Love it like lightning — it rarely strikes twice. Most exes stay broken up, but some people decide to give their relationship a second chance. Sometimes, divorced couples may even give their marriage another try.
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Is it always a good idea? No.
Here are 14 celebrity couples who separated then remarried each other:
1. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton met on the set of Cleopatra in 1963.
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At the time, she was married to Eddie Fisher, and he was married to Sybil Christopher, who divorced him that year. Taylor and Burton's affair became such an international scandal that the Vatican condemned it.
In 1964, Taylor divorced Fisher and married Burton.
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Five years later, he gifted her the Taylor-Burton diamond, which was worth $1 million.
In 1974, they divorced.
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However, they reunited and got remarried in 1975, only to divorce again in 1976.
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2. Pamela Anderson married professional poker player Rick Salomon in October 2007.
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They separated two months later, and their marriage was annulled in 2008.
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The couple got back together in 2013 and tied the knot for a second time in 2014.
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However, they separated again that summer, then divorced the following year.
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3. NeNe Leakes and Gregg Leakes got married in 1997.
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They welcomed a son in 1999.
In 2010 — two years after joining The Real Housewives of Atlanta — they separated. Their divorce was finalized in 2011.
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However, they got engaged for a second time on New Year's Eve in 2013.
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Five months later, they got remarried. Their wedding was broadcast on the Bravo series I Dream of NeNe: The Wedding.
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They were together until his death in 2021.
4. Marie Osmond married pro basketball player Steve Craig in 1982.
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They had 4,000 guests in attendance.
Two years later, they welcomed their son.
People told Osmond her career was over, and her marriage "had some trouble." So in 1985, they divorced.
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Then, she worked her way to the top of the country music charts. In 1986, she married Brian Blosil.
After Osmond and Blosil divorced in 2007, she "never wanted to be married again," but she reconnected with Craig through their son.
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They got remarried in 2011 — just a few months before their son's wedding.
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5. Sinbad was enlisted in the Air Force when he met then-college student Meredith Fuller Adkins. They got married in 1985.
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They had two children.
They divorced in 1992, and she moved to Los Angeles, where she worked as an accountant while finishing her bachelor's degree.
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10 years after their divorce, they got back together and had a second wedding.
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Their family starred on a reality show called Sinbad: It's Just Family in 2011.
6. José Ferrer was married to Phyllis Hill when he began dating fellow actor Rosemary Clooney (George Clooney's aunt). In 1953, he divorced Hill and married Clooney.
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They had five children.
In 1961, Clooney divorced Ferrer because of his infidelity.
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He was having an affair with Stella Magee.
However, three years later, Clooney and Ferrer remarried.
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They divorced for a second time in 1967.
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10 years later, he married Magee.
7. Dionne Warwick met actor/drummer William Elliott when she was a backup singer for his band. They got married in 1966.
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They had two sons.
In 1967, they divorced, but later that year, they got back together and remarried.
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In 1975, they divorced again because her success hurt his ego.
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She told the Guardian, "I was the major earning power in the family, and that is very difficult for the male ego. It just got too much to bear for my husband, and we decided that it would be best for us to part ways."
8. Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera first got married in 1929.
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After several affairs on both sides, they divorced in 1939.
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However, a year later, she agreed to marry him on two conditions — she wouldn't accept any more money from him, and she wouldn't sleep with him.
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They stayed together until her death in 1954.
9. Estée Lauder (née Mentzer) met Joseph Lauder in the late '20s. They got married in 1930, moved to Manhattan, and both changed their last names to Lauder to correct a misspelling that occurred when his father immigrated to the US from Austria.
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They divorced in 1939.
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However, they remarried in 1942, then launched their cosmetics company in 1946.
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They stayed together until his death in 1982. They also had two children.
10. The Love Boat's Gavin MacLeod married dancer Patti Kendig in 1974.
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In 1982, they divorced.
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However, they remarried in 1985. He wrote about their reunion in his 1987 book Back on Course: The Remarkable Story of a Divorce That Ended in Remarriage.
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They stayed together until his death in 2021.
11. Soon after his divorce from Justine Wilson, Elon Musk met Talulah Riley in a bar. They got married in 2010.
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In 2012, they divorced after a trial separation. At the time, he tweeted that he would "love her forever" and she would "make someone very happy one day."
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Only 18 months after their divorce, they got remarried, but he filed for divorce again on New Year's Eve in 2014.
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Seven months later, he withdrew the divorce papers, but she filed again a bit later. They finalized their divorce in 2016.
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12. Paul Hogan was a teenager when he met Noelene Edwards at the pool he worked at as a lifeguard. They got married in 1958.
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They had five kids together.
The couple divorced in 1981.
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They got remarried in 1982.
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However, they divorced again in 1989.
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He married his Crocodile Dundee costar Linda Kozlowski a year later.
13. Jean-Claude Van Damme married actor/bodybuilder Gladys Portugues in 1987.
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They had two children together.
In 1992, they divorced.
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Then, he was married to Darcy LaPier from 1994-1997.
They remarried in 1999, then filed for divorce in 2015.
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However, they ultimately decided to stay together, withdrawing their divorce papers.
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14. And finally, Judy Sheindlin (née Blum) — aka Judge Judy — married fellow judge Jerry Sheindlin in 1977.
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After her father died in 1990, she grew frustrated with her husband's inability to take care of her in her grief, so she gave him an ultimatum — "If you can't maneuver this, I'm going to divorce you."
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He responded, "Oh, yeah? I dare you," and she handed him divorce papers the very next day.
However, a year later, they got back together and remarried. They've been together ever since.
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