Brian May and Anita Dobson’s 25-year marriage timeline
18 November 2025, 17:43
The Queen guitarist and EastEnders actress are celebrating their silver wedding anniversary.
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Congratulations are in order for Sir Brian May and Anita Dobson, who are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary today (November 18).
The star couple first met in 1986, and their relationship inspired Brian to write several Queen songs, including 1989’s ‘I Want It All’.
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But as that song suggests, the couple’s beginnings were quite complex. In fact, the pair’s marriage came about via not one but two affairs.
Here's all there is to know about Brian and Anita's marriage...
How did Brian May and Anita Dobson meet?
Brian May and Anita Dobson met in 1986 at a film premiere which they were both attending as a result of their successful entertainment careers.
The pair later went on to work together, with Brian producing Anita's album Talking Of You in the late 80s.
When Brian and Anita first met, the rock guitarist was still married to his first wife Christine Mullen, with whom he had three children, but Anita didn’t know that Brian was married.
After finding out about Brian’s wife, the pair had “a terrible row” Anita recalled to the Daily Mail in 2011.
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“I was heart-wrenched when he told me... I was insulted. I thought: ‘How dare you go out with me if you're married?’
“So we just kept a certain distance until we could find a place in life where we could be together,” she explained.
Brian divorced Christine in 1988, and he and Anita eventually continued their relationship.
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“We went through hell, but I believe it was true love. The dust's settled and I have good relationships with his children and ex-wife,” Anita said in 2011.
Speaking on Loose Women in 2015, Anita and Brian shared they were “not proud” of the circumstances in which their relationship started.
“It’s taboo to talk about, but it was an inevitable process,” Brian said.
“I tried very hard to resist [being attracted to Anita],” he added, but in the end he gave in to the clear connection which was there between the couple.
When did Brian May and Anita Dobson get married?
After Brian’s divorce, he and Anita continued as partners until May 1999, when it emerged that Brian had begun having an affair with another woman.
Surprisingly, this was the event which would lead to Brian and Anita tying the knot a year later.
In her 2011 Daily Mail interview, Anita recalled her anger about Brian's affair.
“Nobody’s perfect. We’ve all done things that we’re not proud of... [but] I didn’t think I’d ever come back from it," she said. "I thought: ‘That’s it. [It’s] over.'”
Yet time apart from the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ star made her realise her fear of commitment was stopping her from pursuing a more permanent relationship with Brian.
“When I walked away, I thought: ‘You obviously love this man, and he loves you...’
“I just thought: ‘We’ve gone through all the c**p. It’s time we had the good stuff.’ So I said: ‘Brian, I think I’m ready to get married.’”
The couple tied the knot at a small ceremony in London on November 18, 2000 – a big day for celebrity weddings, it turns out.
What have Brian May and Anita Dobson said about their marriage?
25 years on, despite unconventional beginnings, the pair appear stronger than ever, and have just celebrated their silver wedding anniversary.
While the couple have admitted to sometimes having “massive arguments,” it’s “because we care,” the two agree.
Anita told Loose Women in 2022 that the key to the couple’s marriage is compromise, and their desire to stay together.
The pair clearly respect each other very much, and regularly support each other at public events.
Brian reflected in 2015: “We were told it would never last. I think people thought we were both too volatile.
“Freddie [Mercury] said: ‘It’ll never last darling.’ [But] somehow we’re still here.”
