20 Mature Celebs Who Tied The Knot After Turning The Big 4-0

Marriage is a personal decision, but the majority of people that do decide to marry tend to do it during their late twenties and early thirties, although there are also times when true love finds people later in life.

For some A-listers, a lot of really great things happened after they turned forty; take Desperate Housewives' Marcia Cross as an example, because not only did she meet the love of her life and get married in her forties, but she also became a first-time mom. And when Salma Hayek met Francois-Henri Pinault they ensured their wedding was an unforgettable (and a pricey one because it is said to have set them back $3.5 million).

There are also those celebrities who chose to wait because they were afraid of marriage, or they just didn't believe in it, not until the right person came along and changed their minds. And others had no choice but to wait until the laws changed in their favor. Below are 20 mature celebs who tied the knot later in life, and although some of their relationships continue to blossom, others didn't work out and they ended up calling it quits a few years later.

20 Amy Adams Waited To Marry Darren Le Gallo Because She Doesn't Like Being The Center Of Attention

Amy Adams and Darren Le Gallo married in May of 2015, when she was aged 41, but they had been together for 14 years before they decided to tie the knot. Adams knew that Le Gallo was the one for her, but she chose to wait, and she discussed this with E! News in 2017, simply explaining that she avoided getting married because she doesn't like to be the center of attention.

She said, "I'm not the kind of person. I avoided getting married for a really long time because I don't like people looking at me."

19 Salma Hayek And Francois-Henri Pinault Had A Lavish $3.2 Million Wedding

In 2009, Salma Hayek and Francois-Henri Pinault got married in one of the most lavish celebrity celebrations. According to CBS News, the wedding cost $3.5 million and was held in Venice's opera house, Teatro La Fenice, on Valentine's Day. There were many famous faces in attendance, including Bono and Woody Harrelson in attendance. Hayek found the one she was meant to be with later in life, and she told Allure,

“I wish I knew [when I was younger] that I was going to fall crazy in love with the perfect man.

I was so worried, and I dated some people I shouldn't have dated.”

18 Before Her Marriage To Jesse James, Sandra Bullock Admitted Marriage Scared Her

Sandra Bullock and Jesse James have since split, but they married in 2005 when the actress was 41. As for why she waited so long? It appears marriage was not something Bullock really wanted, because she once told Entertainment Tonight (via E! News) back in 1999, she was "deathly afraid of marriage.” She also stated,

"Maybe people spend too much time looking.

I think we spend too much time looking for things that are more things that society wants us to look for and that we get from a magazine rather than that are really worth it.”

17 Geri Halliwell Was 42 When Her Dreams Came True And She Wed Christian Horner

Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell found love with the principal of the Red Bull racing team, Christian Horner, and they married in a beautiful wedding in England in 2015. The ceremony was held at St Mary's Church in Bedfordshire, and according to The Sun, the bride wore a beautiful dress custom made by British designer Phillipa Lepley.

The couple couldn't stop smiling in their wedding photos, which is not surprising because it seems they finally found their person, even though it was later in life (Halliwell was aged 42 on her wedding day).

16 For Marcia Cross, Her Forties Were A Great Time, And She Married Tom Mahoney

For Marcia Cross and Tom Mahoney, everything started a little later in life, but after their chance meeting at a flower shop, they didn't wait to get married and said “I do” in San Gabriel, California. For Cross, a lot happened in her forties, including her marriage when she was aged 44, and then later she fell pregnant with their twins.

“Tom and I were blown away by the whole thing. The universe gave me so much love,”

she said of her wedding, People reports. She's obviously very appreciative

15 Ellen DeGeneres Couldn't Wait To Finally Marry Portia Rossi

After the Californian marriage laws changed, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia Rossi decided to wed at their Beverly Hills estate in 2008, three years after they started dating (they were first linked in December of 2004). According to E! News, there were just 30 guests in attendance and both DeGeneres and Rossi wore Zac Posen. DeGeneres also spoke about her excitement ahead of the nuptials, saying,

"I can't wait to be married. I feel like it is long overdue.

