Celebs Who Publicly Admitted To Cheating
What man in his right mind would cheat on Beyoncé? Well... allegedly, her husband Jay-Z, for starters. The fact of the matter is, lots of people cheat. Even some happy couples cheat. And, as you'll soon see, quite a few celebs have copped to stepping out on their main squeeze. In fact, some particularly well-rounded talents — Sienna Miller comes to mind — have apparently cheated and been cheated on.
Kristen Stewart admits she stepped out on Robert Pattinson back when they were a couple. While still very much involved with Elizabeth Hurley, Hugh Grant sought the services of a prostitute named Divine Brown. David Letterman, David Boreanaz, and Kevin Hart all fessed up to cheating, but not before getting embroiled in unfortunate extortion schemes. If you ever find yourself famous and accused of infidelity, deny, deny, deny... unless someone produces incriminating photos and asks for money. Then, do the right thing and apologize profusely.
So... do you trust us? If so, let's look at some celebs who admitted to cheating on their (usually) significant others.
Kristen Stewart stepped out on Robert Pattinson
In 2012, the entertainment world was jolted by a bona fide showbiz shocker: Kristen Stewart had sexually betrayed her then-boyfriend (and Twilight co-star) Robert Pattinson. After some rather incriminating photos leaked, Stewart confessed she'd had an affair with Rupert Sanders, who directed her in Snow White and the Huntsman. At the time, he was married to actress Liberty Ross. As the rest of us grappled with the enormity of it all, Stewart's florid public apology did its best to soften the blow.
As far as public apologies go, this one is a classic of the genre and hits all the right notes: "I'm deeply sorry for the hurt and embarrassment I've caused to those close to me and everyone this has affected." (This includes, presumably, all of us.) The press reviewed the apology like an exciting summer blockbuster, with The Guardian raving that it set "a new standard." Meanwhile, The Atlantic called it "radical."
Shortly after the scandal, Sanders' wife filed for divorce. Talking to Metro U.K. in 2017 (via the National Post), the director managed to be overly precocious and pretentious as he loftily looked back at the whole thing. "You never know what's coming in life," he intoned. "Around every corner there's something unexpected, and that's life." In stark contrast, Pattinson kept things refreshingly real. When Esquire U.K. asked him about the scandal in 2014, he answered: "Who gives a s**t?"
Hugh Grant's PR nightmare
In 1995, British actor Hugh Grant found himself in a spot of legal trouble after sharing precious moments with a prostitute named Divine Brown. According to The Guardian, he came across her while cruising LA's never-not-sketchy Sunset Strip, paid her $60 for some impromptu sexual relations, and was subsequently apprehended while receiving Brown's services in his car. (He'd unwisely parked on a residential street.) And what poor timing for a "lewd misconduct" charge: Grant was very much in a relationship with actress Elizabeth Hurley, and his new film Nine Months was just about to hit theaters. "Not only was I terrible in the film," he quipped to People in January 2018, "but then I got arrested in Hollywood a week before the film came out."
Grant pleaded no contest, was sentenced to two years probation, and had to pay a $1,180 fine. He was also forced to complete an AIDS education program. The actor coped with the self-inflicted PR nightmare in a simple but effective way — he simply admitted the truth. Appearing on The Tonight Show in 1995, he stammered, choked down coffee, and told Jay Leno, "I did a bad thing, and there you have it."
Hurley and Grant split up two years after the indiscretion, but it doesn't sound like his dalliance was the deal-breaker. "He used to really annoy me," Hurley told Andy Cohen during a Watch What Happens Live appearance in 2015 (via Elle). "My friends used to call him Grumpelstiltskin."
David Boreanaz admits his affair to avoid extortion plot
Two days before his son Jaden's 8th birthday, Bones star David Boreanaz made a startling confession to People. "I haven't been faithful to my wife," he brusquely told the magazine in 2010. Meanwhile, his wife, model Jaime Bergman, sat right there in the room with him. "Our marriage has been tainted with my infidelities," he continued. "I was irresponsible." His confession became increasingly gritty, with Boreanaz revealing he'd been snared in "some sort of extortion attempt." The harried couple decided the best way to fight the scheme was to get every indiscretion out into the open.
