Romances and breakups seem to be a common occurrence in Hollywood, and perhaps this is why there is such a fascination surrounding matters of the heart. It’s not all that often that a celebrity couple are able to make their love last, and with the demanding work schedules and the constant media attention, it’s not hard to see why.
Celebrities have been known to change partners and have relationships end in divorce, but there are some couples who prefer to skip this step and just avoid marriage altogether. They all have their different reasons; for some, they come from a broken home and don’t believe in the principle of marriage because they didn’t have very good examples. Others, like Sarah Silverman, don’t want the government involved in their love life, and then there are some who feel they’ve got a good thing going, so why change it? Take Enrique Iglesias and Anna Kournikova as an example, they’ve been together for nearly 20 years, and you don’t see them rushing down the aisle.
So, is it possible that sometimes not getting married is the solution for a lasting romance? Well, it has been for at least a few couples, and below are 20 A-listers that have chosen not to get married.
20 Shakira And Gerard Piqué Feel Complete Without Marriage
Shakira and Gerard Piqué have been together for around 8 years -- they met on the set of her "Waka Waka" video in 2010. They share two sons, Sasha and Milan, and they don’t feel the need to get married any time soon.
"When you feel complete you don't need to get married, and you don't think about it. Whatever, he is mine now," Shakira said, according to Cosmopolitan. They are completely in love and clearly, don’t need a marriage license to prove that.
19 Enrique Iglesias And Anna Kournikova Have Been Together For 17 Years
Enrique Iglesias and Anna Kournikova are notoriously private and no one knows much about their lives or their relationship, apart from the fact that they have been together for a long, long time -- 17 years as of 2018. But they don’t intend to get married yet, and Iglesias spoke about this in an interview on the Lorraine show (via Metro).
“When you’ve been with someone for quite a while the way I have, it’s like being married,” he explained. Although the singer did hint at a possible marriage in the future.
18 Goldie Hawn And Kurt Russell Like Having The Choice To Stay
Goldie Hawn has been married twice before, but she and Kurt Russell have been together for 30 years, and are a true example of love. On British talk show, Loose Women (via Harper’s Bazaar), she spoke about her decision not to marry Russell, saying, "I would have been long divorced if I ever married [Kurt]."
She continued to reveal why this was, saying, "Marriage is an interesting psychological thing. If you need to feel bound to someone, then it's important to be married. If you have independence, if you have enough money and enough sense of independence and you like your independence, there's something psychological about not being married. Because it gives you the freedom to make decisions one way or the other. So for me, I chose to stay, Kurt chose to stay, and we like the choice."
17 Maya Rudolph Calls Paul Thomas Anderson Her Husband Even If They Don't Have The Certificate
Maya Rudolph and Paul Thomas Anderson have been dating since 2001 (an eternity in Hollywood relationship terms), and they are one of the happiest couples in Hollywood. They also have no desire to head down the aisle, but that doesn’t stop Rudolph from referring to Anderson as her “husband.”
She told New York Times she changed from “boyfriend” to “husband” after the birth of their first child (they now share four). The term also means a lot to her because “people know what that means. It means he’s the father of my child, and I live with him, and we are a couple, and we are not going anywhere.”
16 Jon Hamm Doesn't Have The "Marriage Chip"
Unfortunately, yet another Hollywood couple to call it quits was Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt, but they were together for almost two decades before going their separate ways in 2015. They were not married, and this was partly because of their upbringings.
"I don't have the marriage chip, and neither of us have the greatest examples of marriages in our families," Hamm told Parade. "Jen is the love of my life, and we've already been together four times longer than my parents were married."
15 Oprah And Stedman Graham Have Lasted Because They Didn't Exchange Vows
Oprah Winfrey and Stedman Graham have been in a committed relationship since 1986, and they did become engaged in 1992, but ultimately did not feel it was what either of them needed.
Oprah spoke about their decision in an interview with Vogue, saying, "We would not have stayed together, because marriage requires a different way of being in this world. His interpretation of what it means to be a husband and what it would mean for me to be a wife would have been pretty traditional, and I would not have been able to fit into that."
14 Eva Mendes And Ryan Gosling Are Completely Content
Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling have been together since 2011, but they are also notoriously private and reveal little about their personal lives.
What we do know about them is that they share two young girls, Esmeralda and Amada, and they seem perfectly happy together. Gosling gave a small glimpse into their happiness in an interview with Hello! magazine, saying, "I know that I'm with the person I'm supposed to be with. That she's Eva Mendes. There's nothing else I'm looking for.”
13 Kourtney Kardashian Hates Weddings
Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick have since called time on their relationship, but they were together for 10 years. Despite sharing three children together, the couple had no intention of getting married. In fact, Kardashian was almost relieved when her sister Kim Kardashian got engaged to Kris Humphries (they married for 72 days in 2011).
She told E! News, "Kim getting engaged definitely bought me some time, so I don't have to go out and get married right now. I was at a wedding recently...I hate weddings!"
12 John Corbett Figures The Secret To A Lasting Relationship Is Quality Time
Some of the most successful relationships in Hollywood don’t require a marriage certificate, take John Corbett and Bo Derek as an example. The couple has been together since 2002, and Corbett is a firm believer that marriage does not need to happen in a relationship and told The Huffington Post as much.
He said, “Don’t get married. I have a lot of friends that get divorces. It becomes this whole thing.”
Bo Derek was married to John Derek for 30 years until his passing, but Corbett has never been married. He does, however, have the answer as to what makes a lasting relationship, revealing the secret is just enjoy being together.”
11 Helena Bonham Carter Celebrated Her Special Relationship With Tim Burton
Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton were together for 13 years, and during that time, the couple never married, nor did they live together. They did, however, have two children together.
