Couple #7: Madonna and Guy Ritchie (2000 - 2008)
The world’s most famous pop star and that guy who directed Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Not the most balanced couple, they lived in that fantastical bubble of marital bliss for seven years, until it was popped by clichéd celebrity drama.
Rumors of illicit trysts with a certain baseball star (whose name rhymes with K-Pod), squabbles over religion (“She's obsessed with her own public image, obsessed with being seen as some kind of global soothsayer.”) were the points that played a role in said bubble bursting.
Today, they are happily divorced, with joint custody of kids Rocco, 8, and David, 3. Reportedly, Ritchie refused to take even a dime of Madonna’s Material assets. What a Guy, eh?
Couple #6: Sadie Frost and Jude Law (1997 – 2003)
Sadie Frost accused Jude Law of not being there for her during the postpartum depression following the birth of their third child. Tabloids in the U.K. accused him of having an affair with Nicole Kidman (for which Kidman sued two British newspapers – and won.) But Law would not be fazed. A year later, he was engaged to Sienna Miller and a couple of months after that, was caught cheating on her with Frost’s nanny, and that was that.
Couple #5: Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe (1999 – 2006)
They met at Witherspoon’s 21st birthday party, starred in Cruel Intentions, had two children, and were as cute as Pixar characters at every photo op. Finally a “Hollywood Happily Ever After” – or was it? In 2006, rumors of Ryan Phillippe’s affairs with actress Abbie Cornish led to a divorce that shocked the celeb kingdom. Phillippe and Cornish have been dating ever since, while Witherspoon has moved on to the arms of Jake Gyllenhaal (and what strong arms you have, Gyllenhaal). Good for her – Gyllenhaal has been looking more and more delicious with every leaked still of Prince of Persia.
Couple #4: Heather Mills and Paul McCartney (2002 – 2006)
This was straight out of a soap opera. The press announcements following the split went from “our parting is amicable” to “Paul choked me.” The epic two-year Mills-McCartney battle for money came next. Mills won when she landed more than $48.6 million plus $70,000 a year in child support for their daughter, Beatrice, 4, (even though she had asked for $250 million).
Couple #3: Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin (1993 – 2002)
It’s probably illegal to talk about acrimonious celebrity divorces and not mention Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin. The Basinger-Baldwin marriage went belly up, and the whole world witnessed the bitter insults flying back and forth from each camp. Basinger called Baldwin “unstable and irrational,” and he retaliated by asking her to consider a “psychological evaluation of her mental state.”
Both have been desperately fighting for custody of their 13-year-old daughter, Ireland — Baldwin even left an incendiary voicemail on his daughter’s phone two years ago when she didn’t answer one of his scheduled calls. Today, he has almost emerged from the media circus that followed the phone call, armed with his new book A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey Through Fatherhood and Divorce.
Couple #2: Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen (2002 – 2006)
A fairy-tale wedding can lead to a horror-story divorce, as Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen have ably proved. The two met while shooting the movie Good Advice, fell in love, got married, had two daughters, filed for divorce, and made public spectacles of themselves. Richards got a temporary restraining order against Sheen because of his gambling and drug habits.
Sheen gave an outraged interview on Entertainment Tonight and called her efforts a smear campaign. Together, they fought happily ever after… until they recently made up for the sake of their kids. Richards even bonded with Sheen’s new wife, Brooke Mueller. Celebrities, we’ve realized, are just like regular people – you can never tell what they will do next.
Couple #1: Britney Spears and Kevin Federline (2004 – 2006)
After a turbulent marriage mostly spent making and raising babies, Spears decided she’d had enough of K-Fed living off her and sent him a text message —“I want to divorce you.” Or something along those lines. Her mental state — driving with the baby on her lap, almost dropping him in front of the paparazzi, her highly criticized performance at the MTV awards, multiple stints at rehab, etc. — allowed K-Fed to get sole custody, while she got visitation rights in a complete modern gender role reversal.
Today, she is doing much better, with a new album and a tour (with her kids dancing backstage) while K-Fed threatens to do something bizarre, like coming up with a children’s clothing line, every four months or so.
