Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy broke up in early August, and Kermit has been reported to be seeing an ABC marketer named Denise, according to a People magazine story -- though he says they are just friends. It's a new wrinkle in what was once a great felt-covered love story. Click through to see more.
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It was a romance that shouldn't have worked: He's a gentle frog content to strum a song in a swamp, and she's a hotheaded pig with ambition bigger than her appetite. He gets squirmy at the first sign of commitment, and her version of conflict resolution begins with a "Hi-ya!" and ends with a karate chop. But somehow, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy maintained their interspecies love story for almost 40 years.
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It's not hard to imagine why Miss Piggy, being a diva destined for greatness, would see her equal in Kermit the Frog. After all, when they came to fame on "The Muppet Show" in 1976, he was the HFIC (head frog in charge). Piggy always made her adoration clear, but it seemed her affection was unrequited. In reality, as Kermit has told us, Piggy did catch his eye. "Debbie Reynolds (in 'Singin' in the Rain') reminds me of Piggy when I first met her," he said. "That's meant as a compliment, Ms. Reynolds."
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Before long, Miss Piggy and Kermit were dressed in their best wedding wear and ready to walk down the aisle on "The Muppet Show." Piggy tricked her Kermie into it by presenting their wedding as nothing more than a sketch for the variety program while secretly hiring a real minister to officiate. Kermit managed to evade saying the magic words -- "I do" -- and earned payback from the pig.
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On "The Tonight Show" in 1979, Miss Piggy claimed she and Kermit the Frog were engaged, much to Kermit's surprise. Although the frog swiftly shut down those engagement reports, we got the backstory on how Piggy and Kermit fell in love at first sight in 1979's "The Muppet Movie." They could've just been playing characters, but we know a spark when we see it.
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Kermit may not have wanted to admit it, but he and Piggy had a clear bond, as was evident in 1981's "The Great Muppet Caper." Despite their turbulent romantic relationship, they never let it affect their work. True professionals!
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By 1984's "The Muppets Take Manhattan," Kermit and Piggy were finally making their unusual partnership official. There was an elaborate song-and-dance number, and the duo sang about how happy they'd make each other. The "Sesame Street" crew risked not being able to find their way back home just to serve witness. All of that pomp and circumstance made us think the marriage was the real deal, but Piggy has said the minister officiating had "been defrocked."
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While his frog feet are often cold, Kermit the Frog really does love Piggy, as he told Ellen DeGeneres in 2011. "I do, I do," he said. "She just puts all these stories in the tabloids about us being married, and that's a little weird. I'm not even sure that's legal in most states. ... Our relationship, you sort of have to judge it hour by hour. Very strange."
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Miss Piggy has been willing to wait for Kermit because he's the only one for her, but she hasn't let their on-again, off-again affair get in the way of her dreams. She's gone from "The Muppet Show" to becoming a household name, complete with her own variety special, books and merchandise, all while being generally fabulous. "Many people don't realize it," she said in 2014, "but if you don't turn yourself into an empire, you can lose your diva's license."
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In 2011's "The Muppets" movie, it seemed Kermit and Miss Piggy had hit a rough patch. While he was living in a sprawling estate in Los Angeles, she was off in Paris working as a fashion editor for French Vogue. Despite their differences, she still came through for him when he needed her.
Miss Piggy wouldn't say whether she and Kermit tied the knot in their last movie, "Muppets Most Wanted," but she has a Vivienne Westwood-designed bridal gown at the ready just in case. "Vivienne Westwood is fabulous -- just like moi," Piggy said in a statement. "When I asked her to design this wedding dress for moi's new movie 'Muppets Most Wanted,' she was thrilled and I was thrilled. The only one a bit iffy about it was the frog."
