Young love. Fast fame. Even faster divorces. These celebrities walked down the aisle before 30 and learned the hard way that timing is everything.
Entertainment
25 Famous Actors Who Proved to Be Overrated
15. Emmy Rossum
Emmy Rossum quietly married music executive Justin Siegel in 2008 when she was just 21, keeping the entire relationship out of the tabloids. The marriage stayed under the radar until Siegel filed for divorce in 2009, catching many fans off guard. By her mid-twenties, Rossum was officially divorced, later brushing it off as one of those early life lessons you survive and grow past. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
14. Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey was just 23 when she married Sony executive Tommy Mottola in 1993, at the height of her early fame. He was two decades older, and she later described the relationship as deeply controlling, saying she felt more like a “child bride” than an equal partner. The marriage ended before she turned 30, and after the divorce, Carey stepped into a far more independent version of herself, both personally and artistically. | © Mariah Carey / YouTube
13. Will Smith
Long before Jada Pinkett Smith became part of his public story, Will Smith was married to Sheree Zampino. They tied the knot in 1992 while he was rising on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and expecting their son Trey, but the relationship ended in 1995. Smith was just 27 when he divorced for the first time, later admitting it felt like a major personal failure during that chapter of his life. | © The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon / YouTube
12. Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian was just 19 when she eloped with music producer Damon Thomas in Las Vegas in 2000. She later admitted she was in a reckless headspace at the time, and the marriage unraveled before she turned 24. Long before the televised weddings and headline-grabbing splits, Kardashian was already divorced in her early twenties, a pattern that would follow her into the spotlightю | © Call Her Daddy / YouTube
11. Scarlet Johansson
Scarlett Johansson was only 23 when she married Ryan Reynolds in 2008, during a period when both of their careers were accelerating fast. They kept the relationship mostly private, tying the knot in an intimate ceremony in Canada. By 2011, the marriage had ended, and Johansson was divorced before 30, later describing Reynolds simply as a “good guy,” even if their timing didn’t work out. | © Walt Disney Pictures
10. Uma Thurman
Long before Pulp Fiction made her a household name, Uma Thurman married Gary Oldman in 1990. She was just 20, he was 12 years older, and she later described him as her first real love. The relationship unfolded during a turbulent period in Oldman’s life, and after only a couple of years, the marriage ended, leaving Thurman divorced well before 30. | © Netflix
9. Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff was just 22 when she got engaged to NHL player Mike Comrie, feeling more grown-up than her age suggested after years in the spotlight. They married in 2010, welcomed a son, and for a while seemed settled into family life. But by 2014, the relationship had run its course, and Duff finalized her divorce before turning 30, later maintaining that the split was amicable, even if it marked the end of her first big chapter of adulthood. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
8. Katy Perry
Katy Perry was riding the biggest wave of her career when she married comedian Russell Brand in 2010, after a whirlwind romance that felt intense and fast. They held a lavish ceremony in India, and for a moment it looked like pop superstardom and married life were moving in sync. Fourteen months later, Brand filed for divorce by text, and at just 27, Perry was suddenly navigating heartbreak in the middle of her peak years. | © Apple Music / YouTube
7. Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore was only 19 when she impulsively married bar owner Jeremy Thomas in 1994, during a turbulent period in her life. The marriage lasted just 19 days, and she later spoke candidly about how unhealthy that time was for her. She tried again in her twenties with comedian Tom Green, but that relationship also ended in divorce before she turned 30, making her twice divorced before most people finish their first serious relationship. | © The Drew Barrymore Show
6. Britney Spears
Britney Spears was just 22 when she made headlines for a Las Vegas wedding to childhood friend Jason Alexander that lasted all of 55 hours. She later admitted it was an impulsive decision fueled by chaos more than love, and the marriage was quickly annulled. Months later, she married Kevin Federline, but that union also fell apart before she turned 25, ending in a very public divorce and custody battle that defined much of her twenties. | © The Jonathan Ross Show / YouTube
5. Avril Lavigne
Avril Lavigne was barely out of her teens when she married Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley in 2006, at the height of her pop-punk fame. Her career kept soaring, but the spotlight and constant comparisons reportedly put pressure on their relationship. By 24, Lavigne announced they were separating on good terms, and their divorce was finalized soon after, another chapter closed before she ever turned 30. | © Avril Lavigne / YouTube
4. Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie didn’t wait long to walk down the aisle. She married her Hackers co-star Jonny Lee Miller at just 20, but the relationship faded quickly as her career took off, and she later admitted she felt like she’d lost a sense of herself. After that marriage ended, she jumped into another whirlwind romance with Billy Bob Thornton in her early twenties, and by 27, she was already twice divorced. | © Pathé
3. Macaulay Culkin
Macaulay Culkin was still a teenager when he married fellow young actor Rachel Miner, after the two met at a performing arts school in New York. He was already one of the world's most famous child stars, and at 17 he decided he was ready to take that leap. The marriage lasted only a couple of years, and by his early twenties, Culkin was officially divorced, a very adult ending to a very teenage love story. | © First We Feast / YouTube
2. Sophie Turner
Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas looked like a pop culture dream when they got together in 2016, a TV breakout star and a former teen idol finding love mostly out of the spotlight. They got engaged quickly and famously tied the knot in a surprise Las Vegas ceremony in 2019, complete with Ring Pops and an Elvis impersonator. By 2023, though, the marriage unraveled publicly and painfully, ending in a messy split while Turner was still just 27. | © HBO
1. Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth’s relationship felt like a full-blown Hollywood saga before she even hit 30. They met as teens on the set of The Last Song, got engaged, split, reunited, survived career shifts and even the loss of their Malibu home in the wildfires, then quietly married in 2018. Less than a year later, Hemsworth filed for divorce, and Cyrus was just 26, closing the chapter on a decade-long, on-again, off-again romance that never quite found steady ground. | © Miley Cyrus / YouTube
Young love. Fast fame. Even faster divorces. These celebrities walked down the aisle before 30 and learned the hard way that timing is everything.
