You might think that celebrities have it pretty easy when it comes to love. After all, when you’re rich and famous, it’s pretty easy to find someone who wants to be your partner. However, gay celebs sometimes have more difficulty finding romance for many reasons, including the fact that coming out can sometimes negatively affect their careers.
That’s why we love to hear sweet stories about how gay celebrity couples met. How did everyday men and women meet some of the most famous people in the world? And for couples enjoying their own Happily Ever After, just where did their fairytale start?
You’ve got the questions and we’ve got the answers. Keep reading to discover the heartwarming stories of how your favorite gay celebrity couples met!
George Takei and Brad Altman
Star Trek star George Takei has been open about his sexuality for a very long time. Fortunately, that hasn’t slowed down his career or hurt his appeal to legions of sci-fi fans. And that openness helped him to meet his future husband, Brad Altman, decades ago.
Back in the ‘80s, the two of them were in a gay running club called LA Frontrunners. As reported by the Huffington Post, Takei has a very cute story of how these two actually met. “He was the best runner in the club, and also great-looking,” the Trek star said. “So I went up to him and I asked him to train me for my first marathon.”
That’s ironic, because these two definitely know how to go the distance. They’ve been together since the ‘80s and have been married since 2008!
Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka
Neil Patrick Harris is one of the most famous gay celebs, winning the world over as Doogie Howser before stealing every scene in his hit show How I Met Your Mother. That show portrays him as a smooth-talking ladies’ man, but in real life, the very gay Harris was anything but smooth when meeting his future husband, David Burtka. As reported by Out, they would hang out together with friends, and Harris thought the other man was a “brooding, James Dean–type guy in a leather jacket.”
Unfortunately, they didn’t get much quality time together, and Burtka was dating someone else at the time. But after they both attended an American Idol viewing party thrown by a mutual friend, and Harris later recalled, “I just stammered around him. I couldn’t take my eyes off him.” Fortunately, Burtka felt sparks, too, breaking up with his boyfriend and dating Harris a week later. The rest is history, as they have been married since 2014!
Elton John and David Furnish
Once upon a time, Elton John was arguably the most famous gay celebrity on the planet. Everyone had already fallen in love with his music by the time the singer came out, and his fame was never really affected by his officially coming out in 1992. Coming out did help him find love, though, as he met his future husband, David Furnish, in 1993.
It all started when the musician moved back to his Windsor house and decided he wanted to meet new people. Accordingly, he asked a London friend to get some people together for dinner, and this is where Elton John met Furnish. As he told Parade, “I was attracted to David immediately. He was very well dressed, very shy.”
Fortunately, the feeling was mutual. The two went on their own solo dinner date the next day and have been together ever since, getting married back in 2014.
Lance Bass and Michael Turchin
Remember when we said it can be difficult for gay celebs to find love? Lance Bass understands that better than most…after all, he became famous as a member of the boy band N’Sync, and most of their fans were women. The challenge for him, then, was to find the right man, one who ideally liked him for his personality and not his famous tunes.
That happened when he met his future husband, Michael Turchin. They met at a friend’s birthday party and became good friends, but neither was sure if the other wanted anything more. As reported by the Bustle, Bass’s fame made things more complicated for Turchin: “I am so shy and never would have made the first move,” he said. “I was thinking, This is Lance Bass. I grew up watching him on TV and listening to his music. That just added a whole other layer of intimidation.”
We can sympathize with how he felt…everyone always fantasizes about meeting a childhood celeb crush, but it’s downright scary to think about what we’d say or how we’d act! Fortunately, things worked out for these two: they became so “in sync” that they got married in 2014!