Golden Ticket to Love
Catching Up With 6 ‘American Idol’ Couples Through the Years
Throughout the 22 seasons of American Idol, the Golden Ticket hasn’t just taken some contestants to Hollywood. It’s also given them a chance at love.
As we look ahead to Season 23, Swooon decided to reflect on the American Idol couples we’ve seen blossom over the years. Whether the couples met on the show or their paths crossed years later because of the singing competition, American Idol has blessed contestants (and one guest mentor) with the gift of love.
Gabby Barrett and Cade Foehner
Gabby Barrett and Cade Foehner met and fell in love over the course of American Idol Season 16. Foehner made the top 5, while Barrett went on to place third in the competition. They announced their engagement in March 2019 and married in October of that year. They welcomed their first child in 2021. Their second child was born in 2022, followed by their third in 2024.
Katharine McPhee and David Foster
Years before they married, Katharine McPhee first met David Foster in 2006 as an American Idol Season 5 contestant. He was a guest mentor. They didn’t start dating until nearly a decade later. The couple, who has a 35-year age gap between then, got engaged in 2018 before getting married a year later. They welcomed their first child, a son, in 2021. They continue to collaborate professionally and make beautiful music together!
Haley Slaton and Jordan Myles
American Idol Season 20 contestant Haley Slaton met her now-husband, Jordan Myles, at the auditions. She was nearly six months pregnant at the time with her first child.
“We got married pretty quick. We just knew. We started right off the bat talking to each other, and it ended up being an everyday thing,” she told Iowa’s The Gazette. “I was already pregnant, and he stepped up to be a father, and I couldn’t thank him enough for that.”
They welcomed a son, Slaton’s first child with Myles, in 2023.
Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young
Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young didn’t meet on American Idol, but they likely never would have met without the show! DeGarmo was the runner-up of American Idol Season 3, while Young made it to the top 7 during Season 5. They met in 2010 while appearing in Hairspray on Broadway. The couple married in 2013.
Maddie Poppe and Caleb Lee Hutchinson
The same season Barrett and Foehner fell in love, so did Maddie Poppe and Caleb Lee Hutchinson. Talk about a season of love!
Poppe won American Idol Season 16, while Hutchinson placed second. Hutchinson confirmed their relationship during the finale. The two singers dated for several years before splitting up. Poppe went public with her new boyfriend, Gabe Burdulis, in 2023.
Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini
It all started with Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini! The first season of American Idol came down to these two talented singers, with Clarkson walking away the champion. Fans speculated there was something romantic between them, but Clarkson didn’t reveal the truth until 2015 on Watch What Happens Live.
“We didn’t date during Idol, which everybody thought we were dating,” she revealed before adding, “We did date a little bit. Any two people who are thrown together that much … I’m just sayin.'”
