Protecting their privacy, or avoiding messy Hollywood politics? These celebs
were masters at keeping their love under wraps… and some of
their relationships were over for decades before anyone found out.
The Big Bang Theory was on the air from 2007 to 2019,
and it reached a level of success that few shows have been able to achieve in
the streaming era. A huge part of the show was the romance between nerdy Leonard Hofstadter,
played by Johnny Galecki, and his neighbor Penny, played by Kaley Cuoco.
The unlikely pair first had a date at the end of Season 1,
but did not begin a full-fledged romance until Season 3. They then broke up, got back together,
and got married, experiencing immense drama along the way. Despite their hiccups,
they seemed believable as a pair thanks to the characters' romantic chemistry.
As it turns out, Galecki and Cuoco did not have to fake that chemistry for the screen,
for the actors were an item for a couple of years early into the series' run. However, the public
only found this out after the relationship hit its end. As Cuoco told CBS Watch Magazine in 2010,
"We dated for almost two years. It was such a huge part of my life and no one knew about it."
She elaborated that the choice to keep their relationship out of the limelight was deliberate,
saying they valued each other too much to complicate their relationship by
taking it public. The pair were together from 2008 to late 2009,
but never spoke to the media about their relationship. To stave off rumors,
they even refrained from going out in public together to preserve the purity of their romance.
Cher's dating history is full of surprising romantic partners, and her choices of paramours
still have people talking. The icon recently celebrated her one-year anniversary with
Alexander Edwards, a man 40 years her junior. While four decades is a bigger gap than she has
indulged before, Cher has dated an array of men with at least a 10-year age gap between them,
Though Cher flaunted most of her relationships with her less-wizened
paramours, her relationship with one of her most famous suitors remained hidden for decades.
Cher and Tom Cruise dated in the 1980s, when Cruise was 23 years old and Cher was
39. They first met in 1985 as guests at Sean Penn and Madonna's wedding,
and then reconnected at an even more unusual place. As Cher told The Daily Mail in 2018,
"A bunch of people who were dyslexic were invited to the White House, and Tom and I are both
dyslexic. [...] We didn't go out till way later, but there definitely was a connection there."
Cher largely kept this relationship under wraps until a 2008 interview with Oprah
Winfrey. However, she's become much more open about the romance as time has gone on.
"I’ve had just the greatest lovers ever!" "Where did — Where did — Where did
Tom Cruise rank on that list?" "Well, he was in the top five."
Pretty Little Liars star Julian Morris does not even look old enough to have been in a
relationship for two decades, let alone a secret one. However, don't let the wrinkle-free face fool
you — Morris is 40 years old and has spent nearly the entirety of his adult life in a relationship
he kept hidden from the public. The actor had good reason for keeping things private, as he is gay,
and any acknowledgment of his romantic status also meant coming out of the closet.
Given that for many men, being openly gay is still a hindrance when it comes to being cast
in leading roles, it's understandable that he waited until he was somewhat
established in the industry to come out. In December 2021, Morris made his announcement
by way of an instagram post celebrating his anniversary with his then-boyfriend Landon Ross.
There was no dramatic coming out post for Morris, only an acknowledgment of
his lover with a selection of photos from their years together. He wrote,
"18 years together, and they were the best ones because
they were with you. I love you @landonross."
Ross, an artist, made a similarly public declaration expressing his
deep and long standing love for his partner. Very soon after Morris' post,
a friend revealed that the actor and Ross had wed, and if there's one thing more impressive
than a secret relationship, it is a full-on secret wedding.
Back when Full House was on the air, it was certainly not uncommon to have
a thing for John Stamos. Now in his early 60s, many still consider the veteran actor
a heartthrob, and he's currently married to Vampire Diaries actor Caitlin McHugh.
"Have mercy."
McHugh isn't his first wife, and even before he walked down the aisle for the first time,
Stamos was in a number of high profile relationships with other celebrities.
While many of these went on before the public eye, his relationship
with television personality Carrie Ann Inaba only came to light decades after the fact.
Inaba is best known for being a judge on Dancing with the Stars,
but she actually started her career as a singer. It was during her oft-forgotten stint as a Fly
Girl on In Living Color in the early '90s that she became entangled with Stamos.
As Inaba told The Talk, it was during this time period that Stamos saw her from across a room
and asked to meet her. The celebrities were in different places in their lives,
and their relationship didn't pan out in the long term. However, Inaba said in the
same interview that Stamos was a wonderful person and the pair remain on good terms.
Julia Roberts has been married to cinematographer Danny Moder for just over two decades,
and by all appearances they have a strong Hollywood marriage. Moder isn't the first
man in the industry Roberts has been involved with. The star has dated a number of other
celebrities throughout her career — she was even married once before to country star Lyle Lovett.
While most of Roberts' relationships were very public, her short romance
with Friends star Matthew Perry was clandestine. Part of the reason behind
this secrecy may simply be because the couple was not together for very long.
