to Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards. However, there are exceptions to every rule. Scattered amongst all these often-scandalous divorces are some Hollywood couples who have managed to stand the test of time, remaining together for years and years — despite each grappling with the demands that come part and parcel with stardom.
Let's deep dive into some of these marital success stories, looking at famous couples who have been together for decades.
Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell
Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell have been famous individually for a long time, with careers extending back to the 1960s — when Hawn famously got her big break on TV's "Laugh-In," while Russell was a child actor before establishing himself in adult rules. Interestingly, the two first met on the set of a 1968 Disney movie. "I was 21, and he was 16, and I thought he was adorable, but he was much too young," Hawn told BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs (via People). They next encountered each other in 1983, when Russell landed a role in Hawn's film, "Swing Shift." While working together, the two fell in love. "He was so good-looking, but he had no pretense about him. I could tell right away he wasn't a womanizer," Hawn told People.
They began dating and have been together ever since. Russell even stepped in as a surrogate father to Hawn's two children, actors Oliver and Kate Hudson, from her previous marriage to musician Bill Hudson. In 1986, they had a child together, actor Wyatt Russell. During their lengthy relationship, they co-starred in the 1987 comedy "Overboard," presented together at the 1989 Oscars, and, in 2004, became grandparents when Hawn's daughter became a mom.
Despite being together for 40 years, the one thing the couple hasn't done is get married. "We'd been married before, and it didn't work, so why do it again?" Hawn explained during an appearance on British talk show "Loose Women."
Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed
Gene Simmons, bass player for KISS, had famously dated numerous women during his 1970s rock-star heyday, a roster that included such celebrities as Cher and Diana Ross; in fact, Simmons had famously boasted of bedding 5,000 or so women — which he claimed to have documented in a binder containing polaroid photos of all of them. In 1983, he met Shannon Tweed, who'd bared it all for Playboy and had been Hugh Hefner's girlfriend for a time. Simmons and Tweed immediately became a couple. In the decades that passed, they had two children and even opened their lives to reality TV cameras for the A&E series "Gene Simmons Family Jewels."
Tweed and Simmons had been together for 28 years when they finally married in 2011 — a lengthy wait, apparently due to the groom's reticence. "I look at my wedding band and think, 'What was I afraid of all this time?'" Simmons told People of their nuptials.
Prior to their wedding, though, Simmons admitted he wasn't always the ideal partner. "For 29 years ... I was a jackass," he told Us Weekly. Marveling that Tweed had the capacity to forgive him for his transgressions — something he admitted he might not be as capable of — Simmons conceded he'd hit the jackpot in the relationship department. "I am the most blessed guy, I think, who ever walked the face of the planet," he declared.
Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest
Jamie Lee Curtis has been in love with her husband, Christoper Guest, since before they'd even met. As she explained in a brief essay for O, The Oprah Magazine, Curtis came across a photo of Guest in a 1984 issue of Rolling Stone. "I'd never seen him before, but I pointed at him. 'I'm going to marry that man,' I said to my friend," she wrote, adding that she called Guest's agent and volunteered her number, asking that he give her a call. "Chris never called," she admitted.
Sometime later, Curtis and Guest happened to dine in the same L.A. restaurant; they shared a few awkward glances, but that was it — until he phoned her the following day and invited her on a date. Guest proposed two months later, and they were married that December at director Rob Reiner's house. In the following decades, the couple raised two daughters while enjoying successful — and quite separate — Hollywood careers.
"My husband and I are opposites. We have been for 33 years, and we always will be," Curtis told Good Housekeeping in 2018, explaining why, on paper, their long marriage makes absolutely no sense. "He's an intellectual, and I was from the movie star/alcoholic/drug addict side, where education was not the most important thing. We don't listen to the same radio station, we don't read the same paper, we don't go to bed at the same time."
Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy
Felicity Huffman is best known as Lynette Scavo on "Desperate Housewives," and her husband William H. Macy for portraying TV's worst father in "Shameless." They've also been together for well over three decades, having met in the early 1980s when both were struggling young actors in New York City. Over the next 15 years, they dated on an on-again, off-again basis. When they finally married in 1997, it was after Macy had proposed numerous times. "I was so scared of marriage that I thought I would've preferred to step in front of a bus," Huffman told the Chicago Tribune. However, she had an epiphany after the two had broken up for five years and reconnected. "I was finally smart enough to go: 'I'm going to marry this guy or really lose him for good,'" she said.
Since then, the pair welcomed two children as their respective stars rose in Hollywood — though Huffman's was briefly tarnished for her unfortunate involvement in the 2019 college admissions scandal.
Keeping their marriage together for so many years hasn't been without effort — and one important rule. "Once a week, we do sit down and make sure we take half an hour — each person gets 15 minutes — just to talk, with no crosstalk. I talk, then you talk," Huffman told HuffPost. "You kind of just deeply check in with the other person."
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson
Tom Hanks first met Rita Wilson when she guest-starred in a 1981 episode of his sitcom, "Bosom Buddies." The two became friendly — albeit on a platonic level, given that Hanks was married at the time. In 1985, Hanks' marriage was ending when he and Wilson reconnected while co-starring in the big-screen comedy "Volunteers." This time, their mutual attraction was impossible to ignore. "Rita and I just looked at each other and — kaboing — that was that," Hanks once said. "I asked Rita if it was the real thing for her, and it just couldn't be denied."
Hanks' divorce was finalized in 1987, and he and Wilson tied the knot the following year. They went on to have two children together and supported each other through good times (co-producing the mega-hit "My Big Fat Greek Wedding") and bad (Wilson's battle with breast cancer).
"The success of our relationship was a matter of timing, maturity, and our willingness to have an intimate connection," Hanks explained in an interview with Oprah. Admitting that their romance isn't the idealized fantasy depicted in the movies, he added, "But we both know that no matter what, we'll be with each other — and we'll get through it." In April 2023, the couple celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. "Love is everything," Wilson wrote in the Instagram caption accompanying a photo marking the occasion.
Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgewick
Kevin Bacon first met Kyra Sedgewick when he was performing in an off-Broadway play, and she was just 12. "We weren't dating at the time," he joked during an appearance on "The View," explaining that she and her brother approached him at a deli to tell him they'd enjoyed his performance. "I don't remember it, but she does," he recalled. The two encountered each other again in 1987 when they co-starred in the film "Lemon Sky." They'd felt an immediate connection. "When I did fall in love with Kevin, it really just felt like there was some urgency to get married, and I don't know what it was," she told Vulture. "He was just the one, you know? He was just the soul mate, he was just the one." By December, they were engaged and married in 1988.
The couple also became parents, welcoming two children. Bacon and Sedgewick have worked together frequently; not only have they co-starred in the films "Murder in the First" and "Cavedweller," Bacon has directed his wife in her hit TV crime drama "The Closer."
Despite being married for over three decades, Sedgewick says they don't need to put much effort into keeping their sex life alive. "When he walks into a room, I'm still ... I mean, my heart gets a little fluttery and I think, 'Oh! He's so cute. He's so hot.' That's literally the first thing I think," she told Redbook.
Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick
It was their mutual love of live theater that brought Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick together. In 1991, Parker was an up-and-coming actor while Broderick had already hit it big with "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." At the time, he was directing a play with the Naked Angels Theater Company in New York City. They met through her brothers, who'd founded the company, and Broderick asked her out. "He left a very charming, very self-effacing message on the machine," Parker told The New York Times. "You know, 'Hi, it's Matthew Broderick.' You had to use your last name." By 1996, the two were very much a couple when they starred together on Broadway in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." They wed in 1997. The pair became parents of three children: son James Wilkie and twin daughters Tabitha and Loretta.
According to Parker, the secret to their marriage's longevity has been their ability to evolve alongside each other. "Your needs are shifting. You and your partner are going to change," she told People. "It seems so silly, but I think you're very lucky if you like the person. I still just really like him. I'm sure I annoy him, and he annoys me, but I literally learn about him every day. I'm like, 'You're doing what? You're reading what?'"
