Celebrity Cheaters Who Were Exposed On Social Media
Hollywood has no shortage of celebrity cheaters, probably far more than we even know or assume. Most of the time, we have the mainstream media to thank in instances where we have learned about a famous person's extra-marital indiscretion. It is not uncommon for a cheating scandal to be broken by Page Six, Daily Mail, or some other online tabloid, and these instances have only increased in the digital age. Be it through photographic evidence or leaked text messages, gossip sites and magazines revel in the ability to capture cheating firsthand. As a culture — and though it may not say great things about humanity — we have also come to relish in the downfall of a celebrity cheater. Cheating is not only a thing celebrities do, but our fascination with famous people lends to judging them for their errors. The rich and famous, they cheat just like us!
Though many people involved in a celebrity cheating scandal may want to keep it private, we have seen instances where affairs have been exposed by the parties involved, either because they talked to a mainstream publication or because they took their anger to social media. Sometimes it is the scorned spouse who speaks out, but even more common is the third party coming forward. In rare cases, it's the guilty party who posts about their cheating, most often under pressure of extortion (see: Kevin Hart). Here is a list of nine celebrities who were exposed for their cheating on social media.
Patrick Carney's alleged cheating nearly led to divorce
Patrick Carney is most commonly associated with The Black Keys, the Grammy-winning band for which he is the drummer. However, Carney is also a music producer who has worked with a number of artists, including his wife, Michelle Branch. Carney and Branch seemed to be both collaboratively well matched, as well as solid life partners (they married in 2019), until they were rocked by scandal in August 2022. The jury is still out on how things will end, but the details were not great — especially considering that the couple has two very young children. In a now-deleted Tweet, Branch accused Carney of cheating on her, mere months after giving birth to their second child (via Billboard).
The scandal became much bigger news because Branch was then charged with domestic assault after slapping Carney in the face. She very quickly filed for divorce, but the couple later called it off in hopes that they might be able to repair their marriage (via Page Six). The domestic assault charges were dismissed, per Page Six, and after that, Branch started touring to promoting her album, "The Trouble with Fever," which was produced by Carney.
"It was the worst night of my life. And then to have that out in the world as I'm getting ready to put out a record has been a lot, but all I can do is be honest about what I'm going through and what's going on," Branch said on the "Tamron Hall Show."
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Adam Levine couldn't stop sending flirty messages online
The 2022 celebrity cheating scandal that came out of the blue revolves around Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, who has become a punchline due to the exposure of his flirty direct messages. Tons of memes have come out, and Wired even published a whole article on why Levine's "cringe DMs" make for good meme fodder. Though the story is seemingly still evolving as of this writing, we know enough to say that Levine, at best, sent inappropriate messages to women online. At worst, he had a full-blown year-long affair — which honestly, does not surprise us given that he has spoken out against monogamy in the past.
The scandal began when influencer Sumner Stroh accused Levine of having a relationship with her. In September 2022, she shared alleged messages between them on Instagram that included lines like "It is unreal how f***ing hot you are. Like it blows my mind. You are 50 times hotter in person" (per Us Weekly). Another message had Levine asking to name his forthcoming baby "Sumner," which is even ickier than anything else (Levine's wife, Behati Prinsloo is pregnant with their third child).
Levine denied that a physical affair took place, while acknowledging that his messages were "inappropriate." This led to more women coming forward to #ExposeAdamLevine for his flirty messages, including a woman named Alyson Rose, a comedian named Maryka, a college student named Ashley Russell, and even his former yoga teacher Alanna Zabel.
Armie Hammer's disturbing behavior resulted in a documentary series
Major trigger warning here because - you know, the violence, rape, and cannibalism. And if you don't know, we assume you have been living under a rock in some remote location since 2021, because Armie Hammer's name has been everywhere. In January 2021, an Instagram account called "House of Effie" began releasing messages from Hammer that detailed a number of his sexual activities and desires. Effie claimed that she had been in a relationship with Hammer for four years, while he was married, and that they had engaged in extreme BDSM activities and conversations that go beyond anything we can share here (via Complex). Hammer and his wife Elizabeth Chambers separated in 2020, before the scandal, though they are still not officially divorced, per Us Weekly.
