Hollywood isn’t new to heartfelt romances ending in soul-wrenching breakups. However, there is one couple whose relationship is nothing less than a fairy tale, and they are none other than the well-known celebrities Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis.
Both are known for leaving a trail of successful rom-coms in their wake and immortalizing the friends-to-lover trope through their respective iconic movies, No Strings Attached and Friends with Benefits.
Before their marriage, the pair were acquainted and even worked with each other on-screen in the 1998 sitcom That ‘70s Show. Over the years, they followed their own career paths and experienced ups and downs in their relationships. However, after years of being acquaintances in the same Industry, the pair finally found true love in each other.
They tied the knot on July 4, 2015, and are presently the parents of two children. Due to their decade-long acquaintanceship, fans are curious to know exactly how and when they started dating, as well as the details of their romantic life down to their marriage. Let’s shed some light on this.
1998: That ’70s Show
The love story began on the set of the 1998 series That ’70s Show, an adolescent period drama where the couple began their career as co-stars. The 14-year-old Mila played Jackie Burkhart, who was in an on-again-off-again relationship with Michael Kelso (played by Kutcher), who was 20 at the time.
In the 2012 interview with Jay Leno, Mila revealed that the casting directors required the actors to be over 18. While Kutcher fulfilled the criteria, it is surprising how Mila got the part. Speaking on the subject, she said:
“I told them I was gonna be 18, which, you know, I’ve said this story before—it’s not technically a lie, cause at one point, given all things went right, I was gonna be 18. They figured out sooner or later that I wasn’t, but that’s OK.”
Their couple’s romance on-screen formed the central storyline of the series. Shortly after the show’s popularity, Mila spoke about her experience of working with Kutcher. Speaking to People in 2001, she revealed that she was excited to be working alongside Ashton Kutcher and freaked out when she learned about their in-story kiss. She said:
“I was like, ‘Oh, he’s so cute, it’s the Calvin Klein model!’ Then I was like, ‘I have to kiss him?’ I was so nervous and uncomfortable. I had the biggest crush on him.”
But it wasn’t just Kunis who got worried about the kiss. Kutcher also mentioned that he was extremely nervous about the kissing scene. He said:
“I was so nervous. She acted so cool. She seemed as if she’d done it a thousand times. I was the one with the butterflies in my stomach. I mean, here’s this little girl and I have to kiss her. It was nerve-racking.”
The show lasted till 2006, after which the duo went their separate ways.
2005: Ashton Kutcher married Demi Moore
While the show was still on, Kutcher started dating the Hollywood superstar Demi Moore in 2003. They married in 2005 when Kutcher was 25, which hit headlines and attracted enormous tabloid attention. Demi was 40 years old when she got married to Kutcher, and had three daughters from her previous marriage with Bruce Willis.
The couple seemed to have a happy relationship, but after six years in 2011, they announced their decision to get divorced. The reasons for the same remain unclear, except for some allegations of cheating which might have caused the rift in their marriage. Later, Moore gave her statement on her divorce from Kutcher, where she said:
“It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I have decided to end my six-year marriage to Ashton. As a woman, a mother and a wife, there are certain values and vows that I hold sacred, and it is in this spirit that I have chosen to move forward with my life.”
Kutcher also took to Twitter to share his view on his unsuccessful marital relationship. Despite the ambiguity of his statement, he made it clear that marriage is just not for everyone. He tweeted about it and wrote, “Marriage is one of the most difficult things in the world and unfortunately sometimes they fail.”
2011: Mila breaks up with Macaulay Culkin
In 2002, the 18-year-old Kunis started dating the Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin, which lasted for nearly nine years. In 2011, the same year when Kutcher got divorced, she broke up with Culkin. The relationship remained private as the couple refused to share the details of their personal life.
Only after Mila appeared on the cover of Women’s Health in 2009 did she provide the fans with a glimpse into their relationship. Speaking to People, she said:
“We grew up together. You find a steady rock in your life and that’s all you need. We have our ups and downs, but work through them.”
In 2018, Mila finally opened up about her past with Culkin and blamed herself for the end of their nine-year romance. She revealed that the breakup was not easy and believed that it was her fault. On July 23, on an episode of Dax Sheperd’s podcast, she said:
“I had a horrible breakup. I had a horrible, horrible, horrible breakup. I f–ked up. I was an a–hole in my 20s and I’ll be the first to admit it. And that’s kind of something that took me a long time to come out and be like, ‘Yeah, you know what? I was a d–k,’ and accept it. And I own it now.”
