Ellen Barkin's Spouse: The Actress Was Married Twice and Had Some High-Profile Flings

Ellen Barkin has led a colorful romantic life filled with two marriages, notable flings, and intriguing connections. The actress's journey has often been in the public eye, from high-profile relationships to her divorce that made headlines.

Ellen Barkin's former spouse made the actress a lightning rod for New York gossip columns, but her love life is far more interesting than a public divorce with a billionaire. Months after her second divorce, she sold all the jewelry her ex-husband gave her at auction.

The actress and producer also star in the Netflix comedy "The Out-Laws." She has also been connected to a few famous men, some significantly younger.

Ellen Barkin Spent Holidays with Her First Spouse Long after Their Divorce

Irish actor Gabriel Byrne and Barkin met and fell in love on the set of the 1987 R-rated film "Siesta." The pair married in Las Vegas on the spur of the moment on September 18, 1988. It was the first marriage for both of them; he was 38, while she was 34.

During their five-year union, they had two children and were sometimes seen as a Hollywood power couple. They had an amiable divorce which was finalized in May 1999.

The actress revealed in 2011 that they spent every birthday together with their kids. He also visited her place when she cooked for the holidays, and she would spend Christmas with him.

Barkin lauded her ex-husband for being a "great father" to their children and "extremely supportive" of her during rough patches of her life. She said:

"I don't think a marriage has to last forever to be successful, and I think we had a good marriage, and we managed to keep what was good about it alive for 25 years."

The Irishman eventually remarried "I Believe in Unicorns" producer Hannah Beth King in the 2010s, with whom he had another daughter.

Ellen Barkin Met Her Match in Ronald Perelman

"So, are you married or single or what?" This was the opening line of the man she would spend the next five years with. Barkin met billionaire businessman Ronald Perelman at the Vanity Fair Oscars after-party on March 21, 1999.

Perelman reportedly blindsided her.

Perelman had been married three times. "The Out-Laws" actress' friends warned her that he can be intense and controlling. "I finally met my match," she said in an interview during their good years.

The relationship moved fast; he sent her a Cartier timepiece for her birthday in April within a few weeks of their meeting and proposed not long after. They married on June 28, 2000, in a small ceremony of around 45 people. A source close to the couple called it a "very physical relationship."

According to a report, the billionaire dictated how she should conduct her acting career, banning sex and kissing scenes and movies that were shot outside New York City. He sought approval of all scripts.

Barkin gave insight into her husband's jealousy when she told a "funny" anecdote on a late-night show. Perelman did not speak to her for two weeks after they watched "Bad Company," where she has a sex scene with Laurence Fishburne.

A friend of the actress revealed they had a big falling out after she accepted a part in "Ocean's Twelve" in the spring of 2005. She moved out of their NYC home with her kids for a while, but they worked through their issues in couple's therapy.

Perelman reportedly blindsided her with divorce papers early in January 2006. The divorce was swiftly resolved by Valentine's Day 2006. Perelman's camp claims she got a settlement of $60 million, while some reports have it closer to $20 million.

Due to a legal gag, Barkin may not discuss the ugly divorce. She said in 2011, "All I can say is I was extremely naïve for someone who considers herself to be a very smart, savvy, cynical New York broad."

The Flings of a Hollywood Goddess

Around a year after her second divorce, a tabloid clocked her getting cozy with "Ocean's Thirteen" co-star Ralph Fiennes in June 2007. The liaison did not go further than tabloid speculation.

In 2018, David Arquette revealed they were an item. He said, "She's going to be mad at me," admitting to dating Barkin while making "Wild Bill" in 1995. "I'm sorry, Ellen, I can't help it," the actor, 17 years her junior, joked.

Ellen Barkin saw Johnny Depp for a few months in 1997. In a deposition in his defamation case against Amber Heard, she said that what started as a loving connection ended in violence. "He's a yeller, she said. "He is verbally abusive."

The actress got her big break in Barry Levinson's "Diner" in the '80s, and she produced and starred in his son Sam Levinson's first feature, "Another Happy Day," which came out in 2011. During the three-year development process, she and the younger Levinson reportedly dated.