40 Infamous Celebrity Divorces
Just like everyone else, celebrities have marital problems and other issues that can result in divorce. Unfortunately for them, these proceedings are (sometimes) amplified and projected out into the world en masse. Below are 40 celebrity divorces that made the headlines.
Prince Charles & Princess Diana
Before King Charles III was a King, he was the Prince of Wales, who married Lady Diana Spencer in late July of 1981. What followed were 11 years of a tumultuous marriage sullied by allegations of impropriety, infidelity, and unending press coverage of it all. Charles and Diana separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996.
Nicolas Cage & Erica Koike
Nicolas Cage was infamously married to makeup artist Erica Koike for just four days. The couple wed in Las Vegas, but four days later, Cage filed for an annulment for the marriage. Four. Days.
That has to be some sort of record.
Kim Kardashian & Kris Humphries
The Brooklyn Nets power forward Humphries enjoyed a whirlwind romance with Kim Kardashian in 2011. The pair had been dating for seven months before they married, they were wed within 90 days of their engagement—and were divorced 72 days later.
Pamela Anderson & Jon Peters
Pamela Anderson and movie mogul Jon Peters wed on January 21, 2020, after knowing each other for forty years. Anderson's publicist announced the surprise marriage to People magazine, stating the couple were "very much in love and were married yesterday".
Yet, 12 days later, the marriage was called off and couple had separated. The legal paperwork to formalize the marriage hadn't even been filed.
Kevin Costner & Christine Baumgartner
Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner met on the set of Tin Cup (1996), began dating in 1998 and were married in Aspen, Colorado in 2004. Shockingly, the two announced their divorce after 18 (almost 19) years of marriage in 2023.
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Jon & Kate Gosselin
For lovers of the reality TV series Jon & Kate Plus 8 (2007), the two's contentious and heated split came as some surprise. Married since 1999, the pair's relationship devolved and they divorced in 2009.
Sandra Bullock & Jesse James
Sandra Bullock and Jesse James were married in 2005 after dating for a year or so. Following Bullock's winning of an Oscar for The Blind Side in 2010, rumours swirled about impropriety on James' part and Bullock's filing for divorce that year all but confirmed them.
Brad Pitt & Jennifer Aniston
At one time, these two were Hollywood's golden couple: They were married in 2000 after being set up on a date by their management teams in 1998. They would become the most beloved couple in Hollywood and married in a lavish ceremony in Malibu attended by Hollywood's elite. Only five years later, they would divorce amid rumors that Pitt had begun an affair with his next wife, Angeline Jolie.
Jennifer Aniston & Justin Theroux
While on the set of Wanderlust (2011), Justin Theroux and Jennifer Aniston would hit it off and begin dating. They were engaged in 2012 but only married in 2015.
Unfortunately for Aniston and Theroux, their marriage would only last two and a half years, as they divorced in early 2018.
Ben Stiller & Christine Taylor
Ben Stiller's marriage to Christine Taylor was fast-paced. The two met in 1999 and married in 2000. Then, after 17 years of marriage, the pair announced their divorce in a shocking twist.
But the twists kept coming: Stiller and Taylor announced they'd gotten back together (but not remarried as yet) at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Chris Martin & Gwyneth Paltrow
Their divorce, or, "conscious uncoupling" as Paltrow famously referred to it as, happened after ten years of marriage and two children. Divorcing in 2016, the couple cited distance and grueling work schedules as factors.
Kaley Cuoco & Ryan Sweeting
Ryan Sweeting was a tennis professional who met The Big Bang Theory star Kaley Cuoco on a blind date. The pair dated for six months before their marriage in late 2014.
Nearly two years later, Cuoco filed for divorce stating irreconcilable differences, although she later revealed that Sweeting had developed an addiction to prescription pain meds and refused treatment.
Kris & Caitlyn Jenner
When Caitlyn Jenner made headlines in 2015 as a major public figure to begin transitioning from male to female, that had preceded the dissolution of her 24-year marriage to Kris Jenner.
Ben Affleck & Jennifer Garner
Also occurring in 2015 was the divorce of ten-years-married couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. The pair became romantically involved in 2004, married at a destination wedding in 2005, and then divorced in 2015.
Miranda Lambert & Blake Shelton
The country singing duo met while performing a duet in 2005 at a concert for Country Music Television—then got together following Shelton's divorce from his first wife in 2006. The couple had no children, but did have 15 rescue pets. They divorced in 2015.
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Gwen Stefani & Gavin Rossdale
The rock and roll couple met in 1998 after Stefani's band opened for Rossdale's. In 2002, the couple announced their marriage and were parents to three sons by 2014. In 2015, however, following swirling rumors of Rossdale's affair with their nanny, the pair divorced.
Marc Anthony & Jennifer Lopez
Marc Anthony was working on the set of a Broadway show called The Capeman when he met J-Lo in 1998. Lopez and Anthony wouldn't begin dating until 2004, but they got married after just six months.
In 2014, the couple announced their divorce. Lopez would give a frank interview in 2016 where she stated, "It wasn't the dream I had hoped for".
Heidi Klum & Seal
Heidi Klum and Seal married in Mexico in 2005, and renewed their vows annually on their anniversary. Unfortunately, their recommitment to one another didn't last, as they divorced in 2014 amid swirling rumours.
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Mariah Carey & Nick Cannon
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon dated in 2008 and were wed the same year in the Bahamas, however the couple's marriage would only last until 2014, three years after their two children were born—two of Cannon's 12 total kids.
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Téa Leoni & David Duchovny
The X-Files star would marry Téa Leoni in 1997, separating in 2008 and again in 2011, before finalizing their divorce in 2014, after 17 years and two children.
