When two beautiful leads act in a movie together, viewers can’t help but link their gestures on screen to their relationship offscreen. Was that kiss real or did they just enjoy a little too much? Did their sexual chemistry actually manifest? Did it evolve into something more?
Actors are professional performers. However, the fictional affection built on the set sometimes doesn’t stay there as it is. Some develop even after the project and progress into real-life relationships. While this comes as an opportunity for single celebrities to find their lifetime partners, it sometimes comes as a final blow for those who are committed or married already.
Stars sometimes won’t get personal, even if it’s obvious that their movies had led them to their eventual divorces. Take a look at these 17 movies that brought about affairs that destroyed some celebrity marriages.
1. Cleopatra – Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor
Destroyed Marriage #1: Richard Burton and Sybil Williams (1949-1963)
Destroyed Marriage #2: Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher (1959-1964)
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor originally hated each other at the start of filming for Cleopatra in 1961. Taylor called Burton “brutish and boorish,” while he called her “Miss Tits.” Ironically, when they were filming their first on-scene kiss, that hate seemed nonexistent. Despite the director calling cut again and again, the two couldn’t stop kissing.
Unfortunately, they were both married at the time. Taylor was with her fourth husband, Eddie Fisher, and Burton was married to Sybil Williams. The two eventually divorced their respective spouses and married each other in 1964. They first divorced in 1974, and then remarried shortly from 1975 to 1976.
2. To Have And Have Not – Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall
Destroyed Marriage: Humphrey Bogart and Mayo Methot (1938-1945)
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall co-starred in 1944 film, To Have and Have Not. The two were good friends until after shooting a crucial scene, in which people claimed to notice playful behavior between Bogart (44) and Bacall (19). Co-actor Dan Seymour, despite the 25 year age difference said, “We knew things were happening. He had that sort of smile you can still see on the screen.”
At that time, Bogart was still married to actress Mayo Methot, who wasn’t thrilled to hear news of their flirtation. Bogart saw this as an opportunity to get out of the marriage, which he felt was no longer working because of Methot’s mental instability. The two divorced soon and Bogey married Bacall. The couple stayed together until his death in 1957.
3. The Outlaw Josey Wales – Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke
Destroyed Marriage: Clint Eastwood and Maggie Johnson (1953-1984, separated in 1975)
The Outlaw Josey Wales star is notoriously known for having a fair share of flings, but the most controversial was during the same aforementioned movie. Clint Eastwood then began an affair with co-star Sondra Locke despite being married still to Maggie Johnson. The affair eventually led to cohabitation and divorce for Eastwood and Johnson.
However, like his other past extramarital relationships, theirs ended in failure and resentment. Locke later described their tempestuous relationship in her memoir, The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly.
4. The Misfits – Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable
Destroyed Marriage: Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller (1956-1961)
Marilyn Monroe and playwright Arthur Miller were already married for four years when they worked together on the set of The Misfits. Miller wrote the movie as a dramatic-starring launch for Monroe, but the latter found his redrafts sexist which ultimately annoyed her.
According to Monroe’s biography, The Passion and the Paradox, Monroe had dubbed Miller a “peaceful monster” at the beginning of their marriage. She claimed that the movie’s most interesting roles had gone to its male stars. Certainly, the pressures of the film proved damaging to the mismatched couple, and it wasn’t long they divorced.
The Misfits turned out to be the last movie that Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable made before their respective deaths. Gable died 12 days after filming completed, while Monroe passed away a year after the film was released. Some critics say the actress’ performance in the film was the finest of her career.
5. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein – Kenneth Branagh and Helena Bonham Carter
Destroyed Marriage: Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson (1989-1995)
Branagh had been married to actress Emma Thompson for five years before working on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Apparently, when he directed and starred in the film, he also felt attracted to his co-star Helena Bonham Carter. Thompson divorced Branagh shortly after the news of his affair with Bonham Carter broke.
Despite controversies surrounding them, the three remained dignified adults, with Thompson clarifying in 2013 that she had already made peace with Bonham Carter. She said, “You can’t hold on to anything like that. I just think… pfft… It’s pointless. I haven’t got the energy for it. Helena and I made our peace years and years ago.”
