These Celebrity Couples Have the Best Stories of How They First Met

Carey Mulligan & Marcus Mumford

Carey Mulligan and Marcus Mumford have one of the sweetest stories: it all started when they were kids. When they were little ones, they went to the same Christain church camp when they were about 12 years old, later becoming childhood pen-pals for years. They reconnected years later at a Mumford & Sons party. They married in 2012, welcoming two children.

Tamera Mowry-Housley & Adam Housley

Lovebirds Tamera Mowry-Housely and Adam Housely met while attending Pepperdine University. The story goes that their economics professor Robert Sexton kept photos of his favorite students on the wall in his classroom, and Tamera’s picture caught Adam’s eye. The professor gave Adam her email address (with Tamera’s permission of course), and the rest is history.

They married in 2011 and welcomed two children named Aden John Tanner and Ariah Talea.

Gabrielle Union & Dwyane Wade

Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade first met back in 2007 when they were co-hosting a Super Bowl party. “When I met Dwyane, his ‘résumé’ looked like crap: athlete, going through a divorce, nine years younger than me. None of that screamed, ‘Let’s have a lasting relationship,'” Union told Glamour back in 2014. 

After Wade split from his ex-wife, Siohvaughn Funches, he and Union got together. Despite a brief split in 2013, the couple eventually got back together and wed on August 30, 2014. 

Serena Williams & Alexis Ohanian

Talk about a power couple, Alexis Ohanian and Serena Williams‘ unlikely meeting only happened by chance in 2015. While the 23-time Grand Slam Champion was preparing for a tennis tournament in Rome, Ohanian decided to get some work done before a conference while Williams and her team were having breakfast.

The tennis living legend and her team came up with a story about rats being around the area to try and scare Ohanian away, but after it became clear that he wasn’t going anywhere, the two eventually got to talking and the rest is history! Williams reflected on their meeting back in 2018 during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. 

Gwen Stefani & Blake Shelton

These two found each other in the work place! Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton were both coaches on The Voice when they first met. Both of the music stars went through very public divorces while they were on the show, but by November 2015, the two confirmed that they were dating. 

In October 2020, Shelton finally popped the question, and the couple exchanged their ‘I dos’ in July 2021. 

Prince William & Kate Middleton

Before they were the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton were university sweethearts at the University of St. Andrews. The two met during their studies and even lived with each other and two friends while attending school. 

Despite a brief split in 2007, they eventually got back together, and William popped the question using the engagement ring that once belonged to his mother, Princess Diana. They’ve been married for 10 years!

Prince Harry & Meghan Markle

Another royal couple who had a sweet start to their fairy tale romance is Prince Harry and Meghan Markle! The two met on a blind date that was set up by a mutual friend in July 2016.

“I didn’t know much about him, so the only thing that I had asked [our mutual friend] when she said that she wanted to set us up, was, ‘Well is he nice?’ Cause if he wasn’t kind, it just didn’t seem like it would make sense,” the Duchess of Sussex recalled during the couple’s first sit-down interview with the BBC after their engagement.

Kourtney Kardashian & Travis Barker

Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker‘s relationship actually goes way back. Before the couple started dating, they were neighbors. Barker even appeared in a few episodes of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. The two decided to take their relationship to the next level and started dating in early 2021, later marrying in Italy in 2022.

Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds first met on the set of Green Lantern in March 2010, while Reynolds was still married to Scarlett Johansson.

Those two split in December of 2010, however, and Reynolds went public with his romance with Lively in 2011, after falling for her while they were on a double date — with other people. They were married a year later.

Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman have been married for years and share two children together: Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret.

Kidman and Urban first met in 2005 at the G’Day USA gala. “But we kind of met and then about four months later he called me,” Kidman told Ellen in 2013.

Michael Douglas & Catherine Zeta-Jones

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones have one of the most unique stories in Hollywood. They first met in 1998 at a film festival where Zeta-Jones’ movie, Mask of Zorro, was screening. After the show, Douglas approached her and said, “I want to father your children.”

Rightfully offended, Zeta-Jones replied, “I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s nice to know it’s all true. Good night.” As an apology, Douglas sent her roses later. They married in 2000, proving that sometimes the dirty, corny pickup line does get the girl.

Will Smith & Jada Pinkett Smith

Jada auditioned for a role on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which is where she and Will met for the first time. But their romance didn’t begin until years later. “After we had known each other for many years, we went out for dinner one night and I saw that he had grown from this lanky kid to this really responsible man,” she told YourTango. “We started courting each other and our friendship turned into romance.”

Cindy Crawford & Rande Gerber

Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber have been married for over 20 years and have two children together: Presley and Kaia. Crawford and Rande were longtime friends before they started dating. “We met at my agent’s wedding,” Crawford told Harpers Bazaar.

“When I met him I was still with Richard [Gere] and he didn’t want to go to the wedding with me…Rande also had a girlfriend at the time so he wasn’t looking to meet anyone either and that’s the best time to meet someone because that’s when you’re truly yourselves. We became friends and after Richard and I broke up then we started dating.”

Eva Mendes & Ryan Gosling

Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling were acquaintances who knew each other from the industry before they fell in love co-starring in The Place Beyond the Pines. In, fact, it was Gosling who recommended Mendes for the role that brought them together.

Justin Timberlake & Jessica Biel

Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel met simply through a mutual friend — who ultimately gave them the go-ahead to start dating.

