Celeb Couples You Totally Forgot About
While A-list status may secure one's place in the pop culture archives, the same cannot be said for celebrity relationships. From the short-lived to the long-lasting, no romance is safe from the powerful effects of time. But some love affairs should be remembered — whether it's because the stars seemed meant to be or because they were a seriously strange match. Read on to learn all about the high-profile pairings that got lost in the history books.
Cameron Diaz and Matt Dillon
Before she tied the knot with Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden, Cameron Diaz strutted around Hollywood with Matt Dillon in the late 1990s. According to CBS News, Diaz and Dillon, who starred together in the 1998 comedy There's Something About Mary, dated for three long years before calling it quits.
Speaking to Parade magazine in 2006, Dillon revealed that his romance with Diaz made a lasting impact on him. "I fell in love," Dillon said (via CBS News). "It's a very powerful thing when you feel that way about somebody." He added, "Cameron was a muse for me. I hadn't been in any deep emotional relationships."
But Dillon and Diaz just weren't meant to be. Since their split, he has largely kept his relationships out of the spotlight. Diaz, however, went on to date some high-profile names, including Justin Timberlake and Jared Leto (via The Huffington Post).
Josh Groban and January Jones
The "You Raise Me Up" singer and the Last Man on Earth actress may run in different circles, but somehow, these two found their way into one another's arms in the early 2000s.
In a 2013 interview with Details, Josh Groban opened up about their romance. "We dated for about two and a half years, and we were madly in love," he said (via the Daily Mail). "It was definitely my longest relationship."
The duo broke up in June 2006. Perhaps because this love affair was before Jones became a household name as Betty Draper in Mad Men, their long-term relationship has been all but forgotten.
Sarah Jessica Parker and Robert Downey Jr.
In the 1980s, actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Robert Downey Jr. were a celeb couple to watch. The two stars, who met on the set of the 1984 thriller Firstborn, were together for the better part of a decade (via People). Alas, they just couldn't make things work, primarily due to his battle with substance abuse. They called the whole thing off in 1991.
"I liked to drink, and I had a drug problem, and that didn't jibe with Sarah Jessica, because it is the furthest thing from what she is," Downey Jr. explained in an interview with Parade magazine in 2008 (via The Huffington Post). "She provided me a home and understanding. She tried to help me. She was so miffed when I didn't get my act together."
These days, Downey Jr. very much has his act together as the incomparable Iron Man in the Avengers franchise. He wed producer Susan Levin in 2005; Parker married actor Matthew Broderick in 1997. Downey Jr. and Parker have since reconciled, reuniting as friends decades after their big breakup.
Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland
Actress Julia Roberts gained some real-life experience years before she starred in the 1999 rom com Runaway Bride. After meeting Kiefer Sutherland on the set of their 1990 movie Flatliners, the two started dating and got engaged, but just days their would-be wedding, Roberts reportedly dumped Sutherland for reasons that remain murky (via People).
"It was Julia who called the wedding off," a source told the magazine. "She has wanted to do it for some time but didn't know if she could find the courage."
While Sutherland likely suffered some serious heartbreak after Roberts left him, he later admitted that it was probably for the best. "She was arguably the most famous woman in the world and this wedding that was supposed to be something between the two of us became something so big," he told Entertainment Weekly (via The Huffington Post). "And then in the middle of that I think she had the courage ― it wasn't what she wanted to do in the end. And I think it took a lot of courage, in amongst all that other stuff, to be able to say, 'I can't do this.' And I'm gonna leave it at that."
Sounds like these two just weren't meant to be.
Tara Reid and Carson Daly
Long before he hosted The Voice, Carson Daly was the face of MTV's Total Request Live. During that time, he met and fell in love with the actress of the moment, American Pie's Tara Reid. The two young stars soon got engaged and planned their walk down the aisle. However, the couple split in 2001 before walking down the aisle (via ABC News).
More than a decade later, when asked about his engagement to Reid, Daly told Elle magazine, "To some extent, I dodged a bullet. I was getting serious about my career, and she wanted to shoot movies and just party in her time off. That didn't work for me."
The breakup reportedly took a toll on Reid. "I lost my appetite — I was numb," she told CosmoGirl (via People). "I literally thought I couldn't breathe ... Every restaurant, every food, every song reminded me of him." Yikes.
Fortunately, these two have both moved on, and they've left their relationship in the past where it belongs.
Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise
Before his headline-making marriage to Dawson's Creek alum Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise tied the knot with Australian beauty Nicole Kidman. Though Cruise didn't jump on any couches to express his admiration for the actress, he did appear genuinely in love with Kidman. They reportedly met as co-stars in 1990's Days of Thunder and went on to star together in Far and Away and Eyes Wide Shut.
