16 Celebrities Who Had Secret Marriages Before Getting Famous

Tao Ruspoli & Olivia Wilde

Long before meeting Jason Sudeikis or Harry Style, Olivia Wilde was married to Italian-American filmmaker Tao Ruspoli. The pair, who met in 2002, eloped in 2003 when Wilde was just 19 years old, per InStyle. Over eight years later, the former couple called it quits. 

“I’m a case of arrested development, in a way — from spending your 20s with someone who really loves to take care of you, as my husband did,” she told Marie Claire in 2011. “But I think it’s very healthy to spend time alone. You need to know how to be alone and not be defined by another person.”

Kim Kardashian & Damon Thomas

While we may know every detail of Kim Kardashian’s life now, many might not know she was married before reaching worldwide fame. Much like Wilde, Kardashian eloped when she was just 19 years old with music producer Damon Thomas in 2000.

The two were married for years until their divorce in 2003.

George Clooney & Talia Balsam

While we now know George Clooney found “the one” with his wife Amal Clooney, it turns out the actor was married once before. 

In 1989, Clooney and Balsam got married in an impromptu Las Vegas wedding. Three years later, in 1992, they got divorced. 

“I probably — definitely — wasn’t someone who should have been married at that point,” he told Vanity Fair in 2012. “I just don’t feel like I gave Talia a fair shot. I was responsible for the failure of that marriage.”

Bradley Cooper & Jennifer Esposito

While we’re kind of obsessed with Bradley Cooper and Gigi Hadid’s relationship right now, many might now know the Maestro star has been married before. 

In 2006, he got engaged and married to fellow actress Jennifer Esposito. But, just four months after they walked down the aisle in the South of France, the two called it quits. 

While the two remained private about their relationship, Esposito made headlines with her 2014 memoir Jennifer’s Way. “I should have noticed the red flags from the beginning — actually, they were more like an entire marching band squad of red flags — but I ignored them because, honestly, I didn’t think the relationship was really going to go anywhere,” she wrote, per InStyle.

Patrick Dempsey & Rocky Parker

In probably one of the most controversial marriages in this list, Patrick Dempsey married Rochelle “Rocky” Parker when he was just 18 years old. Parker was a whopping 26 years his senior. 

The former couple got married in 1987 after three years together. A surprising seven years after that, Parker called it quits citing “irreconcilable differences.” 

Reflecting on their relationship, the former Grey’s Anatomy star seemed to agree that they just weren’t the right fit, calling it a “Freudian nightmare that is public knowledge.”

“I think I needed a mother,” he admitted to Barbara Walters in 2006. “There were a lot of negative things that I’m still undoing from it,” he said, per Mamamia. “She had a son one year older than me.”

Eva Longoria & Tyler Christopher

After tying the knot in 2002, Eva Longoria and Tyler Christopher, who met on the set of General Hospital, had everything to be a Hollywood power couple in the making. In 2004, however, they called it quits, per Us Weekly. 

“He was a lovely man, but I was very young,” Longoria once told Digital Spy. “I didn’t know who I was, and I was still struggling as an actor. I was a terrible wife.”

Freddy & Demi Moore

While Demi Moore is a household name, many might not know that Moore is actually from her first husband, Freddy Moore. Demi, who was just 18 years old when they got married, tied the knot with the musician, then 30, in 1980. Five years later, they called it quits. 

In her memoir, Inside Out, the actress opened up about their marriage, and how she was unfaithful to Freddy since the beginning. 

“The night before we got married, instead of working on my vows, I was calling a guy I’d met on a movie set,” Moore wrote, per People. “I snuck out of my own bachelorette party and went to his apartment.”

“Why did I do that?” she said. “Why didn’t I go and see the man I was committing to spend the rest of my life with to express my doubts? Because I couldn’t face the fact that I was getting married to distract myself from grieving the death of my father. Because I felt there was no room to question what I’d already put in motion. I couldn’t get out of the marriage, but I could sabotage it.”

Janet Jackson & James DeBarge

Janet Jackson and James Debarge had quite a whirlwind marriage back in the ’80s. After eloping secretly in 1984, Jackson, who was just 18 years old, quickly noticed DeBarge’s addiction to drugs. 

