10 People Who Got Famous For Dating a Celebrity
10 People Who Got Famous Because They Dated a Celebrity
Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at one-time small-timers who claimed fame through a celebrity romance, before making a name for themselves.
Coco Austin
Ice-T
The already award-winning model and B-movie actress Coco Austin didn’t enter the spotlight until 2001. She and rapper Ice-T began casually dating after meeting through a mutual friend. A few months later, they were hitched in Vegas. And by the time they got a formal marriage license in 2006, they were one of hip-hop’s hottest couples. Austin went from the Playboy Mansion to modeling for the iconic magazine’s centerfold. She also had three guest parts on her husband’s show “Law & Order: SVU.” Finally, “Ice Loves Coco” made her a reality TV icon. Fans finally got an inside look at what’s turned out to be an incredibly enduring love story. Of course, Austin’s status has endured on her own star power.
David Otunga
Jennifer Hudson
He may not have ended up with Tiffany Pollard, but David Ortunga was the real winner of VH1’s “I Love New York” in 2007. It was through the show that the Harvard-educated lawyer met R&B diva Jennifer Hudson. Though they never followed through on their marriage plans, the “spotlight” allowed Ortunga to make an unexpected career change. His WWE run included winning the Tag Team Championships twice before transitioning into commentary. Sadly, Ortunga really turned heel after alleged hostilities led to his breakup with Hudson in 2017. He’s nonetheless maintained a steady acting career on his muscular media personality more than the relationship that started it.
Georgina Rodríguez
Cristiano Ronaldo
In 2016, renowned footballer Cristiano Ronaldo walked into a Gucci shop in Madrid, and was smitten with a sales assistant. It would be another nine years before he and Georgina Rodríguez got engaged. During that time, the latter rode overnight media attention as a social media influencer and mainstream model. Rodríguez has been on the cover of some of the biggest magazines in the world, and walked the runway during Paris Fashion Week. Now she’s selling Gucci as a brand partner. Of course, Rodríguez has her own fashion brand, among other lucrative enterprises. And with the Netflix reality show “I Am Georgina,” the future Mrs. Ronaldo makes it clear that she’s a champion all on her own.
Scott Disick
Kourtney Kardashian
“Keeping Up with the Kardashian” fans suddenly found themselves keeping up with Scott Disick in 2007. Things had gotten serious since the small-time entrepreneur met Kourtney Kardashian the previous year. Then his brand got serious as the exposure of reality TV royalty opened up opportunities. Unfortunately, scandals and personal struggles eventually led to Disick and Kardashian calling it quits in 2015, with three children to maintain their high-profile bond. Meanwhile, Disick has stood on his own as a media personality and celebrity businessman. He even showed up the haters by naming his highly successful clothing line Talentless. There’s no denying his true talent for reinvention even without having to keep up with the Kardashians.
Karrueche Tran
Chris Brown
Aspiring Los Angeles model Kaurrueche Tran had just made it to stylist assistant when she met Chris Brown in 2010. And just like that, the R&B idol’s new girlfriend was doing major photoshoots, hosting red carpet events, and starring on the award-winning web soap “The Bay.” But just as this meteoric rise started to peak, Tran and Brown’s relationship collapsed after he admitted to fathering a child with another woman. Tran later received a restraining order after revealing Brown’s infamous pattern of abuse. It was around this time when the acclaimed TNT crime drama “Claws” cemented the actress’s independent stardom. She’s since further proven that she’s been well on her way all along.
Kevin Federline
Britney Spears
Perhaps most celebrities-by-proxy have what it takes to be stars on their own. But the critics didn’t feel that way when backup dancer Kevin Federline married pop queen Britney Spears three months after they met in 2004. “K-Fed” then became a media staple through reality TV, a stint with the WWE, and raising two children with Spears. 2006 saw him release the album “Playing with Fire” to historically bad reviews, though it cracked the Billboard 200 and scored a Teen Choice Award. Things looked bleak for K-Fed professional prospects following his and Spears’s notoriously bitter divorce in 2007. Instead, he’s remained in the public eye as a veteran personality, entertainer, and well-respected father.
Priscilla Presley
Elvis Presley
The first star couple of rock ‘n’ roll was also one of the genre’s first romantic scandals. Elvis Presley was in his 20s when he brought teenager Priscilla Beaulieu from her father’s U. S. Air Force stations into the limelight. She could handle it by the time they married just before she turned 21, and publicly mourned with grace following Elvis’s shocking death four years after the divorce. Having proved her business skills with the boutique Bis & Beau, Priscilla eventually took over her ex-husband’s estate. She grew the King’s brand beyond anyone’s imagination, while making her own name as an entrepreneur, philanthropist, writer and actress. It looks like Queen Priscilla was never one to be underestimated.
Amber Rose
Kanye West and Wiz Khalifa
One particular dancer in the 2008 video for Ludacris’s “What Them Girls Like” stood out to Kanye West. The rapper soon became involved with Amber Rose Levonchuck, supporting her transition into modeling and entrepreneurship until their split in 2010. She rode the momentum into media appearances and a relationship with another hip-hop titan, Wiz Khalifa. There's no denying that this contributed to raising the means and profile for Amber Rose’s move into a music and acting career of her own. But even after she filed for divorce from Khalifa in 2014, she remains a notable and unpredictable force in multiple industries.
Blac Chyna
Tyga and Rob Kardashian
Going into the 2010s, exotic dancer Angela Renée White was already well-known by a different name in the hip-hop industry. Then the world got to know Blac Chyna after she met Tyga on the set of the music video for “Rack City.” The tabloid coverage came to a head in 2014, when Tyga left her for Kylie Jenner, while Chyna hooked up with Jenner’s half-brother Rob Kardashian. The couple’s courtship on “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” was so high-profile that it spawned a spin-off about their marriage. Unfortunately, “Rob & Chyna” was canceled as the central couple divorced in 2017. Of course, it's the media career and entrepreneurship that have truly guaranteed Chyna’s star power.
Sharon Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
The daughter Black Sabbath manager Don Arden ironically became Ozzy Osbourne’s biggest advocate after her father fired him. Sharon Arden was invaluable to the heavy metal singer’s sobriety and successful solo career by the time they got married in 1982. Thus, Sharon Osbourne Management became a credible enough name in the industry for the sole employee to promote rising acts like Mötorhead and The Smashing Pumpkins. Fans finally put a face to the name when MTV’s “The Osbournes” practically defined modern reality TV about famous families. Sharon, in particular, was so charismatic that she cultivated a major media personality. In the end, Sharon Osbourne’s husband had little to do with her becoming a megastar in her own right.
Which star is your favorite romance-to-ritches story? Spread the gossip in the comments.
