- Title: Marriage, divorce and pregnancies in a year of celeb weddings and splits
- Date: 28th November 2017
- Summary: VENICE, ITALY (FILE - AUGUST 31, 2017) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS ACTRESS AMANDA SEYFRIED POSING ON THE RED CARPET
- Embargoed: 12th December 2017 18:59
- Keywords: Meghan Markle Kit Harington Ben Stiller Natalie Portman Anna Faris Gal Gadot Pippa Middleton Kate Kardashian Prince Harry Scarlett Johansson Johnny Depp Prince William Ben Affleck Bradley Cooper Kylie Jenner The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Amal Clooney Game of Thrones Irina Shayk Jamie Bell Chris Pratt Beyonce George Clooney Kim Kardashian Janet Jackson Miranda Kerr Michael Fassbender Jason Statham Marion Cotillard Jessica Chastain Lea Seydoux Amanda Seyfried
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: Various
- Topics: Celebrities,Arts / Culture / Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA00B79EQRM5
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Scores of celebrities got married, announced their engagements and produced children in 2017 but there were also a number of splits and heartbreak.
In a romantic angle from 2017 Britain's Prince Harry and U.S. girlfriend Meghan Markle announced their engagement on November 27.
Harry, 33, currently fifth-in-line to the British throne, and Markle, 36, best known for her role in the U.S. TV legal drama "Suits", became engaged earlier this month, the statement issued by Clarence House said.
The couple met in July 2016 after they were introduced through friends.
The pair made their first formal public appearance together in September, with the couple holding hands and watching a wheelchair tennis match at the Invictus Games in Toronto.
Another romantic angle from 2017 involving someone with royal links came in May when Pippa Middleton, the younger sister of Britain's Duchess of Cambridge, was married in a small English country church surrounded by royals and celebrities.
Middleton, 33 at the time of her wedding, who married financier James Matthews, wore an elegant white lace gown with a cut-out in the back and a full long skirt.
She arrived in a open-top car accompanied by her father, smiling broadly and waving to crowds gathered near St. Mark's church in Englefield, about 50 miles west of London.
A number of media reports in October also claimed that actors Michael Fassbender and Oscar winner Alicia Vikander got married.
Vanity Fair reported the low-key ceremony took place in Ibiza with family and friends present.
British actor and "Billy Elliot" star Jamie Bell and "Fantastic Four" co-star Kate Mara confirmed in July they were married. It is the second marriage for Bell after a relationship with U.S. actress Evan Rachel Wood ended in divorce in 2014.
In June 40 year-old actress Jessica Chastain confirmed on Twitter that she was 'off the market' and married to her Italian fashion executive husband Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo. The pair were married in a villa in Treviso, northern Italy.
In May Australian model Miranda Kerr married Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel in Los Angeles. It is the second time Kerr has wed following her three year marriage to actor Orlando Bloom, with whom she has a son.
Actress Amanda Seyfried married actor Thomas Sadoski in the same year she gave birth to their first child.
A love affair that blossomed onscreen between two "Game of Thrones" characters crossed over into real life when British actors Rose Leslie and Kit Harington announced their engagement in September.
Harington, who plays Jon Snow in the fantasy drama, met Leslie, who played Ygritte, in 2011 while filming the second season of the Emmy-winning show in Iceland.
They announced their engagement through a traditional posting in Britain's Times newspaper.
It wasn't just love that was in the air in 2017 as there were also a number of celeb splits.
Film star Johnny Depp's tumultuous divorce from actress Amber Heard was finalized in January, ending the couple's marriage after months of highly publicised claims by Heard of domestic violence and counterclaims from Depp of financial blackmail.
Court papers filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court detailed a splitting of marital assets and an agreement by Depp to pay a previously announced sum of $7 million to Heard that she said will be donated to charity.
One of Hollywood's longer marriages ended in August when actors Chris Pratt and Anna Faris split up after eight years.
Pratt, known for starring roles in blockbusters "Guardians of the Galaxy," "The Lego Movie" and "Jurassic World," and Faris, star of the "Scary Movie" franchise and the TV sitcom "Mom", have a four-year-old child.
The couple married in 2009, two years after co-starring in the film "Take Me Home Tonight". It was Pratt's first marriage and Faris' second.
Another long-lived Hollywood coupling came to an end in May when "Zoolander" actor Ben Stiller and his wife Christine Taylor said they had decided to separate after 18 years together.
"With tremendous love and respect for each other, and the 18 years we spent together as a couple, we have made the decision to separate. Our priority will continue to be raising our children as devoted parents and the closest of friends. We kindly ask that the media respect our privacy at this time," the couple said in a joint statement.
Stiller and Taylor, best known for playing teenage daughter Marcia Brady in "The Brady Bunch Movie" in 1995, have appeared together in many films, including "Tropic Thunder" and "Meet the Parents". They married in 2000 and have two children.
Actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner officially filed for divorce in April nearly two years after the Hollywood A-list couple split. Irreconcilable differences were cited in the paperwork filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, where Garner filed the divorce petition and Affleck filed his response. Affleck and Garner co-starred in the 2003 superhero film "Daredevil" and were married in 2005. They announced plans to divorce a day after their 10th wedding anniversary in 2015.
