11 Celeb Couples Who Broke Up And Still Had To Work Together
Someone once said that you should never mix business with pleasure, but clearly that person didn’t work in Hollywood. When you’re pulling 17-hour days and filming on location nine months out of the year, there’s not really a whole lot of time to casually date. Unless, of course, you find love on set. But what happens when that that love turns sour?
It’s bad enough bumping into an ex around town, but having to work with them on a daily basis for an extended period of time? For most people, that’s the definition of hell. But as someone else once said, the show must go on — and unfortunately for these celebs, that person really did know what they were talking about. Here are 11 celebrity couples who broke up and had to continue to work together. (Awkward.)
On The Vampire Diaries, Elena Gilbert (Dobrev) was constantly torn between brothers Damon (Somerhalder) and Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley). IRL though, Dobrev was totally Team Somerhalder, dating him for three years before the couple broke things off in 2013 — proving that while Damon and Elena are totally endgame, Somerhalder and Dobrev sadly were not. They shared (very intimate) scenes for two more years before Dobrev finally left The Vampire Diaries in 2015.
Blake Lively and Penn Badgley
This Gossip Girl couple dated for three years while filming the teen soap until they broke up in 2010. In the series finale, though, their characters ended up getting married during a flash-forward sequence. Art doesn’t always imitate life, I guess.
Bella Hadid and The Weeknd
OK, so maybe Bella and The Weeknd didn’t have it as bad as some exes who had to see each other every damn day on set. But they did have an awkward (and extremely meme-able!) encounter at the 2016 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show following their breakup just a few weeks prior.
Sophia Bush and Chad Michael Murray
This one’s messy. After falling in love during the first season of One Tree Hill, Bush and Murray got hitched IRL in 2005. Just five months later, Bush filed for an annulment and the divorce was finalized in 2006. As the drama went down off-camera, Bush and Murray still played nice onscreen, where their characters (Brooke and Lucas) were total high school sweethearts. Unsurprisingly, Season 3 marked the end of Brucas — but Bush and Murray worked on the show together for four more years until Lucas and Peyton (true love always!) rode off into the sunset in Season 6. Bush later admitted that working with Murray actually helped her get over their split.
Hey, look! It’s another couple from a teen soap. As Seth Cohen and Summer Roberts on The O.C., Brody and Bilson were everyone’s OTP — except each other’s. After three years of dating, Brody and Bilson broke things off in 2006, just in time to film Seth and Summer’s future wedding in the show’s series finale.
Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson
Holmes and Jackson had a very under-the-radar romance on the set of Dawson’s Creek in the late ’90s. While the romance was short-lived, Pacey and Joey’s flame was not, thanks to the actors’ real-life chemistry. The duo worked together on Dawson’s until it ended in 2003, and ultimately, it was Pacey who won Joey’s heart. (Sorry, Dawson.)
Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal
Stefani and Kanal’s romance blossomed during No Doubt’s halcyon days in the early ’90s. The feisty frontwoman has since said she had dreams of marrying the bassist, but those dreams were shattered when he ended their relationship in 1994 — inspiring Stefani to write the band’s seminal song, “Don’t Speak.” In 2016, Stefani expressed uncertainty about the future of the band, telling Rolling Stone, “When Tony and I are connected creatively, it’s magic. But I think we’ve grown apart as far as what kind of music we want to make.”
Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson
The Twilight stars met on the set of the teen vampire flick and started dating shortly after, remaining a couple throughout the filming of its subsequent sequels. After production wrapped, and after that shocking KStew cheating scandal, the couple broke up but still had to do press together for the franchise’s final film.
Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki
Cuoco and Galecki kept their offscreen romance on the DL for two years until their 2009 split. But the actors, who play married couple Penny and Leonard on The Big Bang Theory, have managed to remain friends since. I guess a $1 million–per–episode payday will do that to you. (Hey, if you paid me millions of dollars to work with my ex, I’d probably do it too.)
Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan
Shortly after her 2004 divorce from Scott Foley, Garner and her Alias co-star Michael Vartan made things public. The romance was short-lived, and Vartan later said that he and Garner were much better off as friends. The two continued to work together until Alias wrapped in 2006.
Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult
J-Law and Hoult are as on-again and off-again as Friends’s Rachel and Ross. The couple met on the set of 2011’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. After two years of dating, they briefly separated before rekindling their romance in late 2013. The couple reportedly split for good in 2014, but they still had to film X-Men: Apocalypse — and promote it — together. But judging from the press tour, Lawrence and Hoult still seem like good friends.
