12 Long Lasting Hollywood Marriages, Including One Spanning 69 Years

The Gist

• Celebrity marriages have a bad reputation for being short-lived romantic stints. But some celebrity marriages run decades long, showcasing the longevity of true partnership.

• Dolly Parton, who passed away in August 2026, married her husband Carl Dean in 1966 and remained wed to him for 59 years. Similarly, Denzel Washington and his wife Pauletta have been married for 43 years.

People often don’t expect Hollywood marriages to last. High-profile relationships face public scrutiny, media frenzy, and little to no privacy. However, several A-list marriages have stood the test of time, defying the odds. Samuel L. Jackson and his wife, LaTanya Richardson, recently celebrated 46 years of marriage in August 2026. “We thank God every day for blessing us with each other. My foundation, my rock, my forever partner,” Richardson captioned an Instagram post of her and the award-winning actor in August.

Other celebrity couples have remained married in spite of past public scandals. For example, Hillary Clinton remained steadfastly loyal to Bill Clinton’s during his sex scandal in 1998, during his second term as POTUS. In turn, while Hillary Clinton was making her historic runs for the presidency in 2008 and 2016, her husband, Bill, was right by her side. The former presidential couple has been married since 1975, celebrating over 50 years of marriage.

From picture-perfect unions to complex relationships, here’s a closer look at the longest celebrity marriages.

01 of 12

Bob Hope and Dolores DeFina

Bob Hope and Dolores DeFina’s marriage is one of the longest and most tumultuous couplings in Hollywood history. The couple married in 1934, welcomed four adopted children, and remained together until Bob died in 2003 (DeFina passed away in 2011). During thier marriage, which spanned 69 years, the pair entertained U.S. military personnel during USO tours.

Behind the scenes, however, things may have been more complicated than they appeared. Two separate biographies of the prolific entertainer suggest regular infidelity on Hope’s part. In his 1993 biography The Secret Life of Bob Hope, Arthur Marx details dozens of Hope’s affairs and a habit of trading girlfriends with his friend Bing Crosby, per The Times. Meanwhile, biographer Richard Zoglin, who wrote 2014’s Hope: Entertainer of the Century, says he could not find record of either Hope and DeFina’s marriage or proof of Hope’s divorce from his first wife, per The New York Post.

02 of 12

Martin and Janet Sheen

Martin and Janet Sheen are one of Hollywood’s longest-standing married couples, married for over 60 years. Regarding the Sheens’ 64-year-long union, Martin described his wife Janet as the “most scrupulously honest human being I have ever encountered,” in a 2017 interview with The Guardian. The actor couple’s four children include Two and a Half Men actor Charlie Sheen and The Breakfast Club actor Emilio Estevez.

03 of 12

Dolly Parton and Carl Thomas Dean

Dolly Parton remained married to her husband, small business owner Carl Thomas Dean, for 59 years, until her day of passing on August 25, 2026. The couple met in the ’60s at a local laundromat in Nashville, Tennessee, days after Parton’s high school graduation, long before she rose to fame. Although her husband kept a low profile, the legendary country songstress spoke highly of him, revealing to People in the ’80s that “Carl is the one man in my life. I would love to grow old with him. If he should die first, I may never marry again. My love is that deep.” Parton passed away after a brief battle with cancer, a little over a year after her husband passed away in 2025.

04 of 12

Ina and Jeffrey Garten

Ina and Jeffrey Garten met in 1964 before tying the knot in 1968. The pair separated for a brief period in the 1970s, shortly after Ina debuted her specialty food store in the Hamptons, The Barefoot Contessa (which later inspired the name of her Food Network series in 2002). “Jeffrey was fully formed and living the life he wanted to live. I wasn’t, and I wouldn’t be able to figure out who I was or what I wanted unless I was on my own. I needed that freedom,” Ina wrote in her 2024 memoir, Be Ready When the Luck Happens. Ina and her husband, who teaches economics at Yale University, have now been married for 57 years.

05 of 12

Bill and Hillary Clinton

Bill and Hillary Clinton have maintained a steadfast union despite public scandals, including Bill’s 1998 relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The Clintons met while studying law in 1971 at Yale, and got married in 1975. They celebrated their 51st anniversary this year.

Nearly a year after her loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, Hillary described Bill as her “partner in life.” “The time we’ve spent just being together has made me more grateful than ever for a husband who is good company in happy times and sad,” the former presidential candidate told People in 2017.

06 of 12

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s 50-year union represents one of Hollywood’s most enduring couples. The pair got close in 1958 while filming the movie The Long, Hot Summer. “He’s very good-looking and very sexy, and all of those things, but all that goes out the window and what finally is left is if you can make somebody laugh, then that’s very important.’ And he sure does keep me laughing,” Woodward said in a 2002 interview, per People. Woodward and Newman remained married until Newman died in 2008, and collaborated on several film and philanthropic projects.

07 of 12

Meryl Streep and Don Gummer

Meryl Streep and sculptor Don Gummer were married for 45 years before separating in 2017. Streep met her former husband through her brother Harry Streep III in 1978, following the death of her former boyfriend, John Cazale. Streep and Gummer only publicly announced their separation in 2023, and did not share a specific reason. The former couple share four children.

08 of 12

Samuel L. Jackson and LaTanya Richardson Jackson

Samuel L. Jackson and LaTanya Richardson Jackson are still enjoying wedded bliss. Samuel and LaTanya initially crossed paths in the 1970s, while earning undergraduate degrees from Morehouse and Spelman College, respectively, in Atlanta, Georgia. The acting couple has been married since 1980 and celebrated their 46th anniversary in August 2026.

09 of 12

Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne

Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne were together for 43 years before Ozzy’s passing in July, 2025. The rockstar couple experienced several speed bumps, including Ozzy’s addiction and numerous extramarital affairs. Despite the struggles, Sharon stood by her husband, especially following his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2003. “You never get over it. But you learn to live with it, and that’s what I’m trying to do. So you either sit in a room and don’t come out, or you accept it, befriend it, and that’s it,” Sharon shared regarding her husband’s death in a 2026 interview with the BBC.

10 of 12

Denzel and Pauletta Washington

Denzel and Pauletta Washington are approaching almost five decades of marriage. The thespian couple met on the set of the TV series Wilma in 1977 before marrying in 1983. In June 2026, the couple celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary. The Washingtons currently share four children, all of whom are involved in the media industry.

11 of 12

Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest

Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest went from their first date to husband and wife in just six months. Curtis met Guest after being intrigued by his photo in a magazine and married the fellow actor in 1984. Currently, the couple, who share two children, are approaching their 42nd anniversary. Curtis and Guest are also the product of famous families: Curtis’s father was Some Like It Hot actor Tony Curtis, and Guest is the son of former CBS executive Jean Hindes Haden-Guest.

12 of 12

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have been married for almost four decades. They first met on the set of the ABC series Bosom Buddies in 1981 and reunited as co-stars in the 1985 film Volunteers. Hanks, who shares sons Chet and Truman with Rita, revealed, “I still can’t believe my wife [Rita] goes out with me,” at an awards show in 2015. Hanks was previously married to Samantha Lewes from 1978 to 1985, with their divorce finalized in 1987.

Read the original article on InStyle