4 Celeb Couples That Beat The Valentine's Day Engagement Cliché (& 1 That Didn't)

So, you've met the love of your life. What better or more romantic time is there to promise each other forever than Valentine's Day? It seems like an obvious win, but one school of thought argues that getting engaged on any major holiday, including and especially V-Day, is a recipe for disaster because it can ruin the holiday if things go south or not feel special or authentic enough. Call it a cliché or even a curse, but many everyday people and professionals alike recommend avoiding a Valentine's Day proposal. This holiday can even ruin otherwise healthy relationships by creating pressure, encouraging perfectionism, and fostering comparison — all of which can feed into the urge to make a big, showstopping gesture that wallpapers over deeper relationship issues.

"If you love someone, you want to show that you care about them, but Valentine's culture tells us we need to book our partners a helicopter and do all this crazy stuff to prove it," psychologist Meg Arroll told Vice. However, Arroll added out that "[o]ften the most romantic moments are the ones that aren't planned, and you can't recreate that feeling in a vacuum." Dire stuff. However, this anti-Valentine's Day theory doesn't always hold true. Even among celebrities, who often have to overcome extra challenges like scheduling and public scrutiny in their relationships, some couples segue their holiday proposals into secure partnerships. From Harrison Ford to Christina Aguilera, here are a few notable stars who are still happily coupled following a Valentine's Day engagement — plus one celeb whose February 14 proposal had a more tragic ending.

Han Solo might reply to love declarations with a curt "I know," but "Star Wars" alum Harrison Ford evidently has more of a romantic streak. For one thing, he's never been shy about expressing his feelings for "Ally McBeal" actor Calista Flockhart. In 2003, barely a year into their courtship, Ford proclaimed, "I'm in love," adding, "Romantic love is one of the most exciting and fulfilling kinds" (via Hello! Magazine). Ford's sentimental side eventually led him to plan a Valentine's Day proposal; seven years into the relationship, he popped the question on V-Day 2009, and he and Flockhart married the following year.

Counter to the supposed Valentine's curse, these spouses have enjoyed a long and dedicated relationship that's still going strong after more than two decades. In fact, in a 2024 interview with People, Flockhart simply said, "[in] so many ways," when asked how "Ford supports her." She added, "He supports me a lot. It's a mutual thing." Her husband seems to feel the same. In 2023, Ford received an honorary Palme d'Or lifetime achievement award at the Cannes Film Festival, and his short but heartfelt speech began with thanks to Flockhart: "My life has been enabled by my lovely wife, who has supported my passions and my dreams, and I'm grateful."

So, what's the duo's secret to a lasting marriage? "Harrison and I laugh a lot, and humor is everything to me," Flockhart told Fox News in 2017. And as Ford appropriately joked in a 2020 conversation with Parade, his strategy is, "Don't talk. Nod your head."

Athletes are increasingly taking center stage among our favorite pop-culture romances. Case in point, GOAT gymnast Simone Biles and her hubby, NFL player Jonathan Owens, attract a lot of attention. And while there have been some red flags in Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens' marriage, these two don't seem to be suffering any bad vibes around their cliché Valentine's Day engagement so far.

Biles and Owens first connected in 2020, when they started chatting on the dating app Raya. "He would say I slid into his DMs," Biles told The Wall Street Journal in 2021. "I saw him and I was like, 'Oh, he's pretty cute.'" As busy athletes, it could have quickly turned into a case of two ships passing in the night, but the timing worked in their favor. "We ended up hanging out right before the pandemic," Owens explained to Texas Monthly in 2021. "It was one of the few times in her life where everything was just shut off and she couldn't do anything. So we used it to get to know each other — really get to know each other. It created our bond and made it stronger. Now I'm so thankful."

Two years into that bond, Owens put a ring on Biles' finger over Valentine's weekend 2022. "The easiest yes," Biles wrote on Instagram, sharing photos of the dreamy proposal. "I can't wait to spend forever and ever with you. You're everything I dreamed of and more! Let's get married, fiancé." Biles and Owens officially tied the knot with two separate weddings in 2023 — one courthouse ceremony in Houston and a larger destination wedding in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Let's just hope that double the celebrations equates to double the lasting happiness for these Valentines.

