Sometimes, when shooting a movie, two actors can get really close, especially when there are steamy scenes in the script. Naturally, this isn’t a problem unless one or both of them are currently in a relationship, but if they do have a special someone waiting for them at home, that’s a whole different story.
Let’s take a peek behind the scenes and see which actors and actresses got a little too frisky with their co-stars when the camera wasn’t rolling.
1. Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were an iconic ’90s couple, but their start was shady, to say the least. When they met on the set of Days of Thunder, Cruise was still married to Mimi Rogers. Then, out of the blue, Cruise divorced Mimi in early 1990 and, a few months later, married his newly found passion—Nicole Kidman. They starred together in Far and Away and Eyes Wide Shut before signing divorce papers in 2001.
2. Claire Danes & Billy Crudup
2003 brought one of the messiest celeb cheating scandals. Billy Crudup was with a pregnant Mary-Louise Parker, while Claire Danes dated musician Ben Lee. After Danes and Crudup worked on Stage Beauty, rumors flew, and sure enough, both ditched their partners. Crudup and Parker split by year’s end, and Danes later admitted on Howard Stern’s show that she was young and didn’t realize the fallout. Their romance fizzled by 2007, but the drama lives on.
3. Dominic West & Lily James
Dominic West’s scandal with Lily James might not have ended in a divorce, but it sure rocked headlines. In 2020, cameras caught West, who has been married to Catherine FitzGerald since 2010, getting cozy with Lily James in Rome. Photos of them smooching out in the open went viral, but the couple made a public show of staying together, saying their marriage was “strong.” As of 2024, Dominic and Catherine are still married, proving not all cheating rumors can ruin marriages.
4. Ewan McGregor & Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Ewan McGregor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead have been living in perfect harmony since tying the knot in 2022, but the start wasn’t all puppies and sunshine. Back in 2016, both were married to other people, and things got interesting when they met on the set of Fargo. Soon after, both of them left their spouses, and for a considerable amount of time, they either kept their relationship a secret or didn’t engage in any dating activities. Since it was unclear what actually made these two leave their spouses, the timing of it all raised a lot of eyebrows, leaving the “alleged” affair a hot topic.
5. Angelina Jolie & Billy Bob Thornton
Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton were Hollywood’s wildest couple for a while, but their hookup story is as dramatic as it gets. In 1999, Jolie was seeing someone else, and Thornton was dating Laura Dern. And get this: Dern was away filming when she heard the news of her own boyfriend marrying Jolie. The guy hadn’t even properly broken up with her! Jolie and Thornton’s romantic escapades lasted until 2003, but Dern still can’t believe how blindsided she was by the whole thing.
6. Meg Ryan & Russell Crowe
Meg Ryan’s affair with Russell Crowe in 2000 was big news, especially since she was married to Dennis Quaid. While working on Proof of Life, sparks started flying, and soon, the affair was born, only to be immediately exposed, leading to Ryan’s split from Quaid. Ryan has since said her marriage was in trouble way before she met Crowe, but fans can’t help linking him to the breakup.
7. Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton
Elizabeth Taylor’s affair with Richard Burton was one of Hollywood’s most scandalous events. While filming Cleopatra in 1963, Taylor was married to Eddie Fisher, and Burton had Sybil Williams at his side. Their fiery romance exploded on set and became front-page news for months to come, even drawing criticism from the Vatican. Taylor and Burton got hitched in ’64, divorced in ’74, remarried again in ’75, and divorced again (for the better this time) in ’76.
8. Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie
Despite the alleged cheating scandal, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie emerged as the most popular couple of the 2000s. While filming Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Pitt was still married to Jennifer Aniston. Although Jolie and Pitt have always denied cheating on their spouses, they did confess to having certain feelings for each other during filming. Fans blamed their affair for Brad’s subsequent divorce from Jen Aniston in 2005, but there was no proof. Jolie and Pitt married in 2014 but divorced five years later when the abuse allegations against Pitt came to light.
9. Harrison Ford & Carrie Fisher
Did you know that Han Solo and Princess Leia’s romance wasn’t just on-screen? Carrie Fisher revealed in her 2016 memoir that she had a 3-month-long affair with Harrison Ford while filming Star Wars. Fisher was just 19, while Ford was a 33-year-old man married with kids. Though Carrie admitted she wanted Ford to leave his wife, it never happened. Fisher kept the affair a secret for decades until revealing it nearly 40 years later.