And I think someday people will look back on this like women not having the right to vote and segregation and anything else that seems ridiculous like we all don't have the same rights."

14 Jessica Chastain Married Her Italian Husband When She Was 40

After five years of dating, Jessica Chastain married Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo in the Italian city of Treviso, where her husband's family have an estate. She was 40 at the time of her nuptials, and according to People, the couple celebrated their wedding with many famous guests in attendance, including Anne Hathaway and Edgar Ramirez.

The couple is pretty private about their romance, but People notes that Chastain did once tell Mario Lopez during an interview with Extra, she was “very, very happy” with her man.

13 Elizabeth Hurley And Arun Naya Had Not One, But Two Weddings

Elizabeth Hurley has had several high profile romances, but she has only been married once, and that was to Arun Naya. In 2007, the couple got married in not just one but two lavish ceremonies; the first was a traditional Anglican wedding in an English castle, and the second, was a week-long Hindu celebration in India, CBS News reports.

The couple also left no expense spared and they reportedly spent $2.5 million on the celebrations. However, in 2011, they split.

12 Vince Vaughn Put His Bachelor Lifestyle Behind Him When He Met Kyla Weber

Vince Vaughn found “the one” in Canadian real-estate agent Kyla Weber, and after proposing to her on Valentine's Day in 2009, they couple married less than a year later, when Vaughn was aged 40. According to People, the couple married in an intimate ceremony in Chicago and this put an end to Vaughn's long history of being a bachelor.

Prior to the nuptials, he told People he was looking forward to having children and wanted his life to not only be about just himself now, but also “to be about other people and other things.”

11 Diane Sawyer Knew Mike Nichols Was The One Before He Even Spoke To Her

Diane Sawyer and Mike Nichols met when she was 40, and according to People, their romance blossomed quickly from this point onwards. In fact, Sawyer previously told Harper's Bazaar that she knew she had found the man for her before they even spoke, saying,

“I knew before he spoke, I knew before he was walking across the room I knew something was happening, and maybe it's that beautiful hallmark.

Cue the violins? But I knew my life was changing.” The pair married in Martha's Vineyard on April 29, 1988, People reports.

10 After More Than 20 Years Together, Elton John And David Furnish Got Married

Elton John and David Furnish had been dating since 1993, and the longtime partners converted their civil partnership (from 2005) to marriage in 2014, after the legalization of gay marriage.

According to BBC, the couple celebrated at their Windsor estate in Berkshire, England, where they were joined by several famous guests including Ed Sheeran, David Walliams, and David and Victoria Beckham and their family.

Prior to his wedding, Elton John spoke about his excitement with Today (via E! News), saying, "We will do it very quietly. It will be a joyous occasion and we will have our children there. Extraordinary.”

9 Cameron Diaz And Benji Madden Fell In Love Early And Married In Secret

Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden had a very low-key wedding back in 2015, when the actress was aged 42.

The couple married after just seven months of dating, and after their initial meeting, Diaz realized this was an instant attraction.

The couple chose to make it an intimate ceremony in her Los Angeles home and Diaz told Andy Cohen (via Hello!) about it. She said, "We got married in our living room in front of our friends. Had a little party in our backyard on the tennis court. Otherwise, it would have been something else."

8 Katie Couric Loves Being Married To John Molner

Katie Couric married for the second time in 2014, after meeting and falling in love with banker John Molner. Couric's first husband passed away, and it took her a long time before she felt ready for marriage again, People notes.

“It took me a long time [to marry again], because I loved being married and I love being married now. And I'm not a solitary person. I like company.”

The couple exchanged vows in their home in The Hamptons, and still appear to be very happy, with Couric telling Us Weekly that they often have date nights and date vacations.

