21 Photos of Celebrity Couples When They First Got Together

We all hold onto our favorite celebrity couples, whether their love has stood the test of time or not. And while you're now used to seeing these particular pairs together, there was a time when their romance was new. We went back into the archives to find snaps of some of our favorite star duos, both past and present, the year they first got together (or first took their relationship public). So keep scrolling, and see if you can spot the stars in their eyes.

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George Clooney met human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in 2013 in Lake Como, Italy, and that was it for one of Hollywood's most eligible bachelors. The fabulous pair traveled the world together before getting engaged in 2014. This photo was snapped at the first event they attended together in September of that year, just a few weeks before they tied the knot. They welcomed twins Alexander and Ella in 2017.

To the delight of Bennifer fans the world over, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck rekindled their romance this year, 17 years after their first attempt ended in a broken engagement and a breakup. But they initially met on the set of their movie Gigli in 2001, then went public as a couple in 2002. This photo was taken that year, on the set of her "Jenny From the Block" video, in which Affleck co-starred. They were engaged a few months later but announced their split in 2004—as we know now, despite both of them moving on to other significant relationships and marriages, it wouldn't stick.

Tech entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian and tennis legend Serena Williams, unsurprisingly, met as a result of their individually fabulous lives. The story goes that Ohanian chose the table next to Williams by the pool at a hotel in Rome in 2015. Their relationship developed from there, and in 2016, Ohanian proposed at the same hotel. By the time they made their first major couple appearance—at no less high-profile an event than the 2017 Met Gala—they were expecting their first child. Alexis Olympia arrived later that year, and the couple wed a couple of months after that.

Outside of the royal family, it's difficult to come up with a British power couple who shines brighter than Victoria and David Beckham. The cynical may have thought that a relationship between a Spice Girl and one of the world's most famous footballers couldn't possibly last long, but their whirlwind romance turned into a 20+ year (and counting) commitment. David and Victoria (then Adams) first met at a charity match in 1997, an encounter about which she would later write for British Vogue, "Yes, love at first sight does exist." Things moved quickly from there; the pair announced their engagement in 1998 (pictured above), and the rest is history!

Though they reportedly started dating in 1998, Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt went to their first public event—that year's Emmy Awards—arm in arm in 1999. They broke up in 2005, but some fans are still holding out hope that they'll get back together.

Pitt was still married to Aniston when he and Angelina Jolie shot the spy romance Mr. and Mrs. Smith. They confirmed later that they fell in love on set, leading to Pitt and Aniston's split. Pitt and Jolie eventually married, but Jolie filed for divorce in 2016.

Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez first crossed paths in 2005 at a Yankees game. But nothing happened after that, even though Lopez later said to Sports Illustrated that she felt a "weird electricity" when they shook hands, because she attended the game with then-husband Marc Anthony. The star was single when they met again, 12 years later, when they were dining at the same restaurant. Numbers were exchanged, and that was that—until 2021, when they went their separate ways.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick both call the stage their first love, so it makes sense that they first met through the theater scene in New York City. After being introduced by one of Parker's brothers in 1991, Broderick called Parker to ask her out (a lost art!) in 1992. They tied the knot in 1997 and were still in the newlywed phase when this 1998 photo was taken. The couple were set to star in a play together on Broadway in 2020, which was unfortunately pushed back—along with everything else—by the coronavirus pandemic. Plaza Suite will finally hit the boards in 2022.

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The two teen heartthrobs met while filming the 1997 slasher flick I Know What You Did Last Summer, and became friends thanks to what could have been an inconvenience: Sarah Michelle Gellar didn't have a driver's license, so Freddie Prinze Jr. would chauffeur her around. "We just would talk about life and stuff like that, and we had completely different philosophies on just about everything," Prinze told Us Weekly. They became a couple in 2000 and have been married since 2002.

When you think of enduring Hollywood marriages, Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon probably come to mind. And these two go way, way back. They actually first met briefly when a 12-year-old Sedgwick saw 19-year-old Bacon in a play. Life brought them back together 10 years later, in 1987, when the actors starred opposite one another in the movie Lemon Sky. Though Sedgwick was initially hesitant ("He wasn't my type," she said in a Redbook interview.), they started seeing each other and got engaged on that Christmas.

Actor Gabrielle Union and former Miami Heat player Dwyane Wade were first photographed together in 2010. They took a break in 2013, but Wade proposed at the end of that year. The two have been married since 2014 and are beloved by fans for their fiercely stylish Instagram photoshoots as well as their enthusiastic support of transgender daughter Zaya.

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson started going out publicly in 1986, five years after meeting filming an episode of his sitcom Bosom Buddies. They walked down in the aisle in 1988 and are one of Hollywood's longest-lasting couples.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West were in each other's orbit for years before they became an item. They were first introduced in 2003, when West was working with Brandy, the sister of Kardashian's then-boyfriend Ray J. Things turned romantic in 2012, which is also when the duo went public with their relationship, attending several events together, including the Cannes Film Festival premiere pictured above. They married in 2014 and have since welcomed four children. Kardashian filed for divorce early this year, but the pair have given fans some hints that their relationship may not yet be finished for good.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb

RELATED: The 25 Most Lavish Celebrity Weddings of All Time, Ranked.

Jonas Brothers singer Joe Jonas and Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner reportedly started seeing each other in 2016, but didn't take their relationship public until 2017. In 2019, they got married (twice—once by Elvis in Vegas and once in France in a more traditional ceremony), and they welcomed their first child in 2020.

Joe's brother Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra had been texting for months before they actually met in person in 2017. That year, they attended the Met Gala as a couple and tied the knot the next year.

Jay-Z and Beyoncé's paths first crossed in 1999, but they didn't flirt with the idea of a romantic relationship until 2000. The early years of their courtship were private—the entertainers started hanging out publicly in 2003. They've been married since 2008, and famously weathered an alleged cheating scandal that inspired Bey's acclaimed visual album Lemonade.

The Office star John Krasinski and British actor Emily Blunt went on their first date in late 2008 and were engaged by the time this photo was snapped at the late 2009 premiere of It's Complicated. They wed in 2010 and have two children.

Jada Pinkett Smith didn't get the role when she auditioned to play one of Will's girlfriends on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1994, but she did start dating the man himself around 1995. Will Smith's first marriage was coming to an end as he realized his feelings for Jada, and by 1996, the pair were out and about together. (The shot above, if you can't tell from their outfits, is from the premiere of his movie Independence Day.) They got married in 1997 and have stayed that way, despite airing some of their private issues during a much talked about 2020 episode of Jada's chat show, Red Table Talk.

Actors Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor remember meeting at a party in 2005, but their relationship didn't kick off until 2015, via the magic of Twitter. They hit various events together and spoke about each other; and then, in 2016, Paulson told The New York Times, "What I can say absolutely is that I am in love, and that person happens to be Holland Taylor."

They may have broken up in 2018, but fans of Jenna Dewan and Channing Tatum's relationship will always have the movie Step Up. The future stars met on the dance flick, their 12-year romance kicking off when Tatum appeared at the door of Dewan's hotel room in a sombrero and confessed his feelings.

It was instant sparks for singer-songwriter John Legend and model/lifestyle queen Chrissy Teigen when they played love interests in the video for Legend's 2007 song "Stereo." Teigen told Cosmopolitan that, though they stayed in touch for a while after that, she didn't push for them to make anything official or exclusive. "The worst thing you can do is try to lock someone like that down early on," she said. The pair walked down the aisle in 2013 and have kept us up-to-date with their adorable family photos since then.

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