Top 25 Celebrity and Professional Athlete Couples of All Time
By Jason Weingartner
@JaWeingartner
Top 25 Celebrity and Professional Athlete Couples
The phenomenon of good looking and talented people gravitating to successful athletes is certainly not a new one. Most people have experienced this early in life when the prom queen was likely dating the standout quarterback or star pitcher.
This continues on, as successful and beautiful celebrities often find themselves in relationships with professional athletes.
It makes for great television, as networks absolutely relish the opportunity to repeatedly point the camera at the famous significant others of players in attendance.
Some of our notable athletes and celebrity couples are still going strong, which is nice to see in 2013. Many, however, don’t make it. Rigorous travel schedules and the inevitable “who is the more famous member of said relationship” arguments certainly contribute to partnerships heading to splits-ville.
But it doesn’t change the fact that, for a short period of time, the paparazzi cameras gravitated towards an “it” couple formed when Hollywood and professional sports collide.
At the very least, it can make a trip to the grocery store a little more interesting for sports fans. Standing in line waiting to check out, you never quite get used to your girlfriend or wife picking up a copy of US Weekly and spotting an NFL starting quarterback on the cover.
Often sipping a Pina Colada or walking a Teacup Chihuahua, it certainly paints a different picture than you’re used to seeing in the sports page next to the box score.
Without further ado, these are our all-time top ten unions of athletes and stars.
Jay Cutler and Kristin Cavallari
The quarterback of the Chicago Bears has recently gotten engaged to former MTV star Kristin Cavallari. He did get creative with his proposal though, reportedly popping the question via text message and mailing the ring to Cavallari. I hope for his sake he sprung for overnight shipping.
Andy Roddick and Brooklyn Decker
The tennis player has recently retired but certainly had a respectable career, including a Grand Slam title on his resume. He can’t be blamed too heavily for shutting down the professional tennis to hang out with wife and movie star Brooklyn Decker.
Justin Verlander and Kate Upton
Justin Verlander may be the most dominant starting pitcher in baseball today. Kate Upton is, well, Kate Upton. They don’t let just anyone grace the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition.
Alex Rodriguez and Cameron Diaz
Alex Rodriguez is the highest paid baseball player of all time. Cameron Diaz has been an A-list movie star for the better part of two decades. The couple has since split, but they left us with the most uncomfortable shot in Super Bowl telecast history. A camera drifted into a luxury box and caught Diaz hand-feeding Rodriguez popcorn. Some things just can’t be unseen.
Tony Parker and Eva Longoria
Tony Parker has become one of the best point guards in the basketball, and he has NBA rings to show for it. Eva Longoria came to prominence as the most desperate of the housewives. These two were tabloid darlings, with Longoria rarely missing one of Parker’s games. It all came crashing down when Parker allegedly cheated on Longoria with the wife of ex-teammate Brent Barry. Sounds like a scandalous storyline right out of Miss Longoria’s television show.
Dion Phaneuf and Elisha Cuthbert
Elisha Cuthbert recently became engaged to Montreal Maple Leafs' defenseman Dion Phaneuf. The starlet has quite the history of dating around the NHL. She even indirectly caused the suspension of Sean Avery, who made “sloppy seconds” comments about his then-ex dating other NHL players.
Derek Jeter and Minka Kelly
Derek Jeter may be the most notorious courter of celebrities in modern sports. There aren’t many hot ticket stars that don’t have some kind of past with the captain. None graced the tabloids as frequently as his on-again, off-again relationship with television and movie star Minka Kelly.
Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen
Tom Brady is the most successful quarterback in recent memory, leading the New England Patriots to three Super Bowl titles. Gisele Bundchen has been, for the past 15 years, one of the biggest and most influential models on the planet. The couple has two children and have cemented themselves as modern American royalty.
Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe
“Joltin’ Joe” DiMaggio was a larger-than-life celebrity of the 1940s and 50s. His 56-game hitting streak is one of the most heralded records in all of baseball history. Marilyn Monroe is arguably the biggest and most influential movie star of all time. When the two were married, they became the most monumental A-List couple in history. There is no modern day comparison to this union. It goes down as the biggest marriage between an athlete and movie star of all time.