While their acting careers have rarely overlapped, the spouses co-starred in a 2022 Broadway production of Neil Simon's "Plaza Suite."
Warren Beatty and Annette Bening
There's no escaping Warren Beatty's one-time reputation as Hollywood's most notorious Lothario, reportedly bedding numerous famous females since attaining Hollywood stardom in the 1960s. Beatty had just ended a high-profile romance with Madonna — his co-star in 1990's "Dick Tracy" — when he cast Annette Bening in his 1991 film "Bugsy," a gangster movie he was both starring in and directing. Bening, like many women before her, was smitten. "I remember thinking, 'Wow, this guy is so smart and so sharp and funny, but more — just articulate," Bening told People. "He was very passionate about the movie that he was about to make. He had a lot to say — and he was charming, for sure." Beatty apparently felt the same way, reportedly telling his friend, director Barry Levinson, that he was going to marry Bening shortly after meeting her.
Beatty and Bening were married in 1992 and had four children together. While Beatty's prior reputation — and their 21-year age gap — may have led some to assume the marriage wouldn't last, they celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2022. During a 2020 appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," Bening discussed the longevity of their union. "We're very proud of that," Bening said. "I have to say, my parents, who are 93 and 91 ... this fall they will be married 70 years ... Like, amazing, right? Incredible." Asked if she foresaw her and Beatty making it to that same milestone, she replied, "Easy."
Michelle Pfeiffer and David E. Kelley
Michelle Pfeiffer and David E. Kelley are the consummate Hollywood power couple: she's the Oscar-nominated star of such films as "Dangerous Minds" and "Scarface," and he's one of TV's top producers, responsible for series ranging from "Alley McBeal" to "Big Little Lies."
They first got together after going out on a blind date in 1993. However, as Pfeiffer told Good Housekeeping, the circumstances weren't exactly primed for romance at the time, given that she was in the process of adopting a baby, and they'd only been dating for a couple of months when she finally brought her infant daughter home. "So we had this child with us right away, and most people don't have that. But I really got to see him in a situation that certainly would separate the boys from the men. Obviously, he really rose to the occasion," she explained. They wed in 1993 and celebrated 29 years of marriage in November 2022.
Interestingly, the couple has never worked together over all those years. According to Pfeiffer, there's a very good reason for that. "Nobody writes, honestly, better for women than he does," she said while appearing on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." "I value our relationship more than a good part, and I just think it's too risky."
Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen
Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen first met in the early 1980s when they auditioned for roles in the film "Cross Creek" — Steenburgen was cast; Danson was not. A decade later, they met again when they signed on to co-star in the 1994 rom-com "Pontiac Moon." At the time, both were single: Danson divorced his second wife, Casey Coates, in 1993 and had recently broken up with then-girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg, while Steenburgen divorced actor Malcolm MacDowell in 1990.
The sparks flying between them onscreen were real, and the two began dating. In 1995, the pair tied the knot in Martha's Vineyard, with the nuptials boasting a star-studded guest list that included then-President Bill Clinton and wife Hillary, along with Jack Nicholson, Kelsey Grammer, Tom Hanks, Bruce Springsteen, Carly Simon, and Simon's ex-husband, James Taylor.
In 2018, Steenburgen shared a selfie of herself and her hubby celebrating their 23rd wedding anniversary. "Early morning walk celebrating our wedding October 7, 1995!" she wrote in the caption. "That's 23 years or 714 in actor's years:)" Even after all those decades of marriage, Danson insisted that the flame that sparked on "Pontiac Moon" had yet to dim. "I'm madly in love with Mary Steenburgen. She's a remarkable human being so I'm just incredibly blessed," Danson told Us Weekly in 2017. "It feels like heaven on Earth. If I were to die, I can say, I know what it's like to be loved and to love."
Courtney B. Vance and Angela Bassett
Actors Courtney B. Vance and Angela Bassett first met in the 1980s when both were graduate students at the prestigious Yale School of Drama. There was no love connection made at the time, though. "I don't remember her at all, really," Vance admitted during a 2007 interview on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." When they bumped into each other more than a decade later in Los Angeles, this time Vance took notice. "And I was single, he was single," Bassett told People. One thing led to another, and they walked down the aisle in 1997; in October 2022, they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. They also became parents of two children, daughter Bronwen and son Slater Vance.
