Celebrity Husbands That Cheated On Their Wives With Women Half Their Age
Welcome to Tinseltown: where relationships seemingly last a millisecond and alleged affairs are aplenty. Might we remind you of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, who are still grabbing headlines over their divorce after he shacked up with co-star Angelina Jolie in the early aughts. What about the legendary cheating scandal of Tiger Woods, which resulted in his wife pulling a Carrie Underwood and smashing up his car with a golf club?
Though cheating is certainly a recipe for divorce, a fair share of jilted Hollywood wives stay with their philandering spouse. We'd never have what's arguably Beyonce's best record otherwise. Beyond that, a small fraction of celebrity cheaters add insult to injury by shacking up with women half their age. An even smaller fraction of A-list hubbies find themselves in the tired (and wildly overdone) trope of having an affair with the nanny. From one of the world's most prolific adulterers to a certain disgraced NBC host, these men have an affinity for younger mistresses. And hey, sometimes it does actually work out.
There's no doubt Gavin Rossdale cheated with the nanny
There was a time we believed in love, but that was before '90s icons Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani ended their 13-year marriage in 2015. What turned this rockstar home into a tragic kingdom? The Bush frontman allegedly cheated with the nanny. Could you be any more of a cliche?
According to a report from Access Hollywood, Rossdale's three-year affair was quite calculated. The family's longtime nanny, Mindy Mann, would bring the kids to visit the rocker while he was on tour, and the pair would allegedly jump into bed after the kids were asleep. Stefani would have probably never found out about it if it weren't for the fact that the frontman linked his phone to the family's iPad. Us Weekly reports that the No Doubt singer discovered illicit texts between the pair and nude photos of Mann on the device.
The Voice judge told Harper's Bazaar that she had sung at the Grammy Awards the day prior to discovering the texts. "It was the beginning of hell," she told the outlet, adding, "Like six, seven, eight months of torture, trying to figure out this big secret." Rossdale reportedly confessed months later, and Stefani made the decision to bow out of their marriage. At the time of this writing, Rossdale is 54 years old and Mann is in her early 30s.
The cheating scandal that rocked the '90s
The Clinton-Lewinsky scandal may be the most famous affair in history, though Debbie Reynolds would have probably disagreed. It shaped the way an entire generation looked at both dresses and the White House.
According to TIME, the affair was uncovered in 1998 during an investigation into sexual harassment allegations that were leveled at then-president Bill Clinton by Paula Jones in 1994. As lawyers attempted to build their case against him, then-23-year-old Monica Lewinsky signed an affidavit stating the pair never had an affair. Little did she know that the FBI had bugged her close friend, Pentagon staffer Linda Tripp. Lewinsky dished about the affair without knowing the conversations were being recorded. It all came to a head when Clinton not only denied it in a legal deposition but on television in front of the nation. It was the "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" heard around the world, but Lewinsky kept a dress with alleged DNA evidence of their rendezvous, and it was eventually uncovered. Clinton was later impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice but was acquitted. As for the sexual harassment suit, Clinton settled out of court.
The Clinton-Lewinsky scandal is so infamous that in the 2020 Hulu documentary series, Hillary (via The New York Times), Clinton was still defending himself, claiming he used the affair as a way of "managing [his] anxieties." Boohoo, dude. No one said being president was stress-free.
Ben Affleck's nannygate
Getting an absurd, full-back phoenix tattoo isn't the only regrettable thing Ben Affleck has done. The actor joined the exclusive club of A-list husbands who may or may not have shagged the nanny. What is it about the nanny?
If you lived through 2015, you've probably read about what the tabloids labeled "nannygate." According to E! News, Affleck was allegedly hooking up with his children's caretaker Christine Ouzounian while he was on a 10-month trial separation from wife Jennifer Garner. At the time, Affleck was 42 and Ouzounian was 28 years old. The goss remained murky until Garner opened up to Vanity Fair in 2016. "We had been separated for months before I ever heard about the nanny. She had nothing to do with our decision to divorce," she admitted. "Bad judgment? Yes. It's not great for your kids for [a nanny] to disappear from their lives." Garner also claimed the incident forced her to explain the meaning of scandal to her kids. Awkward!
According to People, Garner and Affleck finalized their divorce in 2018, but the scandal has endured (just as all good scandals do). In a 2020 interview by The New York Times, Affleck revealed that his divorce — which was instigated by his unhealthy relationship with alcohol — was the "biggest regret of [his] life." "Shame is really toxic," he admitted. "There is no positive byproduct of shame. It's just stewing in a toxic, hideous feeling of low self-worth and self-loathing."
David Letterman's shocking on-air admission
In 2009, David Letterman shocked audiences when he went on air and boldly proclaimed: "I have had sex with women who work for me on this show." It was quite the opposite of the famous verbiage spouted by Bill Clinton during his impeachment scandal, but it was one bred under pressure. What other choice do you have if you're being blackmailed?
According to People, the woman at the center of the scandal was Letterman's longtime assistant Stephanie Birkitt, who's nearly 30 years his junior. At the time, Birkitt was sharing a home with her then-boyfriend CBS News producer Robert "Joe" Halderman, while Letterman was newly married to Regina Lasko. The year prior to Letterman's shocking announcement, Halderman had found handwritten notes from Birkitt that detailed the ongoing affair. She had promised to end things with the talk show host, but in August 2009, Halderman caught the couple in a "passionate embrace" inside Letterman's car. He flipped out and reportedly threatened to expose the comedian unless he was given $2 million. According to CNN, Halderman was arrested for extortion and pleaded guilty, but that wasn't the end of it. Letterman still had to make things right with his wife.
"I'm still trying to fix it," he told Oprah Winfrey in a 2013 interview. "It hasn't gone away. It'll never go away. [Lasko has] been tremendous. She's got great courage ... I'm still [regaining her trust] each and every day in big ways and small ways."
Who was Peter Cook's uptown girl if not Christie Brinkley?
There's a reason Christie Brinkley had such a nasty divorce with Peter Cook. People generally don't take it so kindly when you allegedly spend $300,000 paying off a teenage mistress. According to Today, the pair's custody hearing was filled with absolutely wild allegations — like Peter allegedly spending thousands of dollars on adult videos and possibly shoving his stepdaughter's head into a bucket of water — but the one the press seemed to pick up on the most was his alleged extramarital affair with Diana Bianchi.
Today reports that Cook met Bianchi at a Hamptons toy store in 2004 when she was just 18 years old (though the New York Post places her age at 17). He initially hired her to work at his architecture firm and reportedly seduced her in the office not long after. Bianchi admitted the pair got it on about 10 times between work and Brinkley's homes. He also reportedly showered the teen in gifts, hiding $500 for her outside of Brinkley's house and slipping more behind a painting.
According to the New York Post, Bianchi claimed she was the one who ended it when sneaking around "got to be too much." Cook reportedly kept trying to contact her after that, even leaving notes on her car in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Today reported that he allegedly paid Bianchi off in 2007 after fearing a scandal and a possible sexual harassment lawsuit (the former was not quite avoidable).
Rupert Sanders went for the