Occasionally, when the cameras are rolling and two highly attractive actors are doing an intimate romance scene, some lines can become blurred. Love knows no bounds after all, and playing pretend as a married couple or falling in love can be dangerous for whatever’s going on in your real personal life. As a result, we have movies that caused a lot of drama and became tabloid fodder.
People enjoy a juicy rumor, and on-set affairs that resulted in marriage breakups are particularly captivating. Sometimes, what happens behind the scenes is much more captivating than the movie itself.
1. Kenneth Branagh & Helena Bonham Carter — Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Nothing says romance like rotting reanimated corpses and gothic gloom. Kenneth Branagh cast himself and Helena Bonham Carter as star-crossed lovers in his 1994 modern take on the classic Frankenstein story. But there was a tiny little problem. He was married to Emma Thompson, and while she thought he was a faithful Shakespearean heartthrob, Ken was apparently “auditioning” Helena for a different role.
Emma later admitted she was blindsided, saying she had “utterly, utterly” missed the cheating signs. Branagh and Thompson split in 1995, Branagh and Carter played a spooky couple for five years, then split in 1999. Even Hollywood’s finest necromancy couldn’t save that love story.
2. Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie — Mr. & Mrs. Smith
This movie was literally about a married couple secretly trying to kill each other, so it’s fitting that the real-life marriage carnage was even messier. Brad Pitt signed on while still married to America’s sweetheart, Jennifer Aniston. Then came whispers, paparazzi using cranes to spy on the set, and tabloid chaos.
Brad denied it, Jennifer cried, and then boom!—he and Jolie were spotted vacationing in Kenya. Well, you win some, you lose some. When “Brangelina” was born, the paparazzi had job security for a decade, and six kids later, the fairy tale imploded in 2016.
3. Kristen Stewart & Rupert Sanders — Snow White and the Huntsman
In 2012, Kristen Stewart proved she wasn’t just Twilight‘s brooding teen, she was also famous for kissing the movie’s director. Paparazzi caught her and 41-year-old Rupert Sanders, who was married at the time, locking lips in a car. Drama alert!
Rupert issued a Hallmark-worthy apology to his “heavenly children,” while Kristen begged Rob Pattinson’s forgiveness, but it didn’t work. Rob ended his relationship with Kristen, Rupert’s wife also left him, and everyone discovered that cheating photos never look flattering when taken through a zoom lens.
4. Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton — Cleopatra
Liz Taylor basically invented the Hollywood scandal playbook. Already on husband number four after stealing Eddie Fisher from Debbie Reynolds, Liz met Richard Burton on the set of Cleopatra in 1963. He was married. She was married. But who cares about some wedding vows when you’re shooting a movie in Italy? It turns out, a lot of people cared.
The Vatican called her behavior “erotic vagrancy,” a congresswoman tried to ban them from reentering the U.S., and tabloids had a field day. Naturally, Liz and Richard doubled down, married each other, divorced, remarried, and divorced again. The tabloids were ecstatic.
5. Olivia Wilde & Harry Styles — Don’t Worry Darling
If your movie’s hot gossip has people more excited than the actual plot, congrats, you’re Olivia Wilde! Wilde dumped Jason Sudeikis mid-production, cast Harry Styles, and then, well, started dating him in secret. Suddenly, the psychological thriller had real-life relationship twists.
Then came Florence Pugh refusing to promote the film, Shia LaBeouf claiming he quit instead of being fired, and Jason serving Olivia custody papers while she was doing a panel at CinemaCon. Oh, and the internet still swears Harry may or may not have spit on Chris Pine. It was a gift that kept on giving!
6. Julia Roberts & Kiefer Sutherland — Flatliners
In the early ’90s, Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland were the Hollywood “It” couple. They got engaged, planned a massive wedding, and then Julia pulled the plug three days before the big night. But she didn’t tell it to his face, oh no-no; she made one of her friends call it off on her behalf.
To add insult to injury, Julia immediately hopped on a plane to Ireland with Jason Patric, Kiefer’s buddy. The tabloids went nuts! Julia and Jason lasted a year, Kiefer eventually forgave her, and we all got the moral: never invite the paparazzi to your wedding.
7. January Jones & The Mystery Baby Daddy — X-Men: First Class
January Jones gave birth in 2011, and to this day, she’s kept the baby daddy’s identity top secret. She was filming X-Men: First Class at the time, so naturally, the rumor mill decided the father must be director Matthew Vaughn, as they’ve been working long hours together. But Vaughn, who was very much married to Claudia Schiffer, denied it. January raised her son as a single mother and basically said, “Who needs a man anyway?”
8. Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman — Eyes Wide Shut
Stanley Kubrick’s swan song was supposed to be sexy and mysterious. Instead, it became a circus. At least the behind-the-scenes parts of it. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman’s marriage was already about to burst, and tabloids claimed they needed sex therapists to get through filming. Someone even accused them of going to real sex shows for “research.”
Tom and Nicole sued, denied everything, and managed to finish the film after an insane 400 days of shooting. Two years later, they divorced. Turns out, the scariest part of Eyes Wide Shutwasn’t the masks—it was the marriage counseling bills.
