Celebrity Couples Married the Longest: 15 Marriages and What We Can Learn

Last updated October 26, 2026 by the Marriage Bliss Editorial Team.

Some of the longest celebrity marriages go back to the 1960s and 1970s: Dolly Parton and Carl Dean married in 1966 and stayed together until his death in 2025, Ina and Jeffrey Garten married in 1968, and Ron and Cheryl Howard married in 1975. Below are 15 well-known long marriages, listed by wedding year, what the couples have said about making it last, and the lessons that apply whether or not you have a red carpet.

At a glance

• Longest on this list: Dolly Parton and Carl Dean, married in 1966 (nearly 60 years when Carl died in March 2025).
• Longest living couples featured: Ina and Jeffrey Garten (1968) and Ron and Cheryl Howard (1975).
• Common themes: humor, friendship, space to be separate people, and a decision to stay when it got hard.
• Remember: we only see the public side. Treat these as inspiration, not a template.

Note: wedding years come from public reports and may change over time. We list the year each couple married rather than a running total, so the numbers don’t go out of date. Last checked October 2026.

1. The longest celebrity marriages, by wedding year

1. Dolly Parton and Carl Dean (married 1966). The country star and her private husband were married for nearly 60 years until his death in March 2025. Dolly has often credited their separate lives and interests, with some shared time, for keeping things fresh.
2. Ina and Jeffrey Garten (married 1968). The cookbook author and her husband have spoken about the value of being willing to get help, including counseling, when the marriage needed repair.
3. Ron and Cheryl Howard (married 1975). The director and his wife started dating in 1970, as teenagers, and have marked more than 50 years since their first date.
4. Gloria and Emilio Estefan (married 1978). The musicians have built a life as spouses and business partners.
5. Samuel L. Jackson and LaTanya Richardson Jackson (married 1980). The actors have been married for more than four decades, and he has credited her with keeping him engaged.
6. Denzel and Pauletta Washington (married 1983). Married since 1983, they are one of the longest-running marriages in Hollywood.
7. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Hall (married 1987). Married since 1987, they are among the longest-lasting marriages in Hollywood.
8. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson (married 1988). Married since 1988, they are one of Hollywood’s best-known long marriages.
9. Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick (married 1988). They describe being each other’s biggest supporters, keeping a sense of humor and enjoying simple time together.
10. Jon Bon Jovi and Dorothea Hurley (married 1989). Childhood sweethearts who stayed together through a rock-star career. See our post on Bon Jovi’s secret to staying married.
11. Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw (married 1991). They worked together in the 1980s and married in 1991.
12. Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen (married 1995). Married since 1995, they are well past the 30-year mark.
13. Faith Hill and Tim McGraw (married 1996). They have said they committed early not to walk away when problems arose.
14. Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann (married 2004). She has said laughter and joy are the key to a long marriage.
15. Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn (together since 1983, never married). Not a marriage, but one of the longest partnerships in Hollywood. They credit staying independent with keeping the relationship strong.

Sources for the list are at the bottom of this page. Couples change, so check a current source before quoting a specific number of years.

2. What these couples say makes it last

Different couples, different careers, and the same few themes keep coming up.

• Humor. Several couples on this list name laughter as the thing that carries them through. Shared jokes are a sign you still like each other.
• Staying a team. Supporting each other’s ambitions, especially in careers with long absences and public pressure, shows up again and again.
• Space and separate interests. Dolly Parton’s advice, and Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn’s independence, are reminders that closeness doesn’t mean doing everything together. See personal space in marriage.
• Willingness to repair. Getting help, saying sorry and refusing to treat divorce as an easy exit are common threads.
• Privacy. Many keep most of their relationship out of the spotlight. Protecting the marriage from outside opinions is a skill any couple can borrow.

3. What makes celebrity marriages different (and why that matters)

It’s tempting to compare yourself to couples with nannies, assistants and big budgets. A few reality checks:

• Resources help with stress. Money doesn’t fix a marriage, but fewer financial worries removes one common source of conflict.
• Public marriages are curated. You see the smiles at the premiere, not the argument in the car beforehand. Don’t measure your private life against someone’s public one. See comparing your marriage to others.
• Survivorship bias. We celebrate the couples who lasted. Plenty of famous marriages ended, and plenty of long ones had hard years we never saw.
• Time together is a choice. Many of these couples build in time for each other despite packed schedules. That is the part you can copy.

4. Seven lessons you can use this week

1. Pick a shared joke and use it. A private nickname or running gag is cheap and powerful. For ideas, see 30 marriage jokes.
2. Back each other’s goals out loud. Ask, “What are you working toward this month, and how can I help?”
3. Keep a little independence. A hobby, a friend or an afternoon alone makes time together feel chosen rather than assumed.
4. Repair fast. Apologize before the sun sets, even if it’s clumsy.
5. Protect your marriage from audiences. Don’t air every disagreement to friends or online.
6. Get help early. Counseling is a tool, not a verdict. See how to find a marriage counselor.
7. Schedule the small things. A weekly marriage check-in costs 15 minutes and prevents a lot of drift.

The bigger life lesson: long marriages are chosen again and again

Read enough interviews with long-married people and you notice something: almost nobody says they found the perfect partner and coasted. They say they decided, over and over, to stay kind when it would have been easier to be right. Those decisions are small, such as turning toward your spouse when they speak, apologizing first, or planning something to look forward to together. Add up thousands of them and you get a decades-long marriage.

That is good news. You don’t need celebrity, fame or a perfect personality match to build the same thing. You need a habit of choosing each other on an ordinary Tuesday. For more on this, see our habits of a happy marriage and quotes that remind you why being married is worth it.

Related: 60 love quotes for your wife and husband.

Want more on this topic? See our guide to the habits of a happy marriage.

Frequently asked questions

Which celebrity couple has been married the longest?

Among well-known couples, Dolly Parton and Carl Dean were married for nearly 60 years, from 1966 until his death in March 2025. Of couples both still living, Ina and Jeffrey Garten (married 1968) and Ron and Cheryl Howard (married 1975) are among the longest.

Which Hollywood couples have been together the longest?

Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn have been together since 1983 without marrying, and Oprah Winfrey and Stedman Graham have been a couple since the late 1980s. Among married couples, Denzel and Pauletta Washington (1983) and Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson (1988) are well known for their longevity.

What is the secret of a long celebrity marriage?

There is no single secret. Couples often mention humor, friendship, mutual support, some independence and a decision not to give up when things get hard. Their public statements are one side of the story, so use them as ideas, not rules.

Marriage Bliss offers general information and entertainment, not therapy or professional advice. Facts about public figures come from published reports and may change.

Sources: The Knot, longest celebrity marriages; Yahoo, longest celebrity relationships; Bangor Daily News (AP), Carl Dean dies at 82; Fox News, Ron Howard and Cheryl’s first date.