Celebs Who Surprised Us By Divorcing After We All Thought They'd Made It

Celebrity relationships are not known for their longevity, but there are stars who have managed to make their partnerships work for 10, 20, even 40 or more years. Many, but not all (shoutout to you, Goldie and Kurt!) of these couples are married, and together they prove that a long marriage is possible in Hollywood as long as it is between the right people and given the proper nourishment. There is no key point in a marriage when a couple "makes it," but there is a feeling that fans get when a couple has been together a while and appears to be thriving. Even though we never know what happens behind closed doors, certain couples just feel like they are meant to be — like Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, or Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, or Beyonce and Jay-Z.

Occasionally, a couple that we assumed to be on solid footing calls it quits, shocking and devastating fans in the process. A 2023 Refinery29 article suggests that we react so strongly to celebrity breakups because fans look to these couples as stable examples of love (#relationshipgoals) and feel connected to the unit as a whole as much as the individuals within the unit. It is also not uncommon for fans to develop parasocial relationships with celebrities — one-way relationships that very much mimic the feelings of friendship — which would explain why we feel bad when our favorite celebs split. Here are 20 celebrity couples who truly surprised us by divorcing when we thought they were endgame.

Fans were absolutely gutted when, in January 2022, Jason Momoa announced that he and his wife Lisa Bonet were splitting up. "We share this not because we think it's newsworthy ~ But so that ~ as we go about our lives we may do so with dignity and honesty," wrote the actor on his Instagram account, which is followed by over 17 million people (via Us Weekly). "The love between us carries on, evolving in ways it wishes to be known and lived. We free each other ~ to be who we are learning to become ... Our devotion unwavering to this sacred life & our children." Though their marriage was only a short five years, Momoa and Bonet were together far longer than that. They were so seemingly strong as a couple that they even won a February 2022 Nicki Swift poll about the most surprising celeb breakup.

Bonet and Momoa married in October 2017, but were first introduced by mutual friends while out at a jazz bar in 2004. They started dating immediately thereafter and within a handful of years, had welcomed two kids — daughter Lola and son Nakoa-Wolf, born in 2007 and 2008. One of the things people loved most about this partnership is how Momoa embraced not only Bonet's adult daughter Zoë Kravitz, but also her father. The bromance between Momoa and Lenny Kravitz was legendary, to the point where it has spawned dozens of articles and galleries across the web, and the clan served as a shining example for every blended family.

We love Bennifer as much as the next person, but we were okay about closing that chapter when Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez broke up way back in January 2004. Decades later, we are digging them again, but only after years mourning the breakup between Affleck and his first wife, Jennifer Garner. After all, it is Garner whose patience and support helped Affleck become his best self, and even after their 2015 split, she has continued to stand by her ex. For example, when Affleck went to rehab in August 2018, two months before the divorce was finalized, it was Garner who drove him to the treatment center. Their split was especially startling since it happened only days after they celebrated their 10-year wedding anniversary (although divorce papers were not filed for a couple of years after that, in April 2017).

The couple first met on the set of "Pearl Harbor," in which Affleck starred and Garner had a tiny role, but nothing happened between them since Garner was married to "Scandal" actor Scott Foley at the time. Nothing happened when they co-starred together again three years later, in 2003's "Daredevil," but once they were single the next year, things were on. They made their first public appearance in late 2004, married in June 2005, and had their first child Violet six months later. They welcomed two more children — Seraphina in 2009 and Samuel in 2012 — and established themselves as a Hollywood power couple before it all went to shreds.

It has been five years since Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan split up and we are not over it, even if both of them have moved on (Dewan even had a child with her current partner, Steve Kazee, in 2020). The couple was for a time a symbol of pure #relationshipgoals — spouses who respected each other, had sizzling sexual chemistry, and appeared to have a good time. They put all of that on full display when they appeared together on "Celebrity Lip Sync," in one of the shows most iconic episodes. We were not alone in our devastation either, and we know this for a fact because Us Weekly provided plenty of examples in their article, "Fans Are Losing Their Minds Over Jenna and Channing's Split."