When it comes to beating the Valentine's Day engagement cliché, "Roar" singer Katy Perry and "Lord of the Rings" actor Orlando Bloom are technically winning, though their relationship presents a curious case. The duo first met at a Golden Globes after-party in 2016 and immediately hit it off, with an anonymous source telling Us Weekly at the time that they were "extremely flirty and whispering to each other" at the event. Dating followed almost immediately, with Perry and Bloom spotted sharing sweet PDA everywhere from Coachella to Cannes.

While they fell into the romance quickly, it was three years until Bloom surprised Perry with a Valentine's Day engagement in 2019 — and a uniquely fabulous ring. "Full bloom," Perry wrote on Instagram, announcing their engagement with a shot of the new jewelry, and the punny caption was certainly accurate. "The ring is a classic floral halo design in yellow gold," jewelry expert and gemologist Grant Mobley described to People the day of Perry's Instagram post. "The center stone appears to be an oval-shaped ruby accented by natural white diamonds surrounding it to create a floral halo."

This design is definitely a statement piece, not to mention that the ring's value is estimated at around $5 million. However, its promised nuptials have yet to materialize. That's right: More than five years later, Bloom and Perry still haven't gone through with their wedding. So, while the Valentine's curse hasn't wrecked their relationship, it's hard to feel like they're in a completely stable place. In fact, according to our matchmaker, there are some red flags in Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom's relationship, including their unusually long engagement. But for now, they're still holding out against any bad juju from that V-Day proposal.

Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom aren't the only A-listers successfully coasting along on a Valentine's Day engagement without ever producing a marriage certificate. They aren't even the Hollywood couple with the oldest outstanding V-Day proposal. "Genie in a Bottle" singer Christina Aguilera has been engaged to MasterClass executive Matthew Rutler since — wait for it — 2014. That's over a decade in fiancé limbo.

Aguilera and Rutler also welcomed their daughter, Summer, in 2014, which may have pushed the couple to make things slightly more official. But they evidently aren't in a hurry to legally codify their partnership with a wedding. "We discuss it when we're snuggling in bed, but it's a casual conversation," Aguilera told Women's Health in 2016. More recently, in 2022, an anonymous source told Us Weekly, "There are no wedding plans at the moment. [Christina] and Matt are happy the way they are. ... They're one of those couples who don't need a document to prove their love for each other."

Will they ever get married? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, their commitment seems to be more powerful than the questionable karma of a Valentine's Day engagement. In fact, the anniversary of their proposal remains a romantic holiday for the couple, as Aguilera showed with a lovey-dovey Instagram post in 2021. "Happy Valentine's Day, my love," she captioned a photo of the couple surrounded by roses and fairy lights. "Here's to all the adventures we've shared and many more to come."

While some Hollywood elites have conquered Valentine's Day engagements with their successful partnerships, others have fallen prey to the cliché, including major names like Lady Gaga. Gaga's five-year relationship with "Chicago Fire" star Taylor Kinney seemed perfect at the time, and Kinney chose the most romantic day of the year for his 2015 proposal. "He gave me his heart on Valentine's Day, and I said yes!" Gaga shared on Instagram, along with a photo of her gorgeous, heart-shaped engagement ring.

However, Kinney and the "Poker Face" singer separated a year later. As Lady Gaga captioned a July 2016 Instagram post, "Taylor and I have always believed we are soulmates. Just like all couples we have ups and downs, and we have been taking a break. ... Please root us on. We're just like everybody else and we really love each other." Despite Gaga's hopes, her relationship with Kinney never rekindled. She reflected on the split in conversation with CBS News, saying, "[Women] just love with everything we have. ... We just want you to love us as deeply and as wholesomely and as fully as we love you."

In her Netflix documentary, "Gaga: Five Foot Two," Lady Gaga also noted a correlation between career milestones and bad breakups, suggesting that her meteoric success might also be too much for lovers like Kinney to handle. But while their Valentine's Day engagement fizzled out, at least she and Kinney didn't become embittered like some other bad romances — in her documentary, Gaga further revealed that Kinney sent her a congratulatory bouquet when she performed at the 2017 Super Bowl. As the star quipped, "Nothing like flowers from your ex-fiancé." Things may not have worked out with Kinney, but Gaga has plenty of other options, and in the meantime, she can take a cue or two from other celebrities who have embraced being single.