by Johanna Osborne

Tom and Katie’s split has well and truly rocked tinseltown, and Tom clearly wasn’t the only one who felt “blindsided” by this bombshell. What? Really? No way!

Here at the Wellington Wedding Show we love few things more than a “happily ever after” and we truly madly deeply believe in love! So we can’t help but ask, why is it that so few of the glitzy glam marriages that are signed and sealed in Hollywood actually stay that way? My close friend got married at the same as Katie and Tom, and she’s on to baby #3 and remains as happily married as she was 5 years ago. Why is it that the more rich and famous you are, the shorter “forever” is?

We don’t like any relationship to end, but perhaps the lesson here is not to be fooled by things that glitter and sparkle on the outside. What’s inside is often a very different story. The state of “perfect” that so many strive for and aim to emulate appears to be just smoke and mirrors a lot of the time. Perhaps the simpler life is, the easier it is to be “content”? Fairytales don’t belong to the rich and famous, they can be found in the most ordinary places.

Naturally we got to wondering after so many well publicised splits, some more shocking than others (Heidi and Seal and Tom and Katie just to name a few!), how many long lasting relationships are actually left in Hollywood? Rest assured there are several… the lower-key the couple, the longer they seem to last…

Here are some of our favourites…

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson met on a movie set in 1985, married in 1988 and have never looked back. A Hollywood couple to end all Hollywood couples! The pair have two children.

Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgewick have more than twenty-two years of marriage behind them, and have frequently worked on films together.

There’s no doubt that Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale make a fabulous couple. The two musicians met in 1995 and married in 2002. They have 2 beautiful (and often photographed!) sons – Kingston and Zuma. “I feel so proud of our relationship- it hasn’t been the easiest journey,” Stefani said in 2011.

Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell are one of the great Hollywood love stories, despite – or perhaps, because of – the fact that they’ve never been married. Together since1984, the couple has raised four children: one of their own and three from their previous marriages (including daughter Kate Hudson).

Tracy Pollan once played Michael J. Fox’s love interest on Family Ties and they later married in 1988. In 1991, Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, changing their lives forever, but not their feelings for each other. “She sees who I am, and she likes me as much as she ever liked me,” Fox told Oprah in 2009. “We have a sense of humour about life. We feel every day that we’re so blessed.” The couple is raising four children together, three of whom were born after Fox was diagnosed. “If I hadn’t faced (my disease), I don’t know that I’d have the family that I have now,” he says.

David and Victoria started dating in 1997 after developing a mutual crush — in David’s words; “My wife picked me out of a soccer sticker book. And I chose her off the telly.” The ever-stylish British couple have 4 children Brooklyn, 13, Romeo, 9, Cruz, 7 and Harper 11 months. “We were at a party the other day at my mum’s house and I was sitting on his lap,” Victoria recalled in 2011. “And I looked at him and thought after being married for 11 years, we were the only couple who were even near each other at that party. We’re soul mates.”

In the past 16 years, Hugh Jackman has gone from unknown Australian actor to A-list movie star – and the woman who’s been at his side the entire time is Deborra-Lee Furness. Furness is thought to be 13 years older than Jackman. Jackman says that his superstardom hasn’t hurt their marriage at all. “There is not an ounce of jealousy,” he told Barbara Walters. “Deb has only ever had incredibly supportive, excited feelings for anything that’s happened in my career.”

Elton John says that David Furnish has restored balance to his life — and helped the former drug addict stay clean for the past two decades. The British rock legend met his Canadian lover at one of his own dinner parties in 1993. “We fell in love very quickly,” the singer has said. They were married in 2005, on the day that civil partnerships became legal in England. In December 2010, they had son Zachary via surrogate — but they still find time for each other. “Every Saturday for 16 years, we’ve sent each other a card,” John said in 2010, “no matter where we are in the world, to say how much we love each other.

And then there are the shortest:

• Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries: 72 days
• Kid Rock and Pam Anderson: 4 months
• Britney Spears and Jason Alexander: 2 days
• Carmen Electra and Dennis Rodman: 6 days before Dennis filed for an annulment
• Jennifer Lopez and Cris Judd: 4 months
• Lisa Marie Presley and Nicolas Cage: 3 months
• Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson: 9 months

So there we have it… just because it’s in a glossy magazine doesn’t make it any more special than your very own fairytale. Good marriages come in all shapes and forms, and we applaud those that have found true love, for it is the most precious treasure to unearth in your lifetime. A wise person once said “If you find true love, make sure you learn to keep it!” We couldn’t agree more.

“True love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about and few have seen.”
– La Rochefoucauld