Asked to share the secret behind their enduring marriage, Vance offered a seemingly simple equation. "Talking, communicating and allowing each other to have your own space and then come back together," he said to People, comparing a long-lasting marriage to a veteran rock group like the Eagles or Rolling Stones. As he explained, those groups had survived and stood the test of time, unlike many others who split up over egos, money, personality conflicts, or pursuing solo careers that ultimately flopped. "And then going, 'You know what? We're better together and stronger together,'" he explained. "To see those groups still doing it 30, 40, 50 years later and making even more money is just, it's a good feeling, the same thing."
Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness
Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness met when they were cast together in the 1995 Australian TV miniseries "Corelli." For Jackman, it was love at first sight. "I knew very early, I knew before Deb knew. Even when she tried to break up with me, I knew," he admitted to People, revealing she dumped him after their first three weeks of dating. At the time, Furness — who is 13 years Jackman's senior — was the established star, while he was the up-and-comer. Even back then, Jackman realized in his heart that she was the one. "I knew two weeks into meeting Deb that we were going to be together for the rest of our lives," he told Today. Four months after they met, Jackman proposed. They were married in 1996 and share two children, Oscar and Ava.
The ability to not get stuck in a rut has been one of the keys to keeping their marriage alive. "We're always learning, and humans change, so you have to, even though we've been together 25 years, you gotta reset all the time," Jackman explained, adding, "The longer it goes on, the better it gets."
In April 2023, the couple celebrated 27 years of marriage, with Jackman posting a photo of themselves on Instagram. "Together we have created a beautiful family. And life," he wrote. "Your laughter, your spirit, generosity, humor, cheekiness, courage and loyalty is an incredible gift to me. I love you with all my heart."
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas
In 1998, Michael Douglas was already separated from his first wife, Diandra Luker, and in the midst of finalizing their divorce when he met Welsh actor Catherine Zeta-Jones while both attended the Deauville Film Festival in France. Douglas recounted their first meeting on "The Jonathan Ross Show." He, of course, recognized her from her recent role in "The Mark of Zorro," and they wound up chatting at a bar. When they met later that same night, Douglas offered her a bold prediction. "I said to her after about a half an hour, 'You know, I'm going to be the father of your children,'" he said. According to Douglas, this did not prove to be as impressive as he'd hoped. "She said, 'You know, I've heard a lot about you, and I've seen a lot about you, and I think it's time that I say goodnight.'"
Undeterred by that blow-off, Douglas found out where she was staying while shooting her next film and arranged to have roses sent to her room. That ultimately sparked further meetings, and the couple tied the knot in 2000. Douglas ultimately fulfilled his prediction when the couple welcomed two children.
The pair briefly separated in 2013 but soon reconciled. "I think every couple has their difficult times. The only problem is ... we're all in the public eye, and it tends to get a little more exposed than most," Douglas said while appearing on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." "But we're back stronger than ever," he added.
David and Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham parlayed her pop stardom as Spice Girls' Posh Spice into a fashion empire, while her husband, David Beckham, was arguably in his prime as the most famous soccer player in the world. They met at a 1997 soccer match, but the British footy star had been eyeing her for a while. As he recalled during an appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," he and a friend happened to see the Spice Girls on TV. "I remember turning around — before I'd even met Victoria — and said, 'I want to marry that one,'" he said. That eventually happened in 1999, shortly after they welcomed son Brooklyn, the first of their four children.
During that "Ellen" appearance, David opened up about their marriage, revealing that the secret had been to ensure, regardless of how busy they became with their individual careers, they'd regularly have time to spend together. "In a marriage, you make it work, and you have to make time for each other," he said, adding, "And we do that. So I think that's important."
In July 2023, the Beckhams celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary, with David sharing a 1999 photo of themselves via Instagram. "To the best wife, mummy & drinking partner (most of the time)," he wrote in the caption.