Celebs Who Married People They Barely Knew

Beyoncé Knowles described her husband Jay-Z as being her "foundation" in an interview with Oprah's Next Chapter. She and the rapper also took the initial stages of their relationship slow. Real slow. And so far, it has worked out for them. However, not all celebrities abide by the notion that slow and steady is the best way to build a romantic partnership. Instead, they'd much rather put the pedal to the metal and kick their love lives into full speed by getting married first, and figuring out the ins and outs of their partner after saying "I do." 

Celebrities who've rushed to the altar, acting in haste on such an important life decision has backfired more times than we can count. One actress let "animal attraction" compel her to marry a man she hardly knew, and soon enough, their romance spiraled into abuse claims and a very messy divorce. And then, there's the reality star who dated someone for just 30 days before getting married, and things went sour after rumors of drug abuse and infidelity emerged. 

These aren't the only Tinseltown mainstays who tied the knot with someone who was a virtual stranger. Here's a few other celebrities who married people they barely knew. 

Former The Partridge Family star Danny Bonaduce met his ex-wife Gretchen Hillmer Bonaduce on a blind date in 1990. Their first meeting wouldn't be described at love at first sight, per se, but Danny was definitely in lust and ready to see what Gretchen was workin' with, if you catch our drift. Bonaduce described Gretchen as being a "very religious woman" in an interview with CNN, so when she made it clear that she wasn't DTF before marriage, Danny called a minister to marry them... seven hours into their first date!

Sure, he was hammered at the time, but Gretchen was still all in when it came to being Mrs. Bonaduce. Danny told CNN that "she takes her vows very seriously. And she said for better or for worse." Well, "for worse" turned out to be Danny's infidelity and reoccurring substance abuse issues. Many of the couple's struggles were also highlighted on their disastrous, short-lived 2005 reality series, Breaking Bonaduce (via People).

With his erratic behavior plastered across countless television screens, and Gretchen concerned with raising their two children in an unstable environment, she filed for divorce in April 2007 after 16 years of marriage, People reported. The impulsive couple finalized the split over a year later. Still, they had a nice run, considering they were complete strangers when they tied the knot.

Pamela Anderson spent New Year's Eve 1994 at a Hollywood nightclub, where she met Mötley Crüe rocker Tommy Lee. According to E! News, Anderson "bought him a shot and Lee, floating on Ecstasy, fell head over heels." Don't you just adore a good love story?

Their first date wouldn't happen until six weeks later, when they decided to take an impromptu trip to Cancun, Mexico. While there, Anderson, wearing a skimpy bikini, and Lee, in a pair of board shorts, got married on a whim just five days into their vacay, on February 19, 1995, People reported. The reason behind the former Baywatch star's decision to wed the rock star? "It was just instant, mind-blowing animal attraction," she explained to the publication. Meow! 

But what could possibly go wrong for Anderson after she married someone she hardly knew? Well, a lot actually. After one of their marital spats, Lee was hauled off to jail on charges of "spousal abuse, child abuse, and unlawful possession of a firearm," all of which he denied, according to Entertainment Weekly.

They had two children together, but that wasn't enough for Anderson to work through their problems. She attempted to leave Lee several times during their brief marriage, with E! News reporting she filed for divorce in November 1996 but changed her mind after a successful reconciliation. Then, she filed again in February 1998, and that time, she went through with it.

After Julia Roberts met singer Lyle Lovett on the set of the film, The Player, the twosome got engaged and married in the span of three weeks, according to Entertainment Weekly. The ceremony took place at a church in Marion, Ind., and afterwards, Roberts attended Lovett's concert that same night in Noblesville, Ind., where he pulled her on stage and announced, "Welcome to the happiest day of my life," according to People. So sweet, right?!

Well, things weren't as picture-perfect as they appeared. People revealed that two days after their June 1993 wedding, Roberts jetted off to Washington D.C. "to finish filming The Pelican Brief," and during most of their marriage, Lovett and his bride "rarely spent more than a week at a time together." Kind of hard to get to know someone when you're always apart, no?

Before announcing they would legally separate after less than two years of being husband and wife, Roberts was spotted dancing with actor Ethan Hawke at a restaurant in Manhattan. "I danced. Is that a felony?" she asked a Rolling Stone reporter when confronted with the salacious allegation. She wasn't breaking any laws, but the writing was on the wall. Light speed nuptials + a couple that's clueless about each other = doom.

