When you hear about a celebrity couple divorcing, you may be one of those that’s glued to the magazines, phone and TV screens to get the scoop. And who could blame you?
But at the end of the day, celebrities are just like us and when they divorce, it is still a very difficult time. Here, some of our favorite celebrities share their experiences with divorce, the heartbreak they felt, and how divorce has impacted their lives.
“There are things in my life that are hard to reconcile, like divorce. Sometimes it is very difficult to make sense of how it could possibly happen. Laying blame is so easy. I don’t have time for hate or negativity in my life. There’s no room for it.”
“There are things in my life that are hard to reconcile, like divorce. Sometimes it is very difficult to make sense of how it could possibly happen. Laying blame is so easy. I don’t have time for hate or negativity in my life. There’s no room for it.”
Reese Witherspoon shared the above sentiment in an interview with Parade magazine in 2008, just one year after her divorce from fellow actor Ryan Phillippe. The title of the interview was “Family Is All We Have In Life”, something that continues to ring true for Reese to this day.
In 1999, at the young ager of just 23, Reese married Ryan while she was pregnant with their eldest daughter, Ava. The couple had dated for a year after meeting at Reese’s birthday party and got engaged quickly. By the time Reese was 27, the couple had welcomed their son Deacon as well. But young love can often fizzle out and the couple divorced in 2007.
Today, both Ryan and Reese accredit their divorce to their age, saying that too much can change about a person at that point in their lives. The two remain connected, though, as they share two children. In 2011, Reese married talent agent Jim Toth and the couple share a son Tennessee.
“I was very worried about my mother, growing up—a lot. I do not want my children to be worried about me. I think it’s very important to cry in the shower and not in front of them. They need to know that everything’s going to be all right even when you’re not sure it is.”
“I was very worried about my mother, growing up—a lot. I do not want my children to be worried about me. I think it’s very important to cry in the shower and not in front of them. They need to know that everything’s going to be all right even when you’re not sure it is.”
There are two sides to every split so it makes sense that both Angelina Jolie and Jenn Aniston have something to say about their split from Brad Pitt. Angie is up first:
Brad and Angelina, or Brangelina, were together for a total of 12 years before their split in 2016, during which the couple kept busy! When they got together in 2004, Angelina was a single mom to Maddox, who she had adopted from Cambodia in 2001. Soon after, she adopted baby Zahara from Ethiopia and once Brad and Angie’s relationship solidified, Brad legally adopted both children. In 2006, Angelina gave birth to Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, the couple’s first naturally born child. In 2007, they adopted 3-year-old Pax from Vietnam. And for the grand finale, Angie gave birth two twins Vivianne and Knox is 2008.
Brad and Angelina’s relationship was a scandalous one at the beginning, as the couple got together shortly after finishing Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Brad’s divorce from Jennifer Anniston. The tabloids were afire with rumors of Jenn’s jealousy and pictures of a very happy new family for Brad and Angelina.
But the bliss of marriage and children was not forever. The couple split in September 2016 and their divorce was finalized in April of the following year. As she began to navigate the world of single parenthood and co-parenting, Angelina gave an interview to Vanity Fair where she shared the above opinion about keeping it together for the children.
“It’s one of the pains in my life that something I believe in so strongly I’ve completely failed at twice. You have to have two people to dance in a marriage. My heart’s a little on the tender side right now, and it’s always easier to focus on the ways that you feel hurt, but I know that, with time and some perspective, I’ll have a clearer sense of where I let the system down, because there’s no way I get off in this.”
“It’s one of the pains in my life that something I believe in so strongly I’ve completely failed at twice. You have to have two people to dance in a marriage. My heart’s a little on the tender side right now, and it’s always easier to focus on the ways that you feel hurt, but I know that, with time and some perspective, I’ll have a clearer sense of where I let the system down, because there’s no way I get off in this.”
