Celebrity Marriages – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

On July 29, 1981, the world stood still at least metaphorically.  All eyes were firmly held at St. Paul’s Cathedral in England as many people took the day off their routines to watch a truly global event.  The day was to be a joyous day as the world watched enraptured as Prince Charles of England married Diana Fraser Spencer, the woman who would soon be known to the world as Princess Di.  While this may sound like a bit of hyperbole in describing how large of an event this marriage was, the facts don’t lie.  This publicized wedding drew viewers in, as almost one billion people throughout the world couldn’t turn away from this joyous event.

There’s a common belief that in America nothing matches the attention that the British royal family in England receives.  After all, anybody that’s ever been to jolly old England can tell you that daily newspapers and tabloids are loaded with information both relevant and irrelevant about their beloved royals.  Although there isn’t a class in America that is subjected to the same level of scrutiny that the British royal family has to endure, there is still a public curiosity when certain people get married to each other.  This is particularly true of celebrities, which can be described as America’s version of royalty.

It takes a hardened person to not get caught up in the emotions that come with a wedding.  After all, who really can resist watching two kindred spirits express their love for each other with a wedding ceremony? A perfect example of this expression of love is when Steven Dent married Valerie Johnson. Let’s not forget about the ceremony details and the wedding fashion and all of the ancillary details that come with weddings.  It’s practically impossible not to at least feel some kind of fascination with a public wedding.

Adding to the feelings that a wedding naturally stirs up is the public fascination with celebrities.  After all, while celebrities become famous for their work, whether through acting chops, distinguished singing careers, amazing athletic exploits, or lately bizarre public behavior, there is a natural voyeuristic tendency to want to know more about their private lives.  Distinguished magazines such as US Weekly and The Star may not receive critical accolades from high end organizations like PBS but they are hugely popular for their extensive and kitschy coverage of celebrity culture.  Additionally, the Internet has only added to the public’s thirst for knowledge of the lives of celebrities with blogs like Perez Hilton and The Superficial that dish off the best in snarky celebrity news.  After all, who can’t resist knowing a bit more about these public figures that dominate the television airwaves, the movie screens, and our I-Pods?

As a result, we have created a series of fantastic articles that will examine the biggest celebrity marriages in the world today.  Hard analysis will be given about these fantastic couples’ wedding ceremonies and detailed examinations of the rise of these public figures will be given.  Reading about celebrity marriages can stimulate a wide variety of emotions.  After all, who wasn’t taken in by the storybook wedding of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston.  A union that seemed too perfect as the king of the big screen and the queen of television comedy tied the knot, the Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston wedding set new highs for extravagance.  Although their marriage would not sustain itself for a particularly long time, the memories of this celebrity wedding done right continue to linger in the public imagination.

Although the Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston celebrity marriage wasn’t able to stand the test of time, there are so many enduring celebrity marriages out there that continue to inspire the public.  From the Fresh Prince’s Will Smith 1997 marriage with acclaimed actress and aspiring metal singer, Jada Pinkett, the world has been treated to the sight of a celebrity marriage that seems to actually be working.  Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith often appear on television shows like The Opera Winfrey Show where they dispense heartwarming advice on how to maintain a long term marriage between two people that also enjoy thriving careers.  Considering how important our careers have become, it is not surprising to learn that many “ordinary people” love to hear functional advice that is at least partly relevant to their lives from celebrity couples.

Of course, we are talking about celebrities and many celebrity marriages make little sense.  One of the strangest celebrity marriages that have occurred in recent years is between screen legend Tom Cruise and former Dawsons Creek starlet Katie Holmes.  Although both of these individuals are extremely attractive and photograph together very well, their marriage is a testament to how strange a thing love really is.  Considering that Tom Cruise is a truly global megastar who would be recognized anywhere in the world, it is a bit of a surprise that he plucked Katie Holmes out of all of the girls he could’ve had a relationship and married.  Although Cruise has been married twice before to Mimi Rogers and Nicole Kidman, the beginnings of these relationships could be traced to the fact that he co-starred in movies with these actresses.

However, Cruise has had no prior acting work with Katie Holmes, which makes many people in the public wonder how these two could have even met.  Although Holmes is a celebrity in her own right, her star power does not even come close to meeting the megawatt power of Cruise.  Adding to the public intrigue is the fact that Tom Cruise is 16 years older than Katie Holmes.  News of their relationship was confirmed when Tom Cruise made a bewildering appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, where he declared his love for Katie Holmes to the venerable talk show host by jumping over a couch and hopping around the talk show set like a 12 year old boy that has just gotten a date with the hottest girl in his school.  A year after this appearance, Cruise and Holmes were married.  Despite public skepticism about the true nature of this celebrity marriage, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes continue to prove the world wrong and live happily ever after (at least for right now.)

