All the Celebrity Exes Who Are Still Friends After the Break-Up
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Would you be cool staying friends with an ex? When some couples break up, they go full scorched earth and never want to see each other again — while others can stay close for the rest of their lives, cherishing a friendship in place of their romantic connection. The same goes for celebrity couples: while we wouldn’t want to see Kristin Cavallari and Jay Cutler in the same room any time soon, it’s well known that ex-couples like Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, or Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, are still more than cordial with their former flames. When it comes to celebrities who are still friends with their exes, you have to admire the maturity it takes. But there are a lot of surprising upsides to staying close with an ex.
We’ll get the obvious one out of the way first. If you share kids with an ex, you’re staying in each other’s lives — period. You can do it the hard way, and try to remain contentious while co-parenting, but the truth is that your kids suffer the most (in other words, don’t do this). But what about exes with nothing obvious tying them together? How do they find their way back to each other from the ruins of a breakup?
Here’s another way to think about it: why wouldn’t you want to keep someone you regarded so highly and felt so strongly for in your life? Assuming the breakup didn’t involve any massive breaches of trust or reveal shocking new sides to their character, chances are these celebs dated each other because they admired and respected each other, not to mention enjoying their company. If you spend years building a rapport, should that really all go away just because you’re no longer hot and heavy?
Call it a trend or a new way of being, but I for one am impressed with all the stars who came out of a less-than-perfect relationship with a solid, lasting friendship. As these celebs prove, sometimes being friends works out much better than being lovers ever could. Here are all the celebrities who are still friends with their exes — and, likely will be forever.
A version of this article was originally published in December 2017.
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Chris Martin & Gwyneth Paltrow
Back in Oct. 2002, Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow met backstage at a Coldplay concert, instantly hitting it off. They married a little over a year later in Dec. 2003, and welcomed two children together named Apple Blythe Alison Martin and Moses Martin. They divorced in 2016, but remain best friends to this day (and Paltrow is even best friends with his longtime girlfriend Dakota Johnson)!
In a 2020 essay for the British Vogue, Paltrow said, “My ex and I had always been friends…We were close, though we had never fully settled into being a couple. We just didn’t quite fit together. There was always a bit of unease and unrest. But man, did we love our children.”
Elon Musk & Talulah Riley
Elon Musk and Talulah Riley started dating soon after his divorce from his first wife Justine Musk, in 2008. Two years later, they married at Dornoch Cathedral in Scotland in 2010. They kept a very low-key marriage throughout it all. They remarried less than 18 months later. On New Year’s Eve 2014, Elon filed for divorce again but withdrew it soon after. The two called it quits for the last time in 2016.
Now, Riley remarked that they’re still “good friends” to this day, acknowledging him as the “perfect ex-husband,” her encouraging him to buy Twitter, and his heartwarming message of congratulations on her engagement.
Jennifer Aniston & Brad Pitt
While Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston delighted fans with their reunion at the 2020 SAG Awards, the truth is that these two have always been friendly — well, maybe they needed a few years to cool off first.
“They have a very mature relationship that has evolved over time because they both have experienced marriages that didn’t work out,” a source told ET in January. “Right now they just love and adore each other and have been much closer friends since their divorces.”
B.J. Novak & Mindy Kaling
These Office co-stars and besties are the holy grail of staying friends with an ex — though it’s fair to say their relationship teeters right on the edge of flirty. in 2015, Kaling said this about their situationship: “I will freely admit: My relationship with B.J. Novak is weird as hell. He is not my boyfriend, but he is not my best friend. I guess you could describe our relationship as a ‘romantically charged camaraderie with loud arguments,’ but I don’t think Facebook would accept this as a new status.”
Jenny Slate & Chris Evans
Jenny Slate and Chris Evans met at a reading for the movie Gifted, and hit it off right away, sparking an on-again, off-again relationship. The couple had split ways by the time the Gifted premiere rolled around, but they walked the red carpet together happily and have both expressed to the press how grateful they are to have each other in their lives.
Diane Kruger & Joshua Jackson
Diane Kruger and Dawson’s Creek alum Joshua Jackson had a decade-long relationship before going their separate ways, but the couple are still vocal supporters of each other in their personal and professional lives. In 2017, Jackson celebrated the actress’ Cannes win with this sweet caption: “Yes she Cannes. Having witnessed the integrity and dedication that you bring to every job, I’m over the moon to see you getting the recognition you deserve.”
