Breaking up is hard to do - especially if you happen to be some of the world’s most
recognized names.
While there are plenty of polite, publicist-controlled splits in Hollywood, these celebrities took
the definition of break-up drama to a whole new level.
Matt Damon and Minnie Driver
Actors Matt Damon and Minnie Driver dated for more than a year in the late '90s - until
Damon boldly proclaimed on the Oprah Winfrey Show that he was single, leaving poor Driver
to find out at the same time as the rest of the world.
Driver later told the Los Angeles Times:
"It's unfortunate that Matt went on Oprah.
It seemed like a good forum for him to announce to the world that we were no longer together,
which I found fantastically inappropriate."
Though she also once described falling for Damon as "an occupational hazard," Driver
seemed to have gained some perspective on the whole situation years later, reportedly
saying:
"I was young for my age and didn't have any of my ­family around me.
So I was ­probably just a bit lost, and I upset a few people because there were times
when I spoke before I thought.”
Hey, we’ve all been there, Minnie.
Katy Perry and Russell Brand
Katy Perry and Russell Brand were married for 14 months when they suddenly announced
their divorce in 2012.
Perry later revealed to Vogue exactly how her former beau broke the bad news, saying:
"He's a very smart man, and I was in love with him when I married him.
Let's just say I haven't heard from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me December
31st, 2011."
In the same interview, the “Swish, Swish” songstress accused Brand of being controlling
during their marriage, alleging that he was intimidated by her success and disheartened
at her intense touring and promotional schedule.
“You know, they would say, ‘Oh no, I don’t want to be in a relationship.
Because I don’t want to have to choose between being in a relationship and having a career.’”
For his part, Brand later admitted to Us Weekly that he may have projected his own issues
onto his popstar ex-wife.
Charlize Theron and Sean Penn
Actress Charlize Theron dumped actor Sean Penn the new-fashioned way in 2015 by reportedly
ghosting her then-fiancé for a few weeks until he got the message.
A source told Us Weekly:
"Charlize wasn't responding to his calls and texts.
She just cut it off."
Theron's disappearing act became the talk of Tinseltown, but the Mad Max star insisted
the gossip was ridiculous, telling The Wall Street Journal:
“There is this need to sensationalize things.
When you leave a relationship there has to be some f---ing crazy story or some crazy
drama.
And the f---ing ghosting thing, like literally I still don't even know what it is."
We’re sure she’s learned by now.
Taylor Swift and Joe Jonas
In 2008, pop star Joe Jonas became the first in a long line of famous men to reportedly
break songstress Taylor Swift's heart, and he did so in typical 20 year old fashion:
by phone.
Swift revealed the details of the breakup to talk show host Ellen Degeneres - and the
18 year old didn’t mince any words:
“I’m not even gonna be able to remember the boy who broke up with me over the phone
in twenty-five seconds when I was eighteen.”
To be fair: Jonas said that conversation was a two-way street:
“You know, it’s not all true.”
People reported that Jonas penned a blog to his fans about the split, writing:
“I called to discuss feelings with the other person.
Those feelings were obviously not well received.
I did not end the conversation.
Someone else did.
Phone calls can only last as long as the person on the other end of the line is willing to
talk."
It’s hard to argue with that logic.
Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris
Taylor Swift and Scottish DJ Calvin Harris dated for more than a year before they broke
up in June 2016, and things swiftly took an ugly turn.
After the break-up, it was revealed that Harris and Swift had collaborated on his song "This
is What You Came For,” with Swift using a pseudonym in the songwriting credits to
avoid drawing attention to their relationship and overshadowing their music.
Though all parties were said to have agreed with the decision, Swift’s cooperation was
apparently conditional.
Shortly after the pop sensation split with Harris and hooked up with actor Tom Hiddleston,
her rep publicly announced that Swift had co-written the hit song.
Harris didn’t deny the claims, and even noted that Swift also sang a bit on the song
and praised what a great job she did.
However, he did call his famous ex out for what he interpreted as a calculated and spiteful
move on her part to belittle his own producing and musical talent.
Harris tweeted:
"I figure if you're happy in your new relationship you should focus on that instead of trying
to tear your ex [boyfriend] down for something to do [...] I know you're off tour and you
need someone new to try and bury [...] but I'm not that guy, sorry.
I won't allow it."
Look what you made him do, Taylor!
Nikki Bella and John Cena
Nikki Bella and John Cena called off their engagement in April 2018, just weeks before
they were supposed to tie the knot.
The split, which was reportedly over Cena’s refusal to have children, came as quite the
shock to fans.
A source told People magazine:
"It's clear that they had issues over what they wanted from a marriage and from family
[...] But despite their differences and the fights they had, people still thought they
would go through with the wedding.
Everyone is surprised that it ended."
Perhaps no one was more surprised than Cena, who went on to make several cringe-worthy
appeals to win Bella back after the split, even offering to reverse his vasectomy and
gushing about his love for his ex on TV:
“I don’t want anybody else.
