The path of true love never did run smooth, but some celebrity couples set out on the right track earlier than many. Hollywood relationships might have a bad reputation, with temptation, scandal and rumours running riot, but these couples prove that where there’s a strong foundation, love can carry your relationship through even the most dramatic of changes.
For that warm, fuzzy feeling, we’re taking you through the star-studded world of high school sweethearts who made it through the years of acne and excessive cologne together.
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The singer fell in love at first sight 46 years ago.
Jon Bon Jovi & Dorothea Bongiovi
Jon Bon Jovi and his wife Dorothea Bongiovi don’t give love a bad name. Instead, they’re a glowing reference for an impulsive Las Vegas wedding. The pair met at Sayreville War Memorial High School in 1980. Jon told People in 2020 that he was “immediately drawn to her from the minute I saw her and that never changed”.
The pair briefly split in 1985 but reconciled and got married in 1989. While playing three nights at the Forum in LA, with a number one single and album to boot, Jon suggested they take the leap. While it’s now obvious the pair were destined for one another, Dorothea’s family weren’t exactly delighted about Jon’s career goals. Discussing their relationship on The Howard Stern Show, Dorothea recalled telling someone that her boyfriend was going to be a rock star. “They were like, ‘Good luck with that.’” The pair have now been married for 36 years and have four children together.
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The stylish couple have a decades-long love story.
LeBron James & Savannah James
LeBron James and Savannah’s early relationship has a touch of Shakespearean flair. The two met while at rival high schools when, acting as a go-between, a mutual friend asked for Savannah’s number on LeBron’s behalf. “I’m like, ‘Um, nope I’ll take his number,’” Savannah told Cleveland Magazine in 2018. Their relationship only seems to have strengthened from their first date at Outback Steakhouse and a surprise pregnancy in 2003 during Savannah’s senior year of high school, culminating in a three-day wedding in 2013.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2018, LeBron said: “Savannah was with me shooting in the gym when I [had] absolutely nothing. [Savannah] was down when I was at my high school, no cameras, no lights. She was there with me.” Crediting his wife with present success, LeBron explained: “You wouldn’t be talking to me right now if it weren’t for her.”
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Both have found international success during their time together.
Carey Mulligan & Marcus Mumford
These lovebirds pre-date even high school, reportedly meeting when Carey Mulligan was just 12. While the details are scarce, it seems Carey first met Marcus Mumford at a Christian youth camp and remained pen pals. Though it seems she didn’t originally see much potential, saying on the SmartLess podcast: “I wrote in my diary he was the nicest, kindest person I’d ever met and I gave him 9 ½ out of 10.” Promising? Certainly. But Carey goes on: “I also wrote that he definitely wasn’t boyfriend material. Not that I’d ever had a boyfriend at that time! But I decided he was not it.”
Just five months after they reportedly reconnected at a Mumford & Sons concert in February 2011, the pair married on a Somerset farm. They have three children together.
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Tom Jones first saw the love of his life at 12 years old.
Tom Jones & Melinda Trenchard
The Welsh crooner’s 59-year marriage might not be storybook perfect but there’s no doubting the love both parties had for one another. Sir Tom Jones and Melinda met when they were just 12, Tom recounting to the BBC how he would watch her from his window while on bed rest. “I was in love with her when I had TB when I was 12,” he described. “I would be thinking ‘Oh my god, let’s get this TB over with so I can hold her.”
They married when they were both 16, and Melinda, or Linda as she was known, gave birth to their only child soon after the wedding. Despite well-documented affairs, Tom asserts that Linda is the “love of my life”. Linda seemed to be just as in love with her husband, saying in a rare interview: “I feel alive when [Tom] comes through the door, whatever the time of day or night is.” Linda passed away in 2016 at the age of 75 after a battle with cancer.
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Denzel and Pauletta have both had successful acting careers.
Denzel Washington & Pauletta Washington
The talented pair may have met in 1977 on the set of Denzel Washington’s first movie Wilma, but it took a reintroduction and a not-quite-accidental run-in at the theatre for the two to fully connect. Pauletta attended a party thrown by a mutual friend from Wilma and Denzel showed up right at the end. “We spoke again. We were reintroduced,” she explained in 1996 on The Oprah Winfrey Show. “Then next night, I attended a play. I got there late so I snuck in and just sat down. I didn’t look at who was around me, and at intermission, the lights came up, and we were sitting next to each other.”
