Iconic Celebrity Couples Who *Didn't* Stand The Test Of Time
In other words, the way they were
Every Valentine's Day, expect to see a slew of roundups about your favourite celebrity couples, products to buy for your partner and pretty much anything celebrating the capitalist-sanctioned act that is monogamy. But what if you're fresh off a breakup? Or happily single and looking to keep it that way? If you need some affirmation this season that you're truly *not alone,* scroll ahead to see which celebrities went through some painful, very public breakups only to come out stronger on the other side.
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American football star Tom Brady and Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen got married in 2009, but amid various tabloid rumours over the status of their relationship, they announced their separation in an Instagram post in October 2022.
Related article: Tom Brady And Gisele Bündchen's Full Relationship Timeline
This celebrity split inspired one of the biggest breakup anthems of the year. Despite dating for over a decade and sharing two kids together, it's rumoured that Piqué cheated on Shakira with his now-girlfriend Clara Chia Martí.
Related article: Shakira Seemingly Addresses Ex Gerard Piqué's New Romance In New Track
The American supermodel and British singer-songwriter-turned-actor dated on and off throughout the 2010s, but are now just friends. The two showed off their cordial relationship in this segment of The Late Late Show (which also made cheeky references to their relationship) when Styles was a guest host.
Jenner isn't the only one who's been linked to Styles over the past few years. Taylor Swift, who has quite the list of famous exes of her own, dated Styles for a few months around 2011-2012 and reportedly wrote a few songs about him, too. But a recent link-up at the 2023 Grammy Awards suggests the two have put their romantic past behind them.
Related article: Taylor Swift And Harry Styles Show That Exes Can Be Friends
Inspiring another one of this year's biggest breakup anthems, "Flowers," Miley Cyrus' relationship with Liam Hemsworth started on the set of their movie, The Last Song, all the way back in 2009. Unfortunately, the two were only married for two years before calling it quits.
Related article: Why Is Everyone Up In Arms About Miley Cyrus And Shakira?
There's no doubt this celebrity coupling drove most of the web traffic for a number of celebrity gossip sites and tabloids throughout the 2010s. It's almost too much to try and count the number of song references written about one another and the amount of Instagram posts which have since been deleted. While the two started dating as early as their late teens, their eight-year on-off again relationship simply wasn't enough to stand the test of time. Not long after their final breakup, Bieber married model Hailey Baldwin, and the rest is history.
Related article: Selena Gomez Hints At Her Relationship With Justin Bieber In A TikTok Comment
Actor Austin Butler is now famous for his starring role in the 2022 biopic Elvis and his relationship with supermodel Kaia Gerber. But back in the day, he was better known for his roles in a variety of teen sitcoms - and his relationship with none other than High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens, who is now engaged to MLB player Cole Tucker.
Related article: Vanessa Hudgens Is Engaged To MLB Star Cole Tucker
Hilary Duff shot to superstardom with the launch of Disney Channel's Lizzie McGuire back in 2001, when she also confirmed her relationship with fellow teen idol Aaron Carter. The two dated on and off for three years, and after the singer's untimely death in 2022, Duff took to Instagram to post a sweet tribute to her former boyfriend.
These two '90s icons got married in the year 2000, only to break up in a highly-publicised divorce five years later. During the divorce proceedings, media outlets began reporting on Pitt's involvement with Mr. And Mrs. Smith co-star Angelina Jolie, whom he would later marry nearly ten years later (that relationship ultimately ended up in divorce, as well).
Partially thanks to their iconic double denim look at the 2001 American Music Awards, Spears and Timberlake have gone down in history as one of the most iconic celebrity couples of the 2000s. But in case you forgot, their breakup was one of the messiest celebrity splits in recent memory, too; Timberlake's song "Cry Me A River" accuses Spears of cheating on him, kicking off a slew of negative publicity about Spears which would follow her for the rest of her life - a subject further explored in the documentary Framing Britney Spears.
Related article: Justin Timberlake Apologises To Britney Spears And Janet Jackson After Public Outcry
Actors Chris Pratt and Anna Faris were in a loving relationship for most of the 2010s, before filing for divorce in late 2017. Sadly, it didn't take long for Pratt to move on; the actor began dating author Katherine Schwarzeneggar of the Kennedy family just months later.
Related article: Why Chris Pratt And Katherine Schwarzeneggar Got Engaged So Fast
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and actress Gwyneth Paltrow were married for over a decade, but are unfortunately better known these days for their amicable split in 2014, which the couple infamously referred to as "conscious uncoupling." While the two still co-parent their children Apple and Moses, Paltrow has since remarried television writer and producer Brad Falchuk, while Martin is now romantically linked with actress Dakota Johnson.