10 of the Highest-Profile Divorces in Celebrity History

In Hollywood, a happily ever after is not necessarily a guaranteed storybook finish. As the tabloids document, celebrity unions that fall apart in record time are actually more common. There were the well-known four-day marriage of Nicolas Cage and the eight-month union of Elisabeth Moss and Fred Armisen. Prior to Kimye, Kim Kardashian enjoyed a brief romantic relationship with Kris Humphries, during which the reality star accepted his proposal after just seven months of courtship.

They got married 90 days later, and seventy two days later they filed for divorce, claiming they couldn’t agree on anything. A look back at some of the more well-known celebrity divorces in recent memory.

1. Grace Miguel and Usher: 2018
The singer and Miguel got together in 2009, not long after Usher’s prior divorce from Tameka Foster, his first wife. In 2015, he made Miguel a proposal. In March 2018, the pair announced their separation after over ten years of dating and two and a half years of marriage.

2. Christine Taylor and Ben Stiller in 2017
On the set of a television show in 1999, the two actors got together and hit it off right away. The next year, on May 13, 2000, they were married on Kauai. They appeared destined to last after 17 years and two children. Sadly, they did announce their divorce on May 25, 2017. But this breakup didn’t last, as the Zoolander actor said in a February 2022 interview with Esquire that he and Taylor have reconciled after deciding to move back in together at the start of the epidemic.

3. Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin in 2016
Famously, Gwyneth Paltrow called their split a “conscious uncoupling.” They separated on July 14, 2016, following ten years of marriage and the birth of two children. The reasons for the split were reported as being distance and demanding work schedules.

4. David Duchovny and Téa Leoni 2014

The actors separated in 2008, the year Duchovny checked himself into a sex addiction treatment facility, and in 2011. They were wed for 17 years, having two children together, Madelaine and Kyd. Their divorce was finalised on June 14, 2014.

5. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes in 2012
Remember when Tom Cruise leaped on Oprah’s couch when she asked him how his relationship was going? These two were genuinely infatuated with one another. A significant portion of their split was allegedly attributed to Cruise’s membership in Scientology and his desire to bring their little daughter Suri into the group.

6. Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren 2010
Less than a year after America’s cherished golf champion Woods came clean about cheating on his wife of six years, their marriage was formally dissolved in 2010. He damaged his standing in the sports industry and finally had to give Nordegren more than $100 million.

7. Madonna and Guy Ritchie in 2008
Director Ritchie and The Material Girl wed in 2000, but they split up over eight years later. The couple, who have a son named Rocco together, are claimed to have broken up because, as Madonna stated in 2012, the union “[wasn’t] what I thought it was going to be.”

8. Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe: 2007
If you’ve seen the film Cruel Intentions, you will understand why this abrupt split was especially upsetting. The couple Phillippe and Witherspoon, who are sweethearts, got married soon after meeting in their early 20s. Before calling it quits, they had been dating for almost eight years.

9. Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan: 2001

In the public view, Ryan and Quaid’s divorce resembled a real-life romantic comedy catastrophe. There were rumours in 2000 that Ryan was having an affair with Russell Crowe, who costarred with her in Proof of Life. Jack, the son of Ryan and Quaid, was eight years old when they separated.

10. Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise in 2001
In 1989, the couple became together on the set of Days of Thunder. By December 1990, they got married. Cruise was 28 and Kidman was 23. They both adopted two children and appeared in multiple films together while they were married. In February 2011, Cruise filed for divorce. Most people agree that the divorce resulted as a result of pressure from cruise.