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Orlando Bloom & Miranda Kerr
Orlando Bloom proposed to long-time girlfriend Miranda Kerr in 2009, marrying in 2010. Miranda gave birth to their son, Flynn, in 2011. Unfortunately for Bloom and Kerr, the marriage dissolved in 2013.
Katie Holmes & Tom Cruise
Katie Holmes & Tom Cruise's love for one another rivalled "Brangelina" and other Hollywood couples. The pair began dating in April of 2005, only seven weeks after meeting. Cruise and Katie Holmes have a daughter, Suri, born in 2006.
The pair divorced in 2012 after a tumultuous latter stages of their marriage after Cruise came under scrutiny for his belonging to the Church of Scientology.
Russell Brand & Katie Perry
Back on the short wedding bus with Russell Brand and Katie Perry. The pair met at the 2009 MTV Music Awards. They were married in 2010, but Brand filed for divorce in December of 2011, after only 14 months of marriage.
Elin Nordegren & Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods' publicly acknowledged his infidelity toward his wife, Elin Nordegren in 2010 after six years of marriage. Their marriage concluded shortly after and Woods' would end up paying Nordegren $100 million and destroying his reputation.
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Robin Wright & Sean Penn
Robin Wright and Sean Penn's relationship had been fairly tumultuous for several years prior to their 2010 divorce after 14 years of marriage, but the couple had a knack for patching things up and soldiering on. Unfortunately, that would not last.
Heather Mills & Paul McCartney
Heather Mills and Paul McCartney's relationship was plastered all over the British tabloids in the years prior to their divorce and in the months following their divorce in 2008.
Mills was paid $48.6 million by McCartney as part of their divorce, despite requesting almost $200 million.
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Guy Ritchie & Madonna
Madonna and Guy Ritchie married in 2000, but would split up after eight years of marriage. The couple share a son, Rocco. Madonna stated in 2012 that the divorce was amicable but that their marriage was, "not what I thought it was going to be".
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Kid Rock & Pamela Anderson
Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson had an off-and-on relationship that began in 2001 after meeting at a VH1 Divas concert. In 2006, the couple married spontaneously on a yacht...and got divorced 122 days later.
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Kenny Chesney & Renée Zellweger
In 2005, Kenny Chesney and Renée Zellweger married after meeting during NBC's Concert of Hope, a charity concert intended to raise money for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.
Chesney and Zellweger were married after four months of dating. But then just five months after their marriage, Zellweger had the divorce annulled, citing fraud by Chesney.
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Meg Ryan & Dennis Quaid
The pair were married in 1991. Their nine-year marriage culminated in divorce in 2000, after allegations were made that Ryan had an affair. At least we got Jack Quaid out of the deal.
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Ryan Reynolds & Scarlett Johansson
Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively may be one of Hollywood's new golden couple, but people forget that before Reynolds and Lively got together, Reynolds was married to Scarlett Johansson. The pair were married in 2008. The marriage lasted three years prior to their divorce in 2011.
Ashton Kutcher & Demi Moore
Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore were another blockbuster Hollywood couple, infamous for the 15-year age difference between them. The pair met in 2003 and married in 2005. They separated in 2011 after six years of marriage.
Khloe Kardashian & Lamar Odom
Kim Kardashian's younger sister, Khloe dated former L.A Lakers star, Lamar Odom, for just one month before they married. The pair met at a party in LA. They were married for seven years, but Odom's substance use issues became too much for Khloe, who divorced Odom in 2016.
Michelle Rounds & Rosie O'Donnell
In December of 2011, Rosie O'Donnell announced to her talk show guests that she was engaged to television executive, Michelle Rounds. In June of 2012, the pair married in New York. O'Donnell and Rounds were separated in November of 2014 and divorced in 2015.
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie met on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith in 2005 and got together shortly thereafter. They finally married in 2014, years after "Brangelina" cemented their status as Hollywood's premiere blockbuster couple. Then just two years later, the pair filed for divorce, and their settlement remains pending.
Anna Faris & Chris Pratt
Anna Faris and Chris Pratt separated in 2017 after marrying in 2009. The couple have a son, Jack, and reportedly split amicably and are on good terms.
Walt Disney Television, Flickr
Jennifer Lopez & Ben Affleck
The most recent Hollywood divorce saw Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck announce the end of their marriage after just two years. While details are scarce, both Affleck and Lopez have been married before.
Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton
This couple would meet on the set of the epic Cleopatra (1962), the two stars would begin an affair whilst still married to their respective significant others. Taylor and Burton would divorce and re-marry in 1964.
Ten years later, Taylor and Burton would divorce again, citing toxicity in the relationship. They would re-marry just one year later in 1975—and then divorce again in 1976.
Johnny Depp & Amber Heard
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's divorce sparked an incredible defamation trial publicized before the entire nation. Johnny Depp and Amber Heard married in 2015, but their marriage dissolved in 2016. Heard v. Depp was the Hollywood trial of the century in 2022.
The general public was largely on Depp's side, with some arguing that the trial that was livestreamed online "exposed the fallacy of mutual abuse". Amber Heard lost the trial, ending up having to pay Depp $10 million in damages, despite countersuing Johnny Depp for $100 million.
Nicole Kidman & Tom Cruise
Kidman and Cruise enjoyed a ten-year relationship after marrying in 1990, the year after they'd met on the set of Days of Thunder (1989).
There was speculation that Scientology was to blame for Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise's divorce, but very little was known about the awful details until former Scientologists revealed that Cruise and the Church of Scientology actually had Kidman’s phone tapped during their marriage. Cruise and their two children also reportedly refuse to speak to their mother since the divorce, and have called her a “suppressive person”.
There are 40 infamous celebrity divorces. Are there any that should have made this list, but didn't? Let us know in the comments below!