2012: Mila reunites with Ashton Kutcher
While 2011 was an overwhelming year, 2012 brought the former on-screen lovers back together. Mila and Kutcher met again at the 2012 Golden Globe Awards and Mila recalled the details of when she first laid eyes on Kutcher on WTF with Marc Macron Podcast, where she said:
“I was looking around, and there was a really beautiful man from the back. I was literally like, ‘Oh, he’s kinda hot’ … and then he turned around, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, it’s Kutch. I thought it was the weirdest thing that I was checking this guy out, and it was someone that I had known forever.”
The pair kept things casual at first, and then one fine day, Kutcher invited her over to his housewarming party. Later, she revealed that he invited her to set her up for a blind date with his friend, which failed to materialize.
During the time, Kutcher was dating another woman and it was then that Mila realized her feelings for him. Speaking on the same, she said:
“I felt like I got punched in the gut, literally overnight. He said something, and I was like … ‘Oh, my God. I love this man, and I have to walk away because this is not the agreement that we had. And so I’m going to speak up.”
Things became serious in April 2012, when she finally made her feelings clear to Kutcher and decided to walk out in case it was not reciprocated. She said, “I was like, you know what, I actually care about you. I don’t want to mess anything up so I’m just going to walk away before it becomes too much.” As it turns out, Kutcher wasn’t ready to let go of his feelings for Mila, and he invited her to move in with him, leading to the beginning of their first official relationship.
2014 and 2015: Engagement and marriage
After Ashton’s divorce from Demi became finalized, he raised the big question to Kunis. Yes, the Just Married star proposed to her with a $260,000 diamond ring from Tiffany’s. It was undoubtedly a special day for the couple. Kunis spoke of the moment when she stated:
“The best day of my life so far was the proposal. I cried. I was a mess. Not to discredit any relationships in my past, but this relationship is different.”
Shortly after the engagement, the Friends with Benefits star made a big reveal on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. She announced that she was pregnant. On Oct. 1, 2014, the couple welcomed their daughter, Wyatt Isabelle Kutcher. Kutcher took to his website to write about the occasion. He wrote, “Mila and I would like to welcome Wyatt Isabelle Kutcher to the world. May your life be filled with wonder, love, laughter, health, happiness, curiosity, and privacy.”
After nearly two years of dating, the couple finally married on July 4, 2015 at a private ceremony in Oak Glen, California. They remained tight-lipped about the details of their wedding and not much information was revealed about their ceremony. On Nov. 30, 2016, they welcomed their second child, Dmitri Portwood Kutcher.
December 2017: The couple made their red carpet appearance
After years of dating, marriage, and two children later, Kunis and Kutcher made their debut on the red carpet at the Breakthrough Prize Awards, hosted at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.
2021: They appeared in a Super Bowl commercial
After nearly 25 years, the couple finally shared the screen during the Cheetos commercial for the 2021 Super Bowl. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Kutcher said one of the reasons for doing the commercial was to take a break from their domestic and quarantined life. He said:
“It was quarantine and we were stuck with our children for nine or 12 months at this moment. And I was like, ‘Two days, baby! Two days off!. Literally we were like, ‘Yeah, okay, let’s do it.’ And so we did it. And I hate saying it but we were like, ‘Freedom!'”
2022: They talked about That ‘70s Show spinoff
It was announced that Kunis and Kutcher would be appearing in the Netflix spinoff series of That ‘70s Show for just one episode. The series, named That ‘90s Show, saw them making their guest appearance with several former cast members, including Wilmer Valderrama, Topher Grace, and Laura Prepon.
The story would revolve around Leia Forman, daughter of Eric Forman and Donna Pinciotti, played by Grace and Prepon, respectively. Talking about the new series to Variety, Kutcher said:
“It was really nostalgic to be back on the set. It’s all the same folks that made That ’70s Show, so it was pretty bizarre. Mila and I were contemplating it. We thought, ‘Listen, we’re only in the position that we’re in because of that show, so let’s just go back and do this. We just went back and had fun for a week. It was so random and fun.”
Their cameo on the show is something worth waiting for, as it happens to be the same set and show where they got acquainted almost 25 years back.
Today, the couple seems to be living a happily married life and is devoting a significant amount of time to raising their children.
