Love in Hollywood has a reputation for being short-lived — with some marriages lasting less time than it takes to get a sourdough starter going.
Although some celebrity marriages have dissolved in under 55 hours (sorry, Britney Spears and Jason Alexander), many couples have proven that lasting love is still possible.
What sets these couples apart is how they navigate the pressures of fame and constant scrutiny while investing in their relationships. Whether they met on set or through mutual friends, these A-listers prove that there is still a place for romance in Hollywood.
Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar have been together for 23 years
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In 1997, on the North Carolina set of the horror slasher I Know What You Did Last Summer, Sarah Michelle Gellar met her future husband, Freddie Prinze Jr. — who was already in a relationship with someone else.
Gellar was planning to make an hour-long drive to a Wilmington gym when Prinze offered to drive her into town as he ran errands.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, that would be amazing!’ Because I literally had just gotten my driver’s license. I grew up in New York City. Like, I took a subway. I didn’t drive,” Gellar recalled to People.
“So he drove me, and that was like the first time that we really hung out, and it was so random because we didn’t know each other that well, but that’s when we got to know each other,” she added.
In January 2000 — three years after they met — the couple went public with their relationship.
In September 2025, Gellar and Prinze, who share daughter Charlotte and son Rocky, celebrated their 23rd wedding anniversary.
When asked about the key to a lasting marriage, the Golden Globe nominee said, “One bedroom, two bathrooms. You don’t have to be so fancy that there’s two bathrooms in your bedroom! There just has to be another bathroom available. … [It] stops a lot of petty fighting.”
She continued, “I always say I’m two people. I’m Sarah Michelle Gellar and I’m Sarah Prinze. They’re different people. [Prinze] has a quieter life and a private life. And we’re allowed to live in that. And our fans have been so respectful of that.”
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have been married nearly 30 years
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Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith are still husband and wife after nearly three decades, though it hasn’t always been easy — and they currently live apart.
The couple met in the early 1990s on the set of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, went public with their relationship in 1995 and married in December 1997.
After saying “I do,” Will and Jada welcomed son Jaden Smith in July 1998 and daughter Willow Smith in October 2000. Will also shares son Trey Smith — whom Jada has described as her “bonus son” — with ex-wife Sheree Zampino.
Although Will and Jada have become a Hollywood “power couple” over the years, they have also been open about the ups and downs in their relationship.
Speaking to People in October 2023, Jada revealed that she and Will had been separated for six years before the 2022 Oscars, during which Will slapped Chris Rock on stage for joking about Jada’s alopecia.
“We’re still figuring it out,” Jada said. “We’ve been doing some really heavy-duty work together. We just got deep love for each other and we are going to figure out what that looks like for us.”
The following year, Will suggested that things were improving. He told Entertainment Tonight at a screening of Bad Boys: Ride or Die, “I have always been blessed that there has never been a time in my life when I didn’t look to the side and have a ride or die right there. … Jada is one of the most gangsta ride-or-dies I’ve ever had.”
Elton John and David Furnish have been together since 1993
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Elton John and David Furnish met at a 1993 dinner party hosted by a mutual friend and quickly hit it off, going on their first date the very next day.
“I wanted to meet new people, so I rang up a friend in London and said, ‘Could you please rattle some new people together for dinner here Saturday?’” John recalled to Parade.
“He had a real job, his own apartment, a car. He was independent. I didn’t need to take care of him. I thought, ‘God, this is new territory for me — someone wants to be with me just because he likes me.’ I knew he was the one because he is not afraid of me. He always tells me exactly what he thinks,” he added.
After entering a civil partnership in December 2005, the couple married nine years later, following the legalization of same-sex marriage in the U.K. Their two sons, Zachary and Elijah, were ring bearers at the ceremony.
“If you’d had said to me 10 years ago I’d be sitting on your show married to the man I love and have two beautiful children I would have said, ‘You put acid in my drink.’ But life throws you challenges and life throws you curveballs — great curveballs,” the singer said on The Ellen Degeneres Show in 2016.
For John and Furnish, communication is crucial to a happy marriage. They also revealed they have exchanged a love letter or message each week since 1993.
“Every Saturday we gave each other an anniversary card, because we met on a Saturday,” Furnish said. “So, we wrote down in, like, a little card that you put next to the bed, ‘Happy Anniversary.’ And you write about the week that’s passed and the week that’s coming, and you connect and you tell each other you love each other.”
Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn have been together for decades without marrying
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Although they never married, Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn have been together since 1983, making them one of Hollywood’s longest-standing couples.
The pair first met while filming Disney’s 1968 live-action musical The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band, though it would be another 15 years before their relationship began.
Despite their six-year age difference and mutual reluctance to date fellow actors, Kurt made a great impression on Hawn.
“I was 21 and he was 16 and I thought he was adorable but he was much too young,” the actress said. “And then years later we met up again and I liked him and I remembered that I liked him very much when I first met him. But we both said we would never go out with another actor, so it just shows you never can tell.”
Kurt and Hawn reconnected at his audition for the film Swing Shift. After their first date, the couple quickly 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 later told People.
After three years of dating, the couple welcomed son Wyatt Russell, who joined their blended family, which includes Hawn’s older children, actors Oliver Hudson and Kate Hudson, as well as Kurt’s son Boston Russell from his previous marriage to Season Hubley.
While some have questioned why the two haven’t tied the knot, Hawn told People that their bond is about more than what’s on paper.
“It’s not about the marriage. It’s about the people and the relationship and the will to stay together. And that’s a big one because if you want it, you can have it. You’ve got to give things up, but the joy and the excitement of being together and touching the toes of somebody at night is really a nice feeling,” she said.
Denzel Washington and Pauletta Washington have been married for more than 40 years
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Denzel Washington met his wife, Pauletta Washington, early in his career while filming the 1977 made-for-TV movie Wilma.
Speaking on Live with Kelly and Ryan in 2018, Denzel suggested that greater forces brought them together.
“About a year later, there was a party I was invited to … and she was there,” he recalled. “At that party, I talked about going to see a play. I went to see the play, and at intermission, the lights went up. And [Pauletta] was sitting [near me].”
Denzel recalled Pauletta telling him that she “just happened to go see the show,” though he joked that he didn’t quite believe it. The pair still hit it off and went on to marry in 1983.
One year after their wedding, the couple welcomed their first child, son John David Washington, followed by daughter Katia Washington and twins Olivia Washington and Malcolm Washington.
When asked what has kept their marriage strong for more than 40 years, Pauletta told People, “There is no secret.”
“We work at it. It’s work,” she said. “It’s not that you sit there and you go like, ‘Oh, you know…’ There are a lot of prayers for strength for staying in a forgiveness mode and both parts, mine and his. But it’s the basic love that we have for each other.”