Roberts and Perry only lasted for two or three months,
and their relationship was only confirmed when Perry published his memoir, Friends,
Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, in 2022. In the book, Perry discussed how
a long-distance flirtation with Roberts led to him pursuing her for a Friends guest spot.
"So listen, how many times am I gonna have to touch you on the arm before you ask me on a date?"
The couple were dating by the time Roberts appeared on the show,
but Perry dumped the icon a couple of months later due to his own insecurities. He wrote,
"Dating Julia Roberts had been too much for me. I had been constantly certain
that she was going to break up with me. Why would she not? I was not enough;
I could never be enough; I was broken, bent, unlovable."
Aubrey Plaza and Michael Cera's romantic entanglement was a complete secret,
but reportedly the couple was once so serious they considered getting married.
As powerful of a pairing as the two would have made, it was probably for the best that
they ultimately separated, because they're both happily married to other people now.
In 2016, Plaza discussed the relationship for the first time when she appeared on
an episode of RuPaul and Michelle Visage's podcast, What's The Tee?. Plaza explained
that she and Cera dated for about 18 months, and after they completed filming for Scott
Pilgrim vs. The World, they considered driving to Las Vegas and getting married.
Scott Pilgrim wrapped principal filming in August 2009, but the pair were likely
dating for a while before that, considering they almost wed. Principal photography began
in the spring of 2009, but the cast did months of fight training before that,
so it is possible Cera and Plaza got together before shooting even began.
Plaza has been involved with her husband, Jeff Baena, since 2011,
which also suggests her year-and-a-half involvement with Cera may have begun on
the earlier side of the movie's prep stages.
Much like Julian Morris, Kal Penn waited until he was ready to come out of the closet before
announcing his relationship, even though it meant keeping his partner a secret for over
a decade. For Penn, the disclosure came out as part of the publicity tour for his memoir,
You Can't Be Serious, which was released in November 2021.
Since Penn wrote about his partner in the memoir, this was used as a key point in
interviews about the book. For fans, it was a huge surprise to learn that Penn, then 44,
had been with his partner Josh for 11 years and that they were engaged. While speaking
about the decision to disclose his romantic life to the public, Penn told People magazine,
"I wanted my story to be authentic from my perspective and told in a
way that makes you feel like you really get to know me."
The former White House employee went on to acknowledge that he deliberately put
limits on what he shared because neither his partner nor his family enjoy the limelight.
"He is an incredibly quiet person who hates cameras and hates the
limelight. Very similar to my parents, very similar to — my brother's the same way."
The media was so obsessed with Justin Timberlake in the early aughts that it feels like there is
no way he could have kept a romance secret from the prying eyes of the paparazzi and
gossip bloggers. And yet, he managed to do just that during his brief fling with Jenna Dewan.
While the pair never went public while they were together, rumors about their relationship date
back to the early 2000s when Dewan was working as Timberlake's backup dancer. In August of 2002, Us
Weekly called Dewan Timberlake's "gal pal" after the two were seen dancing together one evening.
However, this news was largely overshadowed by an alleged altercation between Timberlake and his ex,
Britney Spears, that was rumored to have occurred that same evening. Reportedly, Spears confronted
Timberlake and the two engaged in a public dance off. While both Spears and Dewan have denied such
an altercation ever took place, the dance battle ultimately made much more of an impact in the
media than Timberlake's association with Dewan — it even appeared in the biopic Britney Ever After.
Possibly for this reason, the romance was not officially confirmed until 2017, when
Dewan spoke about it on an episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. After discussing the
infamous dance off, Cohen asked if she dated Timberlake when she was his backup dancer.
"We were like, friends, friends, that then dated, and we're just really good friends now."
"Were you the rebound chick?" "No, I was not the rebound!"
Lea Michele had a resurgence in 2023 when she was cast as Beanie Feldstein's replacement for
the role of Fanny Brice in Broadway's Funny Girl revival. She was coming off a rough couple years,
wherein many were calling for her cancellation amid damaging
allegations about her personality and conduct that emerged in 2020.
While her career was in jeopardy and the world was dealing with a devastating pandemic,
Michele's personal life was going strong, as she became a first-time mom when she and her husband,
businessman Zandy Reich, welcomed their son Ever in August 2020. Before she married Reich in 2019,
Michele mostly dated others involved in some aspect of show business,
most notably her late Glee co-star Cory Monteith.
However, while her romance with Monteith was well-documented, her relationship with another
Glee cast member, Matthew Morrison, was not publicly acknowledged until Michele's book
came out in 2014. In the book, titled Brunette Ambition, Michele revealed that she and her
soon-to-be onscreen teacher had a short romance before the show when they were both working on
Broadway. It seems that the relationship ended quickly, and it's a good thing too,
as soon enough Glee would start filming and her work with Monteith would begin.
While both Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne had romantic entanglements before forming one of rock and
roll's most infamous power couples, few details about their past relationships are widely known.
The pair met through Sharon's father, who was managing Black Sabbath at the
time. Sharon and Ozzy were in their late teens and early twenties, respectively,
and they did not start dating until Ozzy was fired from the band nine years later.
