Former heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali has been married multiple times but his first trip down the aisle was with a cocktail waitress and later aspiring singer he met in a bar and married about a month later. The marriage lasted only 17 months, however, in part because Ali's wife objected to some of the Muslim customs he expected her to follow regarding how women should dress.
Champion cyclist Lance Armstrong met his first wife, an Austin, Texas, advertising and public relations professional, when he was battling cancer Before they divorced in 2003, the couple had three children together, using sperm Armstrong had banked before undergoing chemotherapy.
Actress Drew Barrymore went from child star to child bride when she married this 31-year-old Welsh bartender-turned-Los Angeles club owner in March 1994 at age 19. The marriage was almost as short as one of Barrymore's movies, however. The couple split less than two months after saying "I do."
Supermodel Christie Brinkley has had four marriages and a few other high-profile relationships, but her first marriage was to a French artist, illustrator and political cartoonist who later took a job as a university professor in Massachusetts. Although they were married for eight years , the couple had no children.
Before Tom Cruise hooked up with either Nicole Kidman or Katie Holmes, he married an actress and competitive poker player who was six and a half years his senior. The marriage lasted only two years, but during that time she introduced him to Scientology which he continues to practice.
If you always thought Geena Davis' first marriage was to actor Jeff Goldblum, you were wrong. Before she shared nuptials with Goldblum or either of her two subsequent husbands, Davis married a restaurateur when she was making the transition from modeling to acting.
Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan met his first wife in 1962 in New York's Greenwich Village, but they didn't marry until November 1965. Dylan's wife reportedly inspired several of his most famous songs, including "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" and "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight." The couple had four children together during their 12-year marriage, including Jakob Dylan, a musical star in his own right.
Rocker Melissa Etheridge and her actress partner had a commitment ceremony in September 2003. Three years later, the couple had twins, who were fathered by an anonymous sperm donor, but they split up in 2010. Etheridge was previously involved in a long-term relationship with another woman, who gave birth to two children using sperm donated by a rock musician
Film producer Robert Evans has been married seven times, but he got a late start for someone who has married so often. Evans was 30 when he wed his first wife, a 17-year-old actress whose dark beauty drew comparisons to this iconic star. A talent scout spotted the young actress when she appeared in a stage play at 15 years old, and she signed a seven-year contract with Warner Bros. on her 16th birthday. The marriage didn't last long. The couple married in May 1961 and got a quickie Mexican divorce the following November.
In 1964, before Harrison Ford became box-office gold, he married a cheerleader he had met when both were in high school The couple had two children and stayed together for 15 years. Ford's first wife later developed multiple sclerosis , but the actor continued to support her, financially and otherwise, even though they were divorced. In an interview a few years ago, she said: "Harrison has been a true friend and a great love. He has stood by me quietly, asking for nothing in return, through my darkest days.
The first of Zsa Zsa Gabor's nine marriages was to a Turkish intellectual, before the actress and former beauty queen immigrated to the United States in 1941. Gabor's first husband at one time served as press director for the foreign ministry of Turkey. He was also a politician, who represented his province at the Turkish National Assembly.
Actress Jennifer Garner met her first husband on the set of "Felicity," a popular television program starring Keri Russell that ran for four years. Garner had a recurring role in the series and her first husband was a regular cast member. The couple married in October 2000, separated in March 2003 and were officially divorced a year later.
Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a former 2012 presidential candidate has been married three times. His first marriage, in 1962, was to his former high school geometry teacher. He was 19 years old, and she was 26. The couple had two daughters, but separated in 1980 and later divorced.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's first marriage was to his second cousin, an educator who currently serves as president of Kingsborough Community College The couple married in 1968, shortly after Giuliani graduated from law school. By the mid-1970s the marriage was in trouble, and when Giuliani moved to Washington, D.C., to take a job with the U.S. Attorney General's Office, he went alone.
Before Hugh Hefner founded Playboy magazine and adopted the hedonistic lifestyle for which he is famous, he married a Northwestern University student he had been dating for a few years. Prior to the wedding in 1949, Hefner's bride-to-be confessed to having had an affair while he was serving with the U.S. Army during World War II. The couple married anyway and had two children but divorced in 1959.
Singer Mick Jagger's first wife was born in Nicaragua and worked as both a model and actress before becoming an internationally known advocate for social causes and human rights. She and Jagger met in September 1970 at a party after a Rolling Stones concert in France, and married in May 1971 in St. Tropez when she was four months' pregnant with the only child they would have together during their seven-year marriage.
