Celeb Marriages That Fell Apart At Warp Speed
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
Celebrities certainly live a fast life. From the constant swarm of paps, having to think on their feet during interviews, to making daily decisions that impact their careers, the life of an A-lister is an impulsive ride. More often than not, it seems that stars let their unstable schedules influence their relationships as well, and getting hitched after barely knowing one another may becoming the norm.
As Caleb Backe, a health and wellness expert in New York told Bustle, "Many celebrities struggle with living a life of constant scrutiny and erratic schedules. This complicated lifestyle compels them to latch onto whatever they can to ground them." However, a shotgun wedding may not be the solution to your problems, particularly if you don't really know the person you're vowing to have and to hold. "Speedy engagements often don't work out because you haven't gone through life," Melissa Hobley, the CMO at OkCupid told Insider. "...That's when you learn the most about someone, when life gets tough."
Unfortunately, sometimes the harsh truth comes out after saying "I do," and some celebs opt to yank the cord on the whole operation just as quickly as they got hitched. Let's take a peek at celebrity marriages that fell apart at warp speed — be it months, weeks, or even hours.
Nicolas Cage wound up married to an alleged criminal
Nicolas Cage has a bit of a history when it comes to jumping the gun and getting married. Back in 2002, the actor wed singer Lisa Marie Presley (daughter of Elvis Presley) for less than four months! You'd think the Mandy actor would have learned a thing or two about getting hitched in a pinch, yet in March of 2019, a mere four days after his Vegas marriage to makeup artist Erika Koike, he filed for an annulment.
According to TMZ, trouble in paradise began hours after their wedding! The gossip site obtained photos of the couple fighting and the new bride yelling at him. According to Cage's annulment docs, the pair was allegedly wasted while tying the knot. Calling the marriage a "fraud," he claimed "conflict in personalities and dispositions that are so deep as to render the two incompatible in marriage." One would assume Cage would know his bride a bit better, considering the two dated for at least a year, but along with labeling his marriage fraudulent, Cage also claimed Koike didn't "disclose her criminal history." Per People, she has a colorful history of legal troubles that include multiple DUI charges, domestic violence charges (alleged against a former husband), and a lawsuit for alleged assault and battery.
Britney's 55-hour hubby was a 'nice guy'
Who can forget Britney Spears' 55-hour marriage to childhood pal Jason Alexander in 2004? Years later, Alexander recalled that shocking moment, telling ABC News that he got an invitation from the pop star on New Year's to fly him to Vegas on a private jet. "It was just, you know, a friend asking a friend to come on a trip." Hop on a plane he did, and soon enough they were seen partying together in Sin City. When the starlet asked him to get married, Alexander agreed. "I went with my feelings. I was in love with her."
As romantic as it all sounds, the blushing bride-to-be wore "jeans and a baseball cap." According to People, just a mere 11 hours later, as the duo called their families, "all hell broke loose," and Spears appealed for an annulment. Her friend, 'N Sync member Lance Bass, called it a joke that went "too far." Alexander wasn't laughing. He told ABC News that he willingly signed the annulment papers because of his infatuation with Spears. Simply put, he claims he was being "a nice guy." The Louisiana native flew coach back home and was reminded that what happens in Vegas, stays there.
Mario Lopez wasn't saved by wedding bells
It seems like Mario Lopez took after his womanizing Saved by the Bell character, A.C. Slater, more than we thought. The actor married his girlfriend of six years, Ali Landry, in 2004, but she filed for divorce two weeks later. According to People, a source close to the actress claimed Lopez cheated on her for "several years," but Landry supposedly didn't find out until after the wedding. Years later, Landry dished the deets on The Wendy Williams Show: "Right after the honeymoon, I started getting phone calls from these girls. I confronted him and he still — to this day — denied it and never apologized," she said. "It was horrible."
Years later, Lopez talked about his short-lived union on Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio show (via Us Weekly). He claimed the marriage fell apart before it even began — during the star's bachelor party. "Bouncing around" in Mexico with his cousins, Lopez admitted that he "messed around" with another woman, a messy photo was snapped, and Landry got a hold of it. According to the actor's memoir, Just Between Us (via Yahoo!), Lopez wasn't even in love with Landry when he married her but went through with it because he felt it was the "manly" thing to do. Immediately after their ceremony, the Extra host flew out of town for work, and upon returning, the starlet reportedly confronted him about the photo and asked him to leave.
A 'symbolic union' that turned sour
Eddie Murphy's New Year's Day wedding to TV producer Tracey Edmonds got off to a rocky start in 2008. According to People, the couple married on a private island off Bora Bora in front of their friends and family. Unfortunately, the couple never even made it into a honeymoon phase — or a honeymoon — choosing to split after two weeks of marital hell.
