A celebrity couple making their red carpet debut isn’t just about the perfect picture – it’s about everything that preceded that moment in time, leading them to be vulnerable enough to share their happiness with their fans.
Let’s look back in time at some of the most iconic celebrity couple red carpet debuts and why they remain so memorable years on.
Sutton Foster and Hugh Jackman
This week, Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster made their first red carpet appearance as a couple after the former’s contentious divorce from his ex-wife of 27 years, Deborra-lee Furness.
The pair had been photographed at several events recently, but this marks their red carpet debut, ever since rumours of their romance began circulating in 2024.
Jackman had his arm around Foster as they posed for photos at the Hollywood premiere of his new movie Song Sung Blue, wearing a black tux and a black slip dress respectively.
Jackman, 57, and Foster, 50, have not directly confirmed their romance, and generally keep out of the spotlight, but speculation arose when they were photographed holding hands and later kissing in Los Angeles in January.
This premiere isn’t the first time they’ve been on a red carpet together.
They walked plenty of ruby rugs during the time performing together in Broadway show The beat Man, while they were both still married to their respective former spouses.
Younger star Foster was married to American screenwriter Ted Griffin from 2014 until 2024, while Jackman and Furness split in 2023 and finalised their divorce in June this year.
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston only made their red carpet debut one year after they began their relationship in 1998, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t hotly anticipated.
The moment they stepped out together hand-in-hand at the Emmys in Los Angeles in 1999 was captured in photographs and has lived on in the minds of fans for decades onwards.
Soon after, they got engaged and later married, though their love story wasn’t one that lasted.
Dua Lipa and Callum Turner
Dua Lipa and actor Callum Turner left many breadcrumbs about their relationship before finally making it official in a red carpet debut at 2025’s Met Gala.
The couple hard-launched their love at Glastonbury in 2024 months beforehand, with the singer sharing a photo of them at the festival on Instagram.
Lipa also left breadcrumbs about their engagement, posting many pictures with a stunning diamond ring.
The famously private singer only confirmed her engagement to the Harry Potter star months later during a chat with Vogue.
Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere
This picture remains in our collective memory decades on as the epitome of red carpet couple debuts, making international headlines at the time.
Supermodel Cindy Crawford stole the attention with a red-hot Versace dress as she attended the 1991 Academy Awards with then-partner and leading Hollywood star, Richard Gere.
Crawford was 17 years Gere’s junior and had met in the late ’80s at a barbecue, but it was reportedly the first time they had stepped out as a couple.
The pair tied the knot months later and eloped to Las Vegas in December that year, but their union wasn’t to last.
Suki Waterhouse and Robert Pattinson
Suki Waterhouse and Twilight star Robert Pattinson had been dating since 2018, but took their time to make their official red carpet debut.
Four years later, in Egypt in 2022, the private couple attended the Dior Fall 2023 Menswear Show, looking absolutely in love.
They have since started a family together, welcoming their daughter in March 2024.
Freddie Prinze Jr and Sarah Michelle Gellar
It seemed like the stars aligned when two of the biggest celebrities of the ’90s, Freddie Prinze Jr and Sarah Michelle Gellar, became a couple.
Fans couldn’t believe their eyes as they made their red carpet debut at the MTV Movie Awards in 2000, just months after they began dating in January that year.
The I Know What You Did Last Summer co-stars had been friends for years before their relationship turned into something more.
They got engaged in 2001 and married in September 2002, since welcoming two children, daughter Charlotte and son Rocky.
They went on to welcome two children, daughter Charlotte and son Rocky.
Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick
Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick made their appearance at the 1993 Oscars in style – and while it may not have been their first appreance together, it most certainly was the most important.
Parker teamed a chainmail dress with blue sunnies for the special milestone, while Broderick wore a black tux.
Two of Hollywood’s biggest names of ’80s and early ’90s, the celebrity couple had met in 1991, and married in 1997.
The couple share three children: son James Wilke and twin daughters Marion and Tabitha.
They remain married and continue to attend many a red carpet together.
Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick
Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick were very green when they attended the 1988 Golden Globes together.
The two actors fell in love in 1987 while filming Lemon Sky together, and got engaged by the end of that year.
Just one month later they made their milestone red carpet debut at the Globes.
The couple married that same year in September and have since welcomed two children.
They’ve also shared the screen many times since their first project, Lemon Sky.
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett
Jad Pinkett fit the theme when she walked on the red carpet of the LA premiere of Denzel Washington’s film, Devil in a Blue Dress, while making a huge debut.
She and actor Will Smith made their couples red carpet debut at the event, with Smith wearing a blue linked jacket and pants combo.
The couple met in 1994 when Pinkett auditioned for a role in Smith’s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Though she didn’t get the role, she did end up getting the role of his wife after catching his heart.
They were married on New Year’s Eve in 1997 and immediately share two children: Jayden Smith and Willow Smith.
The couple shocked the world when in 2023, Pinkett Smith announced that they had been separated since 2016, but had no intention to divorce.
George and Amal Clooney
September 2014 was a whirlwind month for George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin.
They made their red carpet debut at the Celebrity Fight Night gala in Florence, with fans shocked that the Hollywood heartthrob was in a relationship.
But Clooney had an even bigger surprise in store.
During his acceptance speech on the night, the ER star shared, ”I met my lovely bride-to-be here in Italy, whom I will be marrying, in a couple of weeks, in Venice, of all places.”
“I would just like to say to my bride-to-be, Amal, that I love you very much and I can’t wait to be your husband.”
They tied the knot just weeks later and welcomed twins – a daughter, Ella, and a son, Alexander – in 2017.
Celebrity couples who have been together for a really long time
Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively
When this photo was taken, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively were just friends and co-stars as they promoted their 2011 movie, Green Lantern.
“It was the first time we were ever on the red carpet together,” Lively later recalled to Allure magazine in 2015.
“[But] then there’s also that thing where you think, ‘It would be nice for our kids to see a photo of Mummy and Daddy dressed up together’.”
The pair later realised their feelings for each other and tied the knot the following year in South Carolina.
In 2014 they made their official red carpet debut as husband and wife at the Met Gala. They immediately share three daughters and one son.
Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart
Months of dating rumours preceded this photo of Harrison Ford and Ally McBeal star Calista Flockhart, who made their red-carpet debut at the LA premiere of the actor’s action film, K-19: The Widowmaker in 2002.
The couple first met earlier that year at the Golden Globes and remained in a relationship until they married eight years later.
One year before meeting the veteran actor, Flockhart adopted her son, Liam. Years later, Ford would formally adopt him on his own.
Today they remain married, celebrating 14 years of marriage and continuing to attend events together.
Millie Bobby-Brown and Jake Bongiovi
The world premiere of The Electric State in February 2025 was an important one for Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi, who made their debut as a married couple months after tying the knot.
All eyes were on the 21 and 22-year-old newlyweds as they packed on the PDA.
The pair looked absolutely smitten at The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood as they waved to fans and posed with Brown’s castmates before heading inside for an exclusive premiere screening of her new film.
Brown wore a structural Annie’s Ibiza gold gown and glittering De Beers jewellery for the special occasion.
Meanwhile Bongiovi, the son of legendary rocker John Bongiovi (aka Jon Bon Jovi), opted for a classic black suit.
Brown and Bongiovi married in October 2024, tying the knot in a lavish Italian ceremony attended by a host of famous friends and family.
immediately 23 and 21, the pair are parents to an adopted daughter, having announced the news in August 2025, a few months after their red carpet debut.
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