The couple that makes music videos together, stays together. Or...not. That being said, it is Valentine season, so we figured we'd look back at some of the all-time most unforgettable music videos starring real-life romantic couples. These lovebirds all canoodled on-camera for the sake of getting some MTV airtime, but which ones kept on making beautiful music together after the final cut?
1) David Coverdale & Tawny Kitaen
This is the gold standard by which all couple videos must be judged. The Whitesnake frontman actually cast his future ex-wife in three of his band's iconic videos--"Still Of The Night" and "Is This Love?" completed the unholy trilogy--but it was this one, featuring Tawny lolling atop her mane man's luxury automobile, that stood the test of time (even if their marriage did not).
2) Pink & Carey Hart
Pink and her daredevil husband were estranged and on their way to divorce court when he decided to be a good sport and accept her invitation to star in her "So What" video (which was in fact a kissoff to Carey). Sparks flew on the set, and the rest was history: The two soon reconciled, and have been back together ever since.
3) Jessica Simpson & Nick Lachey / Nick Lachey & Vanessa Minnillo
Back when they were still newlyweds, J.Simp took her love for husband #1 very public in a romantic, gauze-lensed video. Later, post-divorce, Nick Lachey cast Vanessa Minnillo in the Jessica role for his breakup video, "What's Left Of Me." Now, ironically, Nick and Vanessa are married.
4) Axl Rose & Stephanie Seymour
The Guns N' Roses bad boy and his supermodel girlfriend never made it to the altar in real life, but their wild rock 'n' roll wedding of the century was staged for GNR's epic "November Rain" video. Perhaps the fact that the video ended with a rained-out reception and Stephanie's mysterious death--and that the other video this couple made together, "Don't Cry," depicted them fighting like "Jerry Springer" guests--was foretelling. The two broke up acrimoniously in 1993.
5) Beyonce & Jay-Z
Hip-hop's most powerful power couple went semi-public with their relationship in Jay-'s road-tripping caper clip, "'03 Bonnie & Clyde," and they've been on adventures together ever since. Jay returned the favor by making a cameo in Bey's breakthrough solo video, "Crazy In Love," and later in her "Deja Vu" vid.
6) Seal & Heidi Klum
Looking at how, ahem, cozy these two appeared in 2010, it is astounding to believe that this seemingly solid, incredibly sexy couple split up acrimoniously only two years after "Secret" was shot. Here's the pair in happier, hotter times.
7) Jennifer Lopez & Ben Affleck
"Bennifer" mania was at an all-time high when Jenny thought it was a bright idea to include scenes of her movie-star boyfriend ogling her backside in this voyeuristic video. The result was a tad embarrassing, although admittedly more watchable than Jen and Ben's other onscreen collaboration of the Bennifer era, Gigli.
8) Mariah Carey & Nick Cannon
When these two eloped only weeks after meeting on the set of "Bye Bye," no one thought it would last. But Mimi and Nick haven't said bye bye to each other yet. The chemistry they felt onscreen translated to real life, and now, going on four years of marriage, they're the parents of twins, aka "Dem Babies."
9) Tim McGraw & Faith Hill
The First Couple of Country, who are still going strong after almost 17 years of marriage, flaunted their perfect love all over the screen in this nauseatingly romantic clip. Seriously now, do these two ever bicker over who left the toothpaste cap off, or anything like that?
10) Michel Jackson & Lisa Marie Presley
Much like their icky staged kiss at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards, this trying-too-hard video did little to convince the general public that pop music's oddest odd couple were legitimately in love. Years later, however, it's still a bizarre artifact of the Jackson legacy.
11) Billy Joel & Christie Brinkley
So what if it was later revealed that Billy original wrote "Uptown Girl" for another '80s supermodel, his pre-Christie girlfriend Elle Macpherson? And so what if Billy and Christie eventually divorced after nine years of marriage? This video is still pretty darn cute.
12) Travie McCoy & Katy Perry
Cupid loosened his chokehold on these two long ago, but back when Travie was still Travis, he cast his a little-known Katy as his love interest in Gym Class Heroes' breakthrough video, "Cupid's Chokehold." Soon the two were an item in real life, though it didn't last. Watch for Katy's cutesy cameo at the end, around the three-minute mark. You have to admit, they made a nice couple back in the day.
13) Carrie Underwood & Mike Fisher
In an inspired bit of typecasting, recently married American Idol Carrie chose her husband, hockey player Mike Fisher, to play her groom in one marriage-minded video. He was certainly born to play the role, as these two lovebirds are the very picture of wedded bliss here. Mike comes in at the end; look for Carrie's real-life mother at the beginning of this tearjerker.
14) Josh Kelley & Katherine Heigl
This singer-songwriter met his A-list actress wife back in 2005, when she starred in his "Only You" video. He's been with only her ever since. Aw...it's like a real-life version of one of Katherine's rom-coms, huh?
15) Enrique Iglesias & Anna Kournikova
Rumors regarding the status of their relationship now--are they secretly married? did they break up?--still circulate, but back in 2001 when this video was shot, it was definitely a game of love between the Latin lover and the sexy tennis star.
16) Ric Ocasek & Paulina Porizkova
Paulina played a crazy-girlfriend mental patient in the Cars' "Drive" video--on the set of which she met her co-star and future husband, Cars leader Ric, who was married to another woman at the time. This certainly didn't seem like a promising start to their relationship, but the pair married five years later in 1989, and they're still together today.
17) John Mellencamp & Elaine Irwin
In late 2010, John split from his third wife, a supermodel whom he met at a 1991 album cover photo shoot and proposed to only 10 weeks later. Given such circumstances, not to mention their nearly two-decade age difference, perhaps their marriage lasted longer than anyone might have predicted (18 years). But regardless, they did certainly seem cozy in this clip.
18) Cyndi Lauper & David Wolff
The so-unusual pop star cast many of her actual relatives and friends in her charming early videos, and in "Time After Time," her then-boyfriend David portrayed her love interest. The video was foretelling, since it depicted a couple that had grown apart and was forced say goodbye; the two parted in real life soon after. Their "acting" is so sad and convincing here, it's almost painful to watch. A classic.
19) Robert & Mary Smith
Few people know much about the longtime wife of the Cure's Robert Smith, other than her equally plain and generic name, Mary Smith. But you can catch a quick glimpse of her here--she's the pale-skinned, black-haired lass dancing in Robert's arms during the guitar solo. Childhood sweethearts, the two have been married since 1988, and certainly seem made for each other. They even have matching hair!
20) Paula Abdul & Arsenio Hall
Before she was hanging out with Simon Cowell, or Emilio Estevez, or even MC Skat Cat, Paula was forever Arsenio's girl. Okay, so it didn't last forever...but they were together long enough for the dogpound leader to make a cameo in this classic clip.
BONUS COUPLE: Jon Spencer & Cristina Martinez
They're probably the least-known pair on this list, but the sizzling chemistry they exhibit onscreen makes them a required inclusion here. Garage rock's coolest couple, the two have survived three musical projects (Pussy Galore, Boss Hog, and Solex Vs. Cristina Martinez + Jon Spencer) and nearly three decades of hot underground love. Clearly, they really do dig each other.
Related links: