Marvel Star Don Cheadle Secretly Got Married During The Pandemic

Marvel star Don Cheadle secretly got married during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cheadle (who stars as James “Rhodey” Rhodes/War Machine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise) married his longtime partner actress Bridgid Coulter, whom he’s been with for 28 years! Cheadle discussed his new marital status with comedian Wanda Sykes while appearing on the Ellen DeGeneres Show this week. Apparently, the Marvel actor had tried to text the happy news to Sykes at the beginning of the year, but it only ended up confusing Sykes, who assumed Cheadle and Coulter were already married. In that context, Sykes had a very different interpretation of Don Cheadle’s marriage announcement…

“You texted me at the top of the year, I guess, and you told me that you just got married,” Sykes recounted. “And I was like, ‘Oh, damn, the pandemic got to Don and Bridgid. I was like, ‘What the hell happened, man?’ I think I just texted something back, like, ‘Hey, if you’re happy, I’m happy for you.’ … I was like, ‘Cheadle went Hollywood.’”

In case it needs to be explained: Wanda Sykes assumed Don Cheadle “went Hollywood” in the sense that he’d gone out and found a new wife to match his higher level of success and fame, and dumped the girl who was by his side during the climb to being one of the biggest stars in movies and television. To be fair, Sykes is accurate: that is a pretty typical Hollywood thing to do. But Don Cheadle is far from being your typical Hollywood actor.

Ultimately, Cheadle was his usual cool self when hearing Sykes mistaken take on his marriage: “Yeah, I mean, that’s understandable,” he told Sykes. “I hold you blameless.”

If Don Cheadle were to go Hollywood and get a new wife – now would be the fitting time for it. The last ten years have been great for Don Cheadle’s career, as he’s started in the biggest movies in the world (Marvel’s Iron Man and Avengers films); killed it with critically-acclaimed and successful TV shows (House of Lies, Black Monday); and even become something of an icon in the hip-hop world, appearing in massively successful videos for top artists like Jay-Z and Beyonce, Logic and Kendrick Lamar. The future is only looking brighter for Cheadle: Marvel is giving him his own Disney+ series (Armor Wars); he has more big films on the way (Space Jam: A New Legacy); and even his voice will take a starring role as narrator of the new Wonder Years reboot.

We wish Don Cheadle and Bridgid Coulter happiness in this new phase of their relationship.