Basketball superstar Michael Jordan married for the first time in September 1989. He and his wife had three children together, two sons and a daughter. The couple filed for divorce in January 2002 but reconciled soon after and tried to save their marriage. They later filed again and were granted a divorce in December 2006. Jordan's ex-wife received a $168 million settlement - the largest celebrity divorce settlement on record at the time.
In 1984 pop star Janet Jackson married an R&B singer who was a member of a family music group that had a string of hits during the 1980s. The marriage was annulled in 1985. Jackson's ex-husband, who has battled drug addiction and been arrested several times, has since worked with a series of rap musicians and repeatedly has teamed up with members of his family for occasional performances and tours.
Television and radio host Larry King has been married eight times to seven different women , but his first marriage was at age 18 to his high school sweetheart. The marriage didn't last long, however. The couple's parents persuaded them to end their union the following year and had the marriage annulled.
Actress Jennifer Lopez was already a rising star when she married her first husband in February 1997. He was a Cuban-born waiter whom she met in a Miami restaurant. They were divorced less than a year later.
Singer and actress Madonna married her first husband on her 27th birthday in August 1985. Her spouse turned 25 the next day. The couple divorced in 1989, but both have become international stars. Madonna's first husband is an Academy Award-winning actor as well as a celebrated screenwriter and film director. He is also known for his social activism and his humanitarian work following Hurricane Katrina and the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
Singer-songwriter Paul McCartney married his first wife, a photographer who was best known for her photos of rock musicians, in March 1969. She and her famous husband had three children together and formed the band Wings after the breakup of the Beatles. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995 and died in 1998 at age 56.
Singer and actress Liza Minnelli married her first husband, an Australian songwriter and entertainer, in 1967. Minnelli's first husband is best known for the many popular songs he wrote that were recorded by famous singers such as Frank Sinatra, Melissa Manchester and Olivia Newton-John. He also co-wrote the song "Arthur's Theme" which won the Academy Award for Best Song in 1981. He and Minnelli divorced in 1974, and he later had a long-term homosexual relationship with a fashion model named Gregory Connell. He died of throat cancer in 1992.
In February 2004, two weeks after San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said that marriage licenses could be granted to same-sex couples, comedian and actress Rosie O'Donnell married her longtime girlfriend, a former Nickelodeon marketing executive. When they wed, the couple already had three adopted children and a fourth who was conceived by artificial insemination and born to O'Donnell's partner in 2002. The couple separated in 2007, although they managed to keep it a secret from the media for at least two years.
Mickey Rooney has been a busy guy. He first crawled on stage when he was 14 months old, and then worked steadily for the next 90 years During that time he managed to marry a total of eight women. Wife No. 1, whom he wed when he was 22, was a beautiful and talented woman in her own right. They were married about a year, and she went on to have her own successful acting career in films such as "The Barefoot Contessa" and "The Night of the Iguana."
Only slightly less famous than the character she created -- Harry Potter -- author J.K. Rowling still manages to keep much of her private life private. Her first husband, a journalist she met while teaching English , fathered Rowling's first child, but the marriage didn't last. The couple separated in 1993, about a year after the wedding and four months after their daughter was born. Rowling and her daughter left for Scotland.
A true athletic superstar, Deion Sanders has had three professional sports careers. He played professional baseball and professional football simultaneously, once playing both sports on the same day, and he excelled at both . Today, he's an announcer for the NFL. It's a wonder Deion had time to get married, but he did, twice. With wife No. 1, he had two children: Deion Jr. and Deiondra.
Danielle Steel's personal life reads like one of the many romance novels she has written that have made her a household name and a wealthy woman . She married the first of her five husbands when she was 18 years old. He was a banker, and they stayed together for nine years -- until she left him for a prison inmate.
Shock jock and "America's Got Talent" judge Howard Stern married his first wife in 1978, when he was 24. Twenty-one years and three daughters later the couple separated, and shortly after that he met the much-younger Beth Ostrosky, who would become his second wife.
After five marriages and five divorces, actor-musician Billy Bob Thornton has expressed the opinion that marriage doesn't work for him. It's interesting that most of his relationships lasted about two years, including his marriage to his first wife, with whom he had a daughte
Media mogul, sailor and philanthropist Ted Turner may be best known for founding two television networks: the news channel CNN and the movie channel TNT. Or maybe it's his marriage to his third wife that people remember. Turner married wife No. 1 when he was 22 years old, and the marriage lasted four years.
A TV journalist and celebrity in her own right, Barbara Walters has been married four times -- and she wed husband No. 3 twice. Walters' first marriage, to a businessman and former military officer, began in 1955 and was annulled three years later.