Movie Couples That Actually Happened In Real Life
If you're getting paid to hook up with someone hot, you may be tempted to work overtime. These couples' real-life relationships were even steamier than their on-screen romances.
Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford
When Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher filmed Star Wars, Han Solo and Princess Leia hooked up behind the scenes, too.
In excerpts of Fisher's book The Princess Diarist, obtained by Radar Online, Fisher reveals that she and Ford had an "intense" romance when she was 19 and he was a 34-year-old married father of two.
The actress claims that Ford offered to drive her home when she was "wine sodden," and they ended up in bed together. It wasn't a great experience for either of them: she says he called her a "bad kisser," and she writes that he wasn't exactly out of this world himself, but that she gave him a pass because "he really was handsome." She fell hard for Ford and wrote that she tried "relentlessly" to make him love her to no avail. Unfortunately for Fisher, Ford went home to wife Mary Marquardt, though they divorced in 1979. Fisher claims the breakup was "for reasons that having nothing whatsoever to do with me."
Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth
Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth played lovers in The Last Song (2010). They began their roller coaster relationship while filming and have been breaking up and making up ever since. At the time of this writing, they were back together and possibly engaged for the second time.
Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson
Twilight (2008) co-stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson had a tumultuous relationship off screen that was as captivating as their movie franchise. The couple, who starred as Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen, got bit by the love bug in 2009 after Stewart split from actor Michael Angarano. The supernatural paramours kept their real-life romance under wraps for years, neither confirming nor denying the rumors.
The relationship finally went public in 2012 in the worst way possible: Us Weekly published photos of Stewart allegedly cheating on Pattinson with her married Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) director, Rupert Sanders. During the fallout, Stewart issued a remorseful statement: "I'm deeply sorry for the hurt and embarrassment I've caused to those close to me and everyone this has affected," she said. "This momentary indiscretion has jeopardized the most important thing in my life, the person I love and respect the most, Rob. I love him, I love him, I'm so sorry."
Unfortunately, neither Sanders' marriage nor "Robsten's" relationship survived the scandal.
Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams
Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams were one of the most romantic couples ever in The Notebook (2004). Though they reportedly didn't get along well during filming, they soon after kindled a love that became the stuff of Hollywood legends from 2005 to 2007.
"I mean, God bless The Notebook," Gosling told GQ magazine in 2007. "It introduced me to one of the great loves of my life. But people do Rachel and me a disservice by assuming we were anything like the people in that movie. Rachel and my love story is a hell of a lot more romantic than that." Speaking about their breakup, Gosling said, "The only thing I remember is we both went down swingin' and we called it a draw."
Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling play a couple with a child out of wedlock in The Place Beyond the Pines (2012). This is a case of life imitating art. The pair began dating and now have two daughters, but still no wedding bands. In December 2015, he told Hello! magazine, "I know that I'm with the person I'm supposed to be with," adding that the only quality he looks for in a woman is "that she's Eva Mendes. There's nothing else I'm looking for."
Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner
"Taylor Squared" dated while filming Valentine's Day (2010). They played a jock and a cheerleader who couldn't keep their hands off each other. In 2016, Lautner jokingly referred to his former flame in his very first Instagram video, offering Swift's number to comedian David Spade as a bribe.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt infamously met on the set of Mr. And Mrs. Smith (2005) when he was still married to Jennifer Aniston. While both Pitt and Jolie denied anything untoward happened behind Aniston's back, Jolie told Vogue (via People), "Because of the film, we ended up being brought together to do all these crazy things, and I think we found this strange friendship and partnership that kind of just suddenly happened...We just became kind of a pair."
The powerful pair has been together ever since, building a family of six children and eventually marrying in 2014. They reunited on screen as co-stars in By the Sea, a heavy drama about a struggling married couple that was written and directed by Jolie. "It's not autobiographical," Jolie told Vogue. "Brad and I have our issues, but if the characters' were even remotely close to our problems we couldn't have made the film."
Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow
Before Jolie and Aniston, Pitt was engaged to Se7en (1995) co-star Gwyneth Paltrow, who played his wife in the mystery thriller. Paltrow reportedly broke Pitt's handsome heart in 1997. She later told radio talk show host Howard Stern (via Vanity Fair), "I definitely fell in love with him. He was so gorgeous and sweet. I mean, he was Brad Pitt." Paltrow said her parents were devastated when they split. "My father loved him like a son," she said, "But I was such a kid. I was 22 when we met...I wasn't ready, and he was too good for me."
Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck
Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck co-starred in Shakespeare in Love (1998), and then they reportedly fell in love while playing an item in Bounce (2000). The real-life romance crashed soon after the movie's release. Years later, Paltrow dished about their breakup to shock jock Howard Stern (via People). Affleck is "super intelligent and really, really talented and he's funny," she said, "but he wasn't in a good place in his life to have a girlfriend."
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez and Affleck met on the set of Gigli (2003), but unfortunately for the film, audiences were much more interested in their off-screen romance than their on-screen action. Perhaps that's because their authentic relationship made more sense than the faux one. In the film, Lopez plays a lesbian, yet her character hooks up with Affleck's hitman character anyway.
The co-stars got engaged in real life, but broke it off shortly before their scheduled wedding in September 2003. In a joint statement, the original "Bennifer" blamed "excessive media attention" for the cancellation. "When we found ourselves seriously contemplating hiring three separate 'decoy brides' at three different locations, we realized that something was awry."
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner
Affleck quickly moved on from one Jennifer to another. He worked with Jennifer Garner on the set of Pearl Harbor in 2001, and then again in Daredevil (2003). He played the superhero, and she played his violent love interest, Elektra Natchios. The super couple wed in June 2005 and had three kids before calling it quits in June 2015. Though Affleck was dogged by rumors of infidelity, the duo maintained a strong and private front for the press. "We go forward with love and friendship for one another and a commitment to co-parenting our children," they said in a joint statement.
Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield
One of the cutest comic book couples ever was Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) co-stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone were just as cute in real life. The elusive couple dated off and on for four years before Us Weekly reported what appeared to be the end of the story in the fall of 2015.
Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay
Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay mixed Risky Business (1983) with pleasure in this classic comedy. De Mornay stars as a gorgeous prostitute who romances Cruise's character, but in reality, he didn't have to leave any cash on the nightstand. According to Us Weekly, the co-stars dated and lived together from 1983 to 1985.
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman and Cruise fell in love while filming Days Of Thunder (1990). He was a famous race car criver; she was his doctor. They married that same year and spent more than a decade together. The dynamic duo played on-screen lovers in Far And Away (1992) and in the steamy Stanley Kubrik film Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Kidman called their 2001 divorce a "nightmare," telling talk show host Oprah Winfrey (via ABC News) that the experience was "awful—one of those things where you just say, 'I cannot believe this is happening to me,' but I will move forward day by day."
Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz
After his divorce from Kidman, Cruise found another on-screen love interest to woo when the cameras weren't rolling. Cruise and Vanilla Sky (2001) co-star Penelope Cruz dated for three years before allegedly breaking up over his devotion to Scientology.
Matt Damon and Minnie Driver
Matt Damon dated Good Will Hunting (1997) co-star Minnie Driver on screen and off. Their breakup was seemingly as dramatic in real life as it was in the film. In 1998, Damon advertised his bachelorhood on national television. "It's unfortunate that Matt went on Oprah; it seemed like a good forum for him to announce to the world that we were no longer together, which I found fantastically inappropriate," Driver told the Los Angeles Times. "Of course, he was busy declaring his love for me on David Letterman a month previously."
Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy
Ashton Kutcher and Just Married (2003) co-star Brittany Murphy played newlyweds on screen and also got cozy when filming wrapped. Kutcher was quoted as saying, "When we were doing the movie, we were just friends. We just kind of started hanging out more. And now we've been hanging out a lot more." After about seven months of dating, the stars reportedly went their separate ways in 2004.
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds
Blake Lively collaborated with Ryan Reynolds on the set of Green Lantern (2011), in which she starred as the Carol Ferris to his Hal Jordan. Like Jolie and Pitt before them, no hearts fluttered publicly until he divorced Scarlett Johansson. Lively and Reynolds married in 2012. They have a daughter, James, and recently welcomed as second little girl.