Gay celebs marry over festive season

Love is in the air! Three openly gay and lesbian international celebrities have gotten married during the festive season.

The first was tennis legend Martina Navratilova, 58, who tied the knot with her partner of eight years, Julia Lemigova, 42, in New York on 15 December.

Lemigova is a Russian businesswoman and former beauty queen. In September, Navratilova publicly proposed to her during the US Open men’s semi-finals.

Navratilova, who won Wimbledon a record nine times, was one of the very first athletes to come out. “I’m 58 years old, and I got married for the first time. It’s about time, right?” she told the BBC.

She added: “Growing up as a gay woman you just don’t ever think about that, and then I thought, about 10 years ago, ‘You know, I think within 10 years gay marriage will be legal.’ And here we are, 10 years later, making it legal.”

Brooke Shields and former tennis star Chris Evert served as the maids of honour.

On Sunday, another LGBT legend, this time music star Elton John, 67, got hitched. The singer officially married his long-time partner David Furnish, 52, in a star-studded wedding lunch at their Windsor estate in England.

The around 50 guests included David and Victoria Beckham, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Ed Sheeran, Elizabeth Hurley, Gary Barlow, Hugh Grant and Kate Bush.

The couple’s two sons Zachary, three, and Elijah, 23 months, were the ring-bearers. The ceremony took place exactly nine years after they first entered into a civil partnership.

Thanks to a picture of the menu posted on Instagram by Brooklyn Beckham, we all got to see what the guest ate for lunch. It included wild mushroom soup and truffle cream, beef short rib and caramelised onion pie with roasted potatoes and parsnips in horseradish butter. The desert was warm chocolate pudding, vanilla ice cream and, of course, wedding cake.

The previous day, former ‘N Sync star, Lance Bass, 35, married his boyfriend of four years Michael Turchin, 27, in a ceremony at the Park Plaza hotel in Los Angeles.

“Today I marry the man of my dreams. He makes me smile; he makes my heart melt; he makes me….me,” Bass tweeted.

While former ‘N Sync bandmates JC Chasez, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick were among the celebrity guests – such as Christina Appelgate, Carmen Electra and Lisa Vanderpump –  Justin Timberlake did not attend as he is on tour.

The couple’s happy day will be screened in an E! special in February, said to be the first same-sex celebrity wedding to be broadcast on US television.