Famous People Who Were Widowed Young

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When saying, "I do," young brides and grooms rarely consider the thought of losing their spouse soon afterwards. Unfortunately, the reality is tragedy can strike at any time, and celebrities aren't immune to losing their significant others, either.

The famous people on our list had dreams of living happily ever after with their partners, but when their spouses were ripped away from them, they were left behind to deal with immeasurable grief. Take Hole frontwoman Courtney Love, for example. She was just 29 when her rocker hubby, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, passed away. Decades following his death, Love still grieves her late-husband and feels the excruciating pain from the void he left.

Sadly, Love isn't the only celebrity who has lost a spouse at a young age. Some of the deceased were victims of heinous crimes, while others tragically took their own lives. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). 

Here are the famous people who were widowed young.

The Truman Show actress Natascha McElhone married renowned plastic surgeon Martin Kelly, in May 1998. The couple had two children together, Theodore and Otis, and McElhone was pregnant with their third child when the unthinkable happened. Her 42-year-old husband was "found lying on the doorstep of the family's home," according to a May 21, 2008 report by People magazine. Paramedics arrived but, sadly, Kelly was already gone. Kelly's father-in-law called his death "completely baffling" as the surgeon was "such a fit, handsome, fighting fit young man." A post mortem examination (per The Telegraph) discovered that Kelly suffered from a heart condition called "dilated cardiomyopathy." 

McElhone gave birth to their third son, Rex Kelly, five months after her husband's death, and she went through the labor and delivery all alone. "If Martin couldn't be there, I couldn't replace him with someone, as that would have felt very strange," she told Hello! magazine (via People). The Californication actress, who was just 38 when her husband passed away, told the Independent in 2016 that she was "utterly devastated" by the loss, and that to deal with the sadness, she began writing letters to her deceased husband, many of which were later published in a touching book called After You. 

McElhone also said she hadn't moved on romantically, and that she wouldn't go public with the news if she did. "But yes, that could change, absolutely," she told the Independent. "I'm lucky. I'm good at finding happiness. I look forward with hope."

When she was 21-years-old, Hollywood glam goddess Jean Harlow announced on June 21, 1932 (via The New York Times) that she would marry 42-year-old MGM executive Paul Bern. Bern was was instrumental in propelling her to superstardom, so it was only fitting that they would get married, become a power couple, and dominate the film industry together. Well, that was the plan, at least.

The original blonde bombshell, who starred in iconic films like 1932's Red Dust, was very impressed by her new beau. "He likes me for my mind," she once told the press of Bern, who was her second husband (via Daily Mail). "He isn't pawing me all the time."

Unfortunately, their marital bliss would be short-lived. Less than three months after their wedding, Bern was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head at the couple's Beverly Hills, Calif. home. While it was assumed that Bern took his own life, writer Ben Hecht later theorized the Hollywood exec was murdered by "an unnamed woman." However, author E.J. Fleming's account of the controversy surrounding Bern's death, revealed that upon reopening the state's case based on Hecht's theory, District Attorney William B. McKesson concluded, "[Hecht] was apparently peddling a wild and unconfirmed rumor as fact."

Shocking as Bern's death was, Harlow seemingly didn't take long to get over it. She married her third husband, cameraman Harrold Rosson, weeks after the one-year anniversary of Bern's death.

German-born singer and songwriter, Jackson Browne, known for hits, such as "Doctor My Eyes" and "Rock Me on the Water," became a widower at the age of 27 when his wife, model Phyllis Major, passed away.

Information on Major is sparse, but according Los Angeles Magazine, she and Browne had a son together, Ethan, before marrying two years later. Just four months after they wed, the 30-year-old "committed suicide by taking an overdose of barbiturates." 

Rolling Stone reported the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artist took a "grief-stricken break" from the music studio following Major's passing. When he returned to the studio, Browne finished his album The Pretender, "composing a remarkable set of subtle and allusive songs while his grief was still raw," according to Los Angeles Magazine. One track on the album, "Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate," seemed to evoke a specific source of Browne's heartache — particularly the haunting lyric: I found my love too late. Speaking about the tune in a video of a studio session, Browne described it as a way "to take an isolated incident that happens to you and turn it into poetry that makes it general enough fore everybody else to be able to relate to." 

Director Roman Polanksi and actress Sharon Tate married on January 20, 1968, in London, according to People. Though the marriage was bound for tragedy, it wasn't ideal from the start. There were rumors that Polanski was controlling and refused to be intimate with Tate when she became pregnant in 1968, according to the book Sharon Tate: A Life (via People). Sadly, Polanksi would never witness the birth of their child, nor would he have the chance to be with Tate for better or for worse. 

On August 9, 1969, 26-year-old Tate, who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant with their son, was murdered along with "four others at [her] home" by acolytes of cult leader Charles Manson, The Washington Post reported. 

The Rosemary's Baby director was 36 when his wife and child were killed, and he revealed in a book, Sharon Tate Recollection (via the Independent), that he has had trouble moving past Tate's death. "Even after so many years, I find myself unable to watch a spectacular sunset or visit a lovely old house or experience visual pleasure of any kind without instinctively telling myself how much she would have loved it all," he wrote, adding, "In these ways I shall remain faithful to her till the day I die." 

Polanski later became embroiled in another scandal, which caused him to flee the U.S. "after he was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl," according to NBC News. He remarried actress Emmanuelle Seigner in 1989.