We all love a celebrity wedding, but some famous couples choose to opt out of the institution altogether.
Instead, they spend years in committed relationships, content in each other’s presence.
Read on to find out why these couples decided to not take a stroll down the aisle.
Anna Kournikova and Enrique Iglesias
The tennis great met pops tar Iglesias on the set of his Escape music video in 2001, going public with their relationship in 2002 by walking the MTV VMAs red carpet hand in hand.
Despite their long relationship and several engagement rumours, the couple have never married.
The duo have both spoken about their decision not to marry several times, with Iglesias saying in a 2012 interview that he “never really thought [it] would make a difference.”
READ MORE: The celebrity splits that had everyone talking before Nicole and Keith
READ MORE: The two loves of Keith Urban’s life before Nicole Kidman entered the fold
READ MORE: Inside Nicole Kidman’s ‘business as usual’ approach to divorce
“Maybe it’s because I come from divorced parents, but I don’t think you love someone more because of a piece of paper,” he continued.
“Nowadays, it’s not taboo to have kids and not be married. What makes a difference is that you’re a good parent, period.”
Despite this, Kournikova has added her partner’s surname to the end of hers on her Instagram account.
The 44-year-old tennis player and 50-year-old singer share seven-year-old twins Lucy and Nicholas, five-year-old Mary, and have another child on the way.
Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell
Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell went on their first date in 1983 while working together on the wartime film Swing Shift.
In 1986, the actors completed their family, welcoming a son named Wyatt, who has followed in his parents’ footsteps by becoming an actor.
Many fans have wondered why they never married.
Speaking to Porter magazine, Hawn confessed: “A lasting relationship isn’t about marriage. It’s about compatibility and communication.”
“I’ve been married twice … Basically, once you’ve done it once, once you’ve done it twice and you realise that marriage, or the act of marrying, has nothing to do with the success.”
The Oscar winner has even declared she would have been “long divorced” if she had married Russell.
“If you need to be bound to someone, then it’s important to be married. If you are independent, then it’s important to not be married,” she told UK panel show Loose Women.
“We like the choice and we chose to stay. We’re always asked why we are not married. Why? What is marriage going to do for us?”
Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor
The actresses, 50 and 82 respectively, met in passing in the 2000s, only to reconnect via social media a decade later.
They began publicly dating in 2015 and have since acquired a lot of backlash for their relationship.
Paramount is their 32-year age difference, which Paulson has recently spoken out about.
“For many, our age difference is very disconcerting,” she told the Spanish outlet El País.
“That’s why I like to represent something so positive and unconventional, because living by predetermined social norms is boring, and why would you follow a path that isn’t yours?
“So yes, I like to represent something so positive. And at the same time, my relationship belongs to me.”
However, it may have some input in their marriage plans.
Taylor previously shared in an interview with Andy Cohen that the couple has no “interest” in tying the knot.
“We’ve never talked about it with any interest,” she said.
“It doesn’t seem to mean to us what it means to a lot of people.
For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here.
Celebrity couples who have been together for a really long time
“We have a big generational difference, which worries me for her sake.
“A lot of the things that she is going through that are very emotionally important to her right now, I went through 30 years ago or 40 years ago.”
But in the end, they have more in common than they do not.
“We do have a wonderful resonance. We are very interested in the same kinds of things, and yet we share big differences.”
Oprah Winfrey and Stedman Graham
Oprah Winfrey and Stedman Graham met in 1986, the same year The Oprah Winfrey Show premiered.
Graham proposed to the TV icon after six years of dating. Later, they chose to call off their engagement in 1993 but remained a couple.
Having dated for nearly 40 years, the pair say they skipped marriage for a “spiritual partnership,” with Winfrey explaining why in a 2020 issue of her magazine.
“Partnership between equals for the purpose of spiritual growth,” she explained.
Winfrey talked to Vogue in August 2017, when she confessed marriage would have ended their relationship.
“Nobody believes it, but it’s true,” she said.
“The only time I brought it up was when I said to Stedman, ‘What would have happened if we had actually gotten married?’ And the answer is we wouldn’t be together.
“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.”
Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale
Actors Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale met through mutual friends and kept their relationship out of the spotlight for the most part.
In 2020, the couple still had yet to tie the knot, addressing the situation in an interview with Vulture.
Cannavale confessed that even though they weren’t married, they still called each other husband and wife.
“I hate all the other words! It’s just easier to say ‘husband and wife,'” he said.
“‘Boyfriend and girlfriend’ feels so young. ‘Partner’ feels so sterile. What else could we say? My lover?”
“Sure. My lover, Bobby,” Aussie-born Byrne replied.
“Who gives a s—?! It’s just funny what people care about,” Cannavale continued.
Speaking with The Sydney Morning Herald, Byrne admitted life kept getting in the way of their pending nuptials.
“I keep going, ‘Let’s get around to it, let’s do it’. And then, you know, you have a baby, and then, oh, there’s another baby,” she said.
“It was kind of like that for us. I love weddings, and I know people [for whom] it’s an important thing, and I respect that totally.
“I guess for us it’s just been, we didn’t do it, we’ll do it, then – no! Pandemic.”
So, marriage could still be on the cards for these cuties.
Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling
Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling have shared an enduring and profoundly private relationship.
Despite being A-listers, the pair don’t reveal much of their personal lives to their fans, instead choosing to keep their cards close to their chests.
The actors met on The Place Beyond the Pines set in 2011; once filming wrapped, their relationship continued to grow more romantic.
Despite paparazzi pics showing them sharing and getting cosy, their relationship wasn’t even confirmed until they welcomed their first child.
Together, they have a daughter, Esmeralda, whom they welcomed in 2014, and a daughter, Amanda, who was born in 2016.
There have been plenty of rumours they tied the knot, though they are unconfirmed.
FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.