Dewan and Tatum were together for 12 years (and married for nine) before their 2018 separation. They became an item after meeting on the set of the 2006 film "Step Up," and married three years later in Malibu. Together they share one daughter, Everly, who was born in May 2013 and who inspired Tatum to create a line of children's books, called "Sparkarella." Dewan filed for divorced in October 2018, six months after the couple announced their split on 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," read the statement (via Us Weekly).

Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen were a weird couple, but a weird couple that seemed to work well as a duo. Their pairing always made sense, since athletes and models pair up as often as macaroni and cheese, but the more we learned about their life, the more they seemed perfect for each other. They even abided by the same overly restrictive diet, which consisted of 80% vegetables and banned white sugar, flour, dairy, and even nightshades (per Boston.com). We assumed that Brady and Bundchen were going to be together forever, especially after the model stuck by her man during the Deflategate scandal. But you know what they say about those who assume.

Brady and Bundchen's marriage began under difficult circumstances, when Brady found out that his ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynahan was pregnant with his oldest son, Jack, two months after starting his romance with Bundchen (in December 2006). Somehow, the relationship was able to survive and Bundchen welcome Jack into her life and family. The couple got engaged in January 2009 and married the next month in a small ceremony with only their parents present. Bundchen gave birth to the couple's son Benjamin in December of that same year, and to their daughter Vivian three years later. Though they faced rumors about fighting or tension throughout the years, they were also consistently photographed being handsy and never shied away from Instagram tributes to each other, so we were truly surprised by their split, which they formally announced in October 2022 after their divorced was finalized.

Looking back, we should have predicted that Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver would eventually divorce. Action stars who were popular in the 1980s and 1990s do not exactly have great track records with marriage, after all. Sure, Jackie Chan has been married for over 40 years but look at the rest of the lot — Sylvester Stallone is on marriage number three, Steven Seagal is on marriage four, and Jean-Claude Van Damme has been married five times to four different women. We thought Schwarzenegger's union would be different, perhaps because he married into an American dynasty (Shriver is J.F.K.'s niece) or because of his transition into politics, where divorces can sometimes turn off one's voter base. The couple also seemed to truly be in love, so it was surprising when their love bubble burst in a truly ugly, very public manner.

Schwarzenegger and Shriver were married in 1986 and have four children, including actor Patrick and writer Katherine, who is married to Chris Pratt. They announced their separation in May 2011, one week before Schwarzenegger publicly confessed to having had a secret child years before with the family's maid. Shriver formally filed for divorce two months later, but has somehow kept things civil with her ex, who only told her of his son Joseph Baena's existence after leaving political office. "She and I are really good friends and very close, and we are very proud of the way we raised our kids," Schwarzenegger told The Hollywood Reporter, adding that they even spend holidays together.

"Modern Family" star Sofía Vergara and everyone's favorite "True Blood" werewolf Joe Manganiello made a beautiful couple, and their intense sexual chemistry was palpable whenever they were appeared together in public. Like so many fans, we were rooting for them to succeed, and the July 2023 announcement of their split left us truly shaken. After seven years of marriage, the couple ended things after reportedly growing apart over time. "As two people that love and care for one another very much, we politely ask for respect of our privacy at this time as we navigate this new phase of our lives," read their joint statement, released to Page Six.

Plenty of rumors have swirled since the gorgeous pair announced their news, most of them surrounding children. Page Six claims that Manganiello desperately wanted children, but that Vergara had become closed off to the idea in the years since they married. Vergara has a grown son, Manolo, from her first marriage, and famously fought with ex-fiancé Nick Loeb over frozen embryos he wanted to implant in a surrogate after their breakup. She won her case again Loeb, but perhaps the experience soured her on the prospect of having another baby at this stage of life (Vergara looks 40, but is actually 51). So many fans posted reactions to Vergara and Manganiello's divorce news that Sportskeeda even created an article of the collected outpouring. If two incredibly, almost inhumanly attractive people can't make it in this world, who can?

Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow had one of the most iconic divorces in history and, unlike nearly every other notable celebrity divorce, it was not because of an excess of drama. In fact, it was exactly the opposite — the former spouses will go down in history for the way they became "consciously uncoupled," a term Paltrow famously introduced into the cultural landscape via a Goop newsletter announcing the divorce. "We knew that the piece would generate a lot of attention – a celebrity couple ending their relationship always does – but I never could have anticipated what came next," Paltrow wrote in British Vogue in 2022. "The public's surprise gave way quickly to ire and derision. A strange combination of mockery and anger that I had never seen."

While Paltrow is correct that the outrage and ridicule were exaggerated, the years since her 2014 split from Martin have proven that there may be something to their unconventional strategy, goofy name and all. The pair have been able to remain close friends, and Paltrow even credits "conscious uncoupling" for the friendship between Martin and her current husband, writer/producer/director Brad Falchuk. "Family structure can be reinvented and divorce doesn't have to be devastating," Paltrow told the Evening Standard in 2019. "It doesn't have to be the end of your relationship with somebody." Paltrow and Martin first started dating in 2002, and they married in December 2003, the same month they announced they were expecting daughter Apple (they also have a son, Moses, born in 2006).

Many children of the 1990s still think of Tia and Tamera Mowry as the teenage twins separated at birth they played on "Sister, Sister," so the idea that the sisters are not only grown but have kids approaching the age of their famous characters is almost mindboggling. While Tamera (who now goes by Mowry-Housley) is still happily married to Adam Housley, Tia's run at love has taken a turn for the left in recent years. In 2022, Mowry surprised us all when she split from actor Cory Hardrict, her husband of 14 years. 

One reason the split was so shocking was because Hardrict was the only man Mowry had ever been linked to publicly, and she had spent nearly her whole adult life with him. The pair first started dating in 2000, after meeting on the set of "Hollywood Horror," a forgettable film that was not even released until 2005. Mowry was 22 when they met, and just about to turn 30 when they walked down the aisle in April 2008. They welcomed son Cree in 2011 and daughter Cairo in 2018, showing no signs of marital distress, not even leading up to their split. In April 2022, Mowry praised her man on Instagram to celebrate their 22nd anniversary, while Hardict posted a birthday tribute for his wife that July. So, when Mowry announced their split in October, it was certainly unexpected. "I wanted to share that Cory and I have decided to go our separate ways," she posted on Instagram, one day after filing divorce papers.

This one was a real bummer, if only because Anna Faris was together with Chris Pratt well before he became the mega-famous movie star he now is. She did not start off with action hero, six-pack abs Pratt, but with the chubby, lovable goofball version we first fell in love with on series like "Everwood" and "Parks and Recreation." But while Faris married Pratt 1.0, the actor's meteoric rise and evolution into Pratt 2.0 changed the dynamic to the point where Faris has said she felt like her "hand was forced" into divorce (per Insider). It saddened us that these two weirdos could not make it work, but at least they have both moved on successfully in the years since their 2018 split.

As so many celebrity couples do, Faris and Pratt first met on set while filming the 2007 movie "Take Me Home Tonight." Faris was the bigger star at the time, thanks to her breakout role in "Scary Movie" and its sequels, as well as standout performances in smaller parts in flicks like "Lost in Translation" and "Just Friends." She was also married, but when she split from husband Ben Indra a month after meeting Pratt, it did not take the actor long to swoop in. They were engaged by the end of 2008 and married in July of the next year. The couple welcomed their only child together (Pratt also has children with his current wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger) in 2012 and have made positive statements about the experience of co-parenting son Jack.

Academy Award-nominated actor Laurence Fishburne is a fantastic performer who has dazzled in everything from "What's Love Got to Do with It?" to "The Matrix" to "Black-ish," where he played the Johnson family's live-in grandpa Earl in a recurring capacity for years. One role Fishburne has not mastered is husband, even though he gave it a solid run a couple of times. We were particularly saddened to see his marriage to fellow actor Gina Torres come to an end in 2018, as we were hoping the second time would be the charm for Fishburne. He was previously married to former actor Hajna O. Moss, with whom he shares two adult children.