Cruise and Kidman adopted two children together, son Connor and daughter Isabella, but in February 2001, citing "irreconcilable differences," the star couple filed for divorce. Kidman later told The Evening Standard, "I was a baby when I married Tom, but I don't regret any of it."
Katy Perry and Travie McCoy
In the days of iPod nanos and MySpace, before pop star Katy Perry made it big with her breakout single "I Kissed a Girl," she snagged herself a musician boyfriend in the form of Gym Class Heroes rapper Travie McCoy. Perry started dating McCoy in 2006 and appears as his love interest in his video for "Cupid's Chokehold." These two were apparently deeply in love.
According to People, McCoy gave Perry a diamond promise ring before they headed out on the Warped Tour together. He even got a ring for himself — a silver band featuring his then-girlfriend's name on it. But months after he made Perry that promise, the couple called it quits.
In a 2012 Behind the Music special, McCoy elaborated on their breakup, stating, "I chose drugs over our relationship" (via PopSugar). "As things started taking off for her, the more I started to doubt my role in her life. There were times I felt like a stepping ladder."
Perry later released the song "Circle the Drain," allegedly about her relationship with McCoy and his substance abuse (via Entertainment Weekly).
Brad Pitt and Juliette Lewis
It's hard to remember a time when Brad Pitt wasn't immediately associated with either Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie, but during the early '90s, he was the beau of another top actress — Juliette Lewis.
Fresh from her breakout role in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Lewis, who was just 17 years old at the time, started dating Pitt, who is about 10 years her senior (via The Huffington Post). The two stayed together for a few years, filming the crime thriller Kalifornia before breaking up in 1993. That's really too bad, considering Lewis once called Pitt "my mate for life," according to People.
"It amazes me that people are still fascinated that we went out for four years," Lewis told the Daily Mail in 2010. "I was a teenager at the time. It's a lifetime away. I was in my high-school years and it was a wonderful, loving relationship with a fun, smart guy. Then it was over and he went on to become incredibly famous."
Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere
On the brink of supermodel stardom, Cindy Crawford started dating Pretty Woman's Richard Gere in the early 1990s, and they wed four years later. Alas, their romance soured when it became apparent that their 17-year age difference was getting in the way.
"I just think your twenties, for women, is such a time when you're starting to come into your own and feel your own power and connect to your inner strength, and it's hard to do that — it's hard to change — in a relationship, because what one person might have signed up for, all of a sudden, you're not that anymore," Crawford explained in a 2013 episode of Oprah's Master Class (via Us Weekly). "I think I was more willing at 22 to be, like, 'Okay, I'll follow,' but then you start going, 'Well, I don't want to just follow — I want to lead sometimes and I want to walk side by side sometimes.'"
Crawford and Gere called it quits in 1995.
Courteney Cox and Michael Keaton
During her run on the ultra-successful sitcom Friends, Courteney Cox spent her days away from set getting hot and heavy with movie star Michael Keaton. The Hollywood icons dated for more than five years before going their separate ways in 1995. Unlike a lot of other celeb couples, Cox and Keaton remained on good terms following their split.
"It's the most important relationship I've ever had, and I think he's the most wonderful person I've ever met," Cox told People magazine months after their breakup. "We still love each other."
Penelope Cruz and Tom Cruise
After his failed marriage to Kidman, Tom Cruise tried his luck at love again with actress Penélope Cruz. The pair was introduced on the set of the 2001 film Vanilla Sky, but they wouldn't start dating until sometime later, as Cruise was still married to Kidman at the time.
Cruise and Cruz made their public debut as a couple at the red carpet premiere of his film Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Recalling her big date with Cruise (via ABC News), Cruz said, "It was special for me that he wanted to share it with me that way."
These two dated for three years before breaking up in 2004. "The relationship just ran its course and they decided not to be girlfriend and boyfriend anymore," a source told People. "Through most of the relationship they were both shooting movies in separate parts of the world."
That's too bad, if only because Cruz and Cruise was just too much fun in the world of celebrity couple names.
Macaulay Culkin and Mila Kunis
No one expected to see That '70s Show star Mila Kunis cozying up to Home Alone child star Macaulay Culkin, but that's just what happened in the 2000s. The two stuck together for about eight years before going their separate ways, according to Page Six.
Though Kunis and Culkin dated for nearly a decade, the Black Swan actress apparently never thought about marriage. "Not to say that I don't believe in it, but it's just not something that's important to me," she told BlackBook in 2009 (via the Daily Mail).
Kunis' marriage to That '70s Show co-star Ashton Kutcher has since overshadowed her past love with Culkin. But oh ... what could have been.