Rumors about famous people’s relationships come and go, whether they are about dating, infidelity, or tumultuous splits. However, certain scandals have managed to stand out more than others. This might be as a result of who was involved, the celebrities actually verifying the information, or how shocking the claims were. Although not all of the celebrity couple affairs mentioned here made headlines, some of them involved politicians. Or complete albums were made about the experience. Or the scandal was denounced in print by the Vatican City’s official publication. (Yes, it really did happen.) Learn more about the eight largest celebrity cheating scandals in the following paragraphs.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
At the 2003 Golden Globes, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver Featureflash Photo Agency/Shutterstock
When Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced their separation in 2011, they had been married for 25 years. Shortly later, it was discovered that Schwarzenegger had an affair with Mildred Baena, a domestic helper who had given birth to their son, Joseph Baena, in 1997, 14 years earlier. Shriver was informed of the development by Schwarzenegger after his tenure as California’s governor came to an end.
In 2011, Schwarzenegger told the Los Angeles Times, “After leaving the governor’s office, I told my wife about this episode, which took place over ten years ago.” “My friends and family’s feelings of rage and disappointment are understandable and well deserved. There are no justifications, and I am fully accountable for the harm I have caused. Maria, my kids, and my family have all received my apology. I apologise greatly.”
Now dating Arnold Schwarzenegger, Joseph is a bodybuilder like his father. He recently appeared on Dancing with the Stars as well.
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton
Our list’s first scandal involves possibly the most notorious Hollywood marriage in history. When they started collaborating on the 1963 film Cleopatra, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton became friends. Both Burton and Taylor were already married at the time—Burton to his first wife, actress Sybil Williams, and Taylor to her fourth husband, singer and actor Eddie Fisher.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the relationship produced issues on the set since the actors continued to hang out in their trailers even though they were supposed to be filming and coworkers overheard their arguments. Through the use of actors as cover, paparazzi gained access to the Rome set. The Vatican publication condemned the incident, labelling it “erotic vagrancy.” A Georgia congressman reportedly asked that the performers be denied entry into the country owing to their “undesirability.”
This wasn’t simply a one-night stand either. From 1964 until 1974, and then from 1975 to 1976, Taylor and Burton were wed.
Added scandal: Taylor and Fisher’s romance had also begun as an affair. He started an affair with Taylor, who had recently lost her third husband, Mike Todd, in a plane disaster, while still married to Debbie Reynolds. Reynolds and Fisher served as the matron of honour and best man, respectively, during Taylor and Todd’s wedding. The four of them had been close friends.
Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant gained notoriety in 1995 when he was charged with hiring Divine Brown (actual name: Estella Marie Thompson), a sex prostitute, in Los Angeles. When they were discovered engaging in sexual behaviour in his car, both were arrested. Grant had been dating Elizabeth Hurley for a while at the time.
Grant was forced to undergo an AIDS education course and pay a $1,000 fine, according to The Guardian. The Love Actually actor issued a statement in which he expressed sorry for the event. He later made an appearance on The Tonight Show and admitted, “I’ve done an abhorrent thing, and [Hurley’s] been fantastic about it, and contrary to what I read in the media today, she’s been extremely supportive, and we’re going to try to work it out.”
Grant and Hurley remained together till the year 2000 and are still close friends.
Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini
Taylor and Burton weren’t the only well-known couples who faced criticism from a government official. When Ingrid Bergman started an affair with married director Roberto Rossellini of her 1950 picture Stromboli, she was already wed to her first husband, Petter Lindström, the star of Casablanca. When it was revealed that Bergman had gotten pregnant during the affair, there was additional hostility, particularly in the US.
Along with receiving abusive letters from former admirers, Bergman also encouraged a U.S. senator to suggest legislation. The Daily Beast reports that Edwin C. Johnson proposed a bill that would have required movie licences to be granted depending on the morality of their leading actors and directors. Bergman “had perpetrated an assault upon the institution of marriage,” according to Johnson, who also called her “a formidable force for evil.”
