Whether their fame came from reality TV, music, sports,
acting, or straight up celebrity gossip, these stars had their
sights set on being power couples. But it doesn't seem to be working out for them.
Despite her previous success in reality TV, Nicole Richie's "Candidly Nicole" reportedly
got low ratings and ended after two seasons in 2015. Her musical 2020 comedy series "Nikki
Fre$h" on Quibi also didn't last long. As for Richie's husband Joel Madden of Good Charlotte,
his last charting track as of the making of this video was 2016's "Life Can't Get Much Better."
Then there's Joel's brother, Benji Madden, whose wife, Cameron Diaz, famously retired
from acting to focus more on her personal life. She launched her wine brand, Avaline, in 2020.
While both couples seem to be enjoying life out of the spotlight, insiders alleged to Radar in 2018
that Richie and Diaz had pushed the brothers to go on tour again and release another album, but,
“The guys are worried they’re going to be a laughingstock.”
Good Charlotte was reportedly having trouble selling tickets at most venues.
But life otherwise seems to be good for both brothers and their wives. Joel and
Richie share two kids together and quietly celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary
in December 2022. The following month, Benji shared a sweet Instagram post to
mark eight years of marriage with Diaz. They welcomed a daughter via surrogate in 2019.
In her memoir, "sTORI Telling," Tori Spelling admitted that her producer father,
Aaron Spelling, helped her get cast in "Beverly Hills, 90210." The series kept
Tori gainfully employed for 10 seasons. She hasn't replicated her early acting success,
but when she met actor Dean McDermott while filming the 2005 made-for-TV movie "Mind Over
Murder," their affair kept her in the spotlight. The co-stars were both married to other people,
creating a real-life soap opera plotline. Their story also made
them ideal reality TV candidates. They embraced the format wholeheartedly,
appearing in the Oxygen series "Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood" from 2007 to 2012.
Their 2014 Lifetime series "True Tori" followed the fallout from McDermott being unfaithful,
and the couple's claim to fame became their seemingly never-ending marital woes. However,
Tori's relationship drama wasn't enough to get her cast on "The Real Housewives of
Beverly Hills." In a 2022 appearance on Bethenny Frankel's "ReWives" podcast, Tori revealed that
she was desperate to become a housewife, but Andy Cohen himself told her he didn't see her
as a fit. Spelling recalled a conversation with former "90210" co-star Jennie Garth:
"I really went ballistic — in my head — when Jennie said,
'Oh yeah, they offered it to me one year.'"
In 2023, The Sun reported that Tori allegedly owed over $1 million in back taxes.
After six seasons of playing both a human and her undead doppelganger on "The Vampire
Diaries," Nina Dobrev decided that she wanted to do something else with her life. In 2019,
she started dating professional snowboarder Shaun White. Although he was a five-time Olympian with a
collection of three gold medals, he told People that he soon learned that Dobrev was the more
famous of the two when they went out to eat and other diners clamored for photos with his date.
White's competitive career ended with his retirement in 2022. Months later,
he was joking about babysitting for money in an Instagram Story. As for Dobrev,
she unfortunately failed to secure another long role on television when her CBS series "Fam"
was canceled after one season in 2019. She's also appeared in a handful of films. However,
her career definitely wasn't on the upswing in 2022 when her only
credit was in the critically panned faith-based romance "Redeeming Love."
In a 2012 interview with Details, Adam Levine admitted that he became a judge
on "The Voice" because his Grammy-winning band Maroon 5 was seemingly falling out of
favor with fans. Sales of their third album were disappointing,
and Levine saw the reality competition as an opportunity to show a different side of himself.
Levine remained on "The Voice" for eight years before deciding to
leave. In a 2019 appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," he quipped,
"Now I'm just a stay-at-home dad. I just stay at home and do very little."
His wife, Victoria's Secret model Behati Prinsloo, also put the brakes on her career
for almost three years after giving birth to two children. She returned to the spotlight
with an appearance in the 2021 Savage x Fenty show. But the following year,
she was again pregnant with the couple's third child. That same year,
multiple women accused Levine of spending some of his newfound free time flirting with them
online. He denied any infidelity but confessed to screwing up in a post on his Instagram Story.
By 2023, interest in the cheating scandal had subsided. At Vanity Fair's Oscars afterparty,
Entertainment Tonight was more interested
in talking to Levine about Blake Shelton leaving "The Voice" than his own career.
"Hey Adam, how about Blake leaving 'The
Voice,' man?" "'Bout time."
Meanwhile, Prinsloo was apparently just happy to have something to do. She wrote on Instagram,
"We did it, we left the house."
Fans of "Little People, Big World" watched Jeremy Roloff grow up on the TLC series. By the time he
was ready to end his reality career in 2018, he had a wife: Audrey Roloff. He wrote on Instagram,
"We're not disappearing. We have a lot of exciting stuff in the works
and are eager to continue the work that the Lord has called us to!"
In 2019, the couple released the best-selling book "A Love Letter Life," which chronicles
their love story and offers relationship advice. Audrey also used her robust social media following
to launch a multi-level marketing business. Her product of choice was Young Living oils,
and her three cute kids are often featured in her promotional Instagram posts.
But the couple's fading reality fame doesn't buoy every business venture that
they experiment with. In 2022, The Sun reported that Audrey's clothing company, Always More,
was no more. She and Jeremy also became podcasters in 2018, as of March 2023, they hadn't released an
episode of "Behind the Scenes" in over two years. Audrey revealed in a November 2022 Facebook post,
"Some of our business[es] have made zero money,
some have been extremely profitable, and others have actually cost us."
Jessie James Decker's pursuit of country music stardom helped her gain a fanbase,
but as of March 2023, her last song to hit the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart was the
2015 single "Lights Down Low," which peaked at No. 38. Her fame did help her land a lucrative
side gig starring on an E! reality show with her husband, former NFL wide receiver Eric Decker.
Eric retired from football one year after the third and final season of their show
"Eric & Jessie: Game On" aired in 2017. The couple used social media to keep fans
updated on their lives, occasionally making headlines for various attention-grabbing
posts. Jessie also returned to TV on Season 31 of "Dancing with the Stars." Considering
that fan votes help determine contestant placement and thus that placement can
serve as a gauge of popularity, it wasn't a great sign that she finished in 10th place.
"I don't think I would do it again, but I will watch it now all the time."
Jessie hinted that she and her hubby were seeking
further employment while chatting with Music Mayhem in 2023, saying,
"I've always dreamt [of] doing [a] 'Kelly and Ryan' wake-up
coffee Nashville-style show together, and I think Eric and I have great chemistry."