Hearts broke at the start of 2015 when word came out that dreamy 33-year-old actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt had quietly married Tasha McCauley, co-founder and interim CEO of the robotics company Fellow Robots at Silicon Valley’s NASA Research Park. Of course, Hollywood-meets-the-boardroom pairings are nothing new, except maybe for the gender reversal in this case and the ultra-low profile the couple have kept. Here’s a look at other pairings, past and present, of famous entertainers with CEOs.
1. Talulah Riley and Elon Musk
Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Inception co-star Talulah Riley, 29, and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, 43, have wed each other twice; the pair just filed for their second divorce on New Year’s Eve. Musk, who also co-founded Paypal and SpaceX, announced the couple’s first divorce on Twitter (TWTR) January 2012. This second divorce is amicable, with a settlement awarding Riley $16 million and other assets, and property will be divided per their prenuptual agreement.
Between the two marriages, there were also reports that Musk dated actress Cameron Diaz, after she purchased a Tesla electric sports car, but Musk denied that they were romantically linked.
2. Joan Crawford and Alfred Steele
In one of the highest-profile Hollywood-CEO pairings, Hollywood icon Joan Crawford married her fourth husband, Alfred Steele, the CEO of Pepsi (PEP), in 1955. Crawford often accompanied Steele in his work, her presence adding glamour to Pepsi events like bottling plant openings, and she also hosted Pepsi events at home. When Al died in 1959, Crawford was elected the first female director of the Pepsi board, a role she held into the 1970s.
3. Salma Hayek and Francois-Henri Pinault
The Frida star Salma Hayek, 48, married Francois-Henri Pinault, the French Kering and co-chair of PPR Foundation, 52, in 2009. The couple has a six-year-old daughter, Valentina Paloma. Hayek has revealed her methods to keeping the relationship’s flame going in numerous magazine interviews: sexting, dressing for her husband, and particularly wearing leather.
Pinault also has a son from a relationship with supermodel Linda Evangelista.
4. Jane Fonda and Ted Turner
Another classic pairing of Hollywood with business titans was CNN founder (and former CEO of the Atlanta Braves) Ted Turner, and the 9 to 5 aerobicizer Jane Fonda. When they married in 1991, they were in their early 50s and it was the third marriage for both of them. Ten years later, they separated. On the same day, Turner’s interview with The New Yorker came out, saying Fonda’s decision to become a Christian contributed to their split, at which point Fonda filed for divorce. Fonda then told the magazine that Turner was a needy man who doesn’t understand love. Turner’s 2008 memoir denied that faith was the reason for their split, and Fonda has since declared Turner her “favorite ex-husband.”
5. Ashley Olsen and David Schulte
In 2013, the Oliver Peoples luxury eyewear CEO David Schulte and Ashley Olsen -- one-half of twin child actresses-turned-business-powerhouses -- Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, then 27, began dating. They split in January of 2014 after about six months together.
6. Eve and Maximillion Cooper
In June 2014, after four years together, the actress/rapper Eve, 36, and British designer and 42-year-old Gumball 3000 motor rally CEO Maximillion Cooper wed. Eve had teased her Christmas Day 2013 engagement by posting a photo wearing her engagement ring on Instagram, soon after confirming the news to E! Eve is now stepmother to Cooper’s four children from his first marriage.
7. Chelsea Handler and Ted Harbert
Beginning in 2006, the comic host of the E! Talk show Chelsea Lately dated the then-CEO of Comcast Entertainment Group (CMCSA), Ted Harbert -- her boss. They were together for four years and lived together most of that time, but Handler later told Marie Claire it didn’t work out because they couldn’t keep business and pleasure separate. "I would come home from work, and Ted would be like, 'Do you want to watch your show?' And I'd be like, 'No, I just came from my show. That's the last thing I'd want to do,'" she told Marie Claire. "That was the reason it didn't work out, ultimately, I think."
Colleen Kane is a New York-based freelance writer.
