For most couples, divorce marks a permanent ending. The papers are signed, separate lives begin and the wedding vows become part of a closed chapter.

Hollywood has produced several dramatic exceptions.

Some famous partners discovered that distance did not erase the connection between them. Months—or even decades—after ending their marriages, they returned to the same person and exchanged vows for a second time.

The results were wildly different. A few second marriages lasted only months. Others endured for years, and one reunion continues more than two decades after the couple first separated.

From Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton’s legendary romance to Marie Osmond and Steve Craig’s long-awaited second chance, these nine couples proved that divorce does not always have the final word.

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton’s romance was as turbulent as it was famous.

They fell in love while making Cleopatra and married in March 1964. During their first marriage, they adopted a daughter named Maria and became one of the most closely watched couples in the world.

Their intense connection was matched by repeated conflict. They divorced in June 1974, only to discover that separating had not ended the emotional pull between them.

Taylor and Burton reconciled and married again in October 1975. The second attempt lasted less than a year, ending in another divorce in July 1976.

Even after the relationship ended permanently, Taylor continued to speak of Burton as one of the defining loves of her life. She later suggested that, in her heart, she believed they might have married a third and final time.

Pamela Anderson and Rick Salomon

Pamela Anderson and professional poker player Rick Salomon first married in Las Vegas in October 2007.

The relationship quickly unraveled. Anderson filed for divorce two months later, and the marriage was annulled in March 2008.

Years passed before they surprised the public by trying again.

In January 2014, Anderson confirmed that she and Salomon had remarried. At the time, she described them and their families as happy with the reunion.

The second marriage, however, was also short-lived.

Anderson filed for divorce the following year, citing irreconcilable differences. Their second split became final in April 2015, closing a relationship that had twice led them to the altar but never produced a lasting marriage.

Judge Judy Sheindlin and Jerry Sheindlin

Judy and Jerry Sheindlin offer one of the list’s more successful second-chance stories.

The two attorneys married in 1977 and spent more than a decade together before a painful family loss created distance between them.

After Judy’s father died, she felt Jerry was not supporting her in the way she needed. During one argument, she warned that she would divorce him unless he changed his approach.

Jerry dared her to follow through.

The next day, divorce papers arrived.

Their separation became official in 1990, but neither adjusted comfortably to life apart. Jerry later admitted that he missed Judy almost immediately and found it strange not to see her every day.

They remarried in 1991 and have remained together ever since, turning a challenge made during an argument into a brief interruption rather than the end of their marriage.

Eminem and Kim Scott Mathers

Eminem and Kim Scott Mathers shared a relationship that began long before the rapper became famous.

They met as teenagers in 1988 and spent nearly two decades moving through breakups, reconciliations and parenthood. Their daughter, Hailie Jade, was born in December 1995.

The couple married for the first time in June 1999 but divorced in 2001.

Five years later, they tried once more. Eminem and Kim remarried in January 2006, raising hopes that their long and complicated history might finally settle into a stable partnership.

Instead, the second marriage ended before the year was over. Their divorce became final in December 2006.

Kim’s attorney said there was considerable sadness surrounding the separation because the two had shared so many roles in each other’s lives—as friends, romantic partners, spouses and parents.

Barbara Walters and Merv Adelson

Legendary journalist Barbara Walters married television producer Merv Adelson twice across a relationship that stretched through much of the 1980s and early 1990s.

Their first marriage began in 1981 and ended in 1984.

After spending time apart, they reconciled and remarried in 1986. This second attempt lasted longer, but the couple ultimately divorced again in 1992.

Years later, Walters remembered Adelson with affection rather than bitterness. She described him as kind, thoughtful and funny while acknowledging that remaining together might not have changed the difficulties he later faced.

Despite the marriage ending twice, Walters said she carried no regrets about the relationship they shared.

Larry King and Alene Akins

Larry King was married eight times to seven women, and Alene Akins was the only person he married twice.

The television host first wed Akins, a former Playboy bunny, in 1961. They divorced in 1963, after which King married Mary Francis “Mickey” Sutphin.

When that marriage ended in 1966, King found his way back to Akins.

They remarried in 1967 and remained together for approximately five more years before divorcing for a second and final time in 1972.

The couple shared two children, Chaia and Andy. King adopted Andy during the first marriage.

Although their romantic relationship did not survive its second attempt, the family connection between them remained an important part of King’s personal history.

Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson

Melanie Griffith was only 14 when she met 22-year-old Don Johnson on the set of The Harrad Experiment.

Their connection developed quickly. They became engaged on Griffith’s 18th birthday and married in Las Vegas in 1976.

That first marriage lasted only six months.

For many couples, such a brief union would have ended the story. Griffith and Johnson, however, remained connected despite years apart and relationships with other people.

They rekindled their romance and married again in 1989. The same year, they welcomed their daughter, future actress Dakota Johnson.

Griffith later described the bond as something she could never fully explain or escape, comparing their connection to that of soulmates.

Their second marriage lasted five years before they separated permanently in 1994.

NeNe and Gregg Leakes

NeNe Leakes and Gregg Leakes first married in 1997.

Two years later, they welcomed their son, Brentt. Their marriage eventually became familiar to viewers through NeNe’s appearances on The Real Housewives of Atlanta.

After 13 years together, the couple divorced in 2011.

The separation did not last.

By 2013, NeNe and Gregg were engaged again, with NeNe expressing hope that their second marriage would finally be forever. They remarried that June in an Atlanta ceremony.

This time, they stayed together through the remainder of Gregg’s life.

He died in September 2021 following a battle with colon cancer. NeNe later reflected on the depth of their bond by reminding him that she had chosen him as her husband not once, but twice.

Marie Osmond and Steve Craig

Marie Osmond and Steve Craig’s second chance required more patience than any other reunion on the list.

The singer married the former basketball player in 1982 before approximately 4,000 guests in Salt Lake City. They welcomed their son, Stephen, in 1983 but divorced two years later.

Osmond later married actor and producer Brian Blosil. That marriage also ended in divorce.

More than two decades after splitting from Craig, Osmond reconnected with him through the son they shared.

They married again on May 4, 2011, in a private ceremony at the Las Vegas Mormon Temple, followed by a reception at their Nevada home.

The second wedding was far more intimate than the first, but the relationship proved more enduring. They have remained together ever since.

Osmond said the experience taught her that a second marriage can change a person’s priorities. Things that once seemed crucial may lose their importance, allowing companionship, kindness and genuine attention to matter more.

When an Ending Becomes an Intermission

These nine relationships did not follow the traditional path from wedding to permanent partnership.

Some couples remarried because time apart clarified what they had lost. Others were pulled back together by family, familiarity or an emotional connection that survived the divorce.

A second ceremony did not guarantee a happy ending.

Taylor and Burton separated again within a year. Anderson and Salomon repeated a similarly brief cycle decades later. Eminem and Kim ended their second marriage during the same year it began.

Yet other reunions endured.

Judge Judy and Jerry Sheindlin discovered that their divorce had not removed their need for each other. NeNe and Gregg Leakes remained together through illness and his death. Marie Osmond and Steve Craig reunited after more than 20 years apart and built the lasting marriage their first attempt had not become.

Their stories reveal why remarriage can be both romantic and risky.

Returning to a former spouse means revisiting the person who once felt like home—but also the problems that caused the marriage to fail.

For these celebrity couples, divorce was not always the conclusion.

Sometimes, it was only the space between two weddings.