Effie began posting more and more messages — some directed at her, some to other women — with Hammer saying things like he wanted to have a slave, cut off a woman's toe and keep it in his pocket, and hold a human heart in his hands (it only gets worse from there). Some of Hammer's exes came forward to detail other troubling behavior, including Courtney Vucekovich's claim that he wanted to "barbecue ... and eat" her rib (via Daily Mail).
Vanity Fair published a huge expose on Hammer, Discovery+ aired a three-part documentary, and Hammer was rumored to have been selling timeshares in the Cayman Islands after the downfall of his career, as detailed by Variety. Despite the allegations, as of this writing, no rape charges have been filed.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Cheating isn't the only drama that's plagued Tom Girardi
If you are a fan of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," chances are that you are sick and tired of discussing Tom Girardi and his estranged wife Erika Girardi (aka Erika Jayne). Their scandal has, after all, dominated multiple seasons of "RHOBH" and taken over Page Six for years now. In the grand scheme of things, infidelity ranks low on the list of Tom's toxic actions, given the financial crimes he allegedly committed, which included stealing money meant for orphans and widows (via Los Angeles Times). Still, the cheating part of it was rather titillating, even if it appeared to be Erika's way of distracting us from the rest of the mess.
Tom and Erika married in 1999, after meeting when she was his regular waitress at Los Angeles' Chasen's restaurant, per Women's Health. Many have speculated that Erika only left the marriage in November 2020 due to Tom's myriad of lawsuits — many of which name her, as well — though she has blamed it on other factors such as his mental decline, his attitude, and an affair he had. In December 2020, Erika posted text messages on her Instagram that seemed to point to an affair between Tom and a judge, Justice Tricia A. Bigelow (who Erika named in the post!). She deleted the post, which alleged that Tom not only had an affair but that he also paid for Bigelow's clothing and plastic surgery — but only after screenshots were already widely taken (via Us Weekly).
Anthony Weiner's multiple scandals resulted in a prison sentence
Anthony Weiner has found himself in all sorts of trouble over the last handful of years, which has included a year and half in prison for sending explicit pictures of himself to an underaged person. But let's back up to the beginning, shall we? Before his scandal(s), Weiner was a Democratic congressman from New York with a seemingly bright future and a healthy marriage to Hillary Rodham Clinton's aide Huma Abedin. Then, in May 2011, he accidentally posted a half-naked, extremely sexual photo of himself to Twitter (per CNN). While he initially denied the photo was him, he eventually confessed to having posted the photo, and to having engaged in sexual chats with multiple women.
Weiner resigned when more explicit photos were released in June 2011, but his pregnant wife stayed by his side. Then, for some reason, he decided to run for New York City mayor in 2013, prompting Sydney Leathers to come forward with more explicit conversations that happened after Weiner had gone to "treatment" for his online sex compulsion, per the New York Post. Still, Abedin stood by her man — until yet another scandal in August 2016, where Weiner was once again caught in his same pattern (per CNN).
One year later, he received his 21-month sentence for sexting with a minor, but was released in early 2019 after serving 18 months, followed by three months in a halfway house (via The New York Times). Weiner's now ex-wife Abedin is reportedly dating actor Bradley Cooper, as revealed by The Herald Sun.
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Crystal Renay was 'so sick' of Ne-Yo's cheating
The Ne-Yo cheating scandal first came to the public's attention in July 2022, when his wife went on Instagram to accuse him of infidelity. "8 years of lies and deception. 8 years of unknowingly sharing my life and husband with numerous of women who sell their bodies to him unprotected... every last one of them!," wrote Crystal Renay in an Instagram story captured by Page Six. Her statement went on to call Ne-Yo a narcissist, but then she also said she wished him "nothing but the best," which seems like somewhat of a lie. The best probably was not exposing him on Instagram, at least for the sake of their three shared children. Then again, it is hard to blame her for such a reaction.
