History’s Most Infamous Shotgun Weddings

CHARLIE CHAPLIN & LITA GREY
Married: November 26, 1924
After watching him marry and divorce actress Mildred Harris in 1919, the world already knew that silent film superstar Charlie Chaplin had a thing for jailbait. But five years later, it was still a huge Hollywood scandal when it was discovered that Lita Grey, his 16-year-old co-star in The Gold Rush, was pregnant. As a result, she was taken off the film and the two were secretly married in Mexico, so the 35-year-old could avoid being charged with statutory rape. They divorced 3 years later, but the shotgun legacy lives on: biographers have long speculated that the Chaplin’s relationship with Lita was the inspiration behind Lolita.