Although the Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes celebrity marriage is one of the strangest celebrity marriages of this time, it is not the only celebrity union that has a unique place in the public sphere.  Supermodel and former Baywatch star, Carmen Electra had an infamous 10 day marriage with basketball bad boy and five time NBA champion Dennis Rodman that took place in Las Vegas.  This strange union of what many thought was a modern day Beauty and the Beast parable can’t even come close to being the shortest celebrity marriage of today.  Before her truly epic marriage with former backup dancer and aspiring rapper, Kevin Federline, pop star Britney Spears gave the world a glimpse of what was to come when she had a secret wedding with childhood friend, Jason Alexander that was quickly annulled within 48 hours.  These bizarre celebrity marriages may not be the most inspiring stories but they are always entertaining.  As a result, we will cover these tragic or comedic celebrity marriages for your reading pleasure.

Some people may criticize the public fascination with celebrity culture as being unhealthy and superficial, but hey life is too short.  After all, it’s hard not to be dazzled by the private life of celebrities.  On the surface, everything seems completely perfect with these individuals.  They are being paid a ton of money for doing something that we all have some type of secret aspiration to be doing, they look beautiful, and they are living a life that most of us can only dream about.  It’s only natural that we would like to know more about how these successful people live and love.

While some people may suggest that this public fascination with celebrity marriages brings out our worst instincts, this couldn’t be any further from the truth.  Many people applaud strong celebrity marriages like the marriage between Academy Award winner Gywneth Paltrow and her rock star husband Chris Martin from the critically acclaimed British band, Coldplay.  Although there is a bit of a train wreck fascination with some celebrity marriages, so many people in the public can’t help but cheer when seeming unlucky in love celebrities find their true love.  Look at the public support for cultural icon Madonna’s five year plus marriage to British filmmaker, Guy Ritchie.  This same support and public approval can be found with singer/actress/dancer/entrepreneur Jennifer Lopez’s strong marriage with fellow entertainer, Marc Anthony.

Besides covering the many heartwarming celebrity marriages, we will also examine another part of celebrity marriages – ones that we would like to see happen.  From Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, there are many fabulous celebrity couples out there that counter public expectation by refusing to make that trip down the wedding aisle.  Although you can easily fill a large book with celebrity marriages gone wrong due to rushing to the alter, there are so many celebrity couples out there that the people are just waiting for them to marry.  We’ll cover these celebrity couples for your reading pleasure as well.

One of the biggest criticisms that celebrities have with the public is the fascination with their private lives.  Although we don’t condone the actions of the paparazzi who do seriously cross the line of interfering with many celebrity’s personal lives, there is a bit of a hypocrisy here.  After all, so much of the success of celebrity’s careers is dependent on public support and there’s nothing wrong with a bit of innocent curiosity about the private lives of our biggest stars.

Additionally, we have to be honest here.  How many celebrities have used their celebrity marriages as a way to further their career?  While it is only understandable that celebrities are exhilarated with finding their true love and their celebrity marriage, many celebrities take the time out to discuss their marriage constantly.  Look at the celebrity marriage between TV personality and former co-host of The View, Star Jones and her marriage with Al Reynolds.  Jones discussed her wedding and marriage in great detail and with good reason.  While Star Jones and other celebrities have a right to be publicly happy with their upcoming marriages, you can’t expect people in the general public to not dismiss the criticisms of many celebrities over celebrity culture.

Also, many celebrities have used their celebrity marriages to springboard their career up to another level of stardom.  Other celebrities have used their celebrity marriages to revive their stalling career and re-enter the public consciousness.  For further proof, look no further than the celebrity marriage between pop singers Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey.  They used their marriage to gain some extra publicity for their fledging music careers through their MTV show, Newlyweds.  Although it would have been difficult for either Simpson or Lachey to predict what a smashing success their reality TV show would become, what can’t be denied is the fact that it solidified their places as upper tier celebrities, at least for now.

Although Simpson and Lachey’s marriage would fall apart after a few years, many other celebrity couples have found different ways to use the public fascination with their love lives to further their careers.  Look no further than the reality TV shows of Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro that describes the many adventures they have as they plan for their wedding.  Other celebrity couples that have gone the reality television route include Britney Spears and Kevin Federline and the even more bizarre route of televised weddings of reality TV stars like the wedding between Bachelorette winner Trista Rehn and her beau Ryan Sutter and the prime time wedding between reality TV super couple Boston Rob Mariano and Amber Brkic.

From your favorite television stars to big screen heroes, we will examine the top celebrity marriages today.  We will also look at some other famous celebrity couples from all over the world and some of the more unfortunate celebrity marriages that we have witnessed in today’s world.  So allow yourself to indulge in some entertainment and check out our series of articles on celebrity marriages – the good, the bad, and the ugly.  After all, celebrity marriages may sometimes be short but they’re always fun!