I love Nicole, and I don’t have any other hopes other than maybe one day that we can
work it out.”
Spoiler alert: Things didn't work out, and now the pair aren't even friends.
In fact, Bella alleged to Cosmopolitan in October 2018 that she legally can't even speak
of Cena at all anymore, making all of those embarrassing declarations of love even more
humiliating for everyone involved.
Sofia Vergara and Nick Loeb
Sofia Vergara was in an on-again, off-again relationship with Nick Loeb for years before
she upgraded to her now-husband Joe Manganiello in 2014.
While Vergara and Loeb were together, they reportedly froze two of Vergara’s embryos
- a move that would haunt the actress for years to come.
“You know what?
I don’t think this partnership is working.”
Once Vergara married Manganiello in 2015, Loeb began pursuing legal action against the
Modern Family star in an effort to bring the embryos to term.
Insiders told Page Six that Loeb was only going after the embryos in an attempt to punish
Vergara for moving on from him, and Vergara never backed down from her own stance that
any babies she ever has should be born to parents that "don't hate one another."
In August 2017, E! News reported that a Louisiana federal judge granted Vergara’s motion to
dismiss the case against her in the state due to lack of personal jurisdiction.
But as of 2018, Loeb still hadn’t given up his battle for the embryos, who he reportedly
named Isabella and Emma.
Rita Ora and Rob Kardashian
Rob Kardashian briefly dated Rita Ora in 2012, but it remains murky as to whether or not
they were actually in an official relationship.
In a since-deleted series of overly explicit and super-angry tweets, Kardashian accused
the singer of cheating on him with 20 other men - leading to the less-than-classy trending
Twitter topic "RitaWhora."
All of this was news to poor Ora, who denied ever actually being in a relationship with
Kardashian.
As she explained to The Sunday Telegraph:
"I never thought it was actually a relationship, in all honesty.
I never mentally defined it as 'boyfriend [and] girlfriend [...] You should have to
sit an exam before you go on Twitter to see if you're mentally stable."
Mean hashtags aside, Kardashian was clearly more affected than Ora by the not-even-a-relationship
relationship.
In a February 2013 episode of Kourtney And Kim Take Miami, he griped to his famous sisters:
"All I did [with Ora] was waste a lot of money and gain 40 pounds."
“I’m so insecure.
I weigh like 215 pounds.
I hate picture, I hate everything, cuz it’s not me.”
Rita Ora and Calvin Harris
Poor Rita Ora can't seem to catch a break in the romance department.
After her highly-publicized drama with Rob Kardashian, the singer began dating DJ Calvin
Harris.
The two were together for about a year when they abruptly split, with Ora reportedly first
learning of the break-up when Harris tweeted about it in early 2014.
As if that weren’t painful enough, Harris blocked Ora from performing any of the songs
they’d worked on as a pair, leading the singer to scrap her second album altogether.
Ora lamented to Marie Claire:
"I thought he had my back and that he'd never steer me wrong.
But then 'I Will Never Let You Down' came out, and everything started to go a bit weird.
I don't know if it was because business was mixed with personal or what."
“She’s funny, she’s funny.”
Madonna and Alex Rodriguez
Alex Rodriguez was married to Cynthia Scurtis from 2002 until September 2008, when Scurtis
filed for divorce from the then-New York Yankee claiming A-Rod "emotionally abandoned" her
and their two daughters in favor of hooking up with Madonna.
Yes, that Madonna.
“The groom is in love with me.”
“NO!”
Scurtis' attorney outright alleged in July 2008 that Rodriguez was having an affair with
the Material Girl, who was still married to Guy Ritchie at the time.
In a statement to People magazine, Madonna denied an affair and shut down any rumors
of plans to divorce Ritchie, but that stance lasted about as long as her unfortunate grill
phase.
By October 2008, Madonna and her director husband announced they were splitting, with
sources saying that her fling with A-Rod was one of many factors leading to the dissolution
of her marriage.
“But, I mean, that’s life.”
Mariah Carey and James Packer
Pop diva Mariah Carey was briefly engaged to Australian billionaire James Packer, but
the couple called it quits in October 2016 before they ever made it down the aisle.
A source who spoke with Us Weekly revealed that the “Always Be My Baby” songstress
was “devastated and shocked” by the breakup, saying:
"Mariah was totally blindsided by James.
She read the news in Woman's Day Australia that said he dumped her.
Mariah knew they were having problems, but [...] it wasn't the kind of thing where she
thought she'd read in the paper that she got dumped.”
That devastation may have cost Packer a pretty penny.
TMZ reported that after the pair split, Carey privately demanded Packer pay her fifty million
dollars - the amount she reportedly would have gotten from a prenuptial agreement had
they married, although Packer's camp vehemently denied any such arrangement.
However, it seems Carey came out on top after all was said and done.
After the break-up, Packer allegedly had a breakdown and entered rehab for his drinking
problem, while Carey moved on with her backup dancer and reportedly sold her engagement
ring from Packer to a Los Angeles jeweler for the small amount of two million dollars.
“I don’t know him.”