Follow Jason Weingartner on Twitter @JaWeingartner
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Mike Fisher and Carrie Underwood
Hockey player meets singer with this couple. They met at one of Underwood's concerts back in 2008 and the rest is history.
Ryan Sweeting and Kaley Cuoco
The popular star from TV's 'Big Bang Theory' is dating Sweeting, a not so popular tennis player. They're definitely one of the hottest celebrity athlete couples of 2013.
Dario Franchitti and Ashley Judd
Franchitti and Judd married in 2001 but now have reportedly split up. He's an Indy car driver and she's an actress turned politician. They had no children together because of this reasoning from Judd: "It's unconscionable to breed, with the number of children who are starving to death in impoverished countries."
Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian
This celebrity-athlete mega couple is on the rocks following rumors of Odom's drug use. Khloe apparently hid his habits for a long time, until she just couldn't take it anymore.
Dustin Johnson and Paulina Gretzky
Johnson made a ton of internet geeks jealous when this couple announced their engagement this past August. Now that Paulina is off the market, it makes you wonder if she'll stop posting her famous Instagram pictures...
Christian Ponder and Samantha Steele
Aren't these two just the cutest? They met and got married in a matter of months back in 2012. For their wedding dinner, Ponder reportedly took his bride to Arby's. No joke.
Reggie Bush and Kim Kardashian
I still can't believe these two broke up. Now look what happened, Kim is with Kanye. Reggie Bush is clearly more talented than that buffoon. Way to go Kim.
Nick Swisher and Joanna Garcia
Swisher hit the jackpot when he married television actress Joanna Garcia back in 2010. They appear to be one of the happiest celebrity/athlete couples and they just had their first child together in 2013.
Tony Romo and Candice Crawford
And people thought that Romo was crazy when he broke it off with Jessica Simpson. I think things turned out alright for him. But I'm sure he misses Jessica's sharp wit at times.
Pete Sampras and Bridgette Wilson
For those of you that don't know, Wilson played Veronica Vaughn in the movie Billy Madison. In the words of Chris Farley, "that Veronica Vaughn is one piece of ace."
Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn
While neither are celebs in the traditional sense, they both are high enough on the cultural radar to be considered on the list. The term "power-couple" is certainly fitting.
David and Victoria Beckham
Becks and his Spice Girl. These two are internationally known and you could argue that they set the standard for celebrity/athlete couples.
AJ McCarron and Katherine Webb
AJ McCarron has won multiple titles at the University of Alabama. Katherine Webb was a pageant queen before she was thrust into the spotlight by Brent Musberger during the BCS title game. She has since appeared on reality TV and in fast food commercials. A true example of striking while the iron is hot.
Rory Mcilory and Caroline Wozniacki
While both are athletes, they have managed to collectively hit the cultural radar as a celebrity couple. If you follow them on various social media sites, prepare yourself to blush from a barrage of cute Kodak moments.
Manti Te'o and Lennay Kekua
The story of Manti Te'o was a tragic one. And turned into a giant laughing stock. His girlfriend's tragic death turned into a farce. He is the ultimate victim of a cat fishing scheme. Te'o has turned into a relatively productive player for the San Diego Chargers, but will likely never live down the girlfriend that wasn't.
Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong Un
Figure we should end this post on a laughable note. Welcome to an America, where our diplomatic efforts towards North Korea lay solely in the hands of "The Worm." Dennis Rodman recently made a trip across the pond to sing Happy Birthday (hoping he used the smokey sexy Marilyn Monroe voice) to maniac dictator Kim Jong Un. Rodman is in Kim Jong Un's camp and likes to refer to him as "misunderstood." This allows the rest of us (a sane population) to refer to Rodman as a basket-case. While this may not count as a full on "romance," it's certainly a "bro-mance" that really brings the hilarity.
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