Jason Momoa & Lisa Bonet
Jason Momoa and Lisa Bonet stunned everyone when they announced in early 2022 that they’d decided to go their separate ways after more than 10 years together. But since their breakup, Momoa has alluded to how important Bonet is to him. “We’re family, you know,” the Aquaman star told Access Hollywood on the Oscars red carpet. “We have two beautiful children together. We’re family forever.”
Jenna Dewan & Channing Tatum
Step Up co-stars Jenna Dewan and Channing Tatum announced their split via a joint statement to People in April 2018, making it clear from the get-go that they have zero negative feelings toward each other.
“We have lovingly chosen to separate as a couple,” they said in the statement, which was later posted to Tatum’s Instagram. “We fell deeply in love so many years ago and have had a magical journey together. Absolutely nothing has changed about how much we love one another, but love is a beautiful adventure that is taking us on different paths for now.”
More recently in an interview with Vegas magazine, Dewan shared that friendship was always at the core of their relationship.
“We started out as friends, and I would say it was an instant recognition,” she said in May. “When we met [on the set of Step Up in 2005], it felt like we had known each other for many years. Ultimately, no matter what Chan and I are doing, we’re really great friends. I think that will never change, no matter what.”
Anna Faris & Chris Pratt
Anna Faris and Chris Pratt shocked the world when they announced their split in August 2017 after eight years of marriage. And though they recently made their separation even more official by filing for divorce, sources say Faris and Pratt are on good terms, and they are committed to co-parenting their son, Jack.
Ben Affleck & Jennifer Garner
Despite the rumors surrounding their 2015 breakup, actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have somehow managed to remain close. The two go on family vacations together with their kids and spend the holidays together. In a December 2016 interview, Affleck called Garner “the greatest mom in the world.”
More recently, Garner opened up to CBS Sunday Morning about the stress that led to the split. “You feel a pressure to hurry up and get married because you think that’ll end the ‘Are they engaged? Are they not?’ That’s true in the reverse, as well,” she said. “If there is any inkling of trouble, if the tabloids decide there’s trouble, it can create trouble.”
Emma Stone & Andrew Garfield
They may have split in 2015, but Andrew Garfield still said in a 2016 roundtable with The Hollywood Reporter that if he could only bring one person with him to a deserted island, he would want it to be Emma Stone.
Mariah Carey & Nick Cannon
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon are so close, despite their divorce in 2016, that there are constant rumors that they are rekindling their relationship. Cannon even told Entertainment Tonight in 2017 that he isn’t ready to move on and doesn’t see himself ever getting married again.
“I don’t have a girlfriend. I’m always dating. Why not?” he said. “I’m a single man, I’m supposed to date.”
Jennifer Lopez & Marc Anthony
Since their 2011 split, Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez have been winning at the co-parenting game and the co-creating one, too. Anthony was an executive producer on Lopez's Spanish-language album Por Primera Vez. Lopez said in an episode of Spotify's ¡Viva Latino! podcast that working on the album with Anthony helped their friendship.
"[Collaborating on Por Primera Vez] actually kind of repaired certain parts of our relationship that had been fractured from our marriage and our divorce and it kind of made us friends again," Lopez said. "Because when we first started working together, it's how we met… we met working. And so we remembered that like, oh right, we connect on this level of music."
Taylor Kinney & Lady Gaga
Since their July 2016 breakup, Taylor Kinney and Lady Gaga have remained close.
In August 2017, a source told Us Weekly that the two still talk or text every single day. Despite the fact that she's moved on with her agent Christian Carino, Gaga has said she'll always have love for Kinney.
"To be fair, I think that Taylor’s pretty fucking cool that over the years, no matter what creative transformation that I’ve gone through, he’s always been very supportive of that and loving," she said.
Nina Dobrev & Ian Somerhalder
There was a lot of talk of drama on the set of The Vampire Diaries when Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev split in 2013 after years of dating, but the two have always insisted they're on friendly terms.
