A romance for the decades! Molly Ringwald didn’t need to wish on 16 candles to find her true love in husband Panio Gianopoulos.
The ‘80s icon and the writer might be one of Hollywood’s quieter couples, but they are certainly among the strongest. Following Ringwald’s split from ex-husband Valery Lameignère in 2002, she welcomed daughter Mathilda with Gianopoulos in 2003 before tying the knot in 2007.
Two years later, the couple welcomed twins Roman and Adele. While celebrating more than 20 years of romance in February 2023, Ringwald took to Instagram with a sweet tribute to her family.
“Today, the ‘getaway car’ and I are together 22 years,” she wrote at the time. “Happy anniversary to us!”
She continued: “3 kids, 3 dogs, 1 cast and a lot of love. Best decision I ever made. Here’s to 22 more, at least.”
When she’s not posting nostalgic throwback pics from her teenage years, Ringwald is sharing sweet photos of her kids and her spouse with fans via social media. In August 2022, the Pretty in Pink actress snapped several pics with her man while on a trip to Greece, captioning the slideshow of photos, “Our traditional trek to visit Poseidon’s temple.”
She dedicated a whole post to Gianopoulos one month prior, sharing a photo of him lovingly captioned, “My dreamy Greek,” complete with a Greek flag emoji.
Despite keeping their relationship out of the limelight, Gianopoulos previously commented on his and Ringwald’s age gap in an April 2016 interview. “I’m seven years younger than her, so of course I knew her and had a slight crush,” he told Page Six at the time. “But I was little, I was like 10. I have a big crush on her now!”
After hearing her husband’s heartfelt words, Ringwald chimed in during the interview, telling Gianopoulos, “How amazing you are.”
While all is well in her real-life marriage, Ringwald bid farewell to her TV husband, Luke Perry, in March 2019 when her Riverdale costar suffered a fatal stroke. “We were all really emotional and expressed it in different ways,” she told Us Weekly exclusively of the actor’s passing in November of that year.
She reflected on how the loss impacted her CW family, adding, “I had my own relationship with Luke, but it was hardest watching KJ [Apa]. KJ and Luke were very close and had such a unique bond. Luke was really like his father — his American father. He really assumed that role, so watching KJ grapple with that was really tough to watch. As a mother, as just a person, it was hard to watch.”
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Scroll down to relive Ringwald and Gianopoulos’ sweetest relationship moments over the years.