Famous non-monogamous people
The list of famous people could be almost endless so take this list only as a highlight.
We have to admit, as well, that this page is a bit gossipy - but we can't help that. We live in an age when coming out as an ethical non-monogamist can still affect your professional life, so it's easy to understand why many try to keep their life philosophy under cover.
We also list these relationships knowing that many are not good examples, best practices. The aim of this page is only to show you how much more people have lived and live now in ethical non-monogamy than many would expect.
To show you how much you are not alone!
The Marston-family
After the success of the Hollywood movie titled "Professor Marston and the Wonder Women" arguably the American academic (creator of the Wonder Woman cartoons and inventor of the lie detector) William Moulton Marston(opens in new tab) and his two partners Elizabeth Marston(opens in new tab) and Olive Byrne(opens in new tab) became the best-known polyamorous people in the world.
Will Smith & Jada Pinkett Smith
There have always been rumours about their open marriage. Sometimes they seemed to admit(opens in new tab) living in an open relationship for two decades. Jada once even explicitly said(opens in new tab) they have been in "non-sexual throuple for years" with Will's ex-wife. Jada's affair with August Alsina happened with Will's blessing(opens in new tab). But as they didn't state the nature of their marriage officially, all this remains to be gossip.
Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt
The 32nd president of the United States and his wife lived in a polyamorous relationship(opens in new tab) involving multiple partners including his bodyguard Earl Millerrel and the journalist Lorena "Hick" Hickok. There are many conflicting resources about their lifestyle - but what else can we expect of a time when they even had to hide that the president was tied to a wheelchair?
Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt
The once most famous couple on Earth, "Brangelina" also admitted their open relationship(opens in new tab). One might say they are a pretty bad example for ethical non-monogamy but it's not our duty to judge other people's lives. What seems certain is that they haven't split up because of an external relationship more possibly because of Brad's drinking problems(opens in new tab).
Warren Buffett and his two partners
One of the most successful inventors of the history (the richest man of the world in 2008) lived in a 52-years-long marriage with Susan Thompson. But their relationship has also had a place for Astrid Menks (opens in new tab)who became part of their triad in 1977 and whom he also married after Susan passed away. They even sent postcards to their friends signed by the three of them together.(opens in new tab)
Erwin Schrodinger's quad
The 1933 Nobel laureate quantum physicist and her wife, Anny Bertel, lived in a quad(opens in new tab) with the fellow physicist Arthur March and his wife Hilde March. Everybody was emotionally involved with each other except for the two men. They parented together(opens in new tab) the daughter of Erwin and Hilde, Ruth March.
(The picture's source(opens in new tab))
Monica Bellucci & Vincent Cassel
The Italian actress who has been listed among the most beautiful women in various magazines for almost 30 years and her French husband lived in an open marriage(opens in new tab) as she stated to Style Magazine. After their divorce, she says their relationship is still amiable(opens in new tab).
Bertrand Russell
The British philosopher, mathematician and writer questioned the Victorian morals of relationships and marriages in his book "Marriage and Morals" - and won the Nobel Prize with it in 1950(opens in new tab). He preached and lived open marriage.
Alfred Kinsey
American biologist, professor of entomology and zoology, and sexologist, the father of modern sex research. His work has influenced social and cultural values in the whole Western world. He was openly polymorous and lived in an open relationship.(opens in new tab)
Jean-Paul Sartre & Simone de Beauvoir
The greatest man of the XX. century French philosophy and the leading members of the feminist movement never married officially but lived in a lifelong polyamorous relationship. De Beauvoir named their relationship as the biggest success of her life.(opens in new tab)
Karlheinz Stockhausen
When the greatest German composer of the second half of the 20th century, Karlheinz Stockhausen, died in 2007, it was his two common-law wives, Suzanne Stephens and Kathinka Pasveer, who jointly announced his passing(opens in new tab). They were both his partners in art and life(opens in new tab).
Anaïs Nin
"I reserve the right to love many different people at once, and to change my prince often."The French-Cuban writer received an honorary doctorate from the Philadelphia College of Art. In 1976 was presented with a Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year award(opens in new tab).
Karl Barth
Pope Pius XII said(opens in new tab) Barth was "the greatest theologian since Thomas Aquinas" - and lived life long for four decades with two women(opens in new tab): Charlotte von Kirschbaum and Nelly Barth in a "V"-type polyamorous relationship.
Paul Bocuse
One of the most acknowledged chefs of history received three Michelin stars and lived with three wives(opens in new tab). "Not only did Bocuse speak openly about having two mistresses, their likenesses appeared on life-size murals inside the same restaurant where his wife, Raymonde, helped keep things in order."
Aldous Huxley
The writer of Brave New World lived in an open relationship with his wife(opens in new tab), Maria Nys involving many partners among whom maybe Mary Hutchinson, the wife of Clive Bell was emotionally the most important.
Carl Jung
The Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology lived for decades with his wife Emma Jung and his lover, Toni Wolf. They mutually loved and respected each other(opens in new tab).
Admiral Nelson's triad
Nelson's affair with Emma Hamilton was the biggest scandal of the age. Their actual liaison lasted only six years. Also because Emma's husband Sir William Hamilton not just knew about it but also supported it and they even moved together in Palermo(opens in new tab).
Percy Bysshe Shelley
The English poet Shelley lived for nine years in a triad with Mary Godwin and Claire Clairmont(opens in new tab), (the writer, who created the character of Frankenstein) until Shelley's death. Later Mary had a liaison with Lord Byron, too, but this is an other story...