13 Celebrity have had affairs with their movie costars
There's something so fascinating about celebrity costars who have dated. Picture it: You’re watching your favorite characters share an intense moment in a movie or TV show. Maybe they’re fighting in the rain (ahem, One Tree Hill) or trying to escape White Walkers (you know nothing, Jon Snow). Suddenly, you feel…something. Is it excitement? No. Anticipation? That’s not it. Chemistry? Ding-ding-ding!
With the right smoldering look or gesture, chemistry between two leads can make us overlook some of the most unrealistic storylines (sorry, Riverdale). It's even more enticing to watch when you know those onscreen feelings match offscreen feelings too. Celebrity costars who dated in real life give us moments that keep fans coming back for more–even if the IRL relationship is long over.
Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem (Jamón Jamón)
Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem first met in 1992 on the set of the comedy Jamón Jamón, but they didn't start dating until they began filming Woody Allen's 2008 movie Vicky Christina Barcelona. In the years following, the married couple (they wed in 2010) have been low-key about their partnership. "It was a really good decision for us, not to talk about our relationship," Cruz said in a 2019 interview. “It would feel very strange to do it a different way.”
Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling (The Place Between the Pines)
Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling may be the most low-key couple on this list. The notoriously private pair keep their relationship mostly under wraps by rarely making public appearances as a family (they have two daughters). Mendes opened up about their choice to remain out of the spotlight in an Instagram comment. “I have always had a clear boundary when it comes to my man and my kids,” she wrote. “I’ll talk about them of course, within limits, but I won’t post pictures of our daily life.”
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt (Mr. & Mrs. Smith)
In 2005, the action-romance Mr. & Mrs. Smith hit theaters and Brangelina was born. Brad Pitt's divorce from Jennifer Aniston to be with Angelina Jolie was covered in great detail by the tabloids, and only increased when, three months after Pitt's divorce was finalized, it was announced Jolie was pregnant with her first child. In 2014, Jolie and Pitt wed…but then she filed for divorce just two years later, creating another media firestorm.
Angelina Jolie and Jenny Shimizu (Foxfire)
Long before Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were a thing, she was falling for her Foxfire costar Jenny Shimizu. “I would probably have married Jenny Shimizu if I hadn’t married my husband,” Jolie said in 1997, referencing her marriage to first husband Johnny Lee Miller. “I fell in love with her the first second I saw her.”
Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner (Valentine’s Day)
The Taylors felt too good to be true: An A-list couple (remember when Twilight was still a thing?) who share the same name? It was never going to last. Swift and Lautner got together after shooting the ensemble rom-com Valentine’s Day.
Their romance was short-lived (three months to be exact), but it will live forever in the song Swift wrote for her ex, “Back to December”: “So this is me swallowing my pride, standing in front of you saying I'm sorry for that night,” she sings. “You gave me all your love and all I gave you was goodbye." Brutal.
Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron (High School Musical)
It was the start of something new. The Disney Channel had a smash hit with High School Musical, and suddenly its stars Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron were household names. It only made sense that the romantic leads would start dating. “Right off the bat, we had a connection, I think everybody could see it,” Hudgens told Glamour in 2010. “Now, I guess [we have a mature relationship]. I think that we inspire each other. [I love] having someone to grow with.” Sadly, their cute courtship ended later that year.
Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson (Twilight)
The Twilight fandom is an extremely passionate set of people. Declaring Team Edward or Team Jacob is like choosing which side you’re fighting on in a war—not something to be taken lightly. Of course, the teen fantasy movies not only gave us werewolves and vampires. It also gave us a hugely famous couple in Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck (Gigli)
The movie Gigli was almost universally panned as a flop, but it did give the world Bennifer (that is, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck). The two met while filming the romance drama and by November 2002 were engaged. They broke up in 2004 but have since rekindled their romance.
Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult (X-Men)
Working with your ex can’t be easy, but Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult are professionals. After breaking up in 2014 following four years of dating, they continued to act alongside each other in the X-Men franchise, during whose filming they first met. Some speculated that J.Law’s rise to stardom contributed to their split, but Hoult has insisted that her success was “well deserved.”
Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man)
Following in the trend of friendly exes, Spider-Man costars Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield make the cutest duo whether they're dating or not. Even after their breakup in 2015, Stone told Vogue that her ex is “someone I still love very much.” While Garfield has called himself her “her biggest fan."
Cara Delevingne and Ashley Benson (Her Smell)
Cara Delevingne and Ashley Benson's relationship was a whirlwind: The couple starred in independent film Her Smell together, announced their romance via supercute Instagram photos, purchased a much-discussed sex bench, and eventually broke up after two years of adventures. “Their relationship just ran its course," a source said of the split.
Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth (The Last Song)
Nicholas Sparks movies are a great place for offscreen romances, apparently. The 2010 romance drama about a rebellious teen who falls in love in a beach town was entertaining, but the events that followed between Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth were much more engrossing. Sadly, their decade-long saga ended in divorce.
Jennifer Aniston and Tate Donovan
This is a costar-dating situation in reverse. According to InStyle, Aniston and Donovan dated in the ’90s before he had a several-episode arc on Friends. “I was just happy to be on the team. The only bummer was Jennifer and I were breaking up at the time,” he told Us Weekly in 2018 about his time on Friends. “And so that was tricky to sort of act, and act like we are just meeting each other, and falling in love, or whatever, interested in each other, when we’re sort of breaking up. That was just tough.”
