Celebrity Relationships That Were Total Rebounds

It's happened to the best of us: following a painful split, we leap into the arms of the first person we set eyes on. As the saying goes, the best way to get over someone is to get under someone. But more often than not, such impulsive trysts end up having a negative effect. As relationship expert Shamananda told Yahoo! Lifestyle, that old adage may not be so true after all. "A breakup is like a kind of death, and you get to honor yourself and go through the grieving process in order to heal properly," she explained. "This process is an act of self-love and it sends a message to your unconscious that you love yourself, which is what you need most right now." 

While getting back onto the dating scene in the immediate aftermath of a breakup may feel empowering and validate one's self-esteem, it can ultimately lead to a sense of vulnerability and greater loneliness, as these celebs found out. We've all marveled at celeb power couples strutting the red carpet in their A-list glory. But beneath the picture-perfect surface, so many factors can result in the demise of even our most beloved celebrity pairings. Stars are only human, after all, and relationships are already messy without the added glare of the media limelight. Subsequently, celebs are not immune to finding themselves on the rebound following messy splits. 

Let's spill the tea and serve it with a slice of shade as we dish on celebrity relationships that were total rebounds.

Cheating is always devastating in a relationship, but perhaps more so when the other woman is one's peer. Unfortunately for Kate Winslet, her man allegedly set eyes on a fellow thesp. As the Daily Mail reported, Winslet and her husband of seven years, director Sam Mendes, called it quits in 2010 amid rumors that the latter was having an affair with Rebecca Hall. "When Kate found out that Sam had grown close to Rebecca she was upset. Rebecca is totally Sam's type — a thespian mix of brains and beauty," an insider claimed. Although Mendes' reps insisted that they were just pals, he and Hall did eventually go public as a couple.

Soon, Winslet found herself on the rebound, snagging Burberry model Louis Dowler. "Louis is making Kate really happy," a source told the Evening Standard. "He is just the kind of guy you want around if you've been going through a tough time, as he really looks out for the people he cares for." The Mirror praised Winslet for going on the rebound with a superhunk a decade younger than her former hubby.

But after just a few months together, Winslet reportedly dumped Dowler and set her sights on the erstwhile Ned Rocknroll (later known as Edward Abel Smith), to whom she is now married. Following the split, Dowler decided to spill the tea on his dalliance with Winslet to the Daily Mail, claiming that the Oscar-winner was unnecessarily harsh when she broke up with him.

Dating after the death of a partner is always difficult. When Heath Ledger sadly died aged just 28 in 2008, his ex-fiancée, Michelle Williams, was understandably devastated. A few months after the tragedy, she attempted to find love once again and began dating Spike Jonze, who produced her film "Synecdoche, New York," per the Daily Mail. Williams and Jonze appeared at the Cannes Film Festival together; although the couple exhibited affection toward one another, Williams appeared visibly distressed in the aftermath of Ledger's passing.

After a little over a year together, the couple parted ways. Williams later confessed to Vogue (via Us Weekly) that Jonze was a rebound, with any hopes of a long-term relationship being dashed by the ever-lingering cloud of grief. "The timing was impossible," she reflected. "I thought falling in love again was the only thing that was going to save me from the pain. This erroneous idea: It just makes things more complicated."

In an interview with GQ, Williams admitted that she was desperate to find Mr. Right following Ledger's death because she longed for her daughter, Matilda, to have siblings her own age, something that sadly never materialized. "I wanted that for her," she said. "But I couldn't make that happen. And now that she's 6 that isn't even a possibility anymore. So something that was making me feel impatient, that's been removed." With husband Thomas Kail, Williams has since welcomed two more children, finally giving Matilda the siblings she always wanted.

Following her divorce from the now disgraced Ye, aka Kanye West, Kim Kardashian found love again with a surprising celeb — stand-up comic Pete Davidson. But the reality TV star and the funny New Yorker were one couple we didn't have on our 2021 bingo cards. After locking lips during a "Saturday Night Live" skit, Davidson and Kardashian were spotted packing on the PDA, both in public and on "The Kardashians."

