The Moment These Stars Knew Their Marriages Were Over
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Relationships in Tinseltown have taken different shapes and forms over the years. Couples like Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell have been together without walking down the aisle, we've had pop stars like Cher recording the entertainment industry's shortest marriages, and a number of lovebirds — no one's mentioning Khloé Kardashian and Tristan Thompson — are on, then off again, or possibly co-parenting harmoniously.
A handful of celebrities have seemingly found the sweet spot that makes a love last a lifetime. In the eyes of "Sex and the City" sensation Sarah Jessica Parker, who's been hitched to Matthew Broderick since 1997, it trickles down to privacy. "The secret is, we don't discuss it. To reporters or anybody else. That's it!" Parker revealed to HuffPost in 2014. "We don't hold it up as an example and we don't air our dirty laundry."
In the sad event that a union does come to an end, there are stars who have a recollection of the timeframe or exact moment they knew a permanent split from their significant other was inevitable.
Gwyneth Paltrow was celebrating her birthday in Italy
On a birthday vacation in central Italy, Gwyneth Paltrow began her journey of detaching from Coldplay lead Chris Martin. Although the then-38-year-old Paltrow couldn't place the exact time it happened, somewhere between holding hands, lengthy open-air stretches and staying indoors, she knew it was time to call it a day. "What I do remember is that it felt almost involuntary. Like the ring of a bell that has sounded and cannot be undone. The inadvertent release of a helium balloon into the sky," Paltrow disclosed in a Vogue write-up. Three years afterward, in 2014, Paltrow and Martin's separation was announced on the Goop website. It brought attention to the term "Conscious Uncoupling," which was explained. They became formally divorced in 2016.
Although the pair hasn't been linked on a romantic front since — Paltrow is married to "Glee" co-creator Brad Falchuk while Martin has a long-term relationship with "50 Shades of Gray" star Dakota Johnson — they co-parent cordially. Healthy parenting is at the heart of uncoupling consciously, as Paltrow shared with Glamour. "Well, if you have children together, number one is a dedication to what's best for the kids. We put a lot of thought into how to do it so that the damage would be minimized," she said.
Tia Mowry made her happiness a priority
A little after 14 years of marriage to "Brotherly Love" actor Cory Hardrict, Tia Mowry announced that they'd called it quits in October 2022. In the statement she put out on Instagram, Mowry cited that the decision wasn't an effortless one to make, and their priority going forward was on the wellness of their two children. So, what exactly made the "Sister, Sister" actor leave?
According to a conversation she had with "Today," she began to pivot by finding her happy place. "I knew when I really started to focus on my happiness," Mowry said. "I feel like, women, we tend to focus on everybody else's happiness, making sure that everybody else is okay, meaning our children, our friends, our family, but at the end of the day, it's about self-love."
Mowry further held firm that she wanted to set an example for her children in a chat with Hello Beautiful. It was a way for her to pursue what she knew was true and joyful, without the weight of others' expectations. Nearly seven months after her announcement, it was reported that Mowry and Hardrict's divorce was official.
Mary J. Blige's union had run out of respect
Singer Mary J. Blige and record producer Kendu Isaacs said "I do" in a low-key 50-guest New Jersey ceremony in 2003. After being married for thirteen years, Blige and Isaacs split up, reportedly citing irreconcilable differences as the cause of their drift. There was no love lost between the couple. Blige's 2016 BET performance elicited an infuriated response from Isaacs, who partly wrote in a since-deleted post on Instagram, "I love you to death Mary J. Blige, I can't even begin to understand why you are going about this the way you have been." Although Isaacs threatened a tell-all reveal, his side of the story largely remains in the shadows.
Blige's decision to end the marriage was because their regard for each other — at least on Isaacs' part — had withered. "The breaking point was when I kept asking over and over and over again for respect," she revealed in an interview with "Good Morning America." "It just seems like I was beating a dead horse and it seems like I was talking to a wall."
As the bigger earner in the relationship, Blige was ordered to pay spousal support since the couple had no prenuptial agreement in place when they initially said their vows.
Johnny Depp made the call after his mother's passing
Long before Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's trial shook the world, the ex-lovers, who first crossed paths on the set of 2011's "The Rum Diary," were smitten with each other. "She was in my head, so I tracked her down," Depp gave away at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2016, per People. Heard likened their romance to a fairytale when she took the stand in 2022, adding that it was a covert rendezvous initiated after the separation of Depp from his long-term partner, Vanessa Paradis.
Depp's fallout with Heard has played out in the full glare of the cameras over the years, but the moment he comprehended that they had to cut ties was deeply personal, per the Independent. As Depp told the court, his mother Betty Sue Palmer died in 2016. After the loss, he made a phone call to inform Heard of a looming divorce.
"I'm not going to cite any violence," He had told Heard. "I'm going to state this: we simply, the two of us, we simply don't want to feel as though we have a collar around each other's neck and a leash attached to it, and then this piece of paper that proves that that's true."
