From Meryl Streep and Don Gummer to Billy Ray Cyrus and Tish Cyrus, these famous couples’ decades-long marriages have come to an end.
Romance may be fleeting in Hollywood, but there are some well-known couples who have stood the test of time for a few years — and often many years! However, despite all of this, there are relationships that just don’t work out and it’s in everyone’s best interest to call it quits, no matter how long they’ve been married. While filing for divorce after many years of marriage can be painful, many of these couples say they’re simply grateful for all the happy years they’ve had together.
Find out which {couples} decided to end things after years together…
Getty
20 Celebrities Who Reconciled After a Long Feud
View story
1. Meryl Streep & Don Gummer
Married: 39 years old
Meryl Streep met Don Gummer in 1978 when her brother launched them. They married just six months later. The couple welcomed 4 children and were together for over three decades. It wasn’t until 2023 that they announced they had separated — and they had already been separated for six years at that point.
“Don Gummer and Meryl Streep have been separated for over 6 years and although they always care for each other, they have chosen separate lives,” Meryl said. advised staff.
2. Dan Aykroyd and Donna Dixon
Married: 40 years
Again in the early eighties, Dan Aykroyd met his wife Donna Dixon on the set of Detroit Doctor. The couple married in 1983 and were together for nearly 40 years before deciding to go their separate ways. While they decided to end their relationship, Dan and Donna shared that they decided to remain legally married.
“After 39 years as a couple, we are now on separate paths in life. We remain legally married, parents, coworkers and business partners,” they shared with People in a joint statement. “This is our selection in loving friendship.”
Getty
11 Male Celebrities Who Admitted to Having Hair Transplants
View story
3. Morgan Freeman & Myrna Colley-Lee
Married: 23 years old
Morgan Freeman and Myrna Colley-Lee remarried in 1984 and had four children. The couple remained together for 23 years until 2007, when they ended their relationship. Their divorce was not made public until a year later, when Morgan was involved in a car accident with a passenger, who many believed to be his lover. Morgan’s representative confirmed that he and Myrna were in the process of divorcing, which was finalized in 2010.
“(They) are involved in divorce proceedings. And for legal and sensible reasons, they have been separated since December 2007,” he mentioned in an advertisement.
4. Arnold Schwarzenegger & Maria Shriver
Married: 25 years
Arnold Schwarzenegger was married to Maria Shriver for 25 years before the bombshell revelation that he had an affair with the housekeeper that resulted in a secret child. The couple went their separate ways in 2011, but their divorce dragged on for more than a decade. In response to TMZmatters were not finalized until 2021 — but the couple remain good friends and co-parents.
“Even though we had this drama, we celebrated Easter together, Mother’s Day together, Christmas together, all the birthdays — everything together,” Arnold said. The Hollywood Reporter. “If there are Oscars for methods of dealing with divorce, Maria and I should win for having the least amount of effect on the young people. The sweetness and kindness you see in them, that’s my spouse’s. The self-discipline and work ethic are mine.”
Getty
11 Famous People Who Had to Tell Their Followers to Stop Harassing Them in Public
View story
5. Al and Tipper Gore
Married: 40 years
Al Gore and his wife Tipper remarried in 1970 and their marriage lasted 4 years. The couple, who share 4 children, announced in 2010 that they were going their separate ways after forty years together. They supposedly warned family and friends that they had “grown apart” over the course of their relationship.
6. Decide Greg Mathis and Linda Mathis
Married: 39 years old
TV personality Decide Greg Mathis and his wife Linda were married in 1985 and had 4 children. While they happy images shared from a family trip in early 2024, in July of that year, Linda had filed for divorce. In the paperwork, she cited irreconcilable variations, but according to TMZGreg says he needs to win her back. While he admitted to not making his wife his top priority in his career, he hopes they can make it work.
Getty
9 celebrities who gave away sex toys
View story
7. Robert Redford & Lola Van Wagenen
Married: 27 years old
Robert Redford remarried his wife, Lola Van Wagenen, in 1958 when they were both in their early 20s. The couple welcomed four children and were married for over twenty years before they separated in 1985. Looking back, Robert says his success in Hollywood put a strain on his marriage over the years.
“It was mutual and it was appropriate to move forward,” Robert shared with The telegraph in 2001. “We still have good love, good affection, good friendship. It’s fantastic, and I think we probably deserve credit for that, because the kids are good, they came through it well.”