A source that was supposedly at the wedding told People, "Eddie started yelling at Tracey in front of people. He did it on a few occasions." Another source unveiled that things allegedly went from bad to worse after vows were exchanged. According to People, the Trading Places actor "grew standoffish" immediately after the ceremony, going off "to smoke with his buddies." One insider claimed they could "hear them yelling and her crying" during the festivities. So much for a blissful getaway!
Clearly realizing the mistake they made, the couple decided not to make their union official when they returned to the United States. In a statement to People, the couple said: "While the recent symbolic union in Bora Bora was representative of our deep love, friendship and respect that we have for one another on a spiritual level, we have decided to remain friends."
The eighth day of this marriage 'was the bad one'
Actor Dennis Hopper and musician Michelle Phillips from the Mamas and the Papas had an eight-day marriage in 1970. "Seven of those days were pretty good," Hopper told The New York Times. "The eighth day was the bad one." What the heck happened?
Phillips wouldn't say much about the experience, but in an interview with Vanity Fair years later, she called Hopper "excruciating." Hmm. All we have to go by are rumors about the actor's intensity. In the book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, author Peter Biskind describes nasty situations such as allegedly terrifying Phillips and her daughter, Chynna, "by firing guns in the house, and handcuffing her to prevent her from running away."
Hopper eventually discussed that union during an interview with The Guardian. "Oh Michelle," he said. "Well, we were married for eight days and we did everything we could possibly think of." He claims she was the one who ended it so soon. He also admitted that he'd been "aggressive towards women" in the past.
Falling asleep in your food isn't a good look
Cher definitely believes in life after love, and according to an unauthorized biography by Randy Taraborrelli (via Maclean's), the legendary songstress allegedly loves younger men. In fact, Cher has reportedly noted that younger guys "are more supportive and a lot less demanding" — a statement that came back to haunt her.
Just days after her divorce from singer Sonny Bono was finalized, Cher married The Allman Brothers Band frontman Gregg Allman on June 30, 1975. Nine days later, she filed for divorce, per Maclean's, releasing a statement that said: "Gregg and I have made a mistake and I have always believed it best to admit one's mistakes as quickly as possible."
Admit to the mistakes she did, but then she also decided to reconcile with Allman. According to Entertainment Weekly, Allman reportedly convinced her to stay by his side as he attempted to resolve his drug and alcohol addictions. What followed was a roller coaster. "Gregory's going to get screwed up from time to time, and so am I," Cher told People in 1976. The on-again, off-again duo was "on" enough to conceive a baby, Elijah Blue Allman, before splitting for good in 1977, after the rocker allegedly fell asleep at a banquet, "face down in a plate of spaghetti."
This marriage was electric, to say the least
Actress Carmen Electra's ego may have taken a little beating after she got married to basketball pro Dennis Rodman in Vegas in November 1998. According to the Kitsap Sun, Rodman's agent immediately jumped in to say that the marriage wasn't legal, claiming the basketball star was heavily intoxicated and Electra was taking advantage of him. However, considering the duo had been dating for months, they must have at least had some warm feelings toward each other, right? According to the New York Post, Rodman filed for an annulment a mere nine days later.
However, the couple reportedly tried to make things work, even denying claims of marital problems, but behind closed doors, something was definitely amiss. In December 1998, Electra and Rodman were arrested on battery charges after getting into a brawl at a hotel and "were ordered by a judge to stay away from each other," reported CBS News. The erratic duo threw in the towel and finalized its divorce in 1999. Years after the ordeal, Electra called her marriage to Rodman "the worst."
How to catch a man and get rid of one in 24 hours
Hungarian-born Hollywood starlet Zsa Zsa Gabor was an infamous man-eater. She had a whopping total of nine husbands in her lifetime. Gabor was so over-the-top, in fact, that by the time she published How to Catch a Man, How to Keep a Man and How to Get Rid of a Man in 1970, she already had five marriages under her belt.
Gabor's quickest union lasted 24 hours, and you'll have to pay close attention to keep up. Ready? According to The Mirror, during her breakup from Barbie doll creator Jack Ryan — her husband of one year, Gabor met Michael O'Hara, her divorce lawyer. Those two wed, but it didn't last. Gabor moved on to actor Felipe de Alba, tying the knot with him in Puerto Vallarta in 1982, but according to the Los Angeles Times, that marriage had to get annulled after a single day because the actress never finalized her divorce from O'Hara. Although Gabor and de Alba reportedly planned for a second wedding, that never happened. "He bored me," Gabor said. "He's a playboy and I'm a hard-working actress."
