Michelle Yeoh marries partner Jean Todt nearly 7,000 days after he first proposed
By Simone McCarthy, CNN
(CNN) — Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh has married her longtime partner Jean Todt in a ceremony in Switzerland – nearly two decades after the French businessman first proposed to her.
Yeoh, 60, who earlier this year became the first woman of Asian descent to win the Academy Award for best actress, confirmed her marriage to Todt, 77, a former head of Ferrari, on Instagram over the weekend.
“19 years and YES!! we are married!! Thkq to our ‘families’ who love us for all these years. We love you and here’s to many more to come,” the Malaysian actress wrote.
The post included images of the two exchanging rings and another of them sitting snuggled together on a bed decorated with flower petals.
A shot of a printed wedding message posted to Instagram by racing driver Felipe Massa, who was a guest at the ceremony, gave a glimpse into the long love story that led to last week’s nuptials.
“We met in Shanghai on 4th June 2004. On 26th July 2004, J.T. proposed to marry M.Y. and she said YES! Today after 6,992 days on 27th July 2023 in Geneva surrounded by loving family and friends, we are so happy to celebrate this special moment together!” the message read.
Yeoh broke into a new level of celebrity status this year for her acclaimed performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
The movie, which follows the story of a Chinese immigrant and laundromat owner who finds herself at the center of a struggle in the multiverse, won seven Oscars out of 11 nominations – including best picture – at the Academy Awards in March.
When accepting her Oscar, the star called it a “beacon of hope and possibilities” for “all the little boys and girls who look like me.” Yeoh, who did many of the stunts in the action film herself, also gave a shout out to women, saying: “Ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you’re ever past your prime.”
Movie credits for Yeoh, who is widely considered an icon of martial arts cinema, also include Marvel Studio’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” (2021), “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018), “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” (2008), “Memoirs Of A Geisha” (2005) and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000).
She made her name in Hong Kong action movies of the 1980s and 90s, before her breakthrough international role in 1997 opposite Pierce Brosnan in “Tomorrow Never Dies.”
And Yeoh’s part in that James Bond movie received a nod at her wedding – among images the actress shared announcing her marriage was a fake film poster with the title: “Love Never Dies.”
The poster doctored an image from an epic motorcycle ride in the Bond flick to replace Brosnan’s face with Todt’s, while Yeoh appears on the back of the bike.
Todt posted the framed image on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, over the weekend, thanking long-time Bond producer Barbara Broccoli for the “touching” wedding gift.
Todt, who made his name as a World Rally Championship co-driver, is also a former president of Formula 1’s governing body, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile. He currently serves as the United Nations Secretary General’s special envoy for road safety.
The-CNN-Wire
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