Getting married is stressful enough, but in the case of some couples, their own families were the biggest hurdles to overcome.
A future president’s secret engagement
You’d think that nobody could stop an American president, and especially not Franklin D. Roosevelt. But his mother, Sara, did try. She had several problems with him trying to marry Eleanor Roosevelt, starting with the fact that Franklin was only 21 when he proposed.
Sara thought they were way too young to settle down, and she even convinced them to keep their engagement quiet for a year. Apparently, she wanted them to change their minds. But she had no luck there because the couple married on March 17, 1905.
The singer who couldn’t wait for permission
Chris Pérez and Selena Quintanilla hadn’t even married when her father fired him from the band. Yes, Pérez was the guitarist for Mexican-American singer Selena until her father, Abraham, found out they were together. He thought their romance would interfere with Selena’s career. He also didn’t approve of Chris.
The pair continued to see each other in private, anyway. On April 2, 1992, the pair eloped, and Abraham wasn’t involved in the decision. He eventually did go on to accept Chris as his son-in-law before Selena’s tragic murder.
A royal wedding against her mother’s wishes
Princess Grace of Monaco wasn’t happy when her daughter, Caroline, spoke about her wedding plans. She wanted to marry French businessman Philippe Junot. He was 17 years older than Caroline, and that was quite a problem for Grace.Â
There was also Junot’s reputation for enjoying the nightlife. Princess Grace said she would’ve preferred a much smaller wedding, yet Monaco ended up hosting a large ceremony in June 1978. The pair divorced two years later anyway.
The marriage that upset her father
It’s no surprise that actress Rita Hayworth’s family didn’t approve of her first husband. He was old enough to be her father. Yes, she was 18 when she married Edward Judson, a 40-year-old businessman, and her father, Eduardo Cansino, wasn’t happy about it.
Judson had originally entered Hayworth’s life to help manage her career, but their relationship later became romantic. He continued handling her professional life after the wedding. In 1942, their marriage ended, just as Hayworth’s Hollywood career was taking off.
A playwright’s daughter marries a movie legend
Playwright Eugene O’Neill found out something rather shocking in 1943. His 18-year-old daughter, Oona, wanted to marry her famous boyfriend, Charlie Chaplin, who was 54. Eugene was furious.
Charlie and Oona married anyway, leading to Eugene disinheriting his daughter. The two never reconnected. The pair went on to have eight children and remained married until Chaplin died in 1977.
A Hollywood sweetheart’s Las Vegas escape
Judy Garland’s family wasn’t the only one unhappy with her wedding. MGM, the studio managing Judy, had spent years marketing her as an innocent young star, and a wedding completely ruined those plans.
The fact that she was getting married to composer David Rose only made things worse, as he was 12 years older than her. Still, they went ahead with the wedding and got hitched in Las Vegas in July 1941. Their marriage ended in June 1944.
Seven years of secret meetings
Rose Fitzgerald and Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. had to be pretty creative about how they were going to see each other. Rose’s father was a politician named John F. Fitzgerald, and he didn’t approve of the relationship at first. He thought his daughter was too young to have such a serious romance.
So, to get around John, the couple kept arranging ‘accidental’ meetings. They’d bump into each other at concerts and dances, as well as parks. What a coincidence. After Joseph became a bank president, Fitzgerald warmed to the idea, and they finally married on October 7, 1914. They had nine children together, including President John F. Kennedy.
A Canadian star’s unlikely romance
Céline Dion’s mother, Thérèse, definitely wasn’t happy when she found out who her daughter had fallen for. Céline was dating her manager, René Angélil, who was 26 years older than her. He also had three children from two previous marriages.
But Céline didn’t want to find someone else. Eventually, her mother came around, and the couple married on December 17, 1994, at Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica. It was a wedding for the history books, and the ceremony was televised across Canada.
A singer’s wedding that divided his family
In July 1966, crooner Frank Sinatra married actress Mia Farrow. She was only 21 while he was 50, and two of his children were actually older than their new stepmother. As you can probably imagine, they weren’t particularly happy about the marriage, nor was Sinatra’s mother, Dolly.
The couple decided to have their own private wedding. However, the marriage didn’t last, as it was over by 1968.
A teenage dancer’s second wedding
Fifteen is a very young age for anyone to get married. For dancer Josephine Baker, it was her second wedding. Yes, she married William Howard Baker, a railroad porter, in September 1921, despite his mother being unhappy about it.
William’s mother didn’t think Josephine’s career as a traveling dancer was suitable, and she also had issues with Josephine being Black. Still, they got married. The relationship didn’t last very long, although Josephine decided to keep the Baker surname and used it while performing in Paris.
The bride a media tycoon didn’t want
British publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell had lots of money, as well as a lot of influence, but even that couldn’t help him convince his son, Kevin, to avoid getting married. Kevin wanted to marry a woman named Pandora Warnford-Davis after meeting her at Oxford University.
But Robert didn’t approve of the relationship. He allegedly tried to break them up, yet Kevin wasn’t having it and married her in 1984. Pandora was supposedly unafraid to disagree with her father-in-law, and Robert died in 1991.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
For better or worse: 11 destructive historical marriages that ended in flames
There are many ways that a marriage can go wrong, but somehow, a few famous couples managed to turn theirs into stories involving murder and so much worse.
For better or worse: 11 destructive historical marriages that ended in flames