Musician Janet Jackson split in April from her Qatari businessman husband Wissam Al Mana just three months after the birth of their first child. Jackson and Al Mana married in 2012, and in 2016 the singer postponed her "Unbreakable" world tour so they could focus on starting a family.
Another musician, Spice Girl Melanie 'Mel B' Brown, filed for divorce from her husband in March after nearly 10 years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences.
Court papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court show that British pop star Brown and husband Stephen Belafonte, a TV producer, have been separated since December 2016.
Brown, best known as Scary Spice in 1990s British pop group Spice Girls, married Belafonte in June 2007.
Also in March, American actress Scarlett Johansson filed for divorce from French journalist Romain Dauriac in New York and asked for full custody of the couple's daughter, as her estranged husband asked her to return to the negotiating table.
Johansson filed for divorce in New York Supreme Court on grounds of "the marriage being irretrievably broken." The couple married in 2014 and had one daughter. The court documents also asked for the enforcement of a prenuptial agreement dated Sept. 24, 2014.
In a statement, Dauriac said it was "unfortunate" that Johansson filed for divorce in court "and made our personal differences so public." This was the second marriage for "Captain America" star Johansson, who was married to "Deadpool" actor Ryan Reynolds from 2008 to 2011.
"Twilight" star Robert Pattinson is also rumoured to have split with his musician fiancee FKA Twigs, according to multiple media outlets. The pair have been together for three years.
A number of showbiz stars welcomed children into the world in 2017 or announced they are expecting.
Leading the way was the announcement in September that British royals, Prince William and his wife Kate are expecting a third child.
"Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting their third child," Kensington Palace said in a statement.
"The Queen and members of both families are delighted with the news," it said.
William and Kate's two children, George and Charlotte, are aged four and two. Their third child would be fifth in line to the British throne.
William, 35, is the eldest son of Prince Charles, the first in line to the throne, and a grandson of the queen.
From British to Hollywood royalty George Clooney and the lawyer Amal Clooney welcomed twins in June.
Amal gave birth to a boy and a girl, named Ella and Alexander Clooney, the first children for the international human rights lawyer and her movie star spouse.
In the same month as the Clooneys U.S. singer Beyonce also gave birth to twins in Los Angeles.
The former Destiny's Child singer caused an internet sensation in July when she posted a picture on Instagram of her newborns, named as Sir Carter and Rumi.
By October the picture had been liked more than 10 million times. Beyonce and rapper and music producer Jay Z, already have a five-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy.
In the world of reality stars the Kardashian and Jenner clan are also rumoured to be adding new members to the family.
In September Kylie Jenner, the youngest member of the celebrity Kardashian family, was reported to be pregnant.
Celebrity news website TMZ, People magazine and Buzzfeed all quoted sources as saying that Jenner, 20, the half-sister of Kim Kardashian, is expecting a baby with her boyfriend, the rapper Travis Scott.
Just days later it was reported that Khloe Kardashian, the younger sister of Kim Kardashian, is pregnant.
Celebrity news publications TMZ.com, Us Weekly and People Magazine, all citing unnamed sources, said Khloe, who is dating Cleveland Cavaliers basketball player Tristan Thompson, is three months pregnant with her first child.
Then, perhaps the most recognisable Kardashian of them all, Kim Kardashian confirmed reports in September that she and husband Kanye West are having a third baby, with the couple expected to use a surrogate for the birth.
Kardashian's confirmation, in a trailer released for the new series of reality show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians", means that three of the Kardashian siblings may be expecting children around the same time.
Kardashian and West were rumored in June to have hired a surrogate because of serious health complications with Kardashian's first two pregnancies and the birth of children North, 4, and one-year-old Saint.
The reality star has given detailed accounts on her blog about the difficulties she experienced during her two labors, and has spoken about considering surrogacy for future children with West.
In June, model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley revealed she had given birth to a baby boy with her fiance, the 49 year-old action star Jason Statham.
French actress Marion Cotillard and her partner Guillaume Canet welcomed a baby girl in March, which is the couple's second child.
Another French actress, Lea Seydoux, star of critically acclaimed movie "Blue Is The Warmest Colour", also gave birth to a boy, named George, early in 2017.
Celebrity couple, the actor Bradley Cooper and model Irina Shayk, also welcomed a baby girl named Lea de Seine Shayk Cooper in 2017.
Actress Natalie Portman had a great reason for missing this year's Oscar ceremony when she gave birth to her second child in February but kept the new arrival quiet in the days leading up to the Academy Awards show.
Portman gave birth to daughter Amalia on Feb. 22, her publicist said in a statement issued to People magazine.
Portman and French choreographer husband Benjamin Millepied already have a son, Aleph. They were married in California in 2012.
In March, "Wonder Woman" action hero Gal Gadot gave birth to her second daughter. The Israeli actress is married to real estate developer Yaron Versano. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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