Sinead O'Connor 'frightened' her hubby on their wedding night
Sinead O'Connor apparently spooked her drug counselor groom, Barry Herridge, when she took him on a hunt for illegal substances on their wedding night. The marriage started off promising, to say the least, with the singer announcing on her website (via People) that she was having her "absolute dream wedding ceremony" to Herridge. Getting hitched in the back of a pink Cadillac in Vegas, the duo was all smiles as they exchanged vows, but 18 days after getting hitched, the "Nothing Compares 2 U" crooner told her fans that she was splitting from her beau. "He has been terribly unhappy and I have therefore ended the marriage. I think he is too nice to do so," she reportedly said on her website.
The public later learned that the union went sour on their wedding night when she took him on a hunt for cannabis. "We ended up in a cab in some place that was quite dangerous," she told The Sun. "I wasn't scared — but he's a drugs counselor. What was I thinking?" She added, "Then I was handed a load of crack. Barry was very frightened."
This ex-wife has nothing nice to say about Bradley Cooper
The relationship between Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Esposito was low-key, to say the least. That is until the actress decided to get real and spill the tea in her book, Jennifer's Way. But first, let's start at the beginning: Cooper and Esposito wed in December 2006, keeping things hush-hush. Four months later, TMZ reported that the two filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences." A rep for Esposito mentioned that the newlyweds had been separated for "quite a while."
While Cooper hasn't said much about his divorce, the Crash star got real in her autobiography (via Us Weekly). "I should have noticed the red flags from the beginning — actually, they were more like an entire marching band squad of red flags," she wrote. "...He was funny, smart, cocky, arrogant, and a master manipulator." Esposito was just getting warmed up and went on to say, "I took the good with the bad, even though the bad was extremely bad. Within days, my relationship hit an all-time low, and within a week, it was over." As juicy as this gossip sounds, we'd love to hear what The Hangover star has to say about his short-lived union.
Was this wedding one big publicity stunt?
With everything so perfectly timed in the Kardashian-Jenner empire, it's hard to say what's staged and what's genuine. For example, there are a lot of people who think Kim Kardashian's wedding to pro baller Kris Humphries was one big publicity stunt — Humphries included!
Let's rewind a little bit: The couple started dating in 2010, and the NBA standout proposed to the reality TV queen in May 2011. According to People, Humphries waited "in her bedroom on bended knee" with the words "Will you marry me" spelled out in red rose petals. The scene aired on Keeping up with the Kardashians, of course. People reported that the subsequent wedding ceremony was the most lavish of the year. Kardashian gushed that she was "in heaven," while Humphries said he would always "remember how perfect it was."
All Humphries was left with was memories, however, because his wife filed for divorce a mere 72 days later. The starlet had a prenup in place and cited "irreconcilable differences." While Humphries told TMZ he would "do whatever it takes to repair his broken marriage," Kardashian was over it. How over it? According to Us Weekly, she was already pregnant with rapper Kanye West's child during their divorce proceedings in 2013!
He had her at hello, promptly followed by good bye
Renée Zellweger had Kenny Chesney before she even said hello. In fact, this 1999 hit song of his is an obvious nod to the actress' breakout role and most famous line in Jerry Maguire. Lucky for Chesney, he eventually got to meet his crush. The two crossed paths in 2005, and before you know it, they wed in the Virgin Islands "before just 35 close family and friends," reported People. The country star couldn't stop gushing about his bride. "I may well be the luckiest man alive," he said. "To be so in love with someone who is so perfect for me — it's just hard to imagine that I'm not going to wake up."
While Zellweger seemed just as happy at the time, the magic eventually faded, and the Bridget Jones's Diary star filed for an annulment only four months after their tropical union. According to People, the starlet cited "fraud," which raised a lot of eyebrows and prompted Zellweger to release a statement, clarifying that the term "fraud" was "simply legal language." The two have never said much about their short-lived romance. Zellweger clearly wanted to put the past behind her — and she did. In a 2016 interview with the Advocate, the actress was asked about post-divorce rumors suggesting Chesney was gay. "I forgot about that. It's a pretty big thing to forget, isn't it?" Yes, yes it is.
Milla Jovovich just really wanted a bank card
In the early '90s, Milla Jovovich was in a hurry to grow up. The model and actress got her big break in movies in 1993 when she landed a role in the cult comedy classic Dazed and Confused. Years later, she told the Daily Mail that the flick also marked a big break in her love life because she decided to elope with her co-star and on-screen boyfriend Shawn Andrews. They got hitched in Las Vegas when Jovovich was only 16 years old. The best part? The Resident Evil star said she wasn't even "into actors" and just did it to "prove a point" to her mom and score a bank card. "I was a big girl as far as I was concerned and I wanted to establish myself as an adult, as I was working like one and being treated like one by everyone else ... It wasn't about being in love," she mused.
According to Dazed and Confused director Richard Linklater, "I think Mila's mother annulled it."