Freida Pinto and 15 other celebs who got secretly married during the pandemic
In the time of COVID, big weddings have become a wee bit verboten, and when you're a celebrity and have millions of eyes on you, it's an even trickier tightrope to walk.
So, much like the countless surprise pregnancies, moves and new gigs even your friends might have shocked you with over the last two years, weddings and elopements have even become secretive.
With various celeb couples leading the way, it also begs the question: is the big wedding over? Um, yeah, definitely not. While they might insist otherwise, many of your fave celebs love A Moment – and so do we – but until this pandemic decides to call it, it looks like the small, secret wedding may just be the Hollywood go-to.
So if you need a few tips on how to make your impending nuptials a quickie, let's take a look at some of the recent ones to have made headlines.
Freida Pinto & Cory Tran
On Wednesday's The Kelly Clarkson Show, Pinto dropped a few bombs: not only had she gotten engaged during the pandemic, but she'd also already gotten married to photographer husband Cory Tran, to whom she was introduced by friend Aaron Paul, no big. The two are also expecting their first child this fall.
The actress shared that the two had been planning an Indian wedding in Big Sur, but once the pandemic hit and a crowd already felt risky, they gave in. She shared, “We just realized we were going to be planning this for the rest of our lives and probably never doing it. So, we decided one day to go to the Honda Center in Anaheim and just get married. ... I did not want stomach ulcers from planning my own wedding, and this was perfect. We got married and then we got to go home and take an afternoon nap.”
Sarah Snook & Dave Lawson
Just a week ago to Vogue Australia, Succession star Sarah Snook revealed that she'd fallen in love with and married her longtime best friend comedian Dave Lawson after they spent a good chunk of lockdown together. The mini ceremony took place at her Brooklyn home with her housemates and co-star Ash Zukerman. The bride and groom wore Blundstones.
Snook shared, "I got locked down in Melbourne with one of my best mates and we fell in love. We’ve been friends since 2014, lived together, travelled together, always excited to see each other, but totally platonic. We’ve just never been single at the same time. I proposed and we got married in February in my backyard. ... There’s a really lovely grace in that without the pandemic, we might not have ended up together so quickly.”
Issa Rae & Louis Diame
Always private, Insecure star and multi-hyphenate Issa Rae revealed that she'd gotten married in July, to Louis Diame in a stunning France wedding during which she sported a gorgeous custom Vera Wang gown.
She opened up about the big day just this week whilst appearing on The Tamron Hall Show, and shared, "It was just a beautiful experience. People tell you that it goes by fast, and they're right. But my thing was, it was a party. At the end of the day, it was just a big party. And it was a lot of fun. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by people who took the time out to just come and celebrate, and that's something that I'll cherish for the rest of my life."
Ariana Grande & Dalton Gomez
No one has quite a list of meaningful lovers as Ariana Grande, who tied the knot for the first time with realtor Dalton Gomez some time earlier this spring at their Montecito home. They'd only announced their engagement the previous December, and had been dating since January 2020.
"They got married," Grande's rep said to People at the time. "It was tiny and intimate — less than 20 people. The room was so happy and full of love. The couple and both families couldn't be happier."
Scarlett Johansson & Colin Jost
Probably one of the most high-profile secret weddings, the fact these two managed to keep their nuptials on the down-low is truly impressive. They married in a small ceremony at their home in New York in October 2020.
The actress opened up about the night to People, saying, "I think just keeping it intimate and small made it feel intentional. We wanted it to feel like it had an intentional intimacy as opposed to being something that felt like we were restricted by all these things. We were just so happy to be able to celebrate with our family. Some people we hadn't been able to really see so much over this past year. So that was really special ... We felt really fortunate that we were able to do it."
Riz Ahmed & Fatima Farheen Mirza
This past January, like it was no big deal, Riz Ahmed revealed that he'd married novelist Fatima Farheen Mirza in a "super intimate" backyard ceremony during quarantine on Louis Theroux's Grounded podcast. He hadn't even shared her name until a later appearance on The Tonight Show.
