Celebrity CouplesLists about the most interesting and entertaining celebrity couples, how they met, why they split, and the fascinating details inside their relationships and marriages.
There are more celebrities with open marriages than you might expect. Some, like Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, have enjoyed decades-long relationships, while others, like Brody Jenner and Kaitlynn Carter, had short-lived unions. The most successful open marriages of the rich and famous seem to involve clear guidelines, open communication, and lots of love.
Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green reportedly had a one-sided open marriage, where she was allowed to cheat, but he was not. There are also many variations, such as whether full-on flings are okay, or just flirting. Dolly Parton has been married to Carl Thomas Dean for over 50 years. She has stated that they have an open marriage that allows for flirting, but nothing more.
Are you surprised that so many famous people have had flexible relationships? Learn more by checking out the full list below.
It was long suspected that Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith – who married in 1997 – have an open marriage, and the Men in Black star confirmed that rumors were true in 2021.
“Marriage for us can’t be a prison. And I don’t suggest our road for anybody... But the experiences that the freedoms that we’ve given one another, and the unconditional support, to me, is the highest definition of love,” he said.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were married from 2014-2019, and had been dating since around 2005. Fans began suspecting that the couple may have an open relationship after Jolie shared her thoughts on monogamy in a 2009 interview.
“I doubt that fidelity is absolutely essential for a relationship. It's worse to leave your partner and talk badly about him afterwards,” Jolie said.
In her 2019 memoir, Inside Out, Demi Moore explained how having threesomes with her husband Ashton Kutcher – to whom she was married between 2005-2013 – led to blurring the lines between cheating, and an agreed-upon open marriage.
“Because we had brought a third party into our relationship, Ashton said, that blurred the lines and, to some extent, justified what he’d done,” she wrote of Kutcher's affair with a Pilates instructor.
Tilda Swinton never expressly said that she had an open relationship with her partner, Sandro Kopp, but the couple did live, for a time, in the same Scotland home as Swinton's ex-partner, John Byrne, and their two children.
Dolly Parton has said that she has an open marriage with her husband of over 50 years, Carl Thomas Dean, although the “Jolene” singer does not endorse sex outside of the marriage. Only flirting is allowed.
“He’s not jealous and I’m not jealous of him. He knows I flirt. He flirts too,” said Parton. “Yes, it’s an open relationship, but not sexually, and I would kill him if I thought he was doing that.”
Ethan Hawke was married to Uma Thurman from 1998 until 2005. He's been married to Ryan Shawhughes – who was the nanny of his and Thurman's kids – since 2008. While he has said that his marriage is monogamous, he also stated that "people have such a childish view of monogamy and fidelity.”
“To act all indignant, that your world has been rocked because your lover wasn't faithful to you, is a little bit like acting rocked that your hair went grey,” he said in a 2013 interview.
