In Their Own WordsActors' firsthand accounts of their work and personal lives as described in press junkets, talk shows, the red carpet, and their own personal media.
First dates can be awkward, amazing, or downright disastrous - even for famous people, according to celebrities willing to share their dating stories. Some celebrity first dates went so well they eventually led to marriage. Others… not so much.
On a date, whether you've won an Oscar or starred in a blockbuster franchise really doesn't matter; it's the romantic chemistry that counts.
It’s the good, the bad, and the embarrassing of celebrity dating stories. Vote up the first-date memories that made you laugh (or cry) the most.
David Harbour has been a working actor since the early 2000s. However, it wasn't until his role as police officer Jim Hopper in Stranger Things that he finally became a household name. He also played an imprisoned Russian soldier in the 2021 MCU film Black Widow. Harbour ate his way up to 280 pounds for the part, which he filmed in 2019 - during the same time he met his future wife, singer Lily Allen
Harbour described what it was like meeting her when he was at his heaviest:
It’s a true testament to my undeniable charisma when I say that my wife met me at 280 pounds with this beard and this hair. We went on a date at the Wolseley [restaurant] in London, and she really fell for me at my worst, physically and hair-wise. So as the thing went on, I started losing the weight and working out. And she honestly has some mixed feelings about it. Which is a good place to be in a relationship. It’s really good to start the relationship from that part, as opposed to being the young, handsome buck and watching yourself degenerate over the years.
In 2013, the Breaking Bad actor revealed that he met his wife Lauren Parsekian at the Coachella music festival in California. They came close to permanently sealing the deal on their first date, Paul said:
Our first date after Coachella was a trip to Vegas. We bought our first child a baby leather jacket from All Saints. We also jumped into a cab and said, “Take us to the nearest chapel. We're getting married.” The Little White Chapel ended up being closed. We probably would have gone through with it. It would have been a pretty funny story. But I'm happy we got married when we did - a year later.
Denzel Washington and his future wife Pauletta Pearson met on the set of the 1975 television biopic Wilma. The two-time Academy Award-winning actor took Pauletta out on their first date in 1977. Washington was still a struggling actor at the time but managed to take Pauletta to a nice dinner.
The problem came when Washington didn't have enough cash left over for the cab ride. Denzel told the story of their first date on Jimmy Kimmel Live during a 2017 interview:
I was gonna splurge and we were gonna take a cab, and the meter’s going, and I’m going, “Uh-oh… how far away does she live?”
Kelly Clarkson spilled a disastrous first date story during a 2016 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The American Idol winner and talk show host said when she was an 18-year-old waitress, she reluctantly went out with a customer who wouldn't take “no” for an answer.
Her date was an inch shorter than her and stood at 5'2''. Clarkson didn't have a problem with his height, but he clearly did. Clarkson admitted she is a self-deprecating person, but thinks there needs to be a fine line:
He proceeded to talk about his height for, like, a solid hour. And I withstood an hour, and then I went to the bathroom and I left.
Clarkson felt bad about ghosting her date. “I'm going straight to hell,” she said. “It's the worst thing I've ever done.”
Barbra Streisand and Josh Brolin were set up on a blind date. Streisand admitted she didn't immediately swoon for her future husband, even though he “knew right away.”
During a 2021 interview on The Tonight Show, the legendary actress/singer/director said she kidded Brolin about his hair on their first date:
I expected a guy with a brown beard and brown, wavy hair, like a mountain man. And I saw a guy that had all his hair cut off, no beard. And I walked by him. I put my hand through his hair and said, “Who f*cked up your hair?”
Once upon a time, Viola Davis was just a struggling Hollywood actress trying to find a decent man to date in Los Angeles. Davis was lamenting her dating woes to a friend when Julius Tennon overheard their conversation.
Tennon and Davis ended up going on a date together. The pair hit it off and Tennon remained a gentleman at the end of the night, Davis recalled:
He just said, “You are a very beautiful and nice woman, and it was a pleasure spending time with you.” And he shook my hand.
Tennon called Davis twice after their date, each time 20 minutes apart. "I just want to tell you I got home, and you are a beautiful woman. I’m about to go to sleep, and I just wanted to tell you to have a good night,” Davis said regarding Tennon's second call.
