More from The Stir: 20 Celebrity Couples With a Huge Age Difference Between Them (PHOTOS)
9/20
Beyonce & Jay-ZBeyonce & Jay-Z
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Beyonce & Jay-Z
Appearances — or, rather — assumptions can be deceiving. Beyonce and Jay-Z are always referred to as being a black couple, and so they are, proudly. But Beyonce’s ancestry is actually varied. Her mom, Tina Knowles, is from New Orleans, the original American melting pot, and has African, Native American, and French ancestry.
10/20
Ellen Pompeo & Chris IveryEllen Pompeo & Chris Ivery
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Ellen Pompeo & Chris Ivery
She heads one of the most diverse casts on television, and offscreen, Ellen Pompeo is married to Chris Ivery, a black record producer, and the couple share a daughter. She’s been criticized, however, as being naive for making statements about not seeing the need for NAACP Image awards, and saying she rejected a push for Isaiah Washington to play her love interest on Grey’s Anatomy because it was “too close to home.” Hmm.
11/20
Jessica Biel & Justin TimberlakeJessica Biel & Justin Timberlake
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Jessica Biel & Justin Timberlake
Much has been made of Jessica Biel’s gorgeous high cheekbones and their Native American origin. We don’t know where she got them — why not her Hungarian Jewish and Danish heritage? — but Biel does boast Choctaw ancestry. She’s been married to Justin Timberlake since 2012.
12/20
Lisa Bonet & Jason MomoaLisa Bonet & Jason Momoa
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Lisa Bonet & Jason Momoa
When Cosby Show alum Lisa Bonet met ex-husband Lenny Kravitz, she says she found someone to whom she could trust her feelings, partly because each had black and Jewish parents. The two had a daughter, Zoe, together. Fast-forward to the present — and Bonet has clearly gone in a different direction. She has two more kids with husband Jason Momoa, who is partly of Native Hawaiian descent. The two married in 2007.
More from The Stir: 20 Celebrity Couples Whose Divorce Got Downright Ugly (PHOTOS)
13/20
Benjamin Bratt & Talisa SotoBenjamin Bratt & Talisa Soto
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Benjamin Bratt & Talisa Soto
There may be a tendency to lump all Latinos into one ethnic or racial category, when the truth is that diversity reigns, as married actors Benjamin Bratt and Talisa Soto can attest. While she’s of Puerto Rican descent, he traces his lineage to Peru (via his mom, who is Quechua, an indigenous group) and Germany, through his dad. They’ve been married since 2002.
14/20
Jessica Alba & Cash WarrenJessica Alba & Cash Warren
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Jessica Alba & Cash Warren
Actress and entrepreneur Jessica Alba, whose father is Mexican and mother is white, says she and her husband Cash Warren, who is of African-American and white descent, want their daughters to embrace who they are, and focus on what’s important: Their future. “People just look at themselves as humans,” says Alba, who has been married to Warren since 2008. “It’s more about who they want to be.”
15/20
Wanda & Alex SykesWanda & Alex Sykes
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Wanda & Alex Sykes
African-American comedian Wanda Sykes is married to a white French businesswoman, so of course, she got plenty of material for her stand-up show from their relationship, including joking about realizing she’s got to take care of her own health, because she can’t “leave her white wife to take care of biracial babies’ hair.”
16/20
Enrique Iglesias & Anna KournikovaEnrique Iglesias & Anna Kournikova
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Enrique Iglesias & Anna Kournikova
While most people know that singer Enrique Iglesias is the son of legendary Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias, they may not know that his mom is Spanish-Filipina. His longtime love? Retired Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova, of course. The two have been together since 2001. “She’s my girl and best partner in all my adventures,” Iglesias says.
More from The Stir: 20 Celebrity Couples We Wish Were Still Together (PHOTOS)
17/20
Gabrielle Reece & Laird HamiltonGabrielle Reece & Laird Hamilton
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Gabrielle Reece & Laird Hamilton
Volleyball pro and sports announcer Gabrielle Reece is living proof that no matter what their ethnic makeup, people can come in all shades. Reece’s father, who was killed in a plane crash when she was 5, was black, from Trinidad, and her mother is a white Briton. She and surfer Laird Hamilton, who is Greek-American, have been married since 1997.
18/20
Andre Agassi & Steffi GrafAndre Agassi & Steffi Graf
Gus Ruelas/Reuters/Corbis
Andre Agassi & Steffi Graf
Two tennis champs, one (seemingly) successful marriage. Steffi Graf, who is German, and Andre Agassi, whose father was Iranian of Armenian descent, married in 2001, after Agassi had conquered an addiction to drugs and other demons, and after a failed marriage to Brooke Shields.
19/20
Tina Turner & Erwin BachTina Turner & Erwin Bach
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Tina Turner & Erwin Bach
An enduring interracial couple, music legend Tina Turner and German music executive Erwin Bach got married at their Swiss estate in 2013 — after 27 years as a couple. She even learned German and Swiss history in order to pass an exam to earn Swiss citizenship, relinquishing her American citizenship in the process. Now that’s love.
20/20
Salma Hayek & Francois-Henri PinaultSalma Hayek & Francois-Henri Pinault
Jonathan Alcorn/Reuters/Corbis
Salma Hayek & Francois-Henri Pinault
Mexican actress Salma Hayek may be from Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, but part of her roots lie in Lebanon, where her father’s family is from. She married French fashion tycoon Francois-Henri Pinault in 2009, and lives that fabulous, impeccably dressed life in Paris.
Mixed race couples are no longer seen as a Taboo. They should command same respect as everyone else.
Interracial love is very much a 21st century fact !
