Celebrities Who Have Dated Politicians

Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau

Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau were snapped showcasing some major PDA while sailing on a yacht off the coast of Santa Barbara in late September.

Rumors that the “I Kissed a Girl” singer was dating the former prime minister of Canada first surfaced. in July, when the two were seen walking a dog before stepping out for a meal together at Montreal’s Le Violon.

Trudeau was then spotted attending Perry’s concert at Montreal’s Bell Centre later that month.

Before they were spotted smooching on the boat, the two had kept their romance mostly under the radar, though a source told PEOPLE, Trudeau has “been pursuing her” since July: “He even flew to California to see her during a tour break. They have an easy connection. She finds him attractive. He’s been very respectful.”

Sheryl Lee Ralph and Sen. Vincent Hughes

Abbott Elementary star Sheryl Lee Ralph has been married to Pennsylvania Senator Vincent Hughes since 2005. The pair began dating after meeting through a mutual friend in the early 2000s.

Because of their demanding careers, the couple has a unique marital arrangement — they see each other every two weeks when Ralph travels from Los Angeles to Philadelphia. But the long distance definitely makes the heart grow fonder for the two: They renewed their vows in August.

“I’m very fortunate. The man that I am married to is Senator Vincent Hughes, seventh Senatorial district of Pennsylvania,” she told PEOPLE in January. “You fall in love with somebody and you realize he’s not leaving his career. He’s not leaving Philadelphia. I’m not leaving Hollywood.”

So, she says, “Every two weeks we [see] each other … When I go to see him, I love to see him. When it’s time to leave, ‘Bye-bye. See you soon.’ I’m telling you, life is good.”

Montel Williams and former Vice President Kamala Harris

Former talk show host Montel Williams dated former Vice President Kamala Harris back in the ’90s.

Decades later, Williams came to her defense as her opponents attempted to weaponize old pictures when she first ran for president in 2019.

“@KamalaHarris and I briefly dated about 20 years ago when we were both single. So what?” Williams wrote on X. “I have great respect for Sen. Harris. I have to wonder if the same stories about her dating history would have been written if she were a male candidate?”

Harris has been married to Doug Emhoff since 2014.

Rosario Dawson and Sen. Cory Booker

After months of speculation, the Luke Cage and Rent actress confirmed in March 2019 that she was dating the New Jersey senator, who is running for president.

While walking through Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., Dawson was asked by TMZ whether there was any truth to the reports that they were in a relationship.

“Yeah,” she said with a grin. “Yes, very much so.”

“So far so wonderful,” added the actress, 40, before piling on the praise for the 49-year-old politician. “He’s a wonderful human being. It’s good to spend some time together when we can.”

The pair split in 2022. Booker recently announced he was engaged to Alexis Lewis.

Pierre Trudeau and Barbra Streisand

Back in the ’60s, Justin’s father, Pierre Trudeau, also dated another American singer — Barbra Streisand.

In her 2023 memoir, My Name Is Barbra, Streisand revealed she first met Trudeau in 1968 at the premiere of Funny Girl. And while she was enamored, their romance would fizzle out simply because Streisand got “a bit scared of the intensity of this relationship.” There was also a big age difference at play, as Trudeau was 50 and she was 27.

The two would remain friends until he died in 2000.

Kim Cattrall and Pierre Trudeau

Kim Cattrall also dated Pierre back in the ’80s. Though not much is known about their relationship, the famed Sex and the City actress had played into a funny moment when 60 Minutes mistook her for Justin’s mother, Margaret, in a retrospective.

“I have a son who is the prime minister of Canada? I couldn’t be more proud,” she wrote on X.

Sandra Lee & Gov. Andrew Cuomo

The Food Network star and the New York governor spent 14 years together, but in September 2019 announced they were going their separate ways.

“Over the recent past, we have realized that our lives have gone in different directions and our romantic relationship has turned into a deep friendship,” the couple said in a joint statement. “We will always be family … or personal lives remain personal and there will be no further comment.”

Their breakup came a few months after the couple listed their six-bedroom estate, nicknamed “Lily Pond. At that time, Lee denied reports that she and Cuomo had ended things, writing on Facebook, “Andrew and I are still very much together. … We keep our lives as private as possible.”

