Adam Sandler married Jackie Titone on June 22, 2003 in Malibu, California. (Photo: Nick Gossen courtesy of AdamSandler.com/Getty Images)
Adam Sandler has reached a major milestone with his wife Jackie Titone Sandler: they have been married for 20 years.
The couple wed on June 22, 2003 at Dick Clark’s oceanfront estate in Malibu, California. The Happy Gilmore and Wedding Singer star, now 56, met the model-actress, now 48, a few years earlier on the set of his 1999 hit “Big Daddy,” in which she played a waitress at the local sports bar .
Adam Sandler poses with meatball at his wedding June 22, 2003 in Malibu, California. (Photo: Nick Gossen courtesy of AdamSandler.com/Getty Images)
Adam slipped out of his signature sweatpants and a tuxedo for his big day and wore a white rose on his lapel, while his bride looked stunning in a spaghetti strap dress.
Also dressed to the nines was Adam’s beloved meatball bulldog. The dog wore a tailored suit for the occasion and wore a yarmulke for the Jewish ceremony. He reportedly served as a ring bearer and walked down the aisle. (Meatballs were popular; Adam was holding a Shiva when he died the next year.)
Adam Sandler poses with his bride, model-actress Jackie Titone, at their wedding June 22, 2003 in Malibu, California. (Photo: Nick Gossen courtesy of AdamSandler.com/Getty Images)
The wedding was confirmed on the actor’s website as it took place before Facebook and Instagram. “Adam got married…WOOPITY DOO!” read the announcement.
The guest list included Jennifer Aniston, Jack Nicholson, Rodney Dangerfield, Rob Schneider and Sharon Osbourne. Adam has since said that Tom Petty doomed his wedding. The late rock star was actually in a car accident on the nearby Pacific Coast Highway, Adam later said on The Dan Patrick Show, so the “Free Fallin'” singer went inside to make a call. (The marriage took place four years before the release of the first iPhone.)
Adam Sandler poses with his bride, model-actress Jackie Titone, at their wedding June 22, 2003 in Malibu, California. (Photo: Nick Gossen courtesy of AdamSandler.com/Getty Images)
“Tom Petty at Sandler’s wedding? What the hell is going on?” Adam remembered the words of his childhood friends from New Hampshire at the reception.
Petty didn’t perform, Sandler said, but singer and guitarist Leon Redbone did. There was a sentimental reason behind it. Apparently, Redbone was a favorite of Adam’s father Stan, who was dying of cancer. Stan promised he’d be at the wedding, so his son gave him the special entertainment as a thank you.
Adam Sandler poses with his bride, model-actress Jackie Titone, at their wedding June 22, 2003 in Malibu, California. (Photo: Nick Gossen courtesy of AdamSandler.com/Getty Images)
“It was done so my dad could have a great night,” Adam later said. “He was like, ‘That’s great,’ and my mom whispers to him, ‘You couldn’t say Pavarotti?'”
The story goes on
Stan, who died shortly after the wedding in September 2003, also received a greeting from Dangerfield. Sandler recalled the “Back to School” star walking into a room where a chemo-stricken Stan was resting and asking, “‘Where’s the dying guy?'” My dad says, “Hey, Rodney.” [Rodney’s] like, ‘Hey, I’m dying too.’” (Dangerfield died in 2004.)
Adam Sandler poses with his bride, model-actress Jackie Titone, at their wedding June 22, 2003 in Malibu, California. (Photo: Nick Gossen courtesy of AdamSandler.com/Getty Images)
The singer of “The Chanukah Song” also performed at his reception. He sang “The House of the Rising Sun” — “like I always do,” he told Patrick, adding with a laugh, “It’s a very romantic tune.”
He made up for it by writing a song for Jackie, which he performed. It was set to the tune of The Wedding Singer’s “I Wanna Grow Old With You.”
Jackie gave her new husband a bulldog puppy, Matzoball, as a wedding present.
Over the years, Jackie has acted in almost all of Adam’s film projects. You get the sense that she had a hand in creating the character – like when she played the “Great Looking Flight Attendant” in 2019’s “Murder Mystery.” However, the comedic actress/producer also does her own thing and has recently appeared in films (like Daddy Daughter Trip) with family friend Schneider, who got her an early break in Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo.
Jackie and Adam Sandler at the 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at Fairmont Century Plaza on February 26, 2023. (Photo: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
The couple had two daughters together, Sadie Madison, 17, and Sunny Madeline, 14. The girls also appeared in several of their father’s films, including Murder Mystery, Hubie Halloween, and Hotel Transylvania.
Adam Sandler with Sunny and Sadie at the Murder Mystery 2 photocall at Pont Debilly on March 16, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo: Marc Piasecki/WireImage)
They’re funny like dad and roast him in a speech he gave while accepting the Film Tribute Award at the 2022 Gotham Awards in November. It read: “Thank you mom for putting up with dad and his crazy mood swings all these years. This is truly an achievement worthy of a lifetime achievement award.”
Adam has called his wife of two decades his “eternal girl.” He said that when they met on July 31, 1998, “they looked into each other and fell deeply into each other.”
He said Jackie encouraged him to take on the role in Uncut Gems, for which he received many awards.
“My badass wife, she gave me the guts to do the role,” he said. “I was scared and she said, ‘Do the damn thing and you can do it,’ and we rehearsed together the whole time.”
A few months ago, Entertainment Tonight asked Adam about this anniversary milestone.
“Well, we’ve been together for 25 years [years]So we always pretend that this is our anniversary, the night we met,” he said. “But 20 is good.” Yes, 20 years of marriage, that’s nice.”
Jackie said in the same interview: “He’s extremely loyal. He’s a great, great friend. He’s a great person. A great friend. He’s funny all the time. That’s his personality. He always tries to make me laugh – and I always try to make him laugh to make it work.