Jeannie Mai was certain within the first year
Former "How Do I Look" host Jeannie Mai had a hunch that her divorce from Freddy Harteis was long coming very early in their marriage. Speaking to her fellow "The Real" co-hosts in 2018, Mai said, "I knew a year in." Her admission begged the question, why did she stay for nine more years? "As a woman — and I'm proud of this trait that I have — I'm loyal as f***," Mai explained in her defense. "I really am. And when I say I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna do it ... so you gotta try."
Try she did, until the wheels fell off and she moved on with rapper Jay Wayne Jenkins, popularly known by his stage name, Young Jeezy. The pair became Instagram official in September 2019. Mai and Jeezy tied the knot at their Atlanta home in March 2021 after altering a destination wedding in Europe in line with COVID-19 rules. The modest ceremony was in the presence of their tight-knit circle.
Less than a year after they said I do, the couple welcomed their baby, Monaco, whose birth Mai announced on Instagram with the caption, "I asked God for a life of love and happiness. He sent me my family. Baby Jenkins is here."
Adele confided to a friend that she was unhappy
On Adele Adkins' television special "Adele One Night Only" hosted by Oprah Winfrey, the British singer expressed that her lifelong desire had been to have a family unit since she never had one growing up. Adele and her ex-husband Simon Konecki had their son Angelo in 2012 and walked down the aisle secretly. It wasn't until the "Hello" hitmaker's 2017 Grammy acceptance speech that the public got wind of her marital status. In April 2019, Adele's camp revealed that the pair was headed for divorce in a short statement to AP, which mentioned that their focus was on co-parenting amicably.
Adele's conversation with Winfrey brought to light the fact that she appeared to have a perfect life on the outside, but was undoubtedly struggling. The option to leave wasn't on the table until she involved confidants. "I do remember one of my friends, we were answering these questions in this very boujee magazine," Adele shared. "And it was something like, 'What's something that no one will ever know about you?' And I just said it in front of three of my friends. I was like, 'I'm really not happy. I'm not living. I'm just plodding along.'"
Whitney Houston was troubled by Bobby Brown's infidelity
In October 2006, the late cultural icon Whitney Houston put an end to her 14-year-marriage to Bobby Brown of the New Edition fame. According to a source close to the couple at the time, Bobby and Houston had a turbulent union full of altercations, both trivial and massive. Houston's reason for divorce came to light when she appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." The subtle signs of Bobby's infidelity got to her, she said. "I just knew. I was like, 'You don't smell right. You don't look right. Something's going on.'" Houston told the media mogul. "And then all this other stuff started coming out about him being with this one or that one or being too promiscuous. Dragging dirt into my home."
On the flip side, Bobby wanted to end things due to the impact that their drug use had on their late daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown. In his 2016 memoir "Every Little Step: My Story," he acknowledged that it was nearly impossible for them to be clear-headed around their only child. "How much quality time can you spend with your daughter when you're high all the time? I would get really mad at Whitney, scream and yell that I wanted a divorce," he wrote (via People). "This went on for years and years. Our daughter saw it all. When I think about it now, I just feel enormous pain. We failed her."
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
Kim Kardashian happened to be on honeymoon
Kim Kardashian got married to former Atlanta Hawks power forward Kris Humphries out of the fear of turning thirty as a single girl. Safe to say, the "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" star strongly felt that they wouldn't be a match in the long-term. "I think, like, a lot of girls do go through that, where they freak out thinking they're getting old and they have to figure it out and all their friends are having kids," she divulged on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen." "But I knew [at the] honeymoon it wasn't gonna work out."
Shortly after Humphries and Kardashian became husband and wife in a grand August 2011 wedding that was a two part E! special event, the latter filed for divorce. Their now infamous 72-day union took a toll on Humphries, who'd only wanted to make a name for himself as a basketball player. "When it was clear that it wasn't working ...what can I say? It sucked. It's never easy to go through the embarrassment of something like that — with your friends, with your family.... But when it plays out so publicly, in front of the world, it's a whole other level. It was brutal," he wrote in an essay for The Players' Tribune.
Pamela Anderson figured it out after her wedding
At the time "Baywatch" star Pamela Anderson was sealing her periodic relationship with Kid Rock in 2006, her search for "the one" had been hanging by a thread. Anderson took to her website to reveal that the long wait had come to a halt. "I've raised my kids alone in hope of a miracle," she wrote, per CBS. "Well my miracle came and went. And came back and back because he knew that I'd wake up one day and realize that I was waiting for nothing." Anderson was likely referring to her short-lived one-year engagement to Kid Rock which ended in 2003.
Her celebration might have come too soon, since it didn't take long before she knew they were headed for the dumps. Anderson fathomed she'd taken the plunge too fast right after their wedding. "I just feel like I just jumped into something because Tommy [Lee] and I did and we had this incredible connection," she gave away on "The Howard Stern Show." "But then you jump into something and it's like, 'Oh! It's not this incredible connection.' It's this... just something else." Although Anderson hoped she'd make it work, loosening the ties they had over minor disagreements culminated in a split after four months.
