
To date a celebrity -- let alone marry one -- is to accept your tabloid fate, especially if your significant other is one of Hollywood's hottest bachelors. From rumors of infidelity to the strain of months-long separations during filming or touring, spending your life as one half of a famous couple can't always be as easy as it seems. Nonetheless, these 20 leading men chose partners who aren't in the business (aka regular people).
Perhaps they're attracted to the normalcy of their partners' lives, or maybe they just simply fell in love. Whatever the reason, here are 20 male stars who married regular people, just like us!
Image © Xavier Collin/Celebrity Monitor/Splash News/Corbis
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Alec Baldwin & Hilaria Thomas
1Image @ Erik Pendzich/Demotix/Corbis
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Matt Damon & Luciana Barroso
2Image @ Parisa/Splash News/Corbis
When Damon ordered a drink from Luciana Barroso, he was really just trying to talk to her; she, for her part, thought he looked like "that guy" from The Legend of Bagger Vance -- only chubbier. They renewed their vows in 2013 after eight years of wedded bliss, which has produced three kids (she has a daughter from a prior marriage). "I got lucky," Damon recently said about keeping his private life private. "I fell in love with a civilian."
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Paul Rudd & Julie Yaeger
3Image © Xavier Collin/Image Press/Splash/Splash News/Corbis
The adorable Rudd seems to be pretty much the same uncomplicated guy that he projects onscreen. Calling himself a Midwestener at his core, the thing he values most in a marriage is longevity, especially given that his parents were married until his father's death in old age. No wonder, then, that when it was his turn, he chose someone who isn't in the limelight (Yaeger is a former publicist). They've been married since 2003.
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Jesse Tyler Ferguson & Justin Mikita
4Image © Paul Mounce/Corbis
The Modern Family star called marriage "the greatest adventure" of his life, and it's no wonder. He and gay-rights lawyer Justin Mikita flew to New York to get married in 2013, before the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. They also started a necktie company together called Tie the Knot. Proceeds go to LGBT causes.
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Jon Bon Jovi & Dorothea Hurley
5Image @ Ron Sachs/CNP/Corbis
Plenty of celeb marriages are famously short-lived, but for some, the union lasts for decades. Take Jon Bon Jovi and Dorothea Hurley. The two were high school sweethearts and have been married for 25 years and counting. Bon Jovi recently shared his strategy for a successful marriage, by saying he simply picked the right person to begin with.
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Christian Bale & Sibi Blazic
6Image © Clemens Niehaus/Geisler-Fotopres/dpa/Corbis
The famously intense Batman actor seems as methodical about his private life as he is about his onscreen work. He has never publicly confirmed his two kids' names, and until recently, even what his wife, Sibi Blazic, does for a living was a mystery (she's a stuntwoman and worked on The Dark Knight Rises). When they met, however, she was Winona Ryder's assistant. The pair eloped in 2000.
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Tobey Maguire & Jennifer Meyer
7Image © Xavier Collin/Celebrity Monitor/Splash News/Corbis
When this couple met, she was dabbling in jewelry-making after stints as a publicist for big fashion houses. At the time Maguire was filming Seabiscuit (she's the daughter of former Universal studio boss, Ronald Meyer). They married in 2007 and have two kids. Today Meyer is a top Hollywood jeweler, having designed the wedding bands for Jennifer Aniston's recent wedding.
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David Schwimmer & Zoe Buckman
8Image @ LAN/Corbis
It may have been love at first sip. Waitress Zoe Buckman served Friends star David Schwimmer a drink at a London club in 2007 and three years later, they were married, despite their 18-year age difference. Not that anyone knew right away. The two kept their wedding secret for months. They now have a daughter, Cleo.
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Denzel & Pauletta Washington
9Image © Michael Hurcomb/Corbis
Since marrying in 1983, Denzel Washington and his wife, Pauletta, have made it through rumors of infidelity and divorce. Asked his secret to a long marriage, Denzel once famously said, "Do what she says," while Pauletta told Ebony: "He has and knows he has that stability in me as his wife. That gives him strength, regardless if he misuses it." Hmm.
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Neil Patrick Harris & David Burtka
10Images © LAN/Corbis
After Burtka made a seven-episode appearance on How I Met Your Mother, speculation arose that the theater actor landed the part because of his relationship with Harris, who had not come out as gay publicly. The gossip led to Harris' decision to acknowledge his homosexuality in a statement. They're now married and have twin boys.
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Seth Meyers & Alexi Ashe
11Image @ Brock Miller/Splash News/Corbis
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John Leguizamo & Justine Maurer
12Image © Brock Miller/Splash News/Corbis
Sometimes it's just meant to be. Leguizamo was working on Carlito's Way when he met Justine Maurer, who was toiling in the film's costume department. In his one-man Broadway show, Ghetto Klown, the actor summed up their instant connection, “I’d never felt I could really be my whole self with anyone, and she told me she felt she’s been waiting to exist her whole life.” They married in 2003 and have three kids.
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Kevin Jonas & Danielle Deleasa
13Image © Fred Prouser/Reuters/Corbis
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Jesse Williams & Aryn Drake-Lee
14Image © Photographer Group/Splash News/Corbis
The Grey's Anatomy hunk was a regular guy himself -- a high school teacher, in fact -- when he met his wife, Aryn Drake-Lee, a real estate broker. He once told USA Today that he appreciated how she stuck with him "through thick and thin" while his acting career took off and says he loves that she's "her own person." They married in 2012.
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Jerry & Jessica Seinfeld
15Image © Joe Stevens/Retna Ltd./Corbis
When you know, you know. The couple ran into each other for the first time at a gym shortly after she returned from her honeymoon with another man -- and the circumstances of their decision to be together has been gossip fodder since. Jessica tried to set the record straight by saying that her short first marriage was irreparably broken by the time she began seeing Jerry. Whatever the sequence of events, their relationship was clearly no flash in the pan. They've been married since 1999 and have three kids.
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Jason Schwartzman & Brady Cunningham
16Image © Lucas Jackson/Reuters/Corbis
Bored to Death creator Jonathan Ames became an ordained minister just so he could officiate the wedding of the show's star, Jason Schwartzman, and Brady Cunningham, a clothing designer. Schwartzman said he was so affected by Ames' "sweet, moving" -- but alas, private -- words about the couple during the ceremony that it felt as if his heart had been plucked out of his chest. "My whole body started to fall to pieces inside," he said. Now that's love.
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Omari Hardwick & Jennifer Pfautch
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The Power star has his priorities straight. Hardwick recently excoriated Twitter critics for calling his wife, a publicist, "ugly," saying that the real ugliness in his life had been losing his son and two siblings. Meanwhile, he and Pfautch are moving forward, adding to their family with a second baby.
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Aaron Paul & Lauren Parsekian
18Image © Jared Milgrim/The Photo Access/The World Access/Corbis
So romantic! The Breaking Bad star and his wife met at the Coachella music festival, sharing their first kiss on a ferris wheel. Even more romantic was his Emmy acceptance speech, when he thanked her for marrying him and praised her anti-bullying non-profit, the Kind Campaign. Fans flocked to the website -- and broke it.
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Andy Garcia & Marivi Lorido Garcia
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Robert DeNiro & Grace Hightower
20Image © Danny Moloshok/Reuters/Corbis
The couple met in 1987 and married in 1997, but they've certainly had their ups and downs. DeNiro filed for divorce and later sued for custody of the couple's son, but they mended fences and ended up having another child. Hightower has also dabbled in acting (she had a bit role in Precious).
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