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Celebrity

The Reason Behind 19 Devastating Celebrity Divorces

June 16, 2016 by Caroline Pirozzolo
shefinds | Celebrity
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As far as celebrity divorces that totally broke our hearts, the Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson split is high on the list. Celebs are people too, and sadly, sometimes things just don't work out. In Reynold's and Johansson's case, it was distance due to the couple's busy careers and personality differences that caused them to call it quits.

But why did some of our other favorite celeb couples split? Click on for answers to why celebrity divorces that devastated us all happened.

[Photo: Splash News]
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Heidi Klum and Seal

According to TMZ, Heidi Klum decided to file for divorce after seven years of marriage to Seal due to the singer's out of control temper with her and the rest of their family.

[Photo: Splash News]

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Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton

While rumors have swirled that Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton divorced due to a disagreement on starting a family, the couple still remains friendly. As Lambert told Cosmopolitan in December, "Nobody pick a side - because there ain't a side."

[Photo: Splash News]

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Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale

Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale were a '90s power couple we never thought we'd see end. Unfortunately, the couple's 13-year marriage likely ended so abruptly due to Rossdale's affair with the family's nanny. In an interview with Harper's Bazaar, Stefani described learning of the affair as, "The beginning of hell."
[Photo: Splash News]

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Khole Kardashian and Lamar Odom

While anyone who's seen a recent episode of KUWTK can attest that Khloe still cares for Lamar, apparently his hard-partying ways are to blame for Khloe continuing to follow through with the couple's divorce after five years o.
[Photo: Splash News]

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Ben Affleck & Jennifer Garner

Despite rumors involving Affleck's affair with a nanny, in March, Garner told Vanity Fair that it was not the reason for their split after 11 years of marriage. She also confirmed that the couple remains amicable. They even celebrated the 4th of July together with their three children.
[Photo: Splash News]

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Reese Witherspoon & Ryan Phillippe

Why did the Cruel Intentions co-stars and parents of Ava and Deacon split? "I think more of the problem was age. When we got together we were so young," Phillippe told Larry King in 2015. "I think it can create issues with two people in this industry because there's so much noise that goes along with it." Well. that seems simple enough.

[Photo: Splash]

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Amy Poehler & Will Arnett

Many hearts were broken when this funny duo announced their split in 2012 after 9 years of marriage. While the couple remains pretty private about the split (Amy write in her memoir Yes Please that it's “too sad and too personal” to speak of) Will revealed his struggled with sobriety in 2016 while promoting his semi-autobiographical Netflix series "Flaked."

[Photo: Splash]

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Katy Perry and Russell Brand

After just 14 months of marriage, Katy Perry and Russell Brand split up in 2012. In an interview with Vogue, Perry said that things went sour because Brand felt threatened by her career. "He didn't like the atmosphere of me being the boss on tour," she said.

[Photo: James Higgins/Splash News]

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Jennifer Aniston & Brad Pitt

After 5 years of marriage, Jen and Brad announced their devastating divorce in January 2005. Though Jen later told The Hollywood Reporter that "Nobody did anything wrong" to cause the split, Brad Pitt admitted to Esquire that he "did too many drugs" during the years they were married.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver

After Maria discovered that Arnold had fathered a love child with their housekeeper Mildred, it was divorce-land for the couple who got married in 1986. Though they're still technically married to this day, Maria immediately filed for divorce after the infidelity was made public. Yikes!

[Photo: Splash]

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Jennifer Lopez & Marc Anthony

Jennifer Lopez revealed in her HBO documentary "Dance Again" that splitting from husband Marc after 7 years of marriage, "I felt like I was going to die." What caused the split? In her memoir True Love, Jennifer Lopez revealed she knew she had to split after having a panic attack and not knowing why. 'It was one of those moments when you're so scared you can't even scream," she wrote. "In a blur of fear and panic, I looked at Benny [her manager] and my mother and blurted out the words: 'I don't think I can be with Marc anymore.'

[Photo: Splash]

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Gwyneth Paltrow & Chris Martin

All jokes about Gwyneth and Chris' infamous "conscious uncoupling" aside, it was actually a devastating split for both parties. Chris Martin has said he suffered from depression for a year after the 2014 split, while Gwyneth admitted that she felt like a failure having come from a "tribe of people who stayed married." Sad face! The one silver lining? "Luckily my ex-husband is an incredibly good ex-husband and an amazing dad," she told the New York Daily News.

[Photo: Splash]

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Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher

Moore and Kutcher, who famously had more than a 16 year age gap between them, divorced after eight years of marriage. The split happened amid rumors that Ashton cheated with another woman on their anniversary. Uh oh.

[Photo: All Access Photo/Splash News]

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Sandra Bullock and Jesse James

Unfortunately, Bullock and James's five year marriage ended in a public and messy cheating scandal on James's end. The Monster Nation star cheated on her Oscar winner wife with several tattooed strippers and even attempted rehab for a sex addition to win her back. Bullock adopted son Louie and swiftly *moved on with her life*.

He opened up in an interview with Graham Bensinger, saying, "I had to stand up in front of the media and take full account for what I did."

[Photo: Andy Fossum/Splash News]

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Paula Patton & Robin Thicke

The "Blurred Lines" singer and "Mission Impossible" actress had been together since high school, so news of their 2014 split was devastating to fans. Rumors of infidelity on his side swirled (remember the game of grab-ass he played with Miley during their VMAs performance??). Paula revealed to GMA in 2015 that "everything happens for a reason."

