Britney Spears

Pop singer Britney Spears has been married twice. In 2004, she married a childhood friend, Jason Alexander, at A Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, famous for its same-day weddings (there is even a drive-through). The marriage lasted only 55 hours. Spears successfully filed for an annulment.

Her second marriage was in 2004, to Kevin Federline, one of her backup dancers. At the time of their engagement, they had known each other for 3 months, and Federline's ex-girlfriend was eight months pregnant with their second child. The couple married in a "surprise" ceremony in 2005 and subsequently had two sons.

Two months after the birth of their second child, Spears filed for divorce. After protracted legal battles and police involvement, Spears and Federline have reached a settlement in which Federline has sole custody and Spears has visitation.

Although Spears has since dated, including a paparazzo against whom she subsequently filed a restraining order, she is unmarried at this time. Despite her frequent tangles with the law (including a hit-and-run charge), dubious parenting skills (she has undergone court-ordered parental counseling and no longer has custody of her children), frequent trips to rehab (at least 3, plus one police-escorted hospitalization for psychiatric evaluation), and erratic behavior (including the legendary head-shaving incident), Spears may enjoy full federal marriage benefits in all states. Spearks believes gays and lesbians should be able to do the same. She recently tweeted ""Love is love! People should be able to do whatever makes them happy!"

We couldn't agree more.

Erik and Lyle Menendez

The Menendez brothers are the notorious young men famous for the shotgun murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989. Erik and Lyle entered their parents home, shot them both dead, and then went to the movies ("Batman"). In the months following the murders, the brothers spent approximately $1 million of their parents' money on lavish possessions and luxury lifestyles, including a Rolex, a Porsche, a full-time tennis coach, and a restaurant. They were indicted in 1992 after Erik confessed to his psychiatrist.

They have both been sentenced to life in prison for their crimes.

Both brothers have since married while in prison. Lyle married a former model, Anna Erikkson, who had been a longtime pen pal while he was imprisoned. That marriage lasted less than a year, when Anna left Lyle for "cheating" on her by writing to another woman. Undaunted, Lyle married again in 2003, at the age of 21. His 33-year-old wife is a magazine editor.

Erik, meanwhile, married "fan" Tammi Ruth Saccoman in 1999. He was then 28 and his wife 37. Tammi told Barbara Walters on 20/20 that marrying Erik was "something I've dreamed about for a long time. And it's just something very special that I never thought that I would ever have."

Although the state of California prohibits conjugal visits for prisoners who are serving life sentences, the Mendendez's marriages are considered legal and valid in all 50 states of the US. When either of them dies, the money they inherited from their murdered parents will go to their wives, protected from taxes by spousal inheritance laws.

Lyle and Erik Menendez on Wikipedia