18 Celebs Get Real About Not Getting Married
If you like it, you don't have to put a 💍 on it.
Maybe they're struggling to break a vicious cycle of bad relationships. Maybe they don't feel the need to make a legal statement of their love. Or maybe they are just looking to live out the Bachelor franchise IRL (minus the highly anticipated expected televised proposal at the end). Whatever the reason, these stars dish on why they'd prefer not to be tied down, or why they once thought tying the knot wasn't their cup of tea.
Eva Mendes
Eva, mother of Esmeralda and Amada Gosling, has no plans to marry partner Ryan Gosling, because she thinks it's sexier that way. "I actually think it's really sexy to be with someone in your fifties and sixties and be like, 'That's my boyfriend,'" she told Chelsea Handler in 2011. "I think husband and wife is just…very unsexy." Which yes, that can certainly be true—especially when Ryan Gosling is your boyfriend.
Scott Disick
If you've been keeping up with the Kardashians recently (AKA if you have scrolled through some social media even *once* in the past hour) you are fully aware that Scott Disick is not someone the family thinks is marriage material for Kourtney. His response to ever getting married? "I think if it's not broke, don't fix it. You know what I mean? I would say we're decently happy. I feel like I used to want to get married more than she did, and then, being that she was always so not interested, I've decided not to be," Disick told Ryan Seacrest back in happier times in 2013.
Kristin Davis
In response to dreaming of a wedding of her own (much like her Sex and the City character, Charlotte), Davis once responded, "I never was [interested], even as a kid. Little girls who say, 'I want to get married'—I was never one of those little girls. It is not that I wouldn't, but I don't see that I must do it or be unhappy. I'm perfectly happy (with) my single self right now." She did, however, follow in Charlotte's footsteps and adopted a baby, Gemma Rose, in 2011.
Chelsea Handler
At this point, Chelsea Handler is not really sure that marriage is or will ever be for her. "I've never been proposed to, and I don't know that that's in my future," she said in 2012. "I don't know that I'm marriage material. I don't know if I would ever want to be someone's wife. It makes breaking up much more complicated."
Jon Hamm
A traditional marriage and cookie-cutter life just isn't Jon Hamm's style. Before splitting last year from Jennifer Westfeldt, his partner of 18 years, Hamm said, "I don't have the marriage chip, and neither of us have the greatest examples of marriages in our families."
Sarah Silverman
Comedian and actress Sarah Silverman is another celeb who prefers to break tradition. She has been with her partner, actor Michael Sheen, for two years now and plans to keep her marital status the way it is. After reading a false statement about herself in the tabloids, Silverman sounded off on Twitter. "Just read that I wanna get married which is hilarious b/c I will never get married," she wrote in 2014, followed by a snarky follow-up tweet: "Why would I want the gov't involved in my love life? Ew. It's barbaric."
Jenny McCarthy
Back in the days when she was dating the eccentric Jim Carrey, McCarthy had an equally quirky theory about marriage: "I'm very comfortable not having to have a certificate. I think there's something wonderful about people wanting to stay together because they want to stay together. I have this theory that I wrote in my last book about marriage licenses. They should almost be like driver's licenses, after four years they expire and you have to renew them. It's also a bit romantic because after four years you go, 'You know what, I still love you kid. Let's get married.'" She married Donnie Wahlberg in 2014.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leo, seemingly content with his ever-changing supermodel girlfriends, is not completely closed off to the idea of marriage—though he isn't necessarily waiting impatiently for it. "That time will come when that time comes. The truth is, you can't predict marriage. You can't plan it. It's just going to happen when it happens," he told Parade earlier this year.
Charlize Theron
Charlize, like many of the other celebs on this list, doesn't need legal papers to prove her commitment to someone. "Marriage was never something that was important to me. I don't know the exact reason for that. I really want for myself a long-term relationship and I have been in long-term relationships...That's the kind of union that I want. The actual ceremony is not something that is important to me—but I see the importance for other people," she explained in 2011.
Kourtney Kardashian
The oldest Kardashian sister and mother of three took a hard pass on marrying ex and father of her children Scott Disick. She told Jimmy Kimmel the truth in 2012 before giving birth to her daughter Penelope. "First of all, I have realized that I have major commitment problems during this pregnancy. I'm really claustrophobic, and all my issues—and I have a lot of them—they all stem from this thing. I can't commit to anything," she said candidly.
Diane Kruger
After one failed marriage to French actor Guillaume Canet, Kruger doesn't mess around with committing to just anyone. "Without sounding pessimistic, I learned that I don't believe in marriage. I believe in a commitment that you make in your heart. There's no paper that will make you stay," she admitted to Glamour in 2011.
Susan Sarandon
Sarandon opened up to The Telegraph in 2011, two years after her rough split from longtime partner Tim Robbins: "I've always liked the idea of choosing to be with somebody. I thought that if you didn't get married you wouldn't take each other for granted as easily. I don't know if after twenty-something years that was still true," she said.
Hugh Grant
"I'm not really a believer in marriage," the 55-year-old father of three children said to People in 2015. "I've seen very few good examples, maybe five, in my life, but I think otherwise it's a recipe for mutual misery."
Cameron Diaz
Diaz has been vocal both about not wanting kids and not getting married. She spoke to Maxim in 2011, before she ended up marrying Benji Madden in 2015, about her belief in going against the grain of conventional marriage. "I think we have to make our own rules. I don't think we should live our lives in relationships based off old traditions that don't suit our world any longer."
Naomi Watts
Watts spoke in 2012 about her ten-year relationship with Liev Schreiber, father of her two children: "We're very much together. We just don't have that certificate, and that's okay with both of us," she shared. "Maybe one day, we'll just wake up and go 'Hey, let's do this.' And maybe not."
George Clooney
Clooney was not planning on ever marrying again when he was crowned People's Sexiest Man Alive in 2006, "Marriage? Who knows? I've been married. It's not something I'm looking out for," he said. "Things could always change, but it's not a consideration right now. The truth is I'm really happy. The things that are a drag in my life are so outweighed by the things that are great. I have families that I spend my days with, and friends I spend my days with, and people I care very much about. I get to do what almost no one gets to do. My life's really good." He seems to be singing a whole different tune after meeting his (now) wife Amal in 2013.
Mindy Kaling
Mindy Kaling doesn't feel the need to be tied down at all—though she's definitely open to the idea of marriage. "When I was younger, I wanted so badly to be married and have kids in a rush," she told Good Housekeeping in 2015. "I loved my parents' relationship. The way my father was with my mother when she was dying was so moving. It was such devotion. I don't know that that will happen for me, but I like it."
"I don't need marriage," she added. "I don't need anyone to take care of all my needs and desires. I can take care of them myself now."
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