TMZ claimed the unnamed blackmailer was Gloria Allred, lawyer to Rachel Uchitel, the alleged other woman in the fiasco. This blackmailer reportedly asked Boreanaz to hand over six figures or else she'd "go to the media if we didn't pay," he said. People noted that Boreanaz and Bergman had "little physical interaction" during what was probably a wildly awkward chat.
On the bright side: Boreanaz claimed the whole mess made "for a bonding experience, in the long run" and said the tryst ultimately strengthened the marriage. (Individual results may vary.) As of this writing, Boreanaz and Bergman are still an item and even made a rare public appearance together at the Academy of Country Music Awards in April 2018.
David Letterman cheated on his wife with his assistant
"I'm in hell." According to the biography Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night (via People), David Letterman uttered those words shortly before making a shocking announcement on The Late Show. On Oct. 1, 2009, he admitted to cheating on his wife, Regina Lasko, and to having an affair with Stephanie Birkitt, his assistant. Lasko and Letterman had just married that March, after dating for 23 years. To make matters worse, CBS News producer Robert "Joe" Halderman, Birkitt's highly disgruntled ex, was allegedly trying to blackmail Letterman. Halderman had reportedly found evidence of the affair in Birkitt's diary, confirming that some people really do keep incriminating diaries full of damaging showbiz secrets.
During the monologue, Letterman claimed he found a parcel in the back of his car that included intimate details of the affair and a threat — he needed to fork over $2 million or see the affair go public. To hamper the scheme, Letterman came forward and fessed up. In 2015, he told The New York Times he was surprised NBC didn't fire him over the unpleasantness. "Looking at it now, yes, I think they would have had good reason to fire me," he said.
According to the biography, Letterman fell into a deep depression over the incident. In 2015, he told Rolling Stone it was "the lowest point" of his life and said he was eternally grateful Lasko didn't leave him. Three years after the scandal, he was still doing everything in his power to earn her trust.
Kris Jenner had wild sex everywhere
Kris Jenner freely admits she cheated on her high school sweetheart with Robert Kardashian, and much later cheated on Kardashian himself. During a 2011 appearance on The Tonight Show, she claimed the latter affair is "probably the biggest regret in my life," chalking up all the extramarital sexiness to being "naive and stupid and restless." She also told late night host Jay Leno that she didn't quite realize marriage had ups and downs like a roller coaster: "You ride it out."
We don't know if she tells all, but she certainly tells a lot in her 2011 memoir Kris Jenner and All Things Kardashian (via Page Six). She claims she combated a midlife crisis at 30 by caving to every lusty whim with wanton abandon. In fact, she says she had "wild sex everywhere, all the time." Unfortunately, it sounds like most of this wild sex wasn't with her husband. Instead, Jenner claims she repeatedly hooked up with a producer named "Ryan," and Robert Kardashian once walked in on them while they were out at a restaurant having a romantic dinner. He allegedly filed for divorce shortly after.
To top it all off, we should mention this allegation from The Kardashians: An American Drama by Jerry Oppenheimer (via Page Six). Kardashian also allegedly caught Jenner with tennis player Todd Waterman three times, and apparently once even attacked Waterman's car with a golf club. Are these the sorts of scuffles you're just supposed to ride out?
Josh Duggar had some apologizing to do
After pro-adultery website Ashley Madison was hacked by a group calling itself "The Impact Team" in the summer of 2015, millions of scurrilously sexy internet dwellers were exposed. Inevitably, a few lower-tier celebrities wound up on the licentious list, including the likes of reality star Joel Taekman, Hunter Biden (son of former Vice President Joe Biden), and Josh Duggar, one of many stars featured on TLC's beleaguered 19 Kids and Counting franchise. The revelation came just three months after Duggar fessed up to allegedly sexually abusing his sisters as a youngster. Once it was discovered Duggar had two separate accounts on Ashley Madison, he quickly drafted another lengthy public statement and once again apologized to his wife Anna.
On a message posted to the Duggar's official website, Duggar wrote, "I have been the biggest hypocrite ever." He then detailed a "secret addiction" to pornography and admitted to being unfaithful in his marriage. "I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living," he wrote — although we imagine "double life" is a conservative estimate, at best. Obligatorily, he praised "Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him."
In a subsequent statement in 2016, Anna Duggar profusely thanked fans for helping her through "the most difficult year" of her life.