Gabrielle Union saw 'the first of a list of many ignored red flags'
In her memoir "We're Going to Need More Wine: Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and True," actor Gabrielle Union disclosed that the beginning of her five-year marriage to ex-NFL running back Chris Howard was an indication of its end. Union had supposedly not paid attention to a number of writings on the wall, including an unpolished proposal which was "the first of a list of many ignored red flags."
"'I spent the whole day at the spa and when I got back to [Howard's] house, there was a rose petal path from the front door to the bedroom," Union chronicled. "At the end was Chris, down on one knee. He had a bucket of KFC on the floor, and he was eating KFC potato wedges with one hand while holding a ring in the other."
Barely 24 hours had gone by before the couple was butting heads over Howard's infidelity. According to Union's account on Vice, a friend of Howard's accidentally ousted his involvement with a third party. Still, Union stayed put. More allegations of infidelity on both sides (including Union's admitted entitlement to cheating because she brought the bacon home) emerged. And in 2005, the duo called it a day.
Kris Jenner began an affair
Toward the very end of Kris Jenner's marriage to Robert Kardashian, the "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" momager was involved in a clandestine affair that she subsequently didn't put much effort to hide. In her memoir, "All Things Kardashian," Jenner revealed that her mannerisms changed as the illicit love, brewed with a man she called Ryan, hit its threshold.
"I wasn't willing to get help because I was having too much fun," she wrote. "Robert wasn't the only one I lied to. My girlfriends had always known where I was and where to find me. So when I began disappearing and had lost fifteen pounds and started tanning and getting bikini waxes every other day, they knew something was up."
That the pair was headed for divorce wasn't rocket science. Ryan became a frequent guest in the Kardashian household, disguised as a tennis player. It got worse, such that Kardashian trailed Jenner and her lover at an eatery. After frequent run-ins, spanning over the course of three months, Jenner was served with divorce papers. "Now that I had connected emotionally and physically with someone else, I had checked out of the marriage, and on some level [Robert] knew it," she declared.
Will Smith connected more with Jada than his first wife
The start of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith's relationship was quite a trip, as the couple narrated on an episode of "Red Table Talk" dubbed "Becoming Mr. & Mrs. Smith." Upon spotting Jada at an audition, the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" actor was set to meet her on the set of "A Different World." Will and his first wife, Sheree Zampino, wound up together instead.
While he was still married, Will went on a night out with Jada and his friends, after which he was doubtful about his choice of a partner. The chemistry he had with Jada was indisputable, but no boundaries were crossed. "The next night, me and Sheree went to dinner," Will detailed to Jada, adding, "And I sat down with Sheree and it was one of the most bizarre emotions I ever had after we had that talk. And we were at The Palm. And I remember I had to get up from dinner when I had a realization that I wasn't with the person I was supposed to be with."
Despite the troubling discovery, Will was never the kind of person that pulls the plug. If anything, the "Gemini Man" star would have kept it going for as long as it lasted. Zampino, on the other hand, didn't possess his level of tolerance. She served him with divorce papers on Valentine's Day.
Jennifer Lopez was at a photoshoot
In 2004, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony got married in a hush-hush ceremony conducted at Lopez's residence. Seven years afterward, Anthony and Lopez's separation was made public through a joint statement. The sad news came a couple of months after Lopez had been named the world's most beautiful woman, and was flying high as a newly appointed "American Idol" judge.
Lopez reflected on the moment she knew things between her and Anthony were irreparable in her memoir, "True Love." The singer-cum-actor, who was at a desert photoshoot, wrote, "I couldn't admit that this marriage was over. But in the end, the truth finds a way to surface, even if you don't want it to. That day in the desert, with my brain going wild trying to deny reality, I had finally hit rock bottom."
A tear-filled Lopez turned to the loving arms of her mother. And as she shared on "The Meredith Vieira Show," it was as if a heavy burden had been lifted off her shoulders. More than a year after Anthony filed for divorce, Lopez issued a response. In June 2014, reports indicated that Lopez and Anthony were legally divorced.
Mariah Carey was threatened with a butter knife
"We Belong Together" singer Mariah Carey and music mogul Tommy Mottola first met on a professional front before anything romantic happened. Mottola was pivotal in Carey's triumph as an artist, but when things got personal, he became overly infatuated. In his memoir, "Hitmaker: The Man and His Music," Mottola asked for forgiveness over his behavior at the time, writing, "If it seemed like I was controlling, let me apologize again. Was I obsessive? Yes. But that was also part of the reason for her success."
The five-time Grammy Award winner's autobiography, "The Meaning of Mariah Carey" recounted what was the last straw, a fit of anger over Carey and a female rapper's quick lunch at Burger King. "Tommy walked over and picked up the butter knife from the place setting in front of me. He pressed the flat side of it against my right cheek. Every muscle in my face clenched," Carey wrote. "That was his last show with me as the captive audience at Sing Sing [Carey and Mottola's residence]." Carey had already begun another relationship with baseball executive Derek Jeter, who fastened her exit for good.
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