Hollywood’s First Wives Club: The Women You Forgot Were Once Married To A-Listers
Multiple marriages are common in Hollywood. It's not out of the ordinary for celebrities to have two, three or more spouses over the course of their lives. Many A-list celebs marry their first wives as their star power is rising. Over time, a lot of these relationships fail and the men move on, sometimes marrying women who are famous in their own right. Check out some of these women you may not remember were married to some of Hollywood's most famous men. We'll learn all about Robert De Niro's recent breakup.
Jennifer Esposito & Bradley Cooper Were Married For Less Than One Year
Oscar-nominated actor Bradley Cooper has dated several famous women, including actress Zoe Saldana and English model Suki Waterhouse. He's also been married once, and not to his current flame. His first (very short-lived) marriage was to actress Jennifer Esposito. The couple wed in December 2006 and finalized their divorce just 11 months later.
The relationship was just not meant to be. Bradley's second most serious relationship to date is with Russian model Irina Shayk, with whom he has a daughter, Lea. The pair has been together since 2015. Esposito married British model Louis Dowler in 2014 and filed for divorce two years later.
Sheree Zampino & Will Smith Are Still Very Close
Before marrying Jada Pinkett in 1997, Will Smith married Sheree Zampino in 1992 while he was the star of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. They had a son together, but they split after just three years of marriage. He and Jada had two children with each other, Willow and Jaden. Zampino was married to NFL star Terrell Fletcher from 2007 to 2014.
Zampino and Smith are still on good terms with one another. On her birthday, the actor wrote her a sweet message on Instagram: "Happy Bday, @shereezampino.#BestBabyMamaEver! I Love You, Ree-Ree." She responded in part, "Awwwwwwwww…thank you baby daddy!!!!! I love you back!"
Donna Peele Was The First Of Charlie Sheen's Three Wives
Charlie Sheen has been married and divorced three times. In 1995, he tied the knot with Donna Peele after knowing her for less than two months. The pair met on a commercial shoot. Shortly after their wedding, Sheen was publicly outed by professional escort Heidi Fleiss. He and Peele didn't make it past 1996.
Sheen went on to marry Denise Richards in 2002. They had two daughters before divorcing in 2006. Two years later he married Brooke Mueller, and they had twin sons. They finalized their split in 2011. He later became engaged to an adult film star, but unsurprisingly that didn't work out either.
Cindy Silva Ended Up With A Huge Financial Settlement After Divorcing Kevin Costner
Kevin Costner married his college sweetheart, Cindy Silva, in 1978 after three years of dating. The couple had three children: Annie, Lily, and Joseph. After 16 years of marriage, they called it quits, but Silva came out of it financially fit. She made a whopping $80 million in the settlement.
Costner dated several other women, including supermodel Elle Macpherson, before meeting his second wife. He also had a son with Bridget Rooney, whom he dated briefly in the mid-'90s. Costner married model and handbag designer Christine Baumgartner in 2004. They have three children: Cayden, Hayes, and Grace.
Diandra Luker & Michael Douglas Were Married For Nearly Two Decades
Michael Douglas had an 18-year marriage with Diandra Luker, whose father was an Austrian diplomat. The pair tied the knot in 1977, had a son, Cameron, the following year, and divorced in 1995 (for which Diandra received a hefty settlement). Four years later, the actor wed Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Both Douglas and Zeta-Jones were born on Sept. 25 -- but Douglas is 25 years older than his current wife. The pair met in France at a film festival, and they were introduced to one another by Danny DeVito. It was love at first sight. The couple have a son, Dylan, and daughter, Carys.
Robert De Niro Adopted Wife Diahnne Abbot's Daughter From A Previous Relationship
Robert De Niro married Diahnne Abbot in 1976. Before divorcing in 1988, the pair had a son, Raphael. The actor also adopted Abbot's daughter from another relationship. De Niro is probably more known for his 20-year marriage to actress Grace Hightower, whom he wed in 1987.
The couple had a son, Elliot, in 1998, and split up the following year. They nearly divorced but instead renewed their vows in 2004. They had a daughter, Helen, in 2011. Fans were shocked in 2018 when the couple announced they were divorcing after two decades together. He said in a statement: "We are entering a period of transition in our relationship which is a difficult but constructive process."