"Love at first sight?" "No, no, not at all."
Sharon has said she did not date much before Ozzy, but she did have one surprising fling
that she revealed on an episode of The Talk back when she was a co-host. It turns out that when she
was 25 and a fresh transplant to America, Sharon got involved with Jay Leno. She spotted him when
one of her friends took her to his workplace, and later prank-called him. For some reason,
Leno was intrigued and kept talking to the random stranger. As she explained,
"He came to my house and he met me and then we had a little fling. And
the fling was more fling for me, and not fling enough for him."
Madonna has made a career out of surprising people, both in terms of her art and her
personal choices. She has tried marriage on for size several times, once to Sean Penn and once to
Guy Ritchie, but some of her most interesting romantic partners never put a ring on it.
The pop star has had notable relationships with many public figures, including basketball players,
models, dancers, and trainers. She has also shown a particular interest in rappers,
dating Vanilla Ice for the better part of a year in 1991,
and, as was revealed years later, had a romance with hip hop legend Tupac Shakur.
On the surface, Madonna and Skakur seem like an unlikely pair, but they actually make way more
sense than some of her other partnerships. There were murmurs of a relationship many years ago,
but Madonna only really spilled the beans in a 2015 interview with Howard Stern,
when asked about a 1994 appearance on Late Show With David Letterman. She explained,
"I was dating Tupac Shakur at the time, and the thing is he got me all riled up
on life in general. So, when I went on the show, I was feeling very gangster."
In 2017, TMZ published a breakup letter Shakur wrote to Madonna while he was incarcerated,
which shed further light on the romance. In the letter,
Shakur wrote a heartfelt testimonial about his appreciation for the singer, but stated
that being in an interracial relationship would be too much of a letdown to many of his fans.
If it feels like Raven-Symoné has been in the public eye for her entire life,
it's because she actually has. She was only an infant when she first started modeling in Atlanta,
appearing in local advertisements through her representation at Young Faces Inc.
Symoné rose to stardom as wise-cracking Olivia on The Cosby Show. Shortly thereafter she achieved
worldwide fame through roles in Disney projects like That's So Raven and The Cheetah Girls.
Though her career slowed when she reached adulthood,
she had some high profile guest spots and reality TV stints. Despite her largely public lifestyle,
Raven-Symoné has been able to keep her romantic life relatively hush-hush.
Unlike other Disney stars, Symoné rarely made it into the tabloids for
her personal dramas. She dated a couple of her male That's So Raven co-stars,
but has said she knew she was attracted to women early on in her life and was just in denial.
"I knew when I was, like, 12."
The star came out on X, formerly Twitter, in 2013 and then had a rather well-documented relationship
with model AzMarie Livingston. After they broke up, Symoné kept her next big courtship a total
secret. She only told the world about her partner, Miranda Pearman-Maday, when she posted about their
2020 wedding on Instagram. Since the announcement, the pair have made many public appearances
together, and they even co-host a podcast, The Best Podcast Ever With Raven and Miranda.
As this list has shown, it's a fairly common trend for celebrities to reveal
secret paramores in their memoirs. This is yet another one of those entries,
though this particular romance between actors has a notably out-of-nowhere quality to it.
The relationship in question was between Elliot Page and Kata Mara,
which the public found out about when Page published his bombshell memoir Pageboy in
June 2023. With Mara's permission, the book detailed how the pair developed a
relationship while Mara was dating actor Max Minghella. Page and Mara had initially met at
a dinner party shortly before Page first came out of the closet in February 2014.
Page and Mara developed a flirtation that within weeks became a full-blown
relationship with Minghella's blessing. The couple eventually broke up, as Page
was seeking a monogamous partner, but he and Mara remain close friends. For their part,
Mara and Minghella split soon after her separation from Page.
Across all contemporary music, it's hard to think of many pop, country, or R&B singers who
haven't sung about romance. To the contrary, many major stars today have a distinct reputation for
singing about love. For major artists like Taylor Swift or Charlie Puth, this can add a whole new
fun dynamic to their music, as listeners can even try to guess who a song is about and then dissect
the details. However, no matter how high of a profile the subject of a love song may have,
it's rare that a love interest's name actually gets dropped in a song lyric.
Rap is the exception to the rule, as dropping names in a hip hop song is about as common as
riffs in R&B. However, this phenomena extends far beyond songs about romantic relationships,
as many rappers also use their platform to call out figures with whom they're in conflict.
When it comes to dropping names, however, one of the biggest bombshells delivered by song has
been Drake's admission that he dated SZA during a verse on the 21 Savage track "Mr. Right Now."
Prior to this lyrical revelation, no one knew that the popular rappers had ever been romantically
tied. The line claims it happened in 2008, but SZA clarified on X that they were actually together
in 2009. Perhaps unsurprisingly, SZA noted that Drake likely changed the date to make a rhyme.
While their love didn't last, the pair must have remained on decent terms,
as SZA performed a feature on the Drake song "Slime You Out" in 2023.