[Photo: Splash]

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Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom

According to several sources, the actor and former VS Angel (and parents of the adorable Flynn) likely split after being married for four years because of Bloom's frequent partying. Kerr only substantiated these rumors when she told Net-A-Porter's digital magazine The Edit that she was happy in her new relationship with Snapchat co-founder Evan Spiegel because, "He's 25 but he acts like he's 50. He's not out partying."
[Photo: Splash News]

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Hilary Duff and Mike Comrie

In an interview with Cosmopolitan in March 2015, Duff told the magazine that there was no major reason for the end of the couple's six-year marriage, but that it was rather a slow fizzle. "It wasn't working well enough to stay together, but there was lots of love involved," she said.
[Photo: Splash News]

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Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez

After two years of marriage and one child together, Halle Berry and Oliver Martinez announced that they were calling it quits in 2015. While the decision was mutual, according to E!, Martinez struggled with the paparazzi attention that came with being in the relationship.

[Photo: Ron Asadorian/Splash News]

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Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes

It's widely known that Cruise is a member of the Church of Scientology - and apparently, it played a huge part in the couple's divorce. Rumors have circulated that Holmes decided to split from Cruise after six years together in order to protect the couple's daughter, Suri, from the controversial religion.
[Photo: Splash News]

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Jessica Simpson & Nick Lachey

Nick and Jessica were the most recognizable newlyweds of the early 2000s (their reality show "Newlyweds" was a hit on MTV), but they got out of the honeymoon phase pretty quickly. The high profile couple announced their split after Thanksgiving 2005 (after 3 years of marriage). While we wish we could say there was a juicier reason, the couple reportedly just "grew apart." Jessica couldn't resist digging Nick, however, when she later remarked that their marriage was "the biggest financial mistake" of her life. Ouch!

[Photo: Splash]

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Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend

Theron and Townsend were together for nine years after meeting on the set of the movie Trapped, ultimately calling it quits in 2010. According to the Daily Mail, the couple decided to split after becoming "more like brother and sister than lovers."

[Photo: Kevin Reece/London Entertainment/Splash News]

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Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon

During Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon's divorce, a source told E! News that much of the couple's split had to do with Cannon being too busy with his career, as often tends to happen with celebrity divorces.

[Photo: Splash News]

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Kaley Cuoco and Ryan Sweeting

According to People, the actress and tennis star's split after almost two years of marriage was mutual and due to conflicting personalities that just wouldn't allow the marriage to work out.

[Photo: Celebrity Monitor/Splash News]

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Courtney Cox and David Arquette

In an interview with More magazine in 2014, Cox told the mag that there were no hard feelings involved with her divorce from David Arquette after 14 years together. "When you love someone, you want them to be happy, even if it's not with you," the former Friends said. Aww.
[Photo: Splash News]

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Patrick Dempsey and Jillian Fink

Dempsey and Fink shocked fans when they announced they were divorcing in 2015 after 15 years of marriage and three children. While there were rumors that Dempsey reportedly had a fling on the Grey's Anatomy set, the couple has since been in counseling and may be reconciling.

[Photo: London Entertainment/Splash News]

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Amber Rose and Wiz Khalifa

After a year of marriage (and a son together), Amber Rose and Wiz Khalifa filed for divorce in 2014, reportedly after Rose found Khalifa with another woman during a 2 a.m. booty call, according to TMZ. Yikes.

[Photo: MSA/London Entertainment/Splash News]

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Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs

The couple, who met on the set of Rent, broke tons of hearts when they split after 10 years of marriage. The divorce, as well as the terms of support for their son Walker, were reportedly settled amicably, according to the Daily Mail. In an interview with Redbook, Diggs opened up about being nervous to the public's reaction to the couple's divorce. "I’d be lying if I said there weren’t times when I thought, Oh, man, people are going to trip out [if we split],” he said.

[Photo: Splash News]

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Eva Longoria and Tony Parker

This was one we definitely didn't see coming, but after four years of marriage, Eva Longoria and Tony Parker announced their split. Despite cheating rumors, Longoria opened up to Piers Morgan on CNN in 2011, saying, "So many people want me to hate him and destroy him, but I don't want to. I want him to be happy. He's not a bad person."

[Photo: KCSPresse/Splash News]

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Kaia Gerber at the 41st Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards.
Barack Obama speaking at the Democratic National Convention.
Meghan Markle with Prince Harry and King Charles at an event.
Kylie Jenner's Met Gala 2025 outfit featuring sophisticated black tailoring.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce together at an event.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner at a public appearance.
Bad Bunny at the Grammy Awards red carpet.
Angelina Jolie receiving the Trophee Chopard award.
Selena Gomez at the Rare Impact Fund Benefit gala.
Brad Pitt and Ines de Ramon at the F1 premiere.
Queen Camilla with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift at an event.
Barack Obama with Michelle, Malia, and Sasha Obama.
Britney Spears at the Hollywood Beauty Awards ceremony.
Savannah Guthrie on the Today Show set.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z at a public event.
Reese Witherspoon at Apple TV's The Last Thing He Told Me.
Meghan Markle with Prince Harry and Prince William.
Hillary Clinton at the Suffs Broadway opening night event.
Hailey Bieber attending the Women's Wear Daily Style Awards.
Kaia Gerber at the 41st Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards.
Barack Obama speaking at the Democratic National Convention.
Meghan Markle with Prince Harry and King Charles at an event.