Celebrities who are looking for love often start dating fellow celebrities. A-listers cannot participate in online dating or head to traditional hang-out venues like bars for fear of their safety, so looking for a mate who moves within similar circles makes sense. Throughout the years, top-tier sportsmen and women have found themselves in similar predicaments to celebrities when it comes to finding a love match, which is why so many couples these days make up an athlete-celebrity dynamic.
Sometimes, these athlete-celebrity match-ups create a power couple that whips the world’s media into a frenzy. They find themselves on the front pages and in the sports legal news sections of national newspapers. The relatively recent couple of pop princess Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce are a shining example of when the world’s press go crazy for the athlete-celebrity dynamic. Although Swift and Kelce are the highest-profile athlete-celebrity couple in recent times, there have been plenty of power couples over the years. Here are four of the most prominent.
David and Victoria Beckham
David Beckham burst onto the soccer scene during his first full season with Manchester United during the 1995-96 campaign. Then, a fresh-faced youngster with bags of talent, Beckham wrote headlines on British newspapers’ back pages after scoring a wonder goal from the halfway line in a game against Wimbledon. A year later, with Beckham’s career blossoming, he was under the spotlight and increased scrutiny after he began dating Victoria Adams.
Adams was part of the pop group sensations the Spice Girls, where she was known as “Posh Spice.” The British tabloids instantly dubbed the couple “Posh and Becks,” a moniker that has remained with the couple ever since. Beckham proposed to Adams within a year, and they married in July 1999 in a lavish ceremony that cost an estimated £500,000.
Although some media thought the Beckhams’ whirlwind romance would be a flash in the pan, Posh and Becks have been married for 25 years and have four children together. There have been several bumps in the road, but the couple has remained strong and is still a British cultural icon.
Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen
Tom Brady had exploded onto the National Football League (NFL) scene in 2001, winning the Super Bowl in his first full season with the New England Patriots. By the end of 2004, Brady had won the Super Bowl three times and was seen as the NFL’s darling and someone who would likely break all quarterback records.
Brady dated actress and model Bridget Moynahan from 2004 to late 2006; the couple split shortly after announcing Moynahan’s pregnancy. Around this time, Brady began dating Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen, one of the highest-paid models in the world.
Bundchen and Brady became one of the most photographed athlete-celebrity couples ever. Bundchen’s high-profile modeling career and Brady’s meteoric rise to the top of American Football made them favorites with media outlets worldwide. The couple married in February 2009, became parents for the first time in December 2009, and again in December 2012.
Everything seemed rosy in the Brady-Bundchen household, but cracks began forming in the 2020s. In an interview with Elle magazine, Bundchen voiced her concerns about the violence of American Football and the fact that Brady’s strict training regime meant he wasn’t as present as she and their children would like. Brady briefly retired before making a dramatic U-turn. In October 2022, the couple announced on Instagram that they had finalized a divorce.
Brady and Bundchen have started dating again, each continuing an athlete-celebrity theme. Brady is romantically linked to supermodel Irina Shayk, while Bundchen is dating jui-jitsu trainer Joaquim Valente.
Anna Kournikova and Enrique Iglesias
Anna Kournikova debuted in professional tennis in October 1995, and the Russian became instantly popular. Although Kournikova reached number eight in the world by 2000, she was more famous for her long blonde hair and striking looks than for her tennis prowess.
Kournikova was in relationships with Russian ice hockey stars Sergei Fedorov and Pavel Bure, but neither relationship lasted. In 2001, Latin singing sensation Enrique Iglesias invited Kournikova to star in his music video for “Escape.” Kournikova and Iglesias immediately hit it off and began dating.
Although the couple has yet to marry, they have dated continuously for 23 years and share three children. They became parents to fraternal twins, a son and a daughter, in December 2017 and another daughter in January 2020.
Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio
Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio were the original athlete-celebrity power couple; they drew the blueprint for this type of relationship. Monroe was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, one with worldwide fame, while DiMaggio was one of baseball’s hottest properties.
DiMaggio had previously married actress Dorothy Arnold in 1939, but they divorced while DiMaggio was on leave from the New York Yankees during World War II. Initially, Monroe did not want to meet with DiMaggio, fearing he was a stereotypical arrogant athlete, yet they started dating in 1952 when DiMaggio retired.
The couple married in January 1954 but divorced only nine months later. Media reports and Monroe’s ghostwritten autobiography claimed DiMaggio was controlling, jealous, and abusive, and he was infuriated by the world-famous “skirt-blowing scene” in Monroe’s “The Seven Year Itch.” DiMaggio stopped drinking alcohol as a result of the divorce.
DiMaggio and Monroe remained friends despite their divorce, and he was trying to help he combat the personal problems she encountered in later life. Following her death, DiMaggio sent half a dozen red roses to Monroe’s crypt thrice weekly for 20 years; he never remarried.
Conclusion
These are only four remarkable athlete-celebrity couples that fans have enjoyed watching grow through the years. Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio were the original power couple, paving the way for the likes of David and Victoria Beckham, Anna Kournikova and Enrique Iglesias, and Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen to enjoy their time in the limelight.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are the latest in a long line of the athlete-celebrity phenomenon; who will be next?
Read More: World News | Entertainment News | Celeb News
DatingC