6. Stage Beauty – Billy Crudup and Claire Danes
Destroyed Relationship: Billy Crudup and Mary Louise Parker (1996-2003)
Billy Crudup and Mary Louise Parker had been partners for eight years although still unmarried. It was in Stage Beauty where Crudup met her co-star Claire Danes in 2005, whom he fell in love with. He left Parker who was seven months pregnant then for Danes.
In her 2015 memoir Dear Mr. You, Parker opened up about her subsequent devastation due to the affair. On the other hand, Danes seemed rather candid saying, “I was just in love with [Crudup], and needed to explore that and I was 24… I didn’t quite know what those consequences would be.”
7. Dream House – Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz
Destroyed Relationship #1: Daniel Craig and Satsuki Mitchell (2005-2010)
Destroyed Relationship #2: Rachel Weisz and Darren Aronofsky (2001-2010)
Rachel Weisz was already with director Darren Aronofsky for almost ten years when she joined the production on Dream House with Daniel Craig. Craig was engaged to film producer Satsuki Mitchell at the time, but it did not stop the palpable attraction between the two.
Before finding love with Craig, Weisz confessed, “I worried about so many things and it was hard for me to feel happy or understand what made me happy. Once you reach your forties, you know where to look.” Both parties then denied that Dream House is the reason their respective relationships ended. However, Weisz and Craig went public shortly after filming ended and married seven months later.
8. House of Wax – Chad Michael Murray and Paris Hilton
Destroyed Marriage: Chad Michael Murray and Sophia Bush (2005-2006)
Destroyed Relationship: Paris Hilton and Nick Carter
In 2006, Nick Carter went on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show and claimed that then-girlfriend Paris Hilton had hooked up with Chad Michael Murray while filming House of Wax in 2005. During that time, Murray was still married to actress Sophia Bush. After the controversy broke, the couple ended their five-month marriage and got divorced months later.
Bush, however, seemed evasive about the Paris Hilton rumors as she defended her divorce from Murray. She instead said, “We were two stupid kids who had no business being in a relationship in the first place. To all the other co-stars who’ve worked it out, more power to you.”
9. Northern Lights – Eddie Cibrian and LeAnn Rimes
Destroyed Marriage #1: Eddie Cibrian and Brandi Glanville (2001-2010)
Destroyed Marriage #2: LeAnn Rimes and Dean Sheremet (2002-2009)
Northern Lights witnessed the onscreen pairing of Eddie Cibrian and LeAnn Rimes in 2009. While the Lifetime movie created plenty of drama for its viewers, the two leads did so in real life when Cibrian cheated on his wife Brandi Glanville co-star Rimes. Shortly after news broke of Cibrian and Rimes’ affair, the two divorced their respective spouses. Cibrian and Rimes tied the knot in 2011.
10. Proof of Life – Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan
Destroyed Marriage: Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid (1991-2001)
It is during the shoot of Proof of Life where Russel Crowe and Meg Ryan were first reportedly seen getting cozy. Consequently, the rumors uneventfully ended Ryan’s marriage with Dennis Quaid. Ryan filed for shared custody of their son, Jack, and the pair went their separate ways.
Years later, Jack, who was 8 year old at the time, opened up about the issue. He told Us Weekly, “It’s kind of hard to ignore when you’re at a grocery store and you’re like, checking out and those magazines on the side [feature] a photo of [Ryan and Quaid] with a little paper rip thing. If they hadn’t told me about the divorce, I would’ve been like ‘What’s that?’ as a kid.” Nevertheless, Jack remains close to both his parents, while Ryan and Crowe’s romance did not last long either.
11. Mind Over Murder – Dean McDermott and Tori Spelling
Destroyed Marriage #1: Tori Spelling and Charlie Shanian (2004-2006)
Destroyed Marriage #2: Dean McDermott and Mary Jo Eustace (1993–2006)
Dean McDermott and Tori Spelling were both already wed with different spouses when they worked for the Lifetime TV movie, Mind Over Murder. The pair allegedly spent the night together the day they met and never looked back. They eloped less than a year after the movie’s release and have been married since 2006.