Her husband of over 40 years disagrees. “I had talked at that party about going to see a play. I went to see the play and at intermission, the lights came up and she was sitting [there],” he explained on Live with Kelly and Ryan in 2018. The pair married in 1983 and have four children together.
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The actress got her start off Broadway and has appeared in several films.
Samuel L. Jackson & LaTanya Richardson
The Django Unchained actor first met his wife in 1970 while studying at Morehouse. LaTanya was a student at Spelman College and a fellow member of the Morehouse Spelman Players. Samuel L. Jackson started dating LaTanya the same year and they had a daughter together 12 years later.
LaTanya told People that they made a pact early on in their marriage to go the distance. “In the beginning, we always said the most revolutionary thing that Black people could do was stay together, raise their children with the nucleus of having a father and a mother,” she explained. “Since everybody likes to pretend that that’s not the dynamic of the African American family.” The pair have been married for over 40 years and have one child together.
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The U2 singer had only released two albums when he headed off on his honeymoon.
Bono & Ali Hewson
At only 12 years old, when he was just regular Paul Hewson, Bono met his now-wife Ali at Mount Temple Comprehensive. Ali explained to The Telegraph in 2008, “He was my first real boyfriend. It was 1976 that we got together – the same year that [U2] formed. I saw their first gig in our school gym.” They married six years later in August 1982 when U2 was still two albums in but waiting for their big break. After their honeymoon, it was right back to work for Bono as he went on to produce U2’s third album War in 1983 and headed for stardom. Ali has been active as a humanitarian campaigner and as a businesswoman, establishing sustainable fashion and beauty brands. The couple share four children together.
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Novak and Jelena have remained committed to one another over the years.
Novak Djokovic & Jelena Djokovic
Star tennis player Novak Djokovic and his wife Jelena are the textbook definition of high school sweethearts. They met while studying at the same high school in Serbia and started dating in the early 2000s.
Despite an awkward first date at a Monte Carlo sports bar and not much money to spare for visits, the pair moved in together after Jelena graduated with a master’s degree from the International University of Monaco. She recalled: “Us getting together was like science fiction almost. I was a student barely getting by, and he was a very young tennis player who also had no money to spare on expensive trips.” They tied the knot in 2014 and have since had two children together.
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Lin-Manuel Miranda’s high school crush went on to become his wife and the mother of his children.
Lin-Manuel Miranda & Vanessa Nadal
In a tale that feels like something straight from Lin-Manuel’s musical catalogue, the playwright met his wife while at Hunter College High School – but never worked up the nerve to introduce himself. He was two years above Vanessa but credits the missed opportunity to a “total lack of game”. “She was gorgeous and I’m famously bad at talking to women I find attractive,” he recounted to The New York Times in 2010.
Miranda reached out after they’d both long since graduated via Facebook in 2005. He invited her to see his hip-hop improv group of the time, Freestyle Love Supreme, but was too nervous to reach out in person. Third time, fortunately, was the charm and, having asked for Vanessa’s number via his friend, he invited her to a second show and the two moved in together just months later. They married in 2010 and have since had two children.
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Ron and Cheryl share a deep love for one another that’s lasted over 50 years.
Ron Howard & Cheryl Alley
The actor-turned-director Ron Howard met his wife Cheryl in high school and instantly fell head over heels. “I met her, and there was never anybody else,” he explained to People in 2019. “Our compatibility has endured through all kinds of experiences.” They went on their first date in 1970 catching the re-release of Stanley Kramer’s It’s a Mad Mad Mad World.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing: in fact, Ron had to propose three times before he got that all-important yes. The A Beautiful Mind director’s daughter revealed on The Drew Barrymore Show in 2024 that, “While they had an incredible relationship in high school, he proposed three times and she said no two of them.” Bryce laughed, “She was like, ‘I wanna go to school first. I’m not ready to be on your train yet.’ She’s really strong.” Ron and Cheryl married in 1975 and have raised four children together.