The Most Iconic Celebrity Couples Of The 1980s, Ranked

The '80s were a decade of high-glamour, high-profile, and high-drama love affairs, some of which went down in flames, while others have withstood the test of time. From iconic music stars to world-class actors, the power couples of the time dominated the public eye and garnered immense media interest as they navigated the ins and outs of life and love just like everyone else. The attention garnered a fair amount of PR for these public figures, establishing them and their partners as power couples whose relationships still stand out in their fans' collective memory decades later.

Notable stars like Madonna, Tom Hanks, and Arnold Schwarzenegger were not only establishing their impressive careers throughout the 80s, but also cultivating romantic relationships on the world stage with varying degrees of success. Whether or not these unions resulted in lasting romantic bliss or a bitter split, these pairs have gone down in history as some of the most memorable power couples of the decade.

Though some might argue that the sheer extent of fame, fortune, or notoriety of any given individual within a pairing dictates how iconic the couple is as a whole, this list takes into account the popularity of both celebrities both during the 1980s and in the present when quantifying the memorability and pop culture impact of a power couple. Furthermore, the element of romance can't take a backseat when ranking couples. We also took into account the swoonworthiness of their meetings as well as the publicity garnered because of their longevity, or conversely, the level of drama that accompanied their splits. 

Though the relationship between the famed "Rocky" star Sylvester Stallone and the gorgeous Danish actress/model/singer Brigitte Nielsen was brief, they did have a moment as an iconic power couple in the 1980s. The conception of their relationship was controversial — Nielsen paid a bellhop to slip a photo of herself and a note expressing her desire to meet into Stallone's room when they were staying at the same hotel, but both she and Stallone were already married at the time. Nielsen's photo and request were accepted by Stallone.

Stallone and Nielsen married in 1985 after divorcing their respective spouses, and Nielsen knew at the time of their nuptials that the union was unlikely to end well. BestLife reported that she told Oprah Winfrey, "I remember thinking this is too early, this is not right ... If I would go back in time, I shouldn't have married him. And he shouldn't have married me! I don't want to sit here and come across as an angel. ... But it really just wasn't for me, and it became very ugly, like some divorces do."

They went on to film "Rocky IV" together, with Nielsen playing Ludmilla Drago, the wife of the film's antagonist, Ivan Drago. And in 1987, rumors of Nielsen's infidelity spread, leading to Stallone filing for divorce that year. Due to the brevity of their marriage, the pair passed relatively quickly out of the public's attention, leading to their low placement on this list.  

In true rock 'n' roll fashion, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards first met his wife, model Patti Hansen, at Studio 54 in New York City during Hansen's glamorous birthday party in 1979, the same year she began her acting career. Sensing a connection between the two, a mutual friend then invited Hansen to Richards' 36th birthday party, and the pair began dating despite their 15-year age gap. They married in 1983 and have been together ever since.

With Richards' role in a world-famous rock band and Hansen's incredibly successful career as a model for Calvin Klein and Revlon, as well as her acting prowess, the couple seemed to embody an element of star power that kept them relevant in the media throughout the 1980s. Despite being incredibly famous, their romance still exhibited charmingly normal qualities, like Richards' proclivity for making mixtapes for Hansen while they were dating. "Keith was constantly making me mixtapes, and he would do beautiful drawings on them. That was his method of communication ... I have everything in boxes. Thousands of those tapes. I've saved everything," Hansen said in an interview with Harper's Bazaar.

Hansen elaborated on the progression of her marriage and how it has stayed strong over time with Vogue in 2010, stating, "Any marriage, Rolling Stone or not, there's definitely going to be some rocky mountains there. We have had our trials; that's for sure. But on the whole, it's great." After four decades of marriage, the couple is still going strong. The No. 7 spot on this list goes to Hansen and Richards due to their comparatively low-key relationship.  

