Breaking up as an average-Joe is hard in itself, but breaking up when you’re constantly in the spotlight, haggling for your fortune and fighting over your children with weird names, it’s even harder.
In the wake of the shocking news that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have filed for divorce this week, we take a look back at the most heart-wrenching celebrity breakups of all time.
1. Brad Pitt & Jennifer Aniston
It might be ten years later, but we’re still not over it. Brad and Jen seemed like a rare Hollywood success story and it was just sort of expected that they’d be together forever. This wasn’t to be the case, and they divorced after five years. We get that Brad and Ange are the perfect couple, but it still tugs on the heartstrings when we flick onto Comedy Central and see Brad in that episode of Friends (Not to mention we’ve never rented Mr & Mrs Smith out of loyalty to Jen).
2. Jennifer Lawrence & Nicholas Hoult
Oh, to be the third wheel in this relationship. This was a pair of undeniably cool-kids, and the thought of them together brought up a picture of endless couple-clubbing followed by Netflix binges and pizza, and when they split up it felt like our metaphorical third-wheeling was over. JLaw has now reportedly split for the second time with latest beau, Chris Martin, and it’s rumored that she and Hoult have been seen rendezvousing outside filming of the new X-Men movie, so we’ll just put that right there on a pedestal.
3. Kate Price & Peter Andre
Following a rumble in the jungle via Im A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!, the whole of the UK was rooting for these two to make it work. It was obviously all a little bit ridiculous, made worse by that horrifically tacky wedding, but their whole relationship was a total spectacle that we couldn’t look away from. Obviously it didn’t work out, but thanks to all the TV shows, merch and magazine deals they got out of it, they both came out of that relationship millions of pounds richer.
Side note: remember when they released their single?
4. Khloe Kardashian & Lamar Odom
Fans of KUWTK will verify that, for them, this came out of nowhere. Viewers knew that Khloe had been distancing herself from everyone for a while, but it was just assumed that she was off somewhere snuggling up to her ‘Lamlam’ without a care in the world. It turns out that Odom had a pretty serious ‘can’t keep it in his pants’ problem, and, on top of many other things, Khloe got tired of trying to make it work. They were cute as hell and we miss them as a couple, but we also know that Khlo is a strong, independent woman that don’t need to Lam.
5. Britney Spears & Justin Timberlake
Some of us might be a bit young to remember this properly, but most of us have done enough digging in our time to get the jist of the most emosh’ breakup of the early 2000s. Just one listen to Justin’s ‘Cry Me A River’ reveals all sorts of gooey feelings and heartbreak, and nobody can quite scour from their mind that double denim look. Stylin’.
6. Gwyneth Paltrow & Chris Martin
Two words: Conscious uncoupling. These two seemed like a pretty sweet couple, but when they announced last year that they were splitting up in an incredibly pretencious way, the nation rolled their eyes and told them to get over themselves. You’re getting a DIVORCE, it’s not a dirty word. This is the 21st Century, it happens literally every day.
7. Justin Bieber & Selena Gomez
Oh, Jelena. What can only be described as a tween power-couple, they seemed to be the perfect match. But after a messy (and VERY public) breakup, we seen the Beibs seem to spiral out of control. Selena released the heart-wrenching song ‘The Heart Wants What It Wants’, which hinted into the problems that they could have had, and Justin got a sleeve and generally vandalized. Unless you’re a hardcore Belieber and truly believe that one day he’s going to wake up and realize that he’s always loved you, you’re probably still rooting for these crazy kids to work it out.
8. Cheryl Fernandez-Versini & Ashley Cole
This one really hit us hard. After Ashley’s (many) infidelities came to light, it had women everywhere panicking that if Cheryl, one of the most beautiful women in the world, can get cheated on, what hope is there for the rest of us? Since the split, Cole’s gained a reputation of a total sleezeball and Chezza has bagged herself an gorgeous Italian Stallion, so she wins.
9. Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson
In proper Tyra Banks style: “I was rooting for you. We were all rooting for you. HOW DARE YOU!!!”
Hearts of Twilight fans broke everywhere when it was revealed that K.Stew did the nasty with director of Snow White And The Huntsman behind poor Robs back (unless you’re team Jacob, obvz). Luckily, R.Patz seemed to take it pretty well, and Kristen’s since dated women, so we suppose it was for the best.
10. Caroline Flack & Harry Styles
This was incredibly bizarre, and we kind of relished in the fact that Flack was the cougar, doin’ it for herself with a pretty young thing like Styles. Anyone knows, though, that if you take on 1D, you take on their fan-base too. Although Caroline comes across as a pretty strong woman, even she couldn’t hold up under the pressure of the social media abuse from the Directoners, who labeled her a ‘cradle-snatcher’ and sent her death threats.