From 1950 to 1957, Bergman and Rossellini were wed and had three kids together.
Jay-Z
Beyoncé and Jay-collaborative Z’s album was influenced by Jay-affair. Z’s Her husband’s infidelity is one of the topics of her 2016 visual album Lemonade, and the following year, he released 4:44, which also discusses his infidelity.
“She was really pleased of the paintings I had published, and [I was] extremely proud of the music she had created. And, you know, at the end of the day, we truly do respect one another’s artistic abilities. I believe she’s incredible “In 2017, Jay-Z spoke to T Magazine. “Because most people can’t see themselves, the divorce rate is like 50% or something, and most people just walk away. The hardest part is having to cope with yourself after seeing someone else in agony that you caused.”
They are still together today. In a 2018 interview with David Letterman, Jay-Z noted, “We performed the difficult work of going to therapy” (via The Washington Post). “We have worked hard for years because we care about one other. I like to think that things are better now. I’m pleased of the husband and father I’ve become now.”
Jude Law
When Jude Law and Sienna Miller first met on the Alfie set in 2003, they started dating. They got engaged on Christmas Day in 2004. However, their status as the “it” couple in Hollywood was just temporary. Law’s children’s nanny, Daisy Wright, revealed to the Sunday Mirror in 2005 that she had been having an affair with the actor and released journal entries describing their time together.
Through the British Press Association, Law acknowledged the relationship and apologised to Miller in front of the public. According to Ones, Law stated, “Following the reports in today’s publications, I just want to say I am profoundly ashamed and upset that I’ve wounded Sienna and the people most nearest to us.” “I want to openly express my regret for the suffering I have brought upon Sienna and our separate families. There is no justification for my actions, which I deeply regret. Please respect our privacy during this extremely trying time.”
Miller and Law made efforts to repair their relationship, but they parted ways in 2006. They tried again from 2009 to 2011, when they finally broke up.
Kristen Stewart and Rupert Sanders
Pictures of Kristen Stewart kissing Rupert Sanders, who directed Kristen Stewart’s film Snow White and the Huntsman, were made public in 2012 and generated a lot of buzz. While Sanders had been wed to model and Twilight co-star Liberty Ross since 2002, she was fairly notoriously seeing her co-star Robert Pattinson. Both Stewart and Sanders swiftly issued statements.
Sanders told Us Weekly, “I am utterly saddened about the grief I have caused my family. “I have nothing else in this world but my lovely wife and my children in heaven. With all of my heart, I adore them. I’m hoping that we can overcome this together.”
Added Stewart, “I sincerely apologise for the pain and humiliation I have brought onto my loved ones and everyone else this has harmed. Rob, the person I love and respect the most in the world, has been put in danger by my fleeting transgression. I’m sorry; I adore him so much.”
Six months later, Ross asked for a divorce from Sanders. Stewart and Pattinson ended their relationship in May 2013 but are still friendly.
Tristan Thompson
Khloé Kardashian and Tristan Thompson were expecting their first child together in the spring of 2018 when pictures and videos of the basketball player making out with other women were made public. True Thompson, the Kardashians’ daughter, was welcomed a few days after the reports surfaced.
From there, other charges of infidelity emerged, including one in January 2019 when it was discovered that Thompson had kissed Jordyn Woods, a close friend of Kardashian’s younger sister Kylie Jenner. According to People, Thompson and Kardashian continued to co-parent their daughter in the months that followed but did not get back together as a couple until the summer of 2020.
For the next few years, the public was unsure of the state of the relationship, but in January 2022, Thompson revealed that he had a son with Maralee Nichols, another woman. The timeline indicates that Kardashian and Thompson decided to have another child before Kardashian learned that Thompson was expecting a kid with Nichols. This decision was made before Kardashian learned that Thompson was expecting a child via surrogate. Naturally, because Kardashian is a reality television celebrity, The Kardashians, her family’s show, highlighted all of this.