Harrison Ford Married First Wife Mary Marquardt In The '60s
Harrison Ford married twice before his third marriage, to actress Calista Flockhart, finally stuck. The couple's 23-year age difference doesn't seem to adversely affect their relationship. Ford and Flockhart started dating in 2002 and wed in 2010, and they raise her adopted son together.
Ford is notoriously tight-lipped about his private life and rarely talks about his family in public. He married his first wife, Mary Marquardt, in 1964. The had two kids and divorced in 1979. He and his second wife, Melissa Mathison, also had two kids. Their marriage lasted from 1983 to 2001. The Indiana Jones star has three grandchildren.
Mimi Rogers Introduced Tom Cruise To Scientology
Tom Cruise has a thing for actresses -- he's married three of them. His first marriage was to Mimi Rogers in 1987, but they split after three years together. However, she exerted some influence on him by encouraging the star to join the church of Scientology, which became a big part of his life.
Following their divorce, Cruise went on to marry and divorce both Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes. As far as we know, he's currently single. Rogers married Chris Ciaffa in 2003 and had two children with them. She is no longer affiliated with the church of Scientology.
After George Clooney Divorced Talia Balsam He Was One Of America's Most Eligible Bachelors
Before George Clooney was one of Hollywood's most infamous bachelors, he was a married man. He had a short-lived marriage to Talia Balsam, daughter of actors Martin Balsam and Joyce Van Patten. The pair tied the knot in 1989 but divorced four years later. The marriage must have left a bad taste in his mouth because he vowed never to wed again.
Then he met Amal Alamuddin, a human rights attorney. They tied the knot in 2014 and had twins in 2017. Balsam also moved on, marrying John Slattery in 1998. The couple played husband and wife on the hugely popular TV series Mad Men.
Kim Basinger & Alec Baldwin Fought Over Child Custody
Alec Baldwin's first wife was actress Kim Basinger, yet it was her second marriage. She previously wed makeup artist Ron Snyder-Britton in 1980 after meeting on the set of a film. They didn't work out, and she dated a producer, pop star Prince, and others before tying the knot with Baldwin in 1993.
The couple had a daughter in 1995 and divorced in 2002. They fought bitterly over child custody. Baldwin moved on and married a yoga instructor in 2012. The pair have four young children. Basinger has been dating a hair stylist named Mitch Stone for quite some time, initially hooking up with him in 2014.
Scarlett Johansson & Ryan Reynolds Both Went On To Marry Other People
Scarlett Johnasson dated singer Jack Antonoff and actor Josh Hartnett in the early aughts before hooking up with Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds in 2007. The pair got engaged and married the following year but called it quits in 2010. They finalized their divorce in 2011.
Both she and Reynolds married again. Johansson wed Frenchman Romain Dauriac, with whom she had a daughter. The pair divorced after five years of marriage. Reynolds had better luck with his second spouse, Blake Lively, whom he met while filming The Green Lantern. The two have two daughters and are still together.
Cassandra Harris & Pierce Brosnan's Love Story Is Very Sad
Pierce Brosnan's first marriage ended tragically. He married Australian actress Cassandra Harris in 1980. When the couple met, he was in awe of her beauty. Pierce wound up adopting her two kids, Charlotte, and Christopher, and they had a child together, Sean. The pair stayed together until she passed away in 1991 from ovarian cancer.
Three years after Cassandra died, Pierce met journalist Keely Shaye Smith in Mexico. After several years of dating, they tied the knot in 2001 and had two sons, Dylan and Paris. His daughter Charlotte also ended up dying from ovarian cancer in 2013.
Patricia Gaul & Jeff Goldblum Wed In The '80s & His Third Wife Is A Gymnast
Actor Jeff Goldblum has been married three times. His first wife was actress Patricia Gaul. The pair starred in the film Silverado and were married from 1980 to 1986. A year after the divorce, the Jurassic Park star tied the knot with Geena Davis, with whom he starred in Transylvania 6-5000, The Fly, and Earth Girls Are Easy. They divorced in 1990 after just three years together.
Goldblum spent several years a single man before tying the knot with Canadian Olympic gymnast Emilie Livingston in 2014. The couple have two sons, Charlie and River. Livingston became a naturalized American citizen in 2017.
