21 Messy, Messy, Messy Celeb Breakups And Divorces That Completely Turned Fans Against A Celeb

A while back, we wrote about celeb divorces that made people see one or both of the celebs in an entirely new light, and the BuzzFeed Community piped in with their own opinions. Here are 21 more celeb breakups (including couples that weren't married) that totally changed people's perceptions of the celebs involved.

We also included some responses from the original Reddit thread.

1.Joe Alwyn and Taylor Swift

Context: They broke up in 2023 after dating for six years. While neither spoke publicly about the split (the two were notably private about their relationship), a source stated "differences in their personalities" and "Taylor's level of fame" had led to the breakup. Fans speculated Taylor's song "Bejeweled" was about Joe, and "You're Losing Me" seemed more explicitly about him.

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2.Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert

Context: The two had been married for almost five years when they split in 2015. There were rumors of infidelity (both parties denied them), and some sources claimed it was being long-distance that led to the split. Neither has spoken publicly about what went down (besides their personal feelings afterwards), and the two have both since remarried — Miranda to Brendan McLoughlin and Blake to Gwen Stefani.

3.Stanley Tucci and Kate Tucci

Context: While Stanley and his wife Kate never divorced, he generated significant controversy when reports emerged he'd begun a relationship with Edie Falco after appearing with her in the highly intimate 2002 revival of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. Though it doesn't look like Tucci has ever publicly spoken about what occurred, it was assumed he had left his wife after he began appearing with Falco on red carpets. But by 2004, they'd broken up, which Falco later confirmed, telling the New York Times, "We were together and then we broke up. ... He's a lovely man, and he's back with his wife and kids, and I'm thrilled." Stanley remained with Kate until she died in 2009.

4.Billy Crudup and Mary-Louise Parker

Context: Crudup and Parker began dating in 1996. They dated for seven years, but then in 2003, when Parker was seven months pregnant, Crudup reportedly left her to be with Claire Danes. Neither has spoken publicly about the situation (beyond Parker saying she was "pregnant and alone" and at a "very low moment" afterwards), though Danes later said, “I was just in love with him. And needed to explore that, and I was 24. … I didn’t quite know what those consequences would be.”

5.Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy

Context: Kutcher and Murphy began dating about 10 months after wrapping filming of their movie Just Married, around October 2002. However, Kutcher said, "I don't even know that we're actually dating. We're just companions. We just like spending a lot of time together." By spring 2003, they had broken up, and in May, Ashton Kutcher began dating Demi Moore, who he later married. Murphy and Kutcher did not keep in touch, and Murphy died in 2009.

6.Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson

Context: The teen stars started dating while shooting the Twilight films in the late 2000s. But while Stewart was shooting Snow White and the Huntsman in 2012, she had an affair with married 41-year-old director Rupert Sanders. After paparazzi photos exposed them, both Stewart and Sanders released apologies, with Stewart saying, "This momentary indiscretion has jeopardized the most important thing in my life, the person I love and respect the most, Rob. I love him, I love him, I'm so sorry." The two got back together but ultimately split in 2013.

7.Khloé Kardashian and Tristan Thompson

Context: Kardashian and Thompson began dating in 2016, and in 2017, Khloé became pregnant. Just before their daughter was born, videos of Thompson cheating came out, though the two stayed together until 2019 allegations that he had cheated on Khloé with her sister Kylie's best friend, Jordyn Woods. They got back together in 2021, but again broke up due to cheating allegations (though they may have dated again later that year). By the end of the year, Maralee Nichols claimed he had gotten her pregnant back in March, which Thompson confirmed. Then in the summer of 2022, it was confirmed Thompson and Kardashian were expecting via surrogate. The two are currently coparenting, but not together.

8.Joshua Bassett and Olivia Rodrigo

Context: The two reportedly dated while appearing on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series together, though neither confirmed the relationship. They seemed to have split by mid-2020, with Bassett reportedly having moved on with Sabrina Carpenter. Then in 2021, Rodrigo released her hit song "Drivers License," which seemed to reference a relationship with Bassett as well as his relationship with Carpenter. This led to backlash against Bassett and Carpenter.

9.Eddie Murphy and Mel B

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"I know they weren't married, but Eddie Murphy and his treatment of Mel B (Scary Spice) when she was pregnant with his child."

—u/Plane-Locksmith-4256

Context: The stars began dating in 2006, and Mel quickly became pregnant with their child. However, by December, Murphy was telling the press he wasn't sure the child was his (Mel B later claimed the baby was "planned" by both of them). Their child, Angel Iris Murphy Brown, was born in April, and paternity tests showed Murphy was the father in June. She later filed a paternity suit to establish Murphy as the father. Murphy eventually acknowledged Angel as his daughter and began paying child support.

10.Minnie Driver and Matt Damon

Context: The actors began dating after starring in Good Will Hunting together — and then Damon told Oprah he was single on her talk show. "I was with Minnie for a while, but we're not really romantically involved anymore. We're just really good friends, and I love her dearly. … I care about her a lot. We care about each other a lot. It wasn't meant to be, you know? And if it's not meant to be, then it's not meant to be." Driver later claimed this was how he broke up with her (Damon denied this), calling it "fantastically inappropriate."