The best part? Ahmed said, “You didn’t have 500 aunties hanging around you, pinching your cheeks. No disrespect to the aunties, but Asian weddings are big, and you always got these people crawling out of the woodworks, who I think are kind of probably impostors. They just smell the kebabs on the street and just wander in, like, ‘Yeah, I knew you when you were a kid!’” Sold.
Lena Dunham & Luis Felber
Girls star Lena Dunham dropped the news that she'd married Luis Felber just this September, but has otherwise kept pretty quiet about the whole affair, having only revealed the two were dating in April to the New York Times. She said at the time, "It's been a few months. I feel really lucky," calling him "the greatest person I've ever met."
John Corbett & Bo Derek
A perfectly '90s couple, John Corbett and Bo Derek, who have been together for a whopping and pretty low-key two decades, quietly tied the know over Christmas in 2020.
During an appearance on The Talk, Corbett said, “After 20 years we decided to get married, we didn’t want 2020 to be that thing that everybody looks back at and hated. We thought, ‘Well, let’s get one nice thing out of it.' We’re pretty private people, we didn’t make an announcement, all our friends and family knew but this is the first time either one of us has said anything publicly about it because really we haven’t had an opportunity."
Justin Hartley & Sofia Pernas
One might say Hartley's only option was to run off and quietly get hitched to his former Young and the Restless co-star earlier this year after very publicly breaking the heart of (and allegedly cheating on) ex-wife and Selling Sunset star Chrishell Stause in 2019. He and Pernas made the news official when they showed up at the 2021 MTV Movies & TV Awards whilst sporting wedding rings.
Mark Ronson & Grace Gummer
Considering it wasn't all that well-known that Ronson and Meryl Streep's daughter were even an item, their wedding came as quite a shock when he shared the news in a moving Instagram post this September on his 46th birthday (yes, Mark Ronson is that old). He wrote, "To my truest love...out of nowhere, you made 45 hands down the greatest year of my life. And I'm sure it took me 45 years to become the man worthy of your love. I hope I spend every one of these birthdays by your side til my last day. And beyond. Forever and ever yours ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ (and yes, we got married)."
Niecy Nash & Jessica Betts
In August 2020, Niecy Nash sweetly revealed that she and singer Jessica Betts had quietly gotten married. She posted a photo to Instagram of the two from their wedding, writing, “Mrs. Carol Denise Betts,” and later shared a picture of the two to her Instagram Stories, writing, “#PlotTwist.” Um, yeah!
She said to People that year, "I don’t feel like my marriage is my coming out of anywhere, but rather a going into myself and being honest about who I love. And I’m not limiting myself on what that love is supposed to look like.”
Anna Faris & Michael Barrett
Also a generally private person, Anna Faris dropped the news that she'd gotten hitched to Michael Barrett as casually as ever on her Unqualified podcast in July.
"Yes, we eloped... I'm sorry. I didn't know. I'm sorry, honey. I just blurted that out, but it just feels (like) I can't say fiancé anymore," she said. "It was awesome. It was great. It was at a local courthouse up in Washington state. It was great."
Paul W. Downs & Lucia Aniello
Co-creators of the hilarious comedy Hacks, these two dropped the news that they'd gotten married whilst at the Emmy Awards in September. It was perfect timing, as she also picked up an award for directing their show. As she said, "To Paul, I'm in love with you, which is why I married you last weekend,” jokingly adding that she "would love to just say my vows again," but didn't have enough time.
Jonathan Van Ness & Mark London
He may be talkative, but Jonathan Van Ness stayed super secretive when it came to their wedding to Mark London. While reflecting on their year this past January, they shared on Instagram, "I got married to my best friend and have a loving partner to continue building my life with."
Elizabeth Olsen & Robbie Arnett
After a July 2019 engagement, Elizabeth Olsen revealed that she had gotten married to singer Robbie Arnett by calling him her "husband" during a Variety interview in June, which is truly the best reveal. It's believed they'd been married for months and maybe even a year.
BEFORE YOU GO: ELLE’s 27th Annual Women In Hollywood Celebration
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