Power couple Warren Beatty and Annette Bening seem to have it all: flourishing Hollywood
careers, four beautiful children, and a marriage that's lasted 25 years.
But just how did Bening capture the heart of Tinseltown's most notorious Lothario?
Let's take a look at some of the strange things about Annette Bening and Warren Beatty's marriage.
Love at first sight
When Beatty met the actress shortly before filming 1991's Bugsy, he told director Barry
Levinson that he wanted to marry her.
The pair kept things platonic on-set, but he later told the newspaper that falling in
love with her, "took about 10 minutes.
Maybe five…I was so elated to meet her, and yet at the same time, I began to mourn
the passing of a way of life."
But if there was one person who could domesticate the perpetual bachelor, it was Bening.
According to her mom, Shirley Bening, "He fell for her "because she doesn't behave like
an actress, she's still herself."
Beatty's math
Author Peter Biskind alleged in his unauthorized biography, Star, that Beatty had slept with
— wait for it — 12,775 women.
While Beatty has had a number of high-profile romances, including dalliances with Natalie
Wood, Joan Collins, Madonna, Carly Simon, and Diane Keaton just to name a few, Beatty
maintained that that Biskind's math was way off.
He explained to the AARP:
"Think about it, sleeping with 12,775 people.
That would mean not just that there were multiple people a day, but that there was no repetition."
Bening told The Mirror she had no issues with Beatty's reputation.
"I didn't have any preconceptions about him.
He didn't have any about me either.
It wasn't about how many women he had been out with.
Sure he likes women.
Why shouldn't he?
He makes you feel good.
Well, he made me feel good."
He wanted to cast Bening in Dick Tracy
A year before they fell in love on the set of Bugsy, Beatty had hoped Bening would star
as his leading lady in the 1991 comic book adaptation Dick Tracy.
Beatty had set up a meeting with Bening in Los Angeles, but he later shared with Entertainment
Weekly that the starlet was a no-show.
"I asked why and I was told that her ex-husband had a problem in New York and she went to
see if she was needed at all.
I was impressed with whoever that was."
In fact, her agent warned her not to take the meeting in fear that he would hit on her.
Coincidentally, Beatty's last known flame before he met Bening, pop star Madonna, also
had a big role in Dick Tracy as the villainous vixen, Breathless Mahoney.
Hmm, that could have made things pretty heated on set.
Marriage concerns
Beatty, who waited until he was in his 50s to tie the knot, admitted to the Today show
that he feared commitment due to his feelings about divorce.
"I wasn't trying to avoid marriage I was trying to avoid divorce.
I had no doubt that when I met Annette that it was time to ah… haha… get married."
Bening's friends and family, on the other hand, were surprised and concerned when she
revealed their engagement.
She told The Express "I didn't consider for a moment how it would affect the people around
me, like my friends and family.
[...] I was suddenly the sister or friend who had married Warren Beatty.
He was the man who appeared to be the lifelong bachelor.
It was the big issue of that moment."
One reason for that concern besides Beatty's reputation was the fact that he's 22 years
older than Bening.
But it wasn't an issue for her.
She explained to The Express "I had never been attracted to younger guys.
I had, from my late teens, always liked men who were older than me."
The couple wed in a private ceremony on March 3, 1992.
Divorce rumors
According to the New York Post, while Bening was promoting the 2010 film The Kids Are All
Right, reporters were instructed to not ask the actress about Beatty or their four children,
sparking rumors that there was trouble in paradise.
A source told The Post, "The blackout immediately amped up speculation by the press corps of
an impending split."
The National Enquirer alleged that Beatty and Bening butted heads over their teenage
daughter Kathlyn's decision to have transgender surgery.
The tabloid reported that Beatty was devastated over the news.
Beatty opened up about Kathlyn, who now goes by the name Stephen Ira, in an interview with
Vanity Fair.
"He's a revolutionary, a genius, and my hero, as are all my children."​
They support each other's career
Beatty took a 15-year hiatus from the limelight to focus on raising their four children while
Bening starred in critically praised films such as The American President, The Siege,
American Beauty, Being Julia,The Kids Are Alright and 20th Century Women.
It wasn't until the two appeared together in the 2016 film Rules Don't Apply that the
power couple united onscreen again.
It was their first role together since 1994's Love Affair.
Bening said, "I have never considered our careers a competition.
Warren has nothing to prove to anybody and I've limited myself to an average of one movie
a year since our wedding."
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