Following their split, Bonham Carter spoke with Red out about her previous partner, saying, "Our relationship was always somewhat special, and I think it'll always remain special. We did find each other. And really, the mark of a successful relationship shouldn't be whether you're there forever after. Sometimes you're not meant to be forever together. Sometimes you have to come to terms with the fact that that was it. But that was a gift, a massive gift."
10 Diane Kruger And Joshua Jackson Were Both Children Of Divorce
Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson dated from 2006 to 2016, and despite being very happy at the time, the couple didn’t believe in the concept of marriage. Jackson revealed in an interview with Glamour, “We're both children of divorce, so it's hard for me to take marriage at face value as the thing that shows you've grown up and are committed to another person."
And Kruger previously made her thoughts on marriage clear, telling Glamour in 2011: “Without sounding pessimistic, I learned that I don’t believe in marriage. I believe in a commitment that you make in your heart. There’s no paper that will make you stay.”
9 Winona Ryder Would Rather Never Be Married Than Be Divorced
Winona Ryder has had a lot of high-profile relationships and was once engaged to Johnny Depp, but she’s not really someone who is all that interested in marriage. She discussed this in an interview with The Edit, saying, "But marriage? I don't know. I'd rather never have been married than been divorced a few times. Not that there's anything wrong with divorce, but I don't think I could do it if that was a possibility. When your parents are madly in love for 45 years, your standards are really high. But I've been happily with someone for quite a while now."
She is in a committed relationship with Scott Mackinlay Hahn, and has been since 2011.
8 Ricky Gervais Doesn't See A Reason To Marry Jane Fallon Now
Ricky Gervais and Jane Fallon have been together for over 30 years, and their relationship works for them, which is why marriage is simply not on the cards. During an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman (via CTV News), the comedian said, "I don't think there's any point to us getting married. We don't want any more toasters, we never want our families to meet, that'd be terrible."
Of course, he is joking about the gifts and family meetings, but the message remains the same; the couple doesn’t think they need to get married because life as it is great.
7 Rose Byrne And Bobby Cannavale Have Everything But A Marriage License
Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale have been together since 2012, and the couple has two children together. Their relationship is still going strong, and Byrne has referred to Cannavale as her “husband” multiple times in ES magazine.
This prompted the interviewer to ask if they got married, to which Byrne replied, "He’s practically my husband, so calling him that is easier. The formality isn’t a draw for me, but we’ll do it one day. Once you have children, I just think, why not?”
But they still haven’t done it.
6 Sarah Silverman Can't Bear The Thought Of Getting Married
Of all the celebrities on this list, it seems Sarah Silverman is the one who is most against the concept of marriage. And despite having several high-profile relationships, including with Jimmy Kimmel and Michael Sheen, Silverman has no intention to be married. Actually, when previously seeing a report that she was married, it annoyed her.
Taking to Twitter, the actress wrote, “Just read that I wanna get married which is hilarious b/c I will never get married. Why would I want the govt involved in my love life? Ew. It’s barbaric.”
5 Lauren Graham Plays A Woman Unlucky In Love But She's Anything But With Peter Krause
Lauren Graham and Peter Krause have been dating since 2010, and right at the beginning of the relationship, she gave an interview to Redbook magazine. The publication questioned her about how she often plays a woman who is unlucky in love, but does she want to get married in the future? Graham had this to say on the topic: "I admire that kind of commitment [in marriage]. I'm enjoying where I am right now and I'm open to whatever happens in the future."
4 Tim Robbins And Susan Sarandon Had A Strong Relationship For Many Reasons
Tim Robbins has never been married, although he was in a relationship with actress Susan Sarandon for more than 20 years, after the pair started their romance in 1987.
The pair also shares two children, but never made it down the aisle. Sarandon spoke about this decision in an interview with The Telegraph, saying, “I’ve always liked the idea of choosing to be with somebody. I thought that if you didn’t get married you wouldn’t take each other for granted as easily. I don’t know if after twenty-something years that was still true.”
3 Naomi Watts Never Really Dreamed Of A Fairytale Wedding
Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber called it quits in 2016, after 11 years together. The couple had two children together during their relationship. They are now dedicated to co-parenting, and Watts told Vogue Australia they've remained on “great terms.”
Before the split, Watts spoke about her ideas on marriage, telling Parade, “It’s not like I’ve grown up having this dream of a fairy-tale wedding. My mother married twice and had two divorces. And Liev comes from the same kind of background. Maybe one day we’ll just wake up and go, ‘Hey, let’s do this.’ And maybe not. He and I have a family. We’re very much together…”
2 Charlize Theron Says Marriage Was Never Important To Her
Charlize Theron was with Stuart Townsend for years (nine years, to be exact), and the pair even played a married couple onscreen, but in real life, they were less excited about getting married.
Theron doesn’t place a lot of importance on marriage, and told Piers Morgan (via E! News), "I'll be the first to say, here on your show, marriage — before I felt this way about this issue [the government telling people who they can and cannot love] — was never something that was important to me. I don't know the exact reason for that.”
1 Kristin Davis Didn't Dream Of Marriage In Her Twenties
You’d be forgiven for thinking Kristin Davis was all about marriage because when she played the character Charlotte York, she was obsessed with getting hitched. In real life, Davis is nothing like her character, and her comments have proved that marriage really isn’t for everyone.
It’s never been something she’s wanted for her life and in 2008, she told People, “[In my twenties], I thought I’d never get married. I guess I was right! I grew up in the South so all everyone talked about was marriage. But all I wanted was to move to New York and do theater. And in my thirties, I was busy doing the show so I just didn’t have time.”
References: Cosmopolitan, Metro, Harper's Bazaar, Hello! magazine, New York Times, Parade, Vogue, E! News, Daily Mail, Huffington Post, Red, Glamour, Glamour, CTV News