Jay-Z finally spilled about cheating on Bey
In April 2018, Jay-Z and Beyoncé celebrated surviving a full decade of marriage — and those ten years weren't altogether a picnic. The year before, in an unusually candid interview with The New York Times, Jay-Z admitted he'd been unfaithful to Beyoncé. The admission came after fans had obsessively dissected Beyoncé's 2016 opus Lemonade, noting that some lyrics appeared to allude to infidelity. (The song "Sorry," and its line about "Becky with the good hair," was particularly scrutinized.) Jay-Z attributed his behavior to emotionally shutting down in tough times and going into "survival mode." He also revealed he was going to therapy and doing his best to keep his life on track.
During his April 2018 appearance on David Letterman's Netflix show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction (via the Daily Beast), Jay-Z once again opened up about his marriage, discussing his infidelities in more intimate detail. After Letterman touched on the subject by invoking his own past indiscretions, Jay-Z responded, "I have a beautiful wife who's understanding and knew I'm not the worst of what I've done." Jay-Z added that he wants to have "the emotional tools that it takes to keep my family together."
Kevin Hart admitted to cheating on his pregnant wife
In July 2017, photos and videos landed in the quivering hands of the public that allegedly featured comedian Kevin Hart canoodling with a woman in Miami. Hart emphatically denied he'd cheated, telling Entertainment Tonight that "it's absolutely not true." Then, in September 2018, he posted an emotional video to Instagram, claiming he'd made a "bad error in judgement" and had unwittingly put himself "in a bad environment where only bad things can happen." In the vid, he profusely apologized to his pregnant wife, model Eniko Parrish, and to his kids. A rep told TMZ that Hart had been the victim of "a failed extortion attempt." By December 2018, he was finally admitting in no uncertain terms that, yes, he'd cheated.
Making an appearance on The Breakfast Club, a radio show on New York's Power 105.1, Hart called his actions "beyond irresponsible," describing the whole scandal as "Kevin Hart in his dumbest moment." He also pulled out a few tried-and-true cliches, admitting that it wasn't "the finest hour" of his life, and reminding listeners that "you make your bed, you lay in it." Next to your wife, presumably.
Jude Law cheated on Sienna Miller with his nanny
In 2005, the British tabloids had a field day reporting that Jude Law had slept with his nanny, Daisy Wright, while still very much engaged to actress Sienna Miller. In a statement written to the British Press Association (via People), Law acknowledged the affair, saying he was "deeply ashamed and upset that I've hurt Sienna and the people most close to us." After apologizing unreservedly for all the pain caused by the sexual peccadillo, he acknowledged there was absolutely "no defense" for his actions. Miller herself caustically alluded to the affair in 2006, saying, "My advice to single ladies is just that — stay single."
How did word of the affair get out in the first place? Well, Law's nanny reportedly sold her diary to a tabloid after losing her job. The tome intimately detailed her relationship with Law, including the time one of his children discovered her "in daddy's room, tucked up in his arms." In the aftermath of the scandal, Wright shared her feelings with the Daily Mail, saying she regretted ever talking to the tabloids (effectively telling a tabloid she regretted talking to tabloids).
"Doing that story looked so tacky," she admitted, "and it was portrayed as though it was just a fling." Maybe she should have put her diary through a second draft before submitting.
...and Balthazar Getty cheated with Sienna Miller
Maybe don't feel too badly for Sienna Miller. She allegedly cheated on Jude Law, too. According to the Express, she crisply acknowledged she was once "briefly involved" with actor Daniel Craig during a rocky period in her relationship with Law. Adding to the drama, she made this admission as part of the News of the World phone hacking trial.
As if that wasn't all messy enough, Miller was also allegedly caught having a sexual rendezvous with actor Balthazar Getty in 2008. In an interview with British GQ (via Us Weekly), she claimed it "probably looked awful," particularly since Getty was married to fashion designer Rosetta Millington, and the couple had four kids. The whole thing came to light when some persuasive photos started circulating in July 2008 that starred Miller — topless and sans stirrup leggings — kissing and cozying up to Getty in Italy. Miller assured British GQ she'd never been a "shagger," had "grown up a lot" since these indiscretions, and had "made apologies to people I needed to."
In 2016, Getty opened up about the tryst in an Evening Standard profile, saying the affair made his marriage to Millington "stronger." In fact, he gets rather lofty about it all, reminding us that "without going down, you can't rise again." Given the circumstances, his phrasing might be a tad uncouth.