Culprit: Russell Crowe
Couple: Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid
How it went down: The A-list pair met on the set of
Proof of Life in 2000 and quickly began a torrid affair. But when she called off her 10-year marriage with Dennis Quaid, Ryan blamed it on her inability to balance a relationship with a hectic work schedule—not on her affair with Crowe.
Relationship fate: Crowe wanted to marry Ryan and have children, but the feeling wasn’t mutual. “I empowered myself by not staying in the thing with Russell,” she said after breaking things off after only a few months. “I felt it was going to be repeating some similar patterns that I'd just gotten out of and it was a drag because I was crazy about him.”
Culprit: Sienna Miller
Couple: Balthazar Getty and Rosetta Getty
How it went down: The pair met through Miller's boyfriend and Getty's co-star, Matthew Rhys. The
Brothers & Sisters star and a mostly naked Miller (best-known for her long relationship with Jude Law) were photographed smooching in a boat on the Amalfi Coast soon after. The TV star broke it off with his wife, the mother of his four children, who was reportedly "humiliated," while Rhys was furious that Miller cheated on him.
Relationship fate: The part-time pair broke up a few months later and Miller has been spotted with younger man Tom Sturridge.
Culprit: Elizabeth Taylor
Couple: Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds
How it went down: After the
Cleopatra star’s third husband died in a tragic plane accident, Fisher and Reynolds spent a lot of time comforting their good friend—but then Fisher left his wife for Taylor. Reynolds said later she understood getting dumped for “the world’s most beautiful woman.”
Relationship fate: After the siren divorced Fisher for her next husband, the women became friends and mocked him in a TV movie. "Have you ever noticed that he is the only ex-husband I don't talk about?" Taylor said of the singer after he published a tell-all book about his ex-wives. Reynolds has said that perhaps Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie can be friends one day too, because she and Taylor managed to mend fences.
Culprit: James Tupper
Couple: Anne Heche and Coley Laffoon
How it went down: Ellen’s ex and the hunky Canadian, both married, met on the set of
Men in Trees and were rumored to be as romantically involved off the show as their onscreen counterparts. Heche then began an ugly divorce with her cameraman husband during which the pair fought over everything—even the furniture.
Relationship fate: The duo got together, divorced their respective spouses, and had a baby boy named "Atlas" just last month. But their show? Totally canned.
Culprit: Abbie Cornish
Couple: Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe
How it went down: Phillippe met Aussie Abbie on the set of
Stop-Loss, where they reportedly started a romantic relationship (both vehemently denied they were seeing each other). The infidelity rumors split up the seven-year marriage of Reese and Ryan, Hollywood's golden-tressed couple, and Phillippe refused to be seen at public events with his young girlfriend (who was a ringer for Reese) until over a year later. The
Cruel Intentions star denies that he had a relationship while he was still married.
Relationship fate: While marriage rumors swirl around the perky actress and her boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal (who, let’s face it, is a serious upgrade), Ryan and Abbie are on-again, off-again.
Culprit: Oksana Pochepa
Couple: Mel and Robyn Gibson
How it went down: Mel’s been married for 28 years and has seven kids, but that didn’t stop him from allegedly cheating with the “Britney of Russia” 24-year-old pop star Oksana Pochepa. Robyn Gibson
filed for divorce this week. Luckily for her, they didn’t sign a prenup, so she’s eligible to take up to half of Mel’s $900 million fortune under California’s 50-50 law.
Relationship fate: According to Oksana, things with Mel couldn’t be better. “This is serious and I hope that our union will be real and strong and long-lasting,” she told the Sun. She looks pretty serious in her
topless photos.
Culprit: Angelina Jolie
Couple: Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston
How it went down: Their tale is the stuff of legend: America’s lovey-dovey couple was torn apart by Angelina Jolie, who met Brad while filming
Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 2005. Mr. and Mrs. Pitt didn’t stay that way for long—they filed for divorce shortly thereafter. And gossip rag covers were never the same.
Relationship fate: Six babies later—and with a possible seventh on the way—Brangelina are still very much together. Aniston’s been less lucky in love since the divorce—Vince Vaughn, John Mayer, a no-name model, need we say more? And their break-up still makes headlines. She incurred the wrath of Brangeloonies everywhere when she said recently what Angie did “
was really uncool.”
Culprit: Ava Gardner
Couple: Nancy and Frank Sinatra
How it went down: This wasn't the first of Frank Sinatra's transgressions, but it was the one that shocked former bobby soxers the most. Nancy announced the separation on Valentine’s Day in 1950, as soon as Gardner and Sinatra's relationship became public. “What I had mistaken for love,” Sinatra later said in a final blow to his still grieving and reclusive ex-wife, “was only the warm friendship Nancy had brought me.”
Relationship fate: They married in November 1951 and, after seven tempestuous years, decided to separate.
Culprit: Soon-Yi Previn
Couple: Woody Allen and Mia Farrow
How it went down: Allen admitted to a relationship with the then-22-year-old Previn after Farrow discovered nude photographs of her adopted daughter in his apartment. Allen later called this unwitting discovery “one of the fortuitous events, one of the great pieces of luck in my life,” adding that in retrospect, “I should have bowed out of that relationship much earlier than I did.”
Relationship fate: The Hollywood couple split, and a nasty public custody battle ensued. Allen remains married to Soon-Yi, and all of his children refuse to see him.
Culprit: Claire Danes
Couple: Billy Crudup and Mary-Louise Parker
How it went down: The
Almost Famous rocker met Claire Danes on the set of
Stage Beauty, and soon left his partner of seven years, Mary-Louise Parker, who was eight months pregnant with their son. But Parker didn’t let it get to her: When she had her son in January 2004, she named him William Atticus, after his unfaithful father.
Relationship fate: The pair stayed together for four years, but Danes gave Crudup a dose of his own medicine when she met Hugh Dancy on the set of
Evening in 2007. It’s rumored she started an affair and Crudup dumped her a month later. And the cycle continues.
Culprit: Jennifer Lopez
Couple: Marc Anthony and Dayanara Torres
How it went down: Anthony and former Miss Universe Torres had a tumultuous two-year marriage before the Grammy award winner started dating J.Lo, whose power coupledom “Bennifer” had recently dissolved.
Relationship fate: The couple wed in 2004, a mere four days after Anthony's divorce with Torres was finalized. Lopez and Anthony are reportedly working on their marriage before they decide to have more kids. In a bizarre PR flap, Torres confirmed a rumored J.Lo pregnancy in 2007, then took back the confirmation the same day.
Culprit: Denise Richards
Couple: Heather Locklear and Richie Sambora
How it went down: Denise Richards and Heather Locklear had been close friends for years, but that didn’t stop the Bond girl from swooping in. She began an affair with Locklear’s husband of 11 years, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, while the married couple was still together.
Relationship fate: Doomed before it began? A year later, in 2007, the relationship of the rock god and former model went the way so many others do. Their split was “amicable,” (or so they claim) and the pair has remained friends.
Culprit: Evan Rachel Wood
Couple: Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese
How it went down: In 2006, 19-year-old actress Evan Rachel Wood started dating goth rocker Manson (who was 18 years her senior) after being cast in his film
Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll. His marriage with the Queen of Burlesque, Dita Von Teese, was already on the rocks, but it’s thought that his relationship with Wood caused their divorce.
Relationship fate: Manson originally declared Wood his “soulmate,” though they broke up in November to “concentrate on their work.” But two days ago,
the pair confirmed that they’re back on. It’s a spring miracle!