As the Vanity Fair interview from which the above quote was taken, when Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck got together, he was a Hollywood bad-boy and she was a star on the rise. The two had met in 2000 on the set of Pearl Harbor, but both were involved in other relationships. In 2002, they were once again on set together filming Daredevil. It wasn’t until October 2004 that the pair first appeared as a couple in public and just six months later, they were engaged. They married in a very private ceremony in the summer of 2005 and soon welcomed their first child, Violet, followed by Seraphina, and finally their son Sam. Whenever the family appeared in paparazzi shots, it always showed them doing normal family things, like getting coffee, taking their kids to school, etc. And Ben and Jennifer were vocally in love, often sharing how much the other person meant to them in public statements.
In June 2015, after 10 years of marriage, Jennifer and Ben announced they were divorcing, sending shockwaves through the world. It didn’t help that the story was quickly followed up by tabloids claiming Ben had been having an affair with his children’s nanny. Ben denied the claims.
Since 2015, the two have been model co-parents to their three children. Ben has publicly praised Jennifer on being a fantastic mom, motivating him to be a parent, and the two are often spotted together at events for their children, including on the sidelines of soccer games. In the four years since their split, there have been rumors that the two were getting back together, but sadly for fans, this has yet to be the case. Ben is now married to Jennifer Lopez, who has also been through divorce.
“Imagine spreading everything you care about on a blanket and then tossing the whole thing up in the air. The process of divorce is about loading that blanket, throwing it up, watching it all spin, and worrying what stuff will break when it lands.”
“Imagine spreading everything you care about on a blanket and then tossing the whole thing up in the air. The process of divorce is about loading that blanket, throwing it up, watching it all spin, and worrying what stuff will break when it lands.”
When Amy Poehler and Will Arnett got married in August 2003, it seemed like a match made in comedy heaven. During their nine-year marriage, the pair even worked together on a number of projects and had two sons.
But their marriage came to an end in the fall of 2012 when they announced their split. While both Amy and Will had kept their private life and divorce quiet, in 2015 Amy released her memoir Yes, Please where she shared the above statement about divorce.
“It was like a death in the family: You go through the mourning stage, then the rebellion, and then all of a sudden you have to find life by yourself.”
“It was like a death in the family: You go through the mourning stage, then the rebellion, and then all of a sudden you have to find life by yourself.”
If you were tuned in to any kind of media in the early 2000s, chances are you knew about the reality TV show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica on MTV starring Jessica Simpson and then-husband Nick Lachey (of 98 Degrees fame). The couple was married for three years before they split in 2006, news that rocked the teenybopper world.
It took a while, and a few broken hearts, but Jessica finally found happiness when she married former NFL player Eric Johnson in 2014. The couple has three children together. She shared her feelings on divorce in an interview with Glamour in 2009 which came out right after her breakup from another NFL player, Tony Romo.
“I feel I know now more of what I need in a relationship, what I want in a relationship. And I know I have more tools to communicate, not just with my partner, but with myself. That’s not necessarily any reflection of who I was married to or what was happening in my marriage, but really where I was in my life.”
“I feel, whether you’re famous or not, transitions are scary for anybody. I feel like change is always scary, but that’s only because transition for anyone is new and you wonder how things are going to go.”
“I feel, whether you’re famous or not, transitions are scary for anybody. I feel like change is always scary, but that’s only because transition for anyone is new and you wonder how things are going to go.”
In an interview with Australia’s Daily Telegraph, Naomi Watts made it clear that she was tackling the transition of divorce head on, as shown in her statement above, and that she was making her kids her priority.
Naomi and ex-husband Liev Schreiber were married for 11 years and share two sons. Although they are both A-list actors, they’re private life was very much private, with the most exciting paparazzi shots showing the two running errands or riding bikes with their kids. In the same vein, her split from Liev was amicable and calm. The two have made it clear they are focusing on co-parenting and keeping a good relationship for their children.
