The True Story That Inspired 'The Vow' Ended In Tragedy

In February 2024, "The Vow" was the Channing Tatum romance movie killing it on Netflix, giving the critically maligned drama some long-overdue appreciation years after its original release. It tells the story of Paige (Rachel McAdams) and Leo Collins (Tatum), an in-love couple whose mushy, feel-good relationship experiences a drastic setback after a car accident leaves the former with amnesia. As such, Leo must work to make his wife fall in love with him again — a storyline that might make some people draw comparisons to Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore's "50 First Dates."

However, movie fans shouldn't accuse McAdams and Tatum's romantic drama of being derivative of other movies. "50 First Dates" isn't based on a true story, but "The Vow" is, albeit very loosely. The Michael Suscy-directed drama was inspired by real-life spouses Kim and Krickitt Carpenter, who wrote a book chronicling their marriage and the trials and tribulations surrounding it. With that in mind, let's discuss the parallels between the movie and the real story it draws inspiration from.

Kim and Krickitt Carpenter fell for each other at first listen. The former was a university baseball coach who called the sales company Krickitt worked for to order some sports gear, and the pair hit it off over the phone. This process continued for months, as the former kept calling and ordering stuff for an excuse to talk to her, and their bond blossomed. The would-be lovers finally met in-person and got married in 1993, which should have been the start of their fairytale happy ending.

Unfortunately, the couple's honeymoon period was short-lived, as their car got into a collision with two trucks weeks after they tied the knot. Krickitt fell into a coma and woke up with memory loss, not remembering who her husband was. She moved back in with her parents afterward, but the couple eventually started dating again and reaffirmed their vows in 1996. While Krickitt and Kim didn't rediscover the type of dreamy romance they had previously, they made it work and started a family with two kids.

Kim and Krickett's story gained some mainstream attention, with the couple appearing on talk shows and releasing a book, "The Vow: The Kim and Krickitt Carpenter Story," in 2000. However, they didn't go on to have the happily-ever-after tale they imagined when they got married in the early '90s.

Kim and Krickitt Carpenter's willingness to make their marriage work after such a life-altering setback is admirable. The spouses were serious about their vows and honored them for 25 years, which is impressive given that they had to rebuild their relationship from scratch. Sadly, the Carpenters split and got divorced in 2018 after Krickitt learned that her husband had an affair, which he was honest about.

"Kim was having an affair, I never thought that was a road we would go down because I made a vow for life," Krickitt told Inside Edition. "It was shocking to me because we were so committed to each other and the vow."

Despite the marriage ending on a bad note, Krickitt revealed that she has no regrets about their time together. The relationship gave her two children that she's eternally grateful for, and she made memories with Kim that she looks back on fondly. The good news, though, is that "The Vow" is more optimistic about the concept of happily ever after.

"The Vow" takes liberties with Kim and Krickitt Carpenter's story, so don't go into the movie expecting anything more than an entertaining drama. The characters are given different names, jobs, and personalities that aren't anything like their real-life counterparts. Furthermore, their story ends on a less tragic note, as is typically the case with Hollywood romance flicks.

As previously mentioned, Kim and Krickitt worked as a baseball coach and sales rep, respectively, when they met over the phone. However, the movie depicts its central couple as artistic types who initially courted each other in the real world; Paige is a law school dropout who wants to be a sculptor, while Leo owns a record studio and waxes about the sanctity of real music. Kim and Krickitt were also devout Christians, but religion doesn't factor into Paige and Leo's beliefs in "The Vow."

"The Vow" also has a subplot about Paige re-developing the hots for her ex-boyfriend, Jeremy (Scott Speedman), with her smooching him in his office while she's still technically married to Leo. However, we've already covered how Kim was the unfaithful one in the real-life saga. Still, the real and fictional couples both ended up divorced, but "The Vow" ends with Paige and Leo rekindling their romance, implying that they'll get their dream life together, after all. 

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