7 Julianna Margulies Was Pregnant With Keith Lieberthal's Son When They Said "I Do"

When Julianna Margulies became a married woman she was 41. She met lawyer Keith Lieberthal at a mutual friend's dinner party, and the couple married in a quiet ceremony in 2007 when the actress was around seven months pregnant with their son, People reports.

Margulies may have married later in life, but she feels this was a great decision. She told Good Housekeeping, "I feel very grateful that I had the courage to say 'no' when I did and say 'yes' when I could, that I waited to find the right mate and to have this little family."

6 George Clooney Believed In Marriage After Meeting Amal Alamuddin

George Clooney was one of the most well-known bachelor's in Hollywood - although he was married briefly to actress Talia Balsam from 1989 to 1993 - and he was reluctant to get married again. In 2014, he told Esquire,

"I haven't had aspirations in that way, ever. I was married in 1989. I wasn't very good at it. I was quoted as saying I'll never get married again pretty much right after I got divorced and then I've never talked about it since."

But that all changed when he met Amal Alamuddin. The couple married in 2014, when Clooney was aged 53.

5 Calista Flockhart And Harrison Ford's Wedding Was A Low-Key Affair

Harrison Ford had two failed marriages before he met Calista Flockhart, who is 20 years his junior. The couple got engaged in 2009 on Valentine's Day and married not long after in a ceremony in Santa Fe, People reports. The wedding was not a lavish affair like so many other celebrity weddings, instead, it was casual, with the actor wearing jeans and Flockhart wearing a white sundress.

Flockhart was aged 45 at the time and almost a decade later, they are still together.

4 Viola Davis And Julius Tennon Celebrated Their Love Again By Renewing Their Vows

Viola Davis and actor Julius Tennon married when she was 38, and he was 52. The ceremony took place in 2003, and the pair is still going strong. In fact, they are so happy and in love that they decided to celebrate their marriage with a renewal of vows in 2016, Huffington Post reports.

The couple chose to celebrate with a small group of friends, and Davis told InStyle the reason they decided to essentially get married for the second time was that she “wanted an experience of feeling alive.” She continued, “There's no better way to feel what life is truly about than the birth of a child and getting married to someone you love - really love. It's a reminder. A wake up."

3 George Takei And Brad Altman Applied For A Wedding License As Soon As They Could

George Takei and Brad Altman were together for more than two decades before they married, and according to Slice, the couple applied for their marriage license in 2008 (shortly after California's marriage laws changed), and the publication states that they were the first gay couple to apply in West Hollywood.

That same year, they were married, and according to JustJared, the happy pair celebrated their love with 200 guests in attendance at a ceremony at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.

2 Jerry Seinfeld Feels A Tremendous Power In Sharing His Life With His Wife Jessica

Jerry Seinfeld was in his forties when he met Jessica Sklar, who was actually a newlywed when they met. But she felt an attraction to Jerry that she could not ignore, and soon divorced, TripSavvy notes. In 1999, Seinfeld proposed to Sklar at the trendy SoHo restaurant, Balthazar, and it was a short-lived engagement because after just seven weeks they married. When asked if marriage was worth it in an interview with Oprah's O magazine, Seinfeld stated,

"There's a tremendous power and energy in sharing your life with another person.

I'm married ten years next week, and it's as big a joy for me now as it was when we first started dating."

1 Mariska Hargitay And Peter Hermann Based Their Relationship On A Foundation Of Faith

Actress Mariska Hargitay married Peter Hermann when she was 40. The pair met on the set of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit in 2001, PopSugar reports, and not long after, Hargitay and Hermann started to have deep conversations about their faith.

Three years later, Hermann proposed and the couple married that same year. According to Entertainment Tonight, when Hargitay was asked the secret to their marriage success she simply responded by saying there was no secret and it was all down to “fundamentals.”

References: E! News, CBS News, Allure, E! News, Hello! magazine, Hello! magazine