11.Evan Peters and Emma Roberts

Context: They began dating in 2012, while filming Adult World, and became engaged in late 2013. However, also in 2013, Roberts was arrested for domestic violence against Peters. The two released a statement calling it "an unfortunate incident and misunderstanding," and later called off their engagement in 2015, though they got back together months later, before breaking up for good in 2019, with reports calling their relationship "very toxic."

12.Perrie Edwards and Zayn Malik

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"I used to like Zayn until he dumped his fiancé for another woman over text. I can’t look at him the same after that."

—u/HagridsSexyNippples

Context: The Little Mix and One Direction stars became a teen supercouple when the two began dating in 2012, becoming engaged in 2013. They were engaged for two years before breaking up, and Edwards alleged that Malik had broken up with her via a text message, which Malik denied.

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13.Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson

Context: Reynolds and Anderson were a Hollywood supercouple back in the '80s, and married in 1988, before splitting in 1993. Burt made a number of comments about Loni and the divorce in the following years, calling marrying her a "dumb move" and telling Good Morning America: Evening Edition, "I don't see how she can be in total shock…if your husband has not touched you in the biblical sense…in almost three years." The divorce case was famously ugly and decades long.

14.Shania Twain and Mutt Lange

Context: Shania Twain split with her longtime husband Mutt Lange in 2008, after he allegedly had an affair with her friend Marie-Anne Thiébaud (the two denied the affair, but did begin a relationship at some point and are still together). She ended up marrying Thiébaud's ex, Frédéric Thiébaud. According to Twain, she and Lange do not speak except for texting about coparenting their son.

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15.Jonah Hill and Sarah Brady

Context: Hill dated professional surfer Sarah Brady in 2021 and 2022. While neither their relationship nor their breakup precipitated controversy, Brady made waves in 2023 when she called him "emotionally abusive" and released alleged text messages from Hill, many of which spoke of setting "boundaries" about what type of pictures Brady could post and who she could hang out with if she wanted to remain with Hill. It does not appear Hill responded to multiple requests from different sites to comment.

16.Woody Allen and Mia Farrow

Context: Allen and Farrow began dating in 1980. In 1985, Farrow adopted a baby girl, Dylan, without the involvement of Allen, though he would later go on to adopt her in 1991. Then in 1992, Farrow discovered nude photos of her daughter from a previous marriage, Soon-Yi Previn (then 21), at Allen's apartment. Allen had never adopted Previn, but he had known her since she was 10. Later that year, Dylan claimed Allen molested her when she was 7 (which Allen denied), and about a week later, Farrow had sued for custody of their children — which was quickly followed by Soon-Yi and Woody taking their relationship public. They have since married.

17.Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise

Context: Kidman and Cruise married in late 1990 after meeting earlier that year, then separated in 2001. Cruise was notably a Scientologist, and in 2022, a former Scientologist claimed the church created distance between Kidman and Cruise and wiretapped Nicole's phone, which the church denied. Kidman said the split came as a shock to her, though upon filing, Cruise told the press, "Nic knows why." The two have two adopted children together, who are also Scientologists, and lived with Cruise following the split.

18.Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes

Context: After Nicole, Tom went on to marry Holmes, with whom he had one child, Suri. The two split in 2012, and many have hypothesized that their divorce had to do with Scientology. After a Life & Style article claimed he "abandoned" Suri, Cruise filed a defamation suit against Bauer Media Group. During a deposition, Cruise was asked if Holmes had ended the relationship "in part to protect Suri from Scientology.” Cruise replied, “Did she say that? That was one of the assertions, yes.”

19.Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson

Context: Pop music stars Lachey and Simpson met in 1998 and were married in 2002, and reached new levels of fame when their reality series Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica began airing. The two split in 2005, and in 2006, Lachey said he was "blindsided" by the divorce. Simpson later admitted to having an emotional affair with Johnny Knoxville, saying Knoxville "didn't roll his eyes at me" and "actually liked that I was smart," though she claimed “I hadn’t left Nick for anybody but me."

20.Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale

Context: The pair had been married for 13 years when they split in 2016 amid rumors Rossdale had cheated with their nanny. Stefani later claimed, "Nobody except for my parents, the people involved, and whoever they told [know specifics]. Nobody would believe it if I could really say what happened. I went through months and months of torture.” Rossdale, who coparents with Stefani, later called "the gross and lopsided spectre of the crumbling of my marriage" his "most embarrassing moment." Rossdale never confirmed or denied cheating allegations.

21.And finally, Katie Price and Peter Andre

Context: The British reality stars split after four years of marriage in 2009. Price later said, "I never did anything wrong" but acknowledged the relationship was "toxic," while Andre maintained, "Katie knows 100 percent the reason why I left her." Since then, tabloids have continued to report on their relationship and breakup, with Price in particular speaking on it often.

What other celeb breakups completely changed how you viewed a celeb? Let us know in the comments!

Submissions have been edited for length/clarity.