Separately, Warren Beatty and Annette Bening are screen legends in their own right. He's an Oscar-winning writer-director-actor with a career spanning six decades, from "Bonnie and Clyde" to "Bulworth." She's one of the greatest actresses alive, having scored her fifth Oscar nomination this year with the biopic "Nyad." Taken together, they're a Hollywood love story for the ages.
Warren Beatty, 86, and Annette Bening, 65, met while filming "Bugsy" in 1990, tied the knot in 1992 and never looked back. They share four children: Stephen, Benjamin, Isabel and Ella Beatty, whom you might have seen in the FX series "Feud: Capote vs. The Swans."
Despite prolific careers, the couple have always prioritized their family of six. In a January 2024 appearance on "The Drew Barrymore Show," Annette Bening gushed, "I am so, so proud of us. I think marriage is like the greatest thing and greatest challenge to really make it all work and to stay together."
For his part, Beatty spent decades earning a playboy reputation—he had high-profile relationships with the likes of Joan Collins, Diane Keaton and Madonna—before settling down. Until Annette Bening, it seemed Shirley MacLaine's younger brother was Hollywood's most adamant bachelor.
Fast-forward to the early-2000s and Warren Beatty took a 15-year hiatus from acting to focus on his family. He told GQ in 2016 that becoming a father is "the biggest thing that's ever happened to me," adding: "And their mother. That's bigger than fame, and it came not a moment too soon."
How did one of Hollywood's most iconic couples get together, and what's their secret to success 34 years later? Here's Warren Beatty and Annette Bening's enduring love story.
Warren Beatty and Annette Bening Met at a Business Lunch
Warren Beatty and Annette Bening at the L.A. premiere of "Bugsy" in 1991. (Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Warren Beatty and Annette Bening came together over Barry Levinson's Oscar-winning 1991 crime biopic "Bugsy." Beatty suggested casting Bening in the role of Virginia Hill, girlfriend to his titular gangster Bugsy Siegel. The two met for lunch in 1990 to discuss the role, and it was off to the races.
"It took about 10 minutes [to fall in love with her]. Maybe five. I was so elated to meet her, and yet at the same time, I began to mourn the passing of a way of life," Beatty recalled to the New York Post in 2014.
For her part, Bening was won over by Beatty's brains on their first meeting.
"I was going to meet him and he was incredibly intelligent. That was honestly the biggest aphrodisiac," she said on "The Drew Barrymore Show" in 2024. "Funny and super smart. Now, he is also very handsome. I thought, 'Wow, this is quite a guy.'"
They Welcomed Their First Child and Said 'I Do' in 1992
Warren Beatty, Annette Bening and their kids at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004. (Evan Agostini/Getty Images)
About two years into their relationship, the couple became parents with the arrival of their son, Stephen Ira Beatty. Two months later, Beatty and Bening wed in a private ceremony attended only by their baby boy.
The couple later welcomed three more children: Benjamin Beatty (born 1994), Isabel Beatty (born 1997) and Ella Beatty (born 2000).
Warren Beatty Quit Acting to Focus on Family
Annette Bening and Warren Beatty in 1999. (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc.)
Beatty took a 15-year hiatus from acting, finally returning to the big screen in the 2016 rom-com "Rules Don't Apply," which he also directed. The long break was a chance for him to enjoy those early years with the kids, he told PEOPLE:
"I have four children and any one of them is more interesting than any 12 movies I've done. I had my life before them and my life since them."
At this point, Warren Beatty and Annette Bening are empty-nesters — a change that took some getting used to. "I think we're both still adjusting to the quiet at home," Bening told AARP in 2019.
The Key to Warren Beatty and Annette Bening's Marriage
Annette Bening and Warren Beatty in 2021. (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
Warren Beatty and Annette Bening know that their 32-year marriage is a rare success story in the history of Hollywood romances.
"I am so, so proud of us," Bening told Drew Barrymore in 2024. "I think marriage is like the greatest thing and greatest challenge to really make it all work and to stay together."
What's the secret to their partnership? Beatty offered up "respect" in a 2016 appearance on "Today," but the couple also credit their children with giving their marriage a deep sense of purpose. Besides, their differences have kept things exciting:
"In some ways we're very different, some ways we're alike," Bening told "Today" in 2016. "But the differences, I think, help us and there's some fire there. We want the same things."
