If there’s one thing we know, it’s that not everything suits everyone, and marriage is definitely one of them. We look at partnership in many different ways these days, but signing the dotted line at the altar and saying “yes” just isn’t part of it for some. Here are a few celebrities who disagree.
1. Sandra Bullock
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In 2021, The Proposal star Sandra Bullock appeared on Red Table Talk to discuss her experiences with motherhood and partnership. She told Willow Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Adrienne Banfield-Norris that everyone has a different path, and that she chose the right one after divorcing in 2010 after nearly five years of marriage. “I don’t want to tell you to do it the way I did, but you don’t need a qualification to be a committed partner and a committed mother,” she said.
2. Jamie Foxx
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Django Unchained actor Jamie Foxx revealed in an exclusive interview with E! News’ Daily Pop in 2021 that the pressures of marriage just didn’t suit him. He said, “Two and a half kids, wood paneling in a station wagon, a cottage. I just didn’t think it was for me.” What’s more, it seems like his kids benefited from his dogged determination. He continued, “Growing up, my daughter Colleen would say, ‘Well, everybody’s married, that’s what everybody’s got, friends.’ But as kids got older, a lot of those marriages just didn’t work out. Unfortunately, we’ve seen kids get taken away from their families. We, if anything, we’ve just stuck together a lot more. So I don’t know what it is, I know it’s different, but it’s a lot of love.”
3. Oprah Winfrey
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Billionaire mogul Oprah Winfrey is no newbie in the industry. Speculations about her relationship status have been circulating around Hollywood for years. Since Stedman Graham came on the scene, the rumors have only gotten stronger, and people are still wondering why she’s not married. In an exclusive interview with People magazine, she said that the thought of marriage had crossed her mind at one point. “At one point, in Chicago, I bought another apartment because I was like, ‘Once I get married, I’m going to need a room for my kids.'” But whether it was timing, the downsides of other marriages, or her lifestyle, the idea of marriage slowly faded away. “I always thought about it. I was working 17-hour days, and so was the producer, and then I’d come home and I’d have my two dogs and Stedman, and he’d make sure I was a necessary person in this world. He’d never ask me, ‘Where’s breakfast? Where’s dinner?’ That never happened, but I believed that if I’d been married, things would have been different.”
4. Nia Long
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“Love is complicated, so let’s start there,” Fatal Affair actor Nia Long said on Essence’s “Yes Girl!” podcast in 2020 when asked about her relationship status. She continued, “Then there’s marriage, and I’ve never been married, and there’s a reason for that: Because I don’t know if I need to say ‘yes’ to prove that I’m in love. But what is marriage, actually? [mean]”…you own me and I own you? I don’t get that part.” People get married for many different reasons, and she was open to acknowledging that opinions differ on the subject. “I understand the religious aspect of marriage. It’s beautiful and magical and dreamy and it’s every girl’s dream to have that moment, but I don’t know if that’s necessary to feel like a partnership is working.”
5. Drew Barrymore
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Drew Barrymore spoke to People magazine in 2020 about why she would emphatically say no to marriage going forward. “Never. Never, never, never. I’m never getting married again!” This went against her own advice, but she stuck to her statement. “…I also don’t believe people should ever say the word ‘never’ and I’m never, with a capital letter, ever going to get married.” She explained her reasons by talking about the internal and external turmoil that comes with being so close to someone and what cutting ties can cause. “It seems to me like I have two options: Cut ties. This didn’t work. Or become Elizabeth Taylor. I never want to be entangled with that person again. Break up and move on. Get divorced and it’ll be totally different.”
6. Kelly Clarkson
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Following her divorce from Brandon Blackstock, singer and songwriter Kelly Clarkson told Life & Style magazine that she doesn’t want to consider marriage again. “I don’t think I’ll ever get married again,” she said. But she doesn’t completely dismiss the idea of love. “…You never know what love is. It’s one of those things that, especially where I come from, we’re designed to have, and I don’t need that.”
7. Whoopi Goldberg
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The New York Times asked The Color Purple star Whoopi Goldberg about life, love and marriage. She has since spoken out about why she’s not married, which has sparked discussion: “I don’t want people in my house. I’m not really interested. I’m a lot happier alone. I can spend as much time with someone as I want, but I don’t want to be with them forever or live with them.” She went on to clarify that her personal space has always been, is and always will be important to her, emphasizing that there’s no need to force marriage into being one since it’s not a good fit. “I’m a round peg and marriage is a square hole. You can’t have a square hole, you know?”
8. Kristin Davis
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“I’m an actress. I’m not a status quo person at all,” Sex and the City actress Kristin Davis told Haute Living magazine in 2013. When asked in the interview if she planned to remain single, she replied, “I don’t know if I necessarily planned on doing that completely, but I remember when I was younger, I was like, ‘Why does everyone get married?'” Though she said she never planned on getting married, that doesn’t mean she shunned love and affection entirely. “I definitely want to be in a relationship again in my head, but I don’t know how to make it happen on a day-to-day basis. I just don’t have the time!”