In an episode of the show (via Insider), Kardashian admitted that she wasn't interested in a serious relationship with Davidson; rather, she was on the lookout for a bedfellow after hearing about the comedian's, ahem, impressive endowment. "I wasn't even thinking, 'Oh my god, I'm gonna be in a relationship with him,'" she confessed. "I was just thinking like, 'heard about this BDE, need to get out there.' I was just basically DTF." Although the rendezvous began as something purely physical, the pair began dating, per E! News. An insider told the outlet that while the relationship wasn't too serious, the lovers had agreed not to see anyone else. Accordingly, Kardashian's ex was enraged by her new romance, infamously starting a hate campaign against Davidson.

But after less than a year together, the couple called it quits. Subsequently, The Guardian dubbed Davidson "the ultimate rebound boyfriend." The outlet argued that his appeal lies in his ability to make newly divorced women like Kardashian feel good, coupled with his aversion to drama in the aftermath of breakups.

Although they appeared mismatched at first, supermodel Cara Delevingne and indie musician Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) ended up being the couple we all stanned in 2014. "I'm completely in love. ... Before, I didn't know what love was — real love," Delevingne gushed to Vogue. "I didn't understand the depth of it. ... Now I know the meaning of life is love." Sadly, this was one romance that wasn't to be, and the pair split up in September 2016. But Clark soon found herself on the rebound with another A-lister.

Pretty much immediately after breaking up with Delevingne, Clark began dating Kristen Stewart. After getting close at a movie screening, the lovers were spotted on a number of dates together, including a dalliance at a comedy show and lunch at a sushi restaurant, per Us Weekly. "It's been very romantic," a source dished. They made their first official appearance as a couple at a Vogue fashion show, with the trendy twosome sitting in the front row. However, they split up a couple months later, with Stewart moving onto model Stella Maxwell.

Speaking to The Guardian in 2017, Clark revealed that she still had Delevingne on the brain, with the baroque singer's album "Masseduction" heavily inspired by the pair's breakup. This perhaps explains her speedy split from Stewart. Subsequently, Clark confessed that she was staving off relationships following the breakup and was in "deep nun mode ... Completely monastic. Sober, celibate."

Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber's love was one for the ages, with stans still shipping the twosome years after they called it a day. Gomez and Bieber began dating in 2011 and maintained an on-again-off-again relationship for many years. In early 2017, Gomez began dating The Weeknd, who was on the rebound after splitting from Bella Hadid. In a seemingly shady move, the pair swiftly unfollowed Hadid on Instagram. Although the couple attended the Met Gala together and appeared super loved up, their relationship would be short-lived.

As is common with rebound relationships, there was a ghost lingering throughout Gomez's tryst with The Weeknd — a ghost by the name of Justin Bieber. Although it had been years since Gomez and Bieber last ended their relationship, it seemed she couldn't get her ex off her mind. Subsequently, she broke it off with The Weeknd that October, and it was reported that she was considering getting back together with her superstar ex, per Us Weekly. "Selena insisted that they were just friends and that The Weeknd had nothing to worry about, but she can't deny that she still loves Justin," a source said. "He had such a big piece of her heart and was such a huge part of her life for so long. She can't just let him go." 

Meanwhile, an insider claimed to E! News that The Weeknd was understandably unhappy that Gomez had begun hanging out with her former flame so soon after. Alas, Gomez and Bieber would also call it quits for good the following March.

Hollywood was stunned by the demise of power couple Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt in 2005, in turn being replaced by an even bigger power couple, Brangelina. Aniston was understandably distraught when her hubby began dating his "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" co-star, Angelina Jolie, a tryst that she learnt about through paparazzi snaps, per Vanity Fair. "There are many stages of grief," she told the outlet in the aftermath of the split. "It's sad, something coming to an end. It cracks you open, in a way. ... When you try to avoid the pain, it creates greater pain."

Aniston soon found love again in an unlikely place. Swapping her Hollywood hunk for a frat pack funnyman, she began dating Vince Vaughn. The pair met, rather fittingly, when they made the 2006 romcom "The Break-Up." In an interview with Rolling Stone following the film's release, Vaughn was asked whether it was true that Aniston had a crush on him, to which he apparently replied something along the lines of, "Yeoun-yuhn." Come again?

The pair's romance proved fleeting. In an interview with Vogue, Aniston admitted that Vaughn was a means to an end, having enabled her to get over the heartache of splitting from Pitt. "I call Vince my defibrillator," she joked. "He literally brought me back to life. My first gasp of air was a big laugh! ... He was lovely and fun and perfect for the time we had together. And I needed that. And it sort of ran its course."