“There was nothing starry about the way we got together,” Timberlake told reporters about his new relationship soon after it began in 2012. “It was very un-Hollywood-esque, in fact. We met and got talking. Afterwards I asked my friend if I could call her and ask her out. My friend called Jessica and Jessica said yes, and so I called her. I did it the old fashioned way — by telephone.”

Denzel & Pauletta Washington

Denzel and Pauletta Washington have been married for over 35 years and share four children together. The two first met in 1977 on the set of the TV movie Wilma and began dating shortly after. Denzel described their first date with Jimmy Kimmel saying, “I met her then, but I didn’t meet her then,” he explained of their time on the set. “I saw her then.”

It wasn’t till a year later that they ran into each other at a play they both happened to be seeing. 

David & Victoria Beckham

David Beckham and Victoria didn’t actually meet until they attended the same Manchester United charity event in 1997, but David had his eye on his future bride long before that — the soccer star revealed to The Sun that he had a crush on Victoria as soon as he saw the music video for the Spice Girls’ “Say You’ll Be There.”

“That’s the girl for me and I’m going to get her,” he admitted to thinking at the time. “She’s my idea of perfection. I knew that if she wanted me, we would be together forever.”

Jay-Z & Beyoncé

The king and queen of R&B met just by working in the music industry all the way back when Queen Bey was still a member of Destiny’s Child.

“I was 18 when we first met, 19 when we started dating,” she told Glamour magazine about the early days of their relationship, which they kept out of the public eye. Though they started dating in 1998, rumors started flying about the two when they collaborated on their hit track “’03 Bonnie and Clyde” in 2002. They married in an extremely private ceremony in 2008.

Hugh Jackman & Deborra-Lee Furness

Hugh Jackman first met Deborra-Lee Furness in 1995 on the set of the Australian TV show Correlli, his first professional job. “Deb, she was a big star,” Jackman told People in 2017. “I get picked up, and Deb is in the front seat of the car. I’ll never forget. She took off her seatbelt and she turned around and put out her hand and took off her sunglasses and said, ‘Hi, I’m Deborra-lee Furness, nice to meet you.’ I remember thinking, ‘I like this girl.’”

And the feelings were seemingly mutual as Jackman recalled.“She said, ‘I noticed you haven’t talked to me in like a week, what’s going on?’ I said, ‘I got a crush on you. I’ll get over it, I’m sorry.’ She goes, ‘Oh? Because I’ve got a crush on you too.’ I never in a million years thought she reciprocated.”

George & Amal Clooney

George Clooney and his wife, Amal, met at a charity auction in 2013, where she initially said no to dating him. Ultimately, however, it appears that he won her over, and they married in a lavish Italian ceremony in 2014.

Anne Hathaway & Adam Shulman

Anne Hathaway and Adam Shulman met through mutual friends in 2008, soon after Hathaway split from Raffaello Follieri. She started inviting Shulman to accompany her at red carpet events, taking their romance public almost right away. Married in 2012, they now have two children together.

Cameron Diaz & Benji Madden

Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden were introduced by a mutual friend: Nicole Richie. Richie is married to Madden’s twin brother, and she and Diaz have been close friends for years. They married in 2015 and welcomed their daughter Raddix in 2019.

Patrick & Jillian Dempsey

Prior to their wedding in 1999, Jillian Fink was a hairstylist who was over the moon when Patrick Dempsey made an appointment. 17 years later, she’s still his stylist… and his wife.

Nicole Richie & Joel Madden

Joel Madden revealed during a 2013 interview just how hard he had to work to win Richie’s affection. “I’m always like, ‘Just give me a shot, just give me one date.’ If I can get my foot in the door, that’s how it’s always been with girls. I’ve never been the obvious [choice],” he said.

Obviously, Nicole Richie gave him his one shot, and the two married in 2010.

Matt Damon & Luciana Barroso

While Matt Damon was shooting his 2003 movie, Stuck On You, in Miami, he took a break to hit up a local bar. That’s where he met Luciana Barroso, who was bartending there at the time. “I literally saw her across a crowded room,” he recalled.

Adam & Jackie Sandler

Then Jacqueline Titone and Adam Sandler first met in 1999 on the set of Sandler’s Big Daddy where Jacqueline was an extra. They began dating soon after and have been married for 14 years and share two children together: Sadie and Sunny.

Ellen DeGeneres & Portia de Rossi

Talk about love at first sight. Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi both say their connection was immediate when they met at a photo shoot in 2004.

“I instantly adored her,” de Rossi said in a 2011 interview. “But I was very closeted and very heavy, and I thought that no one would ever love me if they knew I was gay and especially if they saw I was fat.”

DeGeneres did. She added, “The fact that she noticed me at that point and liked who I was, was kind of significant. Yeah, it was great.”

Conan O’Brien & Liza Powel

When Conan O’Brien spotted Liza Powel in the audience during a taping of his show, it was literally love at first sight. “Somewhere, in the vault at NBC, there’s footage of me literally falling for my wife on camera,” he admitted in an interview after they married in 2002.

Nick Lachey & Vanessa Minnillo

Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo go waaay back. They first met in 2006, when they worked together on the set of Lachey’s music video for “What’s Left of Me.” They started dating soon after, but split in 2009. In 2011, they reunited, and now they’re happily married.