9. Shakira
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When asked about still no ring on her relationship with longtime boyfriend Gerard Piqué, singer Shakira let her true feelings known to CBS News. “To be honest, I’m really scared of marriage. I don’t want him to see me as a wife. I want him to see me as a girlfriend,” she said. Her mindset was born out of a desire to maintain a constant sense of temptation and unpredictability between them. She continued, “His lover, his girlfriend. It’s a bit of forbidden fruit. I want to keep him on his toes. I want him to think anything is possible if he acts that way.”
10. Charlize Theron
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While on The Howard Stern Show in 2020, actress Charlize Theron admitted to her disdain for marriage and how it’s not important to her life priorities or heart’s desires. “I’ve never wanted to get married. Marriage has never been important to me,” the Mad Max star said. She detailed how her lifestyle doesn’t lend itself to a relationship, much less marriage. “There’s not a lot of room for that in my life right now. But having said that, there’s nothing that drives me.”
11. Diane Kruger
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After her divorce, Diane Kruger began to think a little differently about marriage. “This might sound pessimistic, but I’ve learned that I don’t believe in marriage,” Kruger told Glamour magazine in an interview. She then elaborated on her thoughts on marriage: “I believe in inner commitments. There are no papers that force you to get married. A male friend of mine once said that marriage should be at the end of your life, not the beginning, and that makes a lot of sense.”
12. Ricky Gervais and Jane Fallon
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Jane Fallon spoke to the Daily Mail in 2018 about her long-term partnership with comedian Ricky Gervais. She said that marriage was never a necessity and still isn’t as important as some people would like: “I think if either of us really cared we would probably get married, but it’s just not something that’s ever really been necessary for either of us.”
13. Diane Keaton
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78-year-old actress Diane Keaton explains that her decision to give up on marriage was influenced by the way she was raised. She told Goalcast that unlike her mother, who chose her family over her dreams, she chose to exceed her own with unyielding determination. “It comes from my mother, because that’s how it is with pretty much everything to me. Of course, I love my father, that goes without saying, but my mother was always there and my father was always working. He worked hard and was a really interesting guy.” Keaton has never married and has stated that she is content being single and enjoys her independence.
14. Al Pacino
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Legendary actor Al Pacino has never been married. There has been much speculation about the real reasons for this decision, but he admits that, despite having had several significant relationships, he never felt the need for marriage. “I hate to say it, but marriage is a state of mind, it’s not a contract,” he continues. “I’ve been living with women since I was 16, and they’re all actresses. Every time I start dating an actress, I say, ‘Hey, maybe we shouldn’t get into this.'”
15. Sarah Silverman
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Actress and comedian Sarah Silverman spoke about her thoughts on marriage, saying that while she doesn’t completely disbelieve in it, she doesn’t believe in the institution herself: “I love going to weddings, I love when my friends get married. I’m not against marriage, but it’s not for me. I’m a vegetarian, but if I want a hamburger, that’s fine. To me, marriage is like eating meat.”
16. Mindy Kaling
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In an interview with Glamour magazine, actress and comedian Mindy Kaling discussed her thoughts on marriage in relation to her character Dr. Lahiri on The Mindy Project. She said, “I hope America doesn’t agree with her because I’m an unmarried person and I still hold onto old-fashioned ideas. I don’t see a lot of marriage working, but I support marriage as an institution.”
17. Helena Bonham Carter
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Actress Helena Bonham Carter exclusively revealed that she prefers unconventional relationships and has no plans for marriage, likely due to laziness. When asked about her marriage to ex-boyfriend Tim Burton, she replied, “Actually, we’re not married. Not for any reason. Really out of laziness.”
18. Kylie Minogue
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Australian singer and actress Kylie Minogue has stated that marriage is not a priority for her, despite being in a serious relationship. In an interview, she candidly stated, “I never thought about getting married. I never dreamed of getting married as a girl, never in my life, so even the experience of being engaged was like an experiment.” She added, “Marriage was never something I needed or wanted. My parents never instilled in me the idea of a ‘big marriage.’ I never had marriage as a goal. I thought, ‘Maybe I’ve done it all wrong and I should get married. I should do what most people in the world do. It works for them.’ Now I’m sticking with my old ideas. I don’t think marriage is for me.”
19. Winona Ryder
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“I’m a serial monogamist. I was single for a while, and I dated, but… I didn’t know what to do! I’ve always been…” Stranger Things actress Winona Ryder has been in significant relationships, but she says she’s not sure if she’ll ever get married. “But marriage? I don’t know. I’d rather not get married than get divorced a few times. Not that divorce is bad, but if there’s a chance I could get divorced, I don’t think I could. When your parents have been madly in love for 45 years, the bar is really high.”