But back to "9-1-1: Lone Star" actor Torres, who Fishburne married in 2002. The couple went on to have one child, daughter Delilah, and it was not until Page Six published photos of Torres smooching a strange man in 2017 that we knew there was trouble in paradise. "With heavy hearts, Laurence and I quietly separated and began the dissolution of our marriage in the early fall of last year," Torres told Us Weekly the day after Page Six ran the photos. "There are no bad guys here. Only a love story with a different ending than either one of us had expected." In 2022, Fishburne told Page Six that he was not actively dating despite being open to falling in love again. Torres is still smooching Kevin Wright, the man from those 2018 photos, judging from a June 2023 Instagram reel she made.

We know it's naïve to have been surprised by the split of a couple who filed for divorce on numerous occasions, but a combination of wishful thinking and sheer romanticism is probably what made us convinced that country singer Billy Ray Cyrus and Trish Cyrus could remain on the happily wedded track after they rekindled their relationship in 2013. June of that year was the second time Trish filed for divorce, but the couple had been going strong since getting back together only a month later. Billy Ray was the one to file the couple's first divorce papers, back in 2010, but that split was also reversed before anything legal went down.

Though the couple's final divorce filing only occurred in April 2022, both Billy Ray and Trish are already engaged to other people (him to singer Firerose, her to actor Dominic Purcell). Despite how quickly each party moved on, we believe that the Cyruses truly loved each other — and they have a whole clan of kids to show for it. Billy Ray adopted Trish's two eldest kids Brandi and Trace when the couple got married in 1993, and they went on to have three kids together, pop icon Miley, fellow singer Noah, and actor Braison (Billy Ray has one additional child from before he met Trish). "We have grown up together, raised a family we can be so proud of, and it is now time to create our own paths," the couple said in a statement to People after announcing their split.

Peter Facinelli and Jennie Garth made it over a decade as a married couple, which is a real feat in Hollywood. Still, we had hopes that they could make things last until death do them part and were surprised when they split in 2012. "While we have decided to end our marriage, we both share the same deep love and devotion to our children," they said in a statement at the time (via the New York Daily News). "We remain dedicated to raising our beautiful daughters together. We ask for privacy and respect during this time." The couple finalized their divorce the following year and Garth married her third husband (Facinelli was number two) in 2015. Facinelli has also found new love and welcomed a son with his fiancée Lily Anne Harrison in September 2022.

We do not know for sure what ended things between Facinelli and Garth, but Us Weekly reported that Garth had grown resentful of Facinelli's success, which exploded with the "Twilight" movies. When asked about the divorce many years later, Facinelli simply said that things changed in the relationship over time. "So, bad things can become habitual, the way you start to treat each other, giving the other person permission or an allowance to talk to you in a certain way," he explained on the "Allison Interviews" podcast in 2022. Facinelli and Garth first met on the set of a TV movie in 1995, and they married in early 2001. They have three daughters — Luca, Lola, and Fiona.

We honestly thought that country legend Reba McEntire and her ex-husband Narvel Blackstock would grow old together. And, sure, neither one of them are spring chickens but they still have plenty of life to live and it is a disappointment to fans that they are doing so on separate paths. McEntire and Blackstock divorced in 2015, after more than two decades of marriage, and not by McEntire's choice. "The divorce was not my idea. I didn't want it in any shape, form or fashion. So it was really hard to make the adjustment," she said in a 2016 CMT Radio Live interview (via Hello!). McEntire is now 68 and her adorable relationship with boyfriend Rex Linn, an actor she has known since 1991, is proof that it is never too late to start over if you have the right mindset.

Both McEntire and Blackstock were married before getting together and, in fact, they were both wedded when Blackstock first joined McEntire's band as a guitarist in 1980. They got together after Blackstock's 1988 divorce — which came one year after McEntire's first marriage ended —married in June 1989, and welcomed their only son Shelby just under nine months later. One year before he married McEntire, Blackstock founded Starstruck Entertainment, a management agency through which he took an active role in McEntire's career. He also represented Kelly Clarkson while she was married to his son (from his first marriage) Brandon, and has been in a heated legal battle with the singer since 2020.