In his pre-Blake Lively days, Ryan Reynolds was married to Scarlett Johansson. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be, and ScarJo found herself on the rebound with a decidedly older man following the couple's split in December 2010. During her divorce proceedings in 2011, Johansson, then 26, set her sights on Sean Penn, who was 50. Penn was also on the rebound when he hooked up with the Marvel star, having divorced Robin Wright in 2010.

The odd couple was snapped having a cozy date at a restaurant, with TMZ reporting that Johansson paid the bill. The romance lasted just five months. According to Us Weekly, Penn reportedly broke up with Johansson because he didn't want to be tied down to one woman, with Johansson supposedly wanting Penn more than he wanted her (the veracity of such claims seemed dubious, however).

Speaking to Vogue in 2012, Johansson spoke highly of Penn, but admitted she was still recovering from her divorce. "It was devastating," she confessed. "It really throws you. You think that your life is going to be one way, and then, for various reasons or whatever, it doesn't work out." Both moved on, with Johansson marrying "Saturday Night Live" star Colin Jost in 2020, and Penn marrying an even younger woman (Leila George, who is 31 years his junior) that same year, proving his ability to defy age gap thresholds well into his 60s. The latter marriage also ended in divorce.

Although Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth seemed like a perfect match, they ended up separating in 2019. Cyrus immediately went back into the dating scene and was soon spotted vacationing in Italy with a new love, "The Hills" star Kaitlynn Carter, per ET. The couple was snapped packing on the PDA as they sunbathed, with Hemsworth appearing a distant memory in the Mileyverse. Carter herself had also recently gone through a breakup, having split from husband Brody Jenner. In an essay for Elle, Carter revealed that she and Cyrus found comfort in each other following their respective splits. "It just happened and it felt exactly right," she wrote. According to insiders who chatted to Us Weekly, Hemsworth's allegedly homophobic family members were unhappy with Cyrus moving on with another woman, and he soon filed divorce papers.

After less than two months together, Cyrus and Carter called it quits, per E! News. According to sources, Cyrus was allegedly only looking for a casual fling in the aftermath of her divorce, whereas Carter apparently wanted a more serious relationship. "It went from 0 to 60 and she wanted to put on the brakes. ... She just got out of her marriage and Miley felt like she and Kaitlynn got carried away," an insider claimed. 

In her Elle essay, Carter praised Cyrus for helping her discover that she's sexually attracted to women. "While it was short-lived, I'll remain eternally grateful to my most recent relationship for opening my eyes to this unexplored part of myself," she wrote.

At a young age, Reese Witherspoon settled down with her "Cruel Intentions" co-star, Ryan Phillippe. The pair appeared to be smitten, with Witherspoon telling Jane Magazine in 1998, "I met him at my 21st birthday party. ... I told him, 'I think you're my birthday present.'" Unfortunately, the blond power couple ended up divorcing in 2007.

Witherspoon swiftly moved on and was spotted canoodling with Jake Gyllenhaal that year. However, those close to the Oscar winner expressed concern over her decision to date so soon after her divorce. "[Reese] is still very, very hurt by Ryan and it will take a long time to get over that," a source claimed to People. "[But she and Jake] have a mutual interest. They are taking it slow and getting to know each other."

But Witherspoon was having a blast. Chatting to InStyle (via Marie Claire) in 2009, she revealed that her new man helped her forget about her painful divorce. "You reconsider certain things, but you just have to keep going," she said. "You have to keep it together for your kids and yourself too. I'm trying to learn from things that have happened in my life, live more in the moment, and have more fun." However, the couple sadly called it quits that year, per People. Speaking to the outlet about the breakup years later, Gyllenhaal praised Witherspoon's strength and intellect, noting that the pair remain great friends.

Before settling down with Zawe Ashton, Tom Hiddleston was seemingly the perfect rebound boyfriend. The posh Brit has locked lips with everyone from Kat Dennings to Jessica Chastain. But perhaps one of his most high-profile lovers was Taylor Swift.

Mere weeks after splitting from boyfriend Calvin Harris, Swift began dating Hiddleston, who burst onto the scene as a sort of knight in rebound armor. According to the Los Angeles Times, Harris seemingly took his ex's new rendezvous badly and proceeded to unfollow her on social media. Outlets noted that the pair were moving their relationship along pretty quickly, with Us Weekly reporting that the "Anti-Hero" singer introduced her British beau to her parents not even two weeks later. However, The Guardian heavily criticized the media's depiction of Swift's rebound, highlighting that men are all too often praised for getting back out there, while women are vilified for doing the same.