The Kardashians are known for their revolving door-esque love lives, but we were all rooting for Khloé Kardashian's happily ever after to finally come true when she met former professional basketball player Lamar Odom. People reported Kardashian and Odom met at a party in 2009, and just one month later, they were getting married in a televised wedding ceremony. While some fans thought KoKo was making a bad decision by rushing to the altar, a source to People, "It may seem like it's a quickie wedding to everyone else but Khloé knows what she wants."

After their September 2009 wedding at a gorgeous Beverly Hills, Calif. manse, Kardashian and her new hubby got matching tattoos, starred in their own spin-off show, and even began fertility treatments to have a child. But Kardashian quickly realized she was in way over her head. Rumors that Odom was carrying on an extramarital affair, as well as his alleged "hardcore drug abuse," as reported by TMZ, threw their marriage into a tailspin.

Kardashian filed for divorce in 2013, but before a judge signed off on it, she stopped the petition after Odom "was found unconscious in a Nevada brothel" in November 2015, according to CNN. She then re-filed in 2016, finally putting an end to a marriage that was all sorts of shaky from the jump.

Fresh off a quickie Las Vegas wedding to a childhood friend that lasted just 55 hours, according to Today, Britney Spears was on the prowl, ready and willing to legally bind herself to her next hubby du jour. The singer confirmed in July 2004 that she and backup dancer Kevin Federline were officially engaged. The total time of their courtship was "nearly three months," People reported. Her mom, Lynne Spears, was even on board with Spears' fast-track proposal, telling the tab, "You can't put a time schedule on relationships. My best friend got married within six months, and they've been together 28 years. It's all a risk."

Well, we here at Nicki Swift always want the best for our faves, but we knew the September 2004 Spears-Federline wedding had "bad news" written all over it when the groomsmen donned matching Juicy Couture white tracksuits with the words "Pimps" and "Pimp Daddy" written on the back. Classy! Soon enough, two months after the birth of their second son in September 2006, Spears reportedly "texted Federline that she wanted a divorce," E! News revealed.

Looking back on her marriage to the man she hardly knew, Spears said in the 2008 MTV documentary Britney: For the Record (via E! News), "Instead of following my heart and doing something that made me really happy, I just did it for the idea of everything."

When most people think of Renée Zellweger, they think of her portrayal of the character Bridget Jones in the iconic romantic comedies. Come to find out, Zellweger has a thing or two in common with the leading character: their messy love lives.

After meeting country singer Kenny Chesney at a 2005 tsunami relief fund, the pair had a brief, long distance relationship since Zellweger was based in Los Angeles, and Chesney split his time between his homes in Nashville and the Virgin Islands. They decided to bridge the physical gap between them in May 2005 — just four months after they met — by getting hitched in the Virgin Islands, "before just 35 close family and friends," according to People.

Chesney's longtime friend told the publication, "[Zellweger] said she's been waiting for all these years for the right person to come into her life. When she met Kenny, she knew. She said she didn't want to wait to find out if it was right."

Welp, Zellweger quickly realized what happens when you marry someone you barely know. Four months after exchanging vows with the "Don't Blink" singer, the Oscar-winning actress filed for an annulment, citing "fraud," People reported. The couple also released a joint statement, saying, in part, that "the miscommunication of the objective of their marriage at the start is the only reason for this annulment."

Hmm... discussing their "objectives" prior to getting married probably could have avoided this catastrophe, no?

Angelina Jolie already had one failed marriage on her love résumé when she met actor Billy Bob Thornton on the set of Pushing Tin. But that didn't stop them from making a beeline to the altar on Cinco de Mayo 2000, after a "whirlwind two-month relationship," according to the Daily Mail. 

People magazine noted their Las Vegas wedding ceremony was a super low-key, with both the bride and groom decked out in denim and sombreros, because pledging a lifelong commitment of love and devotion should be taken as seriously as a drunken birthday party at a Mexican restaurant, right? Anyway, the Daily Mail reached out to Reverend Jim Hamilton in 2015 — the same man who married the couple nearly 15 years prior — to get some insight about how it all went down. "Personally I don't think they had really planned it out for long, I think it was a spur of the moment deal but I'm not sure," he said. Makes sense.

Shocker: it didn't take long for the duo to figure out they weren't a perfect match. Thornton even admitted to GQ, "I never felt good enough for [Jolie]." Even wearing vials of each other's blood couldn't keep them bound together, and their divorce was finalized in May 2003.