Some of our favorite marriages are ones where both partners are absolutely hilarious, as we imagine they live in wedded bliss in homes filled only with laughter and fun. This is obviously far from the reality of any marriage, even ones between comedians', but that has not stopped us from investing deeply in the pairings of people like Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone, Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman, or Chelsea Peretti and Jordan Peele. It was a sad, sad day when Amy Poehler and Will Arnett, two of the funniest people working in Hollywood and a seemingly perfect couple, announced their impending divorce. Isn't laughter supposed to be the best medicine? We guess there are some tears jokes cannot fix.

According to People, Poehler and Arnett first crossed paths in the 1996, but it was not until a reintroduction in 2000 that they began dating. Things got hot and heavy quickly after that, but the pair kept things private and did not even make a public appearance until 2002, which is a year before they wed. They welcomed son Archie in 2008 and his brother Abel in 2010, and no signs of discord ever appeared in gossip columns. While the couple's September 2012 divorce announcement broke our hearts, we are comforted by their consistent reassurance that they remain on good terms. "I'm so lucky that we're such a huge part of each other's lives, even more so than we were five years ago," Arnett told The Guardian in 2022.

While his bff Leonardo DiCaprio has always preferred short flings or relationships that last only a handful of years, we always assumed that Tobey Maguire was wifed up for life. He and his jewelry designer ex Jennifer Meyer appeared to have a solid marriage and let no signs of trouble slip out publicly prior to their separation. Both of their kids were under age 10 when the pair ended things in 2016, which makes the split even sadder. "After much soul searching and consideration we have made the decision to separate as a couple," Maguire and Meyer told People via a statement. "As devoted parents, our first priority remains raising our children together with enduring love, respect and friendship."

Despite separating in 2016, neither party actually filed for divorce for years thereafter, until Meyer filed papers in October 2020. By that point, the pair had been legally married for 13 years, having wed in 2007, though the media often only counts the nine years before their separation. Maguire first met Meyer in 2003, and they draw upon their history to ensure they remain loving to each other in the present — probably for the sake of their two children, teenagers Ruby and Otis. "It's been the most beautiful experience of my life having this beautiful breakup," Meyer said on "The World's First Podcast" in 2022 (via E! Online). "I can't even explain. I would literally do anything in the world for Tobey. He is my brother. I love him to death and we have the most beautiful family."

Ali Wong made a ton of jokes about her marriage and her husband, Justin Hakuta, in her third Netflix special, "Don Wong," but we did not think anything of it. She had always joked about marriage and we can hardly name a married comedian who doesn't include their spouse in their act. But then, two months after the special came out in February 2022, Wong and Hakuta announced their split — so it is very likely the jokes were symbolic of something deeper. Wong is back on the road on a comedy tour as of summer 2023, and her divorce (and single life post-divorce) is the main topic of discussion. At least she got some good material out of the dissolution of her marriage, right?

Wong first met Hakuta at a wedding in 2010, and the pair got married four years later at City Hall. Hakuta's family hilarious made Wong sign a prenup — hilarious because the comedian and actor is at the height of her career between comedy and her Emmy-nominated performance in the miniseries "Beef," and is now worth a reported $4 million (per Celebrity Net Worth). If you have seen Wong's first two Netflix specials, both of them filmed when she was heavily pregnant, then you already know that she and Hakuta have two children (born in 2015 and 2017). Despite their divorce, Wong still spend tons of time with her ex, he is still working as her tour manager, and she called him her "best friend" in a 2023 profile in The Hollywood Reporter.

Melanie Griffith has been married to three men, one of them twice. She was only 18 the first time she married Don Johnson, whom she had been dating since she was 14 and he was 22. The couple moved in together when Griffith was 15, so marriage did not change much, but that first union only lasted for six months of 1976. Griffith was then married to Steven Bauer, father of her son Alexander, from 1981 to 1989, before getting back together with Johnson in 1989. Griffith and Johnson quickly wed again and the marriage lasted until 1996, with the pair welcoming daughter Dakota along the way.