8. Invoice & Melinda Gates
Married: 27 years old
Invoice Gates and his wife Melinda reunited in 1987 and were married in a ceremony in Hawaii in 1994. Over the course of their relationship, the former couple welcomed three children and created the Invoice & Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest personal charitable foundation in the world. However, after 27 years of marriage, Invoice and Melinda announced that they were getting a divorce.
“After an inordinate amount of thought and hard work on our relationship, we have now made the choice to end our marriage. We have raised three incredible young people and built a foundation that works worldwide to empower all individuals to lead healthy, productive lives. We continue to share a common vision in this mission and we can continue our work collectively on the foundation, but we no longer believe that we can thrive together as a couple in this next part of our lives,” the couple said. he wrote in a joint statement posted on Twitter.
Getty
10 Celebrities Who Saved Their Exes’ Final Identities After Their Breakup
View story
9. Reba McEntire & Narvel Blackstock
Married: 26 years old
Reba McEntire married Narvel Blackstock in 1989, but their relationship was consumed by their careers. Wanting to get back together, Reba says it was all about business on a regular basis, starting with Narvel’s spot in her band to him later becoming her manager. In 2015, things started to go south in their marriage, and they eventually split later that year. Reba says she didn’t cause the divorce, but it helped her take control of her life and career.
“Divorce was not my thought. I didn’t need it in any way, shape or form,” McEntire mentioned in an interview with Cody Alan of CMT. “So it was really hard to make the adjustment when someone is not happy. I just want everyone to be happy with their lives, because our lives are too fast to be depressing.”
10. Hugh Jackman & Deborra-Lee Furness
Married: 27 years old
Hugh Jackman met Deborra-Lee Furness again in the 90s on the set of the Australian TV series Corelli They were married in 1995. They went on to have two children and remained married for over twenty years. Shortly after their twenty-seventh anniversary in 2023, the couple announced that they were getting a divorce.
“We have been blessed to share 3 years together virtually as husband and wife in a beautiful and loving marriage. Our journey may now be changing and we have now decided to separate to pursue our individual progress,” the couple mentioned in an advertisement. “Our family has been and will always be our highest priority. We embark on this next chapter with gratitude, love and kindness. We tremendously respect your understanding in respecting our privacy as our family navigates this transition in all of our lives.”
Getty
9 Celebrities Who Were Publicly Called Out By Their Own Children
View story
11. Billy Ray Cyrus & Tish Cyrus
Married: 28 years old
Billy Ray Cyrus and his wife Tish got married in 1993. They welcomed three children together and took Tish’s two children from a previous relationship. Over the years, the couple has had their ups and downs and filed for divorce more than once. In 2010, Billy Ray filed the paperwork, but a few months later, he ended up dropping the petition. The couple remained married for several years, but Trish filed for divorce in 2013. She rescinded the petition just a month later.
The couple’s marriage finally came to an end in April 2022 when they filed for divorce for the third time. Tish later explained that during the pandemic, she I really had time to reflect on the connection and what she wanted out of life — and realized she should have left much earlier.
“During that break, I took an extremely hard, hard look at life, at my life, and I thought, ‘What was I going to do?’ Because it hadn’t been in a very good place for a long time. And I feel like I stayed so long because I was afraid of being alone,” she said on Name her daddy podcast. “I actually didn’t want Noah (Cyrus) to be younger (when we got divorced). However, looking back, it could have been much better for her if I had walked away.”
Getty
9 Famous Men Who Got 2 Girls Pregnant at the Same Time
View story
12. Jeff & MacKenzie Bezos
Married: 25 years
Jeff Bezos married his wife MacKenzie long before Amazon was a household name. The couple met in 1993 when they both worked at the same finance agency. They tied the knot just six months after their first meeting. The couple welcomed four children together and were married for over twenty years. In 2019, they announced their decision to separate, writing that they planned to continue their “shared lives as friends.”
“We truly feel extremely fortunate to have found each other and deeply grateful for each of the many years we have been married. If we had recognized that we would be separating after 25 years, we would do it all over again,” the couple said. wrote in a statement.
They continued, “We have had such a fantastic life together as a married couple, and we also see fantastic futures ahead of us as mother and father, friends, partners in ventures and endeavors, and as people seeking ventures and adventures. While the labels may be completely different, we remain a family, and we remain dear friends.”
13. Anthony Anderson & Alvina Stewart
Married: 22 years old
Anthony Anderson and Alvina Stewart had been together for a decade when they tied the knot in 1999. The couple remained together for another 20 years, welcoming two children together — but they’ve faced some ups and downs along the way. Alvina filed for divorce in 2015, though in 2017 she filed to have the petition dismissed. Then, in 2022, she filed for a second time, citing “irreconcilable differences.”