1.
Patrick Dempsey met his wife Jillian, who’s a hairstylist, in 1997 when he was a client at her hair salon. And he recalled knowing she was the one the “moment [he] saw her.” “I went in where she was working, and I looked across the room at her and was blown away,” he told People. The two have been married since 1999.
2.
Ethan Hawke’s wife Ryan Shawhughes was briefly a nanny for his kids while he was married to Uma Thurman — but according to Ethan, nothing happened romantically between them until long after. “I met Ryan through my literary agent, and she was indeed one of Maya and Levon’s nannies during a film shoot,” he told the Guardian in 2009. “After a short period of working for me, Ryan went back to Columbia to get her degree. There were never any scandalous thoughts or actions back then. In the years that followed, my marriage disintegrated due to many pressures, none of which were remotely connected to Ryan.” The pair has been married since 2008, and they share two kids together — Indiana and Clementine.
3.
Usher met his ex-wife Tameka Foster when she was working as his stylist in 2007. According to Tameka, she was in the middle of ending things with her husband at the time, and Usher gave her advice to work on things. But when it was clear they were not staying together, Usher asked her out. She joked that he had growing up to do and was “a little annoying as a client,” but that their first real official date was a vacation together to Aspen, and the rest was history.
4.
Heidi Klum dated her bodyguard Martin Kirsten for a year and a half back in 2012. “[Martin]’s a great man, and recently, we just got to know each other from a completely different side,” she said on Katie. “He’s been with our family for the last four years. He’s cared for our four children and helped us tremendously. I trust him with my children’s life.”
5.
Christian Bale’s wife Sibi Blazic wasn’t his assistant, so she didn’t work for him — but he met her when she was working as his Little Women costar Winona Ryder’s assistant, and the pair has been married since 2000. They’re notoriously private, but Bale did open up about his family to People in 2009. “It’s all about my girls, my wife and my daughter. I carry a picture of them with me all the time,” he said.
6.
Robin Williams met his wife Marsha Garces Williams in 1984 while she was employed as a nanny for his first son Zak. Williams left his first wife, Valerie Velardi, for Marsha, and the pair was married from 1989 to 2010.
7.
After her high profile divorce from Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez dated her much younger backup dancer Casper Smart on and off between 2012 and 2016 — and the two remain on good terms. “It was really professional for a very long time before anything even happened,” Smart said in a rare red carpet interview with E! News. “It just really spontaneously happened I guess. The chemistry was there. You can’t fight it.”
8.
Paul Rudd met his wife Julie Yaeger when he took a meeting at a public relations office. “Clueless was getting ready to come out, that’s when we met,” Julie shared on Friday Night in with the Morgans. “I worked at a PR firm that he hired, and he got more than PR.” Paul revealed that Julie was actually the very first person he met when he moved to NYC, and the rest was history.
9.
Christina Aguilera met her fiancé Matthew Rutler back in 2009 when he was a production assistant on Burlesque, which she starred in. “Matthew is a special person,” she told People after they started dating. “We had a really strong friendship on the movie. He’s the kind of person you could spend hours on the phone talking to, and all of a sudden, it’s daylight.” The pair has been engaged since 2014 and welcomed their daughter, Summer Rain, that same year. These days, Matthew is a founder and executive vice president at MasterClass.
10.
In 2016, Hilary Duff went Instagram official with her boyfriend Jason Walsh — who was also her personal trainer. After their breakup, Hilary reflected on the relationship in an interview with Cosmopolitan, explaining why she hesitated to go public at first. “I just needed to make sure it was right. People don’t need to know my business until I really know my business, you know?” she said. “I was like, ‘Fuck it. He’s my boyfriend.'”
11.
Rob Lowe first met Sheryl Berkoff, his wife of 32 years, on a blind date in 1983. But they really reconnected and started dating after she was a makeup artist on his film Bad Influence six years later in 1989. “Sheryl was and is my best friend,” Rob shared on the Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi podcast. “So if you marry for anything other than the fact that is your best friend, you’re at a disadvantage from the jump, because that will sustain when the other stuff ebbs and flows.”
12.
Hilary Swank dated her former agent, John Campisi, from 2007–2011 after coming out of a 10-year marriage to actor Chad Lowe. “I believe in the sanctity of marriage,” she told InStyle when asked about the possibility of marrying again. “John and I, you know, we were both in long marriages, and it’s not something that we need to rush back into.”
13.
Finally, Flip or Flop star Tarek El Moussa admitted that he did date his kids’ nanny Alyssa after he split with his wife Christina Haack in a messy divorce in 2018. “I did date her for a month,” he told Us Weekly. “I was going through a tough time, and she’s amazing. I never held hands with her around the kids, though.”