Never one to space out her marriages, Griffith walked down the aisle with actor Antonio Banderas the same year as her divorce from Johnson. The couple — who share daughter Stella, born in 1996 — stayed married for 18 years, and with each subsequent year, people grew more and more convinced Griffith had finally found the right man with whom to spend the rest of her life. Their 2014 separation was shocking, but the divorce, finalized in 2015, has not stopped the duo from successfully co-parenting. In 2017, Griffith gave an interview to Porter magazine in which she discussed why she felt the divorce happened. "I think part of the reason my marriage to Antonio fell apart was because I was stuck; nobody else is to blame," she said (via the National Post). "I want to enjoy life, I want to do whatever I want to do."

"Dirty Dancing" star Jennifer Grey's career had largely petered out by the time she got married in 2001, but she was still the bigger name in her relationship. That changed along the way as hubby Clark Gregg started scoring higher profile roles, and the actor is now relatively well known due to his role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Gregg surely racked up some dough playing Agent Phil Coulson in the first six seasons of the series "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," as well as a variety of Marvel movies beginning with 2008's "Iron Man." But while Gregg's career was rising, his marriage to Gregg was apparently flailing and the two called it quits one year before their 20th wedding anniversary.

"After 19 years together, we separated in January, knowing we'd always be a family who loves, values and cares for each other," posted both Gray and Gregg on their Instagram accounts in July 2020 (via People). "We recently made the difficult decision to divorce, but we remain close and are deeply grateful for the life we've shared and the wonderful daughter we've raised." Gray and Gregg first met in 2000, and they were expecting their daughter Stella when they walked down the aisle in 2001 in front of stars like Michael J. Fox and Felicity Huffman. The couple's divorce was finalized in 2021, and Gray was awarded half of all future residuals and royalties from Gregg's projects during their marriage — plus a smaller cut of any future earnings should he reprise his Marvel role in the future.

We absolutely love Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton's unexpected but super cute love story, and we realize it never could have happened if Stefani were still married to Bush lead singer Gavin Rossdale. But that still does not mean we are happy about the divorce, which shattered the hearts of many 1990s kids. Both No Doubt and Bush were big deals back in the day, and fans loved the rockers together as a couple. Once the pair made it past the 2004 revelation that Rossdale had a teenage child he did not know was his, it was easy to assume the couple could get through any obstacle. Eleven years later, we found out that was not true when the singers announced the end of their 13-year marriage.

Stefani and Rossdale met in 1995 and started dating long-distance while No Doubt was out on a 27-month tour. They got married in September 2002 and in 2006, welcomed the eldest of their three sons, Kingston — followed by Zuma in 2008 and Apollo in 2014. After Stefani and Rossdale's August 2015 split announcement, we found out that Rossdale had been having an affair with their nanny for three years (per Us Weekly). Unsurprisingly, the exes have not always had an easy time raising their kids together in the years since the divorce. "You can either do everything together and really co-parent, and see how it goes. Or you can just parent. I think we just 'parent'." Rossdale said on the "Not So Hollywood" podcast in 2023.

Bruce Willis and Demi Moore's marriage feels ancient now, but those of us old enough to remember when they were together know just how highly regarded their union was at the time. Willis and Moore were each Hollywood bigwigs on their own, so when you put them together, you had the definitive power couple. Everything they did was cool, too — from the odd names they gave their daughters to their move to the small town of Hailey, Idaho (well before it was trendy for celebrities to go off the grid). The couple's split was surprising and sad, but the pair set the template when it comes to remaining friends after divorce. They even quarantined together during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside their adult daughters, Willis's current wife Emma Heming, and his two daughters from that marriage.

Willis and Moore first met in July 1987, when Moore was engaged to actor Emilio Esteves. When that relationship ended weeks later, Willis swooped in and by November, the couple was married. They then had daughter Rumor in 1988, followed by Scout in 1991, and Tallulah in 1994. Both of their careers were at a high during this time period as well, with Willis doing his "Die Hard" thing and Moore fresh off a string of successful films including "Disclosure" and "Indecent Proposal." Cut to four years later, when we were rocked by the couple's divorce announcement, which they filed in Idaho. It took two years for the divorce to become finalized (in 2000), reportedly due to the size of their real estate portfolio and the intricacies of custody matters.