Somerhalder's wife, Nikki Reed, even wrote on Instagram, "For the last few years we thought addressing any baseless rumors with silence was the best way. Besides, who wants to respond to made up stories about 'friends backstabbing friends', 'cheating exes', or 'cast members exiting shows' on low-brow websites like hollywood life that are just perpetuating trends that preceded us. Yuck. I now see that silence was taken as an opportunity to fill in the blanks with even more falsities, and juicer stories, and we, yes WE, believe we have a moral responsibility to young girls to end that narrative, because at the end of all of this, those young girls are the ones who lose."
Cameron Diaz & Justin Timberlake
Cameron Diaz revealed in a 2014 interview with Self magazine that she's still friends with all of her exes, including Justin Timberlake.
"I'm still friends with my ex-boyfriends," she said. "I feel like all my relationships are strong — friends, family. I've invested in my people and they're invested in me."
The two split in 2007, but Diaz insists there are no hard feelings, which makes sense because both have moved on to new, very serious relationships. They even did a movie together post-relationship: 2011's Bad Teacher.
Reese Witherspoon & Ryan Phillippe
Reese Witherspoon said in an interview on British talk show Lorraine that she doesn't regret her marriage to Ryan Phillippe, explaining they were just too young when they got married.
"It's about that next chapter in your life," she started. "What do you do when you get to 40 and you made a decision when you were 25 to get married and have kids? I got married when I was 23 and I had two kids by the time I was 27. So I don't know, you know, sometimes it's good to know yourself."
Furthermore, the two remain dedicated to co-parenting their two children and are often seen together spending time as a family.
Naomi Watts & Liev Schreiber
Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber split in 2016. Though the divorce still seems fresh for the couple, they are committed to co-parenting their sons, Sasha and Kai, and maintain a good relationship while doing just that.
"Things are going well," Watts told News.com.au in July 2017. "The boys are happy and healthy and doing incredibly well."
Demi Moore & Bruce Willis
Demi Moore and Bruce Willis might just win the best exes award. Back when Moore was with Ashton Kutcher, Willis even said the three were all pals and gave each other "a lot of compliments."
Daughter Rumer Willis also praised her parents during her time on Dancing With the Stars for how they handled the divorce in 2000.
"I never had to split up vacations or split up birthdays," Rumer said. "They always made an effort to do all of the family events still together and made such an effort to still have our family be as one unit, as opposed to two separate things, which I think really made an impact."
They're apparently so cool with each other, Moore showed up to Willis' roast, which is airing on Comedy Central on July 29.
Heidi Klum & Seal
Heidi Klum and Seal continue to amaze with their friendship following their 2012 divorce. Not only did she have him on her show America's Got Talent as a guest judge, she also called him her "fave singer."
Orlando Bloom & Miranda Kerr
In a 2017 interview with The EDIT, Kerr said she and Bloom will "always be friends" despite their difficult divorce.
"It was the right thing to do; we weren’t bringing out the best in each other," Kerr said. "There's no hostility there, we'll always be friends."
The two are co-parenting their son, Flynn.
Lenny Kravitz & Lisa Bonet
Another former couple that never fails to impress with their close friendship is Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz.
In 2013, Kravitz described Bonet as his "best friend."
"We were very young and, uh, it was wonderful," he said. "And we had Zoë, which is… I see now what it was all about. It was really all about bringing this beautiful child to the planet. And also sharing the love that we had. Zoë's mom and I now are best friends. It's interesting because that's how the relationship started."
Kravitz is also good friends with Bonet's husband, Jason Momoa.
Courteney Cox & David Arquette
Courteney Cox called David Arquette her "best friend in the world" in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres following the couple's split in 2013.
"I love him," she said. "I appreciate David more now than I ever did. I mean, it's hard. I don't recommend divorce in general, but, you know, he is my best friend and we've both grown and changed."
A week later, Arquette echoed those sentiments to People. "She's incredible," he said. "I love her, too, and she's an amazing person, a beautiful person."
Madonna & Sean Penn
Madonna and Sean Penn are so close that Madonna would even remarry Penn for the right price. And by that, we mean she said it while at a charity auction and offered to retie the knot with Penn if he bid $150,000. "I'm still in love with you," Madonna told Penn.
Penn did bid on a few pricey items throughout the night, but the two left the party still very single.