McDermott has a son with his ex-wife, while he and Spelling have five kids together.
12. Titanic – James Cameron and Suzy Amis
Destroyed Marriage: James Cameron and Linda Hamilton (1997-1999)
Titanic director James Cameron and actress Linda Hamilton were barely nine months into marriage before he fell for actress Suzy Amis. Despite staying together for about two years, Hamilton recalls having a hard time reconciling their relationship. She told The Telegraph, “The parading around, the lunches, the stress of being with Jim during the Titanic days – for years I could barely get make-up on, I was shaking so hard, because every award show we had was terrible.”
Hamilton adds that while she was very much in love with her husband at the time, she also recalls a lot of stress back then. They eventually divorced, and Cameron married Amis after.
13. Days of Thunder – Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman
Destroyed Marriage: Tom Cruise and Mimi Rogers (1987-1990)
When Days of Thunder began filming in early 1990, Tom Cruise’s marriage with then-wife Mimi Rogers was already on the rocks due to his past philandering. Thus, when his love affair with co-star Nicole Kidman broke out into open, Cruise’s marriage also came crashing down. Rogers divorced him just one month into the production process. Meanwhile, Cruise and Kidman married less than one year after meeting.
14. Daredevil – Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner
Destroyed Marriage: Jennifer Garner and Scott Foley (2000-2004)
Destroyed Engagement: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez (2002-2004)
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner were both in committed relationships at the time Daredevil was filmed in 2002. Affleck was in a high profile relationship with Jennifer Lopez, while Garner was married to Scott Foley. While both parties refused to admit any actual on-set affiliations, Affleck did confirm that he and Garner fell in love while filming the superhero flick. “That’s where I found my wife,” he said. “We met on Pearl Harbor, which people hate, but we fell in love on Daredevil.”
A year after Daredevil’s premiere in 2003, Affleck ended his engagement to Lopez. Two months later, Garner divorced Foley. The two officially tied the knot in 2005.
15. Green Lantern – Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively
Destroyed Marriage: Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson (2008-2011)
Destroyed Relationship: Blake Lively and Penn Badgely (2007-2010)
Green Lantern stars Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively were rather reserved about when exactly they fell in love. However, all signs point to them getting close on the set during the movie’s production. The two were reportedly getting cozy in New York City on the shoot, which appeared to have ended their respective relationships at the time. Shortly after filming ended, Lively broke up with Gossip Girl co-star Penn Badgley. Consequently, Scarlett Johannson divorced Reynolds. The two lovebirds married in 2012.
16. Mr. & Mrs. Smith – Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
Destroyed Marriage: Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston (2000-2005)
Months before Mr. & Mrs. Smith’s premiere, Jennifer Aniston filed for divorce from then-husband Brad Pitt. Although Aniston cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason, it seemed that the movie played a huge role in their marriage breakdown. Pitt then later confessed that he fell in love with Angelina Jolie while shooting the film. This sparked rumors of their on-set dalliance to be rather true.
Jolie also confirmed that attraction formed while filming, despite her hesitance to pursue a married man. “It took until, really, the end of the shoot for us, I think, to realize that it might mean something more than we’d earlier allowed ourselves to believe,” she said. “And both knowing that the reality of that was a big thing, something that was going to take a lot of serious consideration.”
One month after Aniston’s filing, Jolie and Pitt were already spotted vacationing in Africa. In 2006, Jolie announced her pregnancy with Pitt.
17. By The Sea – Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
Destroyed Marriage: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (2014-2016)
By The Sea, a film that recounts the disintegration of a marriage, appeared rather foreshadowing, following Brangelina’s controversial split. At the time of the film’s release, Jolie told the press that the movie tested her marriage to Brad. Speculations arose during production about Jolie’s dark side, ultimately destroying their relationship in real life. In fact, Jolie herself confirmed that she butted heads with her husband on set.
One year after the movie’s release, Jolie then filed for divorce.