“I remember times when I would find the pills and I would take them and try to flush them down the toilet, and we would be rolling around on the floor fighting for them,” she remembered in her self-titled documentary, per New York Post. “I cared so much for him, and I saw the good in him as well, and I just wanted that to take precedence as opposed to this ugliness, ’cause I knew that he needed help. But I wasn’t the help that he needed.”

In 1985, the pair got divorced. 

Julia Roberts & Lyle Lovett

In one of the fastest engagement-to-marriage timelines in this gallery, Julia Roberts and her first husband, singer Lyle Lovett, eloped in 1993 just three weeks after getting engaged. 

In 1995, however, the two called it quits.

“It’s actually ridiculously amicable,” Roberts told the Los Angeles Times of the split. “You’d think people who could be that nice to each other would probably be a couple, but it just sort of wasn’t the way it was intended to be. We found our little niche and then overstepped it a little bit. In fact, I think it can just as often be the weaker choice to stay.”

Will Arnett & Penelope Ann Miller

Before Will Arnett’s marriage and split from fellow actor Amy Poehler, Arnett married another blonde actress: Penelope Ann Miller. The former couple, who tied the knot in 1994, were together for only 23 days before calling it quits, per Nicki Swift. The pair then seemingly reconciled but split for good by 1995. 

Jennifer Lopez & Ojani Noa

Long before Jennifer Lopez met her husband Ben Affleck, the singer and actress married actor Ojani Noa. The pair married in 1997 and split up in less than a year in 1998. 

In a video for her “It’s My Party” tour, Lopez opened up about her first two marriages (the second to Cris Judd from 2001 to 2003). 

“I was very young the first two times I tried to get married,” she admitted. “It seems like in this life, you’re always surrounded by people, you’re never lonely, but it’s very lonely. So you always want somebody with you. Somebody. And so, I felt like if I got married I felt like I would always have somebody, but that’s not how life works.

“That’s not how it goes,” she continued. “It’s a bad reason to get married, not the right reason, it’s the wrong one. The right one is when you find somebody who really makes you better.”

Heidi Klum & Ric Pipino

Heidi Klum has walked down the aisle three times over the years, to Ric Pipino, Seal and her current husband, Tom Kaulitz. 

Her marriage to Pipino, of course, is much less known. Klum and the Austalian hair stylist were married for five years between 1997 and 2002. 

Tom Cruise & Mimi Rogers

While Tom Cruise’s marriages to Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes had the whole world watching, the Mission Impossible star married Mimi Rogers before them back in the ’80s. 

Cruise and Rogers, who is largely credited as the person who introduced Cruise to Scientology, were married from 1987 to 1990. 

Ahead of their split, Cruise gushed over their connection. “I care about my wife more than anything in the world,” he told Rolling Stone. “She’s my best friend. I just really like being with her, you know? I love her.”

Shannen Doherty & Ashley Hamilton

During her rise to stardom in Beverly Hills 90210, Shannen Doherty had a brief yet tumultuous marriage to Ashley Hamilton.

Looking back at the time with her former co-star Jason Priestly, Doherty says their marriage was what caused her to be fired from the show. “Towards my last season, I was in a really horrible marriage, and there were things that were transpiring in that marriage that made it really hard for me to consistently be on time for work,” Doherty remembered of Hamilton’s struggles with addiction, per Page Six. 

“It wasn’t anybody’s responsibility but mine,” she continued. 

The two, who got married in 1993, called it quits after less than a year together. 

Colin Farrell & Amelia Warner

Back in 2001, Colin Farrell tied the knot in a non-official ceremony with fellow actress Amelia Warner. 

“It was just a thing we did on holiday,” Farrell once told The Sun, per Express. “We went shark feeding and then we did that. We booked them both on the activities desk at the hotel.”

The pair split a year later. 

Solange Knowles

Solange Knowles’ first marriage, to Daniel Smith, was so under the radar there are barely any pictures of them online. 

The former couple, who were high school sweethearts, were married from 2004 to 2007, per People. During their marriage, they welcomed their son, Daniel “Julez” Smith Jr., 19.