“If you fall off a horse, you get back up. I am not a quitter. I hung on for as long as possible until it was more hurtful to stay.”
“If you fall off a horse, you get back up. I am not a quitter. I hung on for as long as possible until it was more hurtful to stay.”
When Olivia first met Jason Sudeikis back in 2011, it was less than a year after her divorce from Italian aristocrat Tao Ruspoli. In a Marie Claire article, Olivia shared the background to her 7-year first marriage and her statement above. Olivia and Tao had grown up together and married when she was just 19. Her parents were war journalists stationed in Iraq and encouraged the relationship, seeing it as “an optimistic thing to do in pessimistic times.” But 7 years later, the relationship had fizzled out and Olivia ended her marriage to Tao amicably. Her years of horseback riding lessons taught her to never quit but she knew that something better was waiting for her on the other side of a broken marriage.
More recently, Olivia went through a divorce with Sudeikis as well.
“Make sure you’re always prioritizing yourself before anyone else. Listen to your gut. Listen to your instincts.”
“Make sure you’re always prioritizing yourself before anyone else. Listen to your gut. Listen to your instincts.”
Many people remember the adorable pop singer Mandy Moore from the late 90s and early 2000s. Soon she had a few successful movies under her belt and then she more or less disappeared until This Is Us premiered in 2016 and she shot right back up in popularity.
Many people, including Mandy herself, credit her disappearance to her 7-year marriage to musician Ryan Adams. The former couple began dating in 2008 and married in 2009 but the life they shared together was not a happy one. Mandy and other women Ryan has been involved with have accused him of stunting their musical careers, promising to help them advance but not living up to it. The couple divorced in 2015 and since then Mandy has reported that she suffered psychological abuse from Ryan as well as a hit to her musical talents. Soon after their divorce, Mandy was back to work on her music and her acting. In 2016, she did an interview with In Touch where she shared the above quote regarding trusting your own judgment.
Mandy has since remarried to musician Taylor Goldsmith in November 2018.
“We work together to make sure that we’re both happy. We are well-rounded human beings that are going through a tough time…You just do the best that you can.”
“We work together to make sure that we’re both happy. We are well-rounded human beings that are going through a tough time…You just do the best that you can.”
In October 2014 at a Los Angeles Benefit, Kris Jenner shared the above quote with a report from People about her separation from second husband Bruce Jenner. In many ways, Kris Jenner has lived a life just as dramatic as the ones her daughters lead on the reality series Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Kris married her first husband, lawyer Robert Kardashian, in 1978, and the couple had four children. The family gained notoriety when Robert served as legal council for his friend O.J. Simpson in the mid-1990s, however by that time Kris and Robert had already separated and Kris had married retired Olympic decathlon champion Bruce Jenner in 1991. Bruce had four step-children that he brought to the marriage. Soon, the couple added two more to their family, first Kendall (born in 1995) and then Kylie (born in 1998).
The Kardashian-Jenners came back into the limelight in the mid-2000s when Keeping Up With The Kardashians began taking over reality TV and making Kim, Kourtney, Khloe, Rob, Kendall, and Kylie household names, and of course the father figure of Bruce Jenner. However, in October 2013, Kris and Bruce separated, and rumours began to circulate that Bruce was transitioning. The rumours continued as Kris filed for divorce in September 2014 and the divorce was finalized in December. The following spring, Caitlyn Jenner presented herself to the world in a 20/20 special interview with Diane Sawyer. In the four years that have passed, Caitlyn has joined the reality show many times, showing the world that she and Kris still have an amicable relationship and Caitlyn has spoken openly about her good relationship with both her daughters and former step-children.
“When you break up with somebody, you’re like, ‘Yeah, that didn’t work.’ When you get divorced, you’re like, ‘I’m the biggest failure. This is the biggest failure.’ It’s so shameful and hard to actually go through that, even privately.”