A source who knows them both told PEOPLE at the time that the home sale was part of a larger “downsizing” while Lee focused on other projects.

Jane Fonda & Sen. Tom Hayden

The Oscar winner was married for nearly 20 years, from 1973 to 1990, to political activist and former California Sen. Tom Hayden, who passed away in October 2016 at 76. It was the second marriage for both and they share a son, Troy Garity.

In 2017, Fonda commemorated her late husband and their 17-year marriage by organizing a memorial with Garity and Hayden’s widow Barbara Williams to celebrate Hayden’s “6 decades of commitment to peace, justice and democracy,” according to Fonda’s website.

“He was able to whisper to me the day before he died that seeing people willing to die for their beliefs changed him forever,” Fonda wrote. “And it was ‘forever.’ He never stopped trying to make Democracy a reality.”

Kate Mulgrew & Tim Hagan

The Orange Is the New Black and Star Trek actress was married to Ohio politician Hagan from 1999 to 2013.

Hagan, 73, was the “great love of her life” but he had “unexpectedly broken up with her,” according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The divorce, she later revealed during her interview, came as a result of their careers taking them in different directions.

“All the separations took a toll,” Mulgrew, 64, told the paper. “No one was at fault. We are who we are. I was passionate about my career, and he was so important as a commissioner in Cleveland. He’s rooted there, and I’m not sure I ever fully understood the depth of that or honored it.”

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger & Maria Shriver

The journalist and daughter of the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, part of the Kennedy political dynasty, filed for divorce in 2011, after she learned her husband, former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, had fathered a child with their housekeeper.

The former couple shares four children together: Christopher, Patrick, Christina, and Katherine.

“My family has done a great job at keeping us all together, showing up for one another,” Katherine told PEOPLE TV in September 2016, five years after her parents’ separation. “We are all very, very close and love one another. Just because my parents aren’t necessarily together doesn’t mean anything or affect our family in any other way.”

The divorce was finalized 10 years later.

Marilyn Monroe & President John F. Kennedy

Before Hollywood legend Monroe died of an overdose in 1962 at the age of 36, the star and her relationship with former President John F. Kennedy had been the subject of speculation following her iconic “Happy Birthday” performance for Kennedy’s 45th birthday at Madison Square Garden, which took place just months before Monroe’s death.

“What happened to Marilyn Monroe is one of the great mysteries of the 20th century,” her biographer James Spada told PEOPLE in 2012.

Though Spada said he doesn’t believe there’s any truth to the conspiracy theory that the Kennedys were responsible for Monroe’s death, “It was pretty clear that Marilyn had had sexual relations with both Bobby and Jack,” using nicknames for the president and his brother Robert.

According to Spada, actor Peter Lawford introduced Monroe to the president in 1954. But when he tired of her, he passed her off to his brother. This happened, according to Spada, in the spring of 1962.

Rita Hayworth & Prince Aly Khan

The iconic actress and dancer was married to Khan, a dignitary and United Nations official, for four years before they divorced in the ’50s when daughter Princess Yasmin Aga Khan was 3.

“My earliest memories of my mother and father together were when I was 8 or 9,” Princess Yasmin recalled in a cover story she wrote for PEOPLE in 1987, in honor of her late mother, who died at 68 from complications associated with Alzheimer’s disease. “There were always good feelings between them, and although their marriage didn’t work, theirs was a truly good relationship.”

Yasmin added: “I was 10 when my father was killed in a car accident in France. His death was a deep emotional shock to Mother, and probably it was at that time that the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease began.”

Elizabeth Taylor and John Warner

Elizabeth Taylor met her sixth husband, John Warner, on a blind date in July 1976. The politician had been asked to accompany Taylor to a bicentennial dinner with Queen Elizabeth II at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., and sparks immediately flew.

They were engaged that September and tied the knot that December.

Though Taylor had no problems assimilating into Warner’s Virginia farm life, she had a harder time adjusting to being a politician’s wife once he became senator in 1979.

“He knows he wasn’t the love of my life. And I know I wasn’t the love of his life. But we loved each other,” Taylor told The New York Times in 2002. “We got along wonderfully until he decided to be a politician. And then he married the Senate.”

Taylor ultimately divorced Warner in 1982.