Inside Idris Elba's Dating History: His Wife and Ex-Girlfriends

Actor Idris Elba has been married three times: The Emmy-nominated star is a father to three!  

It is not every day or every year that Idris Elba's acting career makes it to the forefront of headlines. The actor, 50, known for his slew of action-packed flicks, including, The Wire, Pacific Rim, and Beast of No Nation, is one of the most famous faces of Hollywood, but Elba can be pretty selective about the roles he portrays. 

Idris's freshly-released mini-series, Hijack, also starring Neil Maskell, Christine Adams, and Max Beesley, has been garnering positive reviews, with many saying that the Emmy-nominated actor's performance further amplifies the show's pulse-pounding effect. Ahead is all the deets on the actor's blissful conjugal life with his third wife.  

Inside Idris Elba's Third Conjugal Life with Sabrina Dhowre Elba!  

The Golden Globe winner was the most eligible Hollywood bachelor for a long time. Elba had been married and divorced twice and was exploring the elite dating pool when he met his now-wife, Sabrina Dhowre, the former Miss Vancouver, in 2017. Elba was immediately blown away by the former beauty queen's allure and well, in Dhowre's case, who wouldn't want the former sexiest man alive?  

"It was love at first sight," says Elba, who was in Vancouver filming survival drama, The Mountain Between Us. The love birds made their red-carpet debut at the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of Molly's Game, in September 2017. Things moved fast for the smitten couple from there on, with the pair announcing their engagement after just months of dating.  

The Wire actor reportedly proposed to Dhowre at the Rio Cinema in London in February 2018. Elba and Dhowre at the cinema for the preview of his directorial debut, Yardie. "It was the most nerve-wracking thing for me," said the actor, adding, "But in terms of wanting to make someone feel super special and feel my love, that was pretty romantic for me."     

The couple enjoyed over a year of engagement bliss before hosting an extravagant, three-day wedding in Morocco, in April 2019. The idea behind their Moroccan wedding was bringing a bit of both of their backgrounds. "My family is from East Africa and Idris' is from West Africa, so we thought it would be fun to meet somewhere in between," Sabrina explained.  

In their relatively short time as a married couple, the Pacific Rim actor, and his gorgeous wife have weathered a few storms, including the terrifying moment when both Elba and Dhowre tested positive for Covid during the pandemic.  

There's more to come for the Emmy-nominated actor and his third wife, with whom he launched a lifestyle brand, S'able Labs, and a relationship-focussed podcast, Coupledom, in 2021. Despite being a relatively newly-married pair in Hollywood, everyone can concur that Elba and Dhowre are already showing their potential to be the next powerhouse couple.    

The couple got married in an extravagant, three-day-long ceremony in Morocco! 

Earlier this year, the duo gave fans an exclusive insight into their conjugal life as they graced the cover of Ebony Magazine. Their marriage might look impeccably blissful from the outside, but Elba assures that the two have their share of downs. "We, like every couple, go through ups and downs," Elba said, adding, "So we don't feel the pressure to actually be a shining example to everyone."  

Inside Idris Elba's Dating History!  

Up until he met his perfect other half in Sabrina, Elba believed in keeping it low and playing safe. The Emmy-nominated actor's reticence has assured that his love life doesn't become a staple in the gossip tabloids, but that doesn't mean Elba hasn't been an ardent casanova. Idris's dating history includes two marriages and many failed relationships.   

The Luther star delved into his first conjugal experience pretty early in life. Elba was at the onset of his multi-faceted career when he married his first wife, Hanne 'Kim' Nørgaard, a make-up artist, in 1999. The pair welcomed a daughter, Isan, before splitting ways in 2003. Not much is known about Elba's first failed nuptial except for the fact that the estranged couple continued to co-parent their daughter.   

The former sexiest man alive had a torrid affair with a pole dancer named Desiree Newberry in 2010. Elba was beyond thrilled when his then-girlfriend, Newberry, gave birth to a son- only to be heartbroken after a paternity test proved that the child wasn't his. "To be given that and then have it taken away so harshly was like taking a full-on punch in the face," said the actor.  

The Wire actor married his second wife, Sonya Hamlin, a property lawyer, in 2006. The nuptial lasted only four months and Hamlin later claimed that the actor left her to maintain his standing as the hottest sex symbol. "People were telling him he was going to ruin his career," Hamlin shared.   

A disgruntled Sonya adds, "It was very sad. Idris and I were madly in love, but he was getting a lot of flak for being married." Like the scathing remarks from Sonya weren't enough, Elba garnered more flak in his next relationship. The Golden Globe winner dated make-up artist Naiyana Garth in 2013.  

Their romance resulted in the birth of Elba's second kid, son Winston, in 2014. Elba infamously walked out on his son's mom in 2016 when the actor got linked with model Naomi Campbell, and later, rapper K Michelle, who confirmed having an affair with Elba while he was still with Garth.  

In a shocking turn of events earlier this year, the Emmy-nominated actor revealed that besides his two kids, he also has a 31-year-old son. "I have an older son, who's 31, though I wouldn't want to put him out there," said the actor before describing parenthood as a "gift and an absolute honor."  

Stay connected to Married Celeb for more.