“When you break up with somebody, you’re like, ‘Yeah, that didn’t work.’ When you get divorced, you’re like, ‘I’m the biggest failure. This is the biggest failure.’ It’s so shameful and hard to actually go through that, even privately.”
While Drew Barrymore might be one of the most well-known actresses of our time, she certainly had a rough start to her personal life. Since she was 16, she’s has a total of four engagements and three marriages. Her last marriage to fellow actor Will Kopelman, was the longest of her marriages and the couple share two children, Olive and Frankie.
After a year and a half of dating, Drew and Kopelman married in a backyard wedding in 2012 where Drew revealed she was expecting the couple’s first child. Their second daughter was born in April 2014. In April of 2016, after almost 6 years of marriage, the couple announced their split in a joint statement to the press where they were famously quoted: “Divorce might make one feel like a failure, but eventually you start to find grace in the idea that life goes on.” Drew is known for her honesty and soon after the news hit, she appeared as a guest on Chelsea Handler’s talk show where she talked openly about feeling like a failure and shared the above sentiment about her divorce from Kopelman.
“There are many stages of grief. It’s sad, something coming to an end. It cracks you open, in a way—cracks you open to feeling. When you try to avoid the pain, it creates greater pain. I’m a human being, having a human experience in front of the world. I wish it weren’t in front of the world. I try really hard to rise above it.”
“There are many stages of grief. It’s sad, something coming to an end. It cracks you open, in a way—cracks you open to feeling. When you try to avoid the pain, it creates greater pain. I’m a human being, having a human experience in front of the world. I wish it weren’t in front of the world. I try really hard to rise above it.”
When wedding photos emerged of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston’s lavish wedding in July, 2000, the world was in love with their love. They were Hollywood’s golden couple, who were set up by their agents in 1998 and had a relationship that was watched by millions. But the 7 year marriage wasn’t meant to last and in January 2005, the couple announced their split. Soon the gossip magazines filled with rumours that Brad and co-star Angelina Jolie had started up an affair while filming a movie together, that Jennifer had chosen a career over starting a family, and everyone’s world was rocked.
More than a year and a half after the split, Jennifer was interviewed by Vanity Fair where she shared her thoughts above about divorce. The interview, titled “The Unsinkable Jennifer Aniston” made in clear that Jennifer was not wallowing in pity, that she was taking time to heal, surrounding herself with good friends and positive energy. The interview was a big milestone and let Jennifer’s devoted fans breathe a sigh of relief.
Fast forward to 2019 and, in case you missed it, a LOT has happened. Brad married Angelina, had a bunch of kids, and now the two are divorced (see above). Jennifer dated a few famous men and married Justin Theroux, from whom she is now divorced. Jennifer and Brad are both currently single, letting the tabloids and fans free to wonder if maybe possibly the two will get back together. We shall have to wait and see.
“[Divorce] was emotionally traumatic for me. It was the death of a dream. I was in fairytale land, and the reality of it wasn’t so. But I don’t really like talking about it anymore, because it feels like a thousand lifetimes ago, and also it makes me look desperate, like I need it for attention.”
“[Divorce] was emotionally traumatic for me. It was the death of a dream. I was in fairytale land, and the reality of it wasn’t so. But I don’t really like talking about it anymore, because it feels like a thousand lifetimes ago, and also it makes me look desperate, like I need it for attention.”
Katy Perry began dating British comedian Russel Brand in October 2009, soon after they had both performed at the VMAs (Katy sang, Russel hosted). This began a whirlwind romance the culminated in Russel proposing to Katy in December while the couple vacationed in India. After a 10-month engagement, Katy and Russel returned to India for their wedding in October 2010. However just 14 rumor filled months later, Russel filed for divorce.
In July 2014, an issue of Rolling Stone with Katy Perry’s face on the cover hit newsstands. In her interview, Katy shared how much therapy had helped her recover from her divorce and how she had worked hard to move on from that brief chapter of her life.
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