Sandy Mahl & Garth Brooks Had Three Daughters Together Before Splitting Up
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are a country music match made in heaven. But the pair were both previously married before finding love with one another. Brooks married his college sweetheart, songwriter Sandy Mahl, in 1986. They had three daughters: Taylor, August, and Allie. They split in 2001 after 15 years together.
Four years later, Brooks married Trisha, a fellow country singer, and they have been together ever since. The third time's the charm for Trisha, who was friends with Brooks since the '90s. Her previous two husbands were also musicians. Brooks proposed to her in front of fans, and she enthusiastically accepted.
Victoria Tennant & Steve Martin Both Moved On After Their Divorce
Actor/comedian Steve Martin dated entertainer and co-star Bernadette Peters for several years in the late '70s and early '80s before he met actress Victoria Tennant. They wed in 1986 but split in 1994. While she was Martin's first wife, Tennant had been married before to nightclub owner Peppo Vanini.
Tennant went on to marry Warner Bros. attorney Kirk Justin Stambler and had two kids with him. Martin married writer Anne Stringfield in 2007. His best man was SNL creator Lorne Michaels. He and Anne had a daughter together -- Martin's only child -- in 2012.
Amelia Warner & Colin Farrell's Marriage Wasn't Exactly Legal
Colin Farrell and English actress and singer Amelia Warner were quite young when they met at a movie premiere in 2000 (he was 24, and she was 19). The pair wed on a beach in Tahiti in 2001, and the actor tattooed his wife's nickname, Millie, on his ring finger. He later said the whole thing was "too fast, too young," and the split just a few months later.
Farrell later told the media that their marriage wasn't officially legal because it was simply a ceremony on a beach. Warned ended up marrying actor Jamie Dornan in 2013. Farrell remains unwed, but he has children with several women.
Cindy Crawford & Richard Gere Would Have Made Beautiful Children
Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere looked simply beautiful together. The pair were married for four years between 1991 to 1995. Things didn't work out between them, and the supermodel wound up marrying businessman Rande Gerber in 1998. They have two children, who are both models.
Gere had a harder time finding the right woman. He married actress Carey Lowell in 2002, and they have one son. The pair split in 2013 and didn't settle their divorce until 2016. Two years later the actor wed Spanish Alejandra Silva, and the couple is expecting their first child together.
Helen Hunt & Hank Azaria's Marriage Lasted Just 17 Months
Hank Azaria started dating Helen Hunt in 1994. The pair had a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony in 1999. They co-starred in the TV sitcom Mad About You and in one episode of the Simpsons. Yet, their relationship was short lived. Azaria moved out of their home within a year, and they finalized their divorce in 2000.
The following year Hunt started dating producer/writer/director Matthew Carnahan. They had a daughter in 2004 and split in 2017. Azaria moved on with former actress Katie Wright, beginning in 2007. In 2009 they had a son, Hal, together.
Jennifer Garner Married Scott Foley Before She Wound Up With Ben Affleck
Most people know about Jennifer Garner's contentious marriage to Ben Affleck, but he was her second husband. She was initially married to fellow actor Scott Foley, whom she met on the set of TV series Felicity. They wed in 2000 and divorced in 2003. Foley married his second wife, actress Marika Dominczyk, in 2007. They have three kids.
Garner also has three children with Affleck. They wed in 2005 in Turks and Caicos. After 10 years of marriage, the couple called it quits. They finalized their divorce in 2018 while Affleck was seeking treatment for alcohol addiction.
Demi Moore Was Just 17 Years Old When She Married Singer Freddy Moore
In 1980, 17-year-old Demi Gene Harmon married singer Freddy Moore, who was 12 years her senior. Technically, she was Moore's second wife, but he was her first husband. Demi took Moore's name while pursuing a career in Hollywood, but the marriage didn't last. They finalized their divorce in 1985.
Demi got engaged to actor Emilio Estevez shortly afterwards, but they soon ended their relationship. She ended up marrying actor Bruce Willis in 1987 instead. They have three daughters and divorced in 2000, but the former couple are still friends. She later married and divorced actor Ashton Kutcher.