The world-famous bodybuilder and actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the television journalist and niece of President John F. Kennedy, Maria Shriver, met for the first time in 1977 after being set up by a mutual friend, and soon began dating. At the time, Schwarzenegger was in an open relationship with another woman, and he decided to pursue Shriver while still dating his existing girlfriend. Schwarzenegger's open relationship crumbled after a year of juggling both, and he dedicated his romantic attention to Shriver, whom he dated for eight years before proposing in 1985, shortly after the completion of one of his most notable films, "Terminator." They married in 1986.

Schwarzenegger's incredible acting success in popular movies like the "Terminator" franchise and "Predator" kept the couple in the eyes of the media as their marriage progressed and they expanded their family. They remained married through much of his acting career, retirement from professional bodybuilding, and his political career, during which he served as governor of California. They remained together for 25 years, but after Schwarzenegger's time in political office, Maria Shriver separated from Schwarzenegger on the grounds of his rampant infidelity, which resulted in a son he fathered with the couple's former housekeeper. These two take the No. 6 slot due to the disparity in their popularity, as well as the understated nature of their contentious divorce, coupled with Schwarzenegger's serial infidelity. 

Sometimes, meeting a favorite celebrity can indeed lead to romance. Lenny Kravitz, who was an emerging musician at the time, met "The Cosby Show" star Lisa Bonet by chance in an elevator at a concert in 1985. The moment was so impactful for Kravitz that People reported he wrote about it in his memoir, "Let Love Rule," saying, "My heart started racing. I didn't know what to say, but I had to say something. I knew this chance meeting was my only opportunity. I couldn't blow it." From then on, they became close friends, then roommates, and eventually started dating. They married in 1987 and captured the hearts of the public as Kravitz's music career took off and Bonet's acting brought her great acclaim. In the early days of their marriage, Bonet was still much more widely known than Kravitz, and he was frequently referred to as 'Mr. Bonet.'" When asked in an interview with People if the sentiment bothered him, Kravitz responded in good humor, saying, "I was married to the most beautiful woman on the planet, incredible inside and out, and I wasn't paying attention to that."

Kravitz and Bonet welcomed daughter Zoe Kravitz in 1988, and collaborated on Kravitz's hit album, "Let Love Rule," the following year. The project catapulted Kravitz's popularity, but amidst the album's success, his marriage to Bonet was nearing its end. They kept quiet about their split, which began with their separation in 1991 and eventually led to divorce in 1993. Though the marriage was over, there was still immense love and respect between Kravitz and Bonet, and the reasons leading up to their choice to end their relationship have been kept private. Kravitz and Bonet snagged the No. 5 spot for their memorable careers in music and television, respectively, and also for the respect they maintain for one another even after their divorce. 

Love and romance aren't always spontaneous. There are times when life takes other directions before leading one back to the right person. Actress Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell are a perfect example of this phenomenon. They met for the first time in the late 1960s while filming a movie together, but the romance didn't spark until 17 years later when they met again during an audition for "Swing Shift." People reports that Russell showed up hungover, and with his faculties not exactly sharpened for the occasion, he blurted out an observation about Hawn's figure that could have easily been unwelcome. Luckily for him, Hawn accepted it as a compliment, and the pair went on their first date soon after.

Despite his less-than-ideal state of health during his audition, Russell still got the part in "Swing Shift" and starred opposite Hawn, and the couple began to fall in love in earnest. Hawn, who was already a mother of two at the time she met Russell, explained that she really knew their relationship had the potential to be serious when she saw how naturally Russell interacted with her children on set. She told People, "What really got me was when I watched my kids when they'd come to the set and how he was with them ... He was amazing with them. He was such a natural." Three years after "Swing Shift," the couple welcomed their first child together, Wyatt, and years later, had their youngest, Boston, bringing the total of Hawn and Russell's children to four. They then charmed the public with the conveyance of their romance on screen as they starred together in the romantic comedy, "Overboard" in 1987. They have been together ever since but decided over the decades of their relationship to never marry. These two secured the No. 4 spot because of their steadfast commitment to their relationship and their impressive track records in film. 

Actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson met on the set of "Bosom Buddies" in 1981, but their bond wasn't romantic at that time because Hanks was already married to Samantha Lewes. It was early in both of their careers, and the progression of the 1980s would only bring greater stardom as they partook in grander projects. Hanks and Wilson reconnected on the set of "Volunteers" in 1985 when they played lovers. It was at that point that they recognized the chemistry between them, and romance bloomed. Though Hanks and Lewes were already separated, they didn't officially divorce until 1987, so there's some overlap between the start of his relationship with Wilson and the termination of his first marriage. The finalization of their divorce did little to deter the development of their bond, and the pair made their first red-carpet appearance as a couple in 1986 at the premiere of "Three Amigos."

Hanks and Wilson married two years later, in 1988. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Hanks elaborated on his mindset at the time of his second marriage, saying, "When I married Rita, I thought, 'This is going to require some change on my part.' I won't deny that providence was part of us finding each other, but our relationship isn't magic — the way it's shown in movies. In real life, our connection is as concrete as me sitting here. Not that marriage doesn't come close to being hell in a handbasket sometimes. But we both know that no matter what, we'll be with each other — and we'll get through it." Wilson and Hanks come in at No. 3 on account of their memorable careers and heartwarming dedication to longevity.

Music has a way of bringing people together, and one of the most notable examples of this phenomenon was Madonna and Sean Penn's meeting on the set of her "Material Girl" music video in 1985 when the actor arranged a visit to watch her at work. The Times reported on Madonna recounting her thoughts during that first encounter with Penn, saying, "​​[T]his guy in a leather jacket and sunglasses kind of standing in the corner looking at me. And I realized it was Sean Penn, and I immediately had this fantasy that we were going to meet and fall in love and get married."

The pairing was fiery from the beginning as the pop star and volatile actor stoked the intensity of each other's personalities. Madonna's relationship with Sean Penn was passionate and progressed quickly, but it came with its problems as well. Penn had a short fuse and violent tendencies, which got him into a fair amount of trouble, and he and Madonna butted heads more often than those in healthy relationships usually do. Despite the red flags, the couple married in a small Malibu ceremony meant to be private; however, given the incredible fame of the bride and groom, it was infested by insatiable paparazzi, which sent Penn into a rage and tainted their big day.

Although the world wanted to see this iconic pairing go the distance, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Soon after their wedding, the couple took part in a joint project, "Shanghai Surprise," which strained their relationship further. Then came another violent outburst and a DUI that sent Penn to prison while Madonna's career skyrocketed. Differences in expectations and ideology, coupled with Penn's jealousy of his wife's success, led the couple to divorce in 1989. They are ranked No. 2 for their far-reaching fame and ill-fated, short-term love affair. 

Few couples have fallen as hard and fast as actors Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. Their love story began as a star-crossed match. Moore was already engaged to fellow actor Emilio Estevez at the time she met Willis. The 1987 premiere of the buddy cop comedy film "Stakeout" is what brought Willis and Moore together for the first time. Ironically, Moore's then-fiancé, Estevez, starred in the movie, which accounted for her attendance and set the stage for their split soon afterward. After their first encounter, Willis and Moore dove headfirst into romance, and the pair dated for a mere four months before tying the knot in Las Vegas in November of the very year they met.

With Moore's success in "About Last Night" the year prior and Willis' iconic performance in "Die Hard," they were viewed as an elite power couple throughout the remaining years of the decade and into the 90s. Together, they had three daughters, Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah, but unfortunately, the marriage wasn't built to last, at least not in a romantic capacity. The pair amicably divorced in 2000, but remained close friends and co-parents.

In the two decades since their breakup, both Willis and Moore have shown incredible support for each other's accomplishments and subsequent relationships, and even quarantined together during the COVID-19 pandemic along with their children and Willis's wife, Emma Heming Willis. Moore has also been a pillar of support for Willis as he faces the intense hardship of his aphasia and frontotemporal dementia diagnoses, further solidifying their decades-long friendship. These two are ranked No. 1 for their dramatic start and their commitment to long-term platonic love and support. 

The couples included in this list have been ranked based on the popularity of their work at the time of its release, as well as the lasting impact of their relationships on the public psyche decades later. Couples were also judged on how memorably the nature of their love shines through the years, or how explosively the relationship ended.