A couple of days later, on August 1, we got more information when Renay officially filed for divorce. She not only claimed that Ne-Yo cheated on her, but she also alleged that he "recently fathered a minor child with his paramour" (via Us Weekly). It sounds devastating, but in Hollywood, nothing shocks us. After all, this is certainly not the first time that a married celebrity has fathered a child whilst married to someone else. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rev. Jesse Jackson both had secret love children, for example.
In September 2022, Radar Online reported Ne-Yo was attempting to have his wife silenced by court order, alleging that she had cost him work with her Instagram post.
Randall Emmett's cheating was 'repeated behavior'
Randall Emmett has always seemed like a skeevy guy as far as we are concerned, and not even "Vanderpump Rules" could convince us otherwise. He was introduced to us as "VPR" star Lala Kent's boyfriend, but the two met in 2015, when he was still technically married to actor Ambyr Childers. Though Kent maintains she only started seeing Emmett after his marital separation, Childers has in the past called her a "mistress," as have some of her "VPR" castmates. "I knew Lala when she was seeing Randall, as a mistress, and it seemed like history was repeating itself," said Raquel Leviss on the "VPR" Season 9 reunion. Leviss was, of course, responding to allegations that Emmett cheated on Kent, much like he did Childers.
Emmett's cheating was first alluded to by Kent in November 2021, when she posted to her Instagram stories shortly after texts were leaked between Emmett and other women. "What's done in the dark, always comes to the light," she wrote at the time (per Radar Online). The couple — who had a daughter, Ocean, in March 2021 — broke up in late 2021 after the infidelities surfaced, but Kent has continued to talk about Emmett, both with savage social media shade and in interviews.
"This has been going on for quite some time," Kent said on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen" in January 2022. "It's been kind of repeated behavior that I have found out about. And it's not just one person, it's many."
Nick Kyrgios' girlfriend leaked photos of her beau with another woman
How could we possibly have a list like this without at least one athlete? Athletes are, after all, notoriously likely to step out on their marriages. But most of the time when athletes get caught cheating, it is because they ended up in the gossip mags, either due to a skilled paparazzi or a third party trying to sell their story. Rarer is the athlete whose initial exposure comes out on social media, but Nick Kyrgios is one such sports star — and there were even police involved.
Kyrgios is a notable Australian tennis player who is, as of this writing, ranked number 20 in the world in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for men's singles tennis. His personal life imploded in October 2021 when his then-girlfriend Chiara Passari exposed him as a cheater on her Instagram. "The girl naked in bed with him isn't me by the way. Hope that clears it up," she wrote alongside a picture of Kyrgios and a naked woman (captured by The US Sun). Per the New York Post, police had to be called due to the argument that occurred after the accusation, and the couple had to be separated.
Colt Johnson bounced back after his cheating scandal
We may be stretching the term "celebrity" with this one, but there is no denying that reality television stars are now notable enough that they qualify as at least D-listers. And no matter what you want to call him, "90 Day Fiancé" star Colt Johnson is a public figure now, with hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers. Johnson first rose to fame in 2018 when he appeared on "90 Day" alongside his future wife Larissa Dos Santos Lima, who famously called him "Colt-ee" and seemed to loathe everything about him. He has since gone on to appear on eight other iterations of the show, from "90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?" to "90 Day: The Single Life."
Per Us Weekly, Johnson and Dos Santos Lima got married in the summer of 2018, but the marriage lasted only six months before Johnson filed for divorce. The catalyst for the divorce was likely the cheating scandal that played out on Instagram. In December 2018, Dos Santos Lima posted screenshots from Johnson's alleged mistress. "Colt is cheating [on] me with this girl!" she wrote on one of the pictures, while also alleging he was using her to stay on TV (via E! Online). For reasons that remain unclear, Johnson has had no trouble with the ladies and he is now married to Vanessa Guerra, another woman featured alongside him on "90 Day Fiancé." There was a third woman he dated while on the show, but Johnson cheated on her with Guerra, per In Touch Weekly.