Their romance was incredibly brief, lasting a mere three months, per Us Weekly. Following the split, Swift appeared to allude to Hiddleston in her song "Getaway Car," in turn seemingly confirming that he was a rebound. The song includes the seemingly shady lyrics, "It was the great escape, the prison break." Ouch. In an interview with GQ, Hiddleston dismissed claims that his romance with Swift was nothing more than a ploy for media attention. "I only know the woman I met," he said. "She's incredible. ... A relationship in the limelight takes work. And it's not just the limelight. It's everything else."

Newly divorced from Kim Kardashian, controversial rapper Kanye West went on the rebound with actor Julia Fox. He marked the beginning of 2022 by going public with his lady love and painting the town ... denim. The couple pulled a Britney and Justin at Paris Fashion Week, both donning double denim ensembles as they cuddled up together for the cameras (as pictured above). They then featured in an Interview magazine profile, where Fox gushed over her beau's generosity. "After dinner Ye had a surprise for me. ... Ye had an entire hotel suite full of clothes," she disclosed. "It was every girl's dream come true. It felt like a real Cinderella moment."

Subsequently, the Evening Standard branded the ostentatious relationship, which lasted just two months, a showmance. And this appears to have been the case. By Fox's own admission, she dated West to help him forget about his ex-wife. In a since-deleted TikTok video (via Insider), Fox declared, "I had this thought. Maybe I could get him off Kim's case. Maybe I can distract him, like, just get him to like me."

According to relationship experts, the romance was doomed from the very start. "It's certainly normal to be in a rebound relationship," psychologist Megan Fleming explained to the New York Post. "But if you're rushing into it with big gestures of love and commitment without ever taking the time to get know the other person, that could lead to trouble."

There's no denying that Coldplay frontman Chris Martin seems to have a type: A-list actor. Following his much-publicized split from Gwyneth Paltrow (something that she famously termed a "conscious uncoupling") in 2014, Martin began dating Jennifer Lawrence. The couple was first snapped together following a trip on a private jet that fall, per the Daily Mail. Thereafter, they were photographed on a number of dates, and even attended Harry Styles' 21st birthday bash together. However, many looked upon Martin's newfound romance with skepticism, with some detractors suggesting that the musician was using Lawrence as a rebound.

Soon enough, the couple parted ways. Insiders who chatted to People claimed that Lawrence was irked by Martin's refusal to commit to her, bolstering those rebound rumors. According to Heat (via Independent.ie), Lawrence allegedly later became enraged when she found out that Martin was locking lips with new lady love Annabelle Wallis. "She was pretty p***ed about the whole thing," an insider claimed. "Jen can't believe she didn't see it all along — it looks like Chris was using her to get over Gwyneth. Nobody wanted to think Jen was his rebound girl, but it definitely seems that way now." The source added that Lawrence allegedly felt that her ex had been playing with her emotions and leading her on. 

Following the split, Lawrence went on a little rebound of her own, dating her "Mother!" director, Darren Aronofsky, before breaking up with him after one year, per ET.

Long before tying the knot with model Behati Prinsloo, Adam Levine was on the market and accordingly made prime rebound real estate. Just one week after splitting from her model boyfriend, Paul Sculfor, in 2009, Cameron Diaz was ready to love again. Subsequently, she was spotted getting super cozy with the Maroon 5 frontman.

According to X17 Online (via Digital Spy), the attractive duo munched on lunch in Los Angeles and appeared positively besotted with each other. "They looked really excited to be together. It didn't seem like the first time they met — they were comfortable with each other," an onlooker dished. "Cameron was laughing at all of Adam's jokes and they seemed like such a perfect match. They were even dressed alike!" According to The Sun (via DNA India), Diaz was so smitten by her rumored pop-rock paramour that she supposedly introduced him to her mom after the first date.

As with so many rebound romances, Diaz and Levine's apparent fling seemed to fizzle out pretty quickly, though the rumored lovers were reunited in 2013 when they were both guests on "Saturday Night Live," per Rolling Stone. Since then, Diaz has found lasting love with Benji Madden. Meanwhile, Levine was seemingly enjoying a picture-perfect marriage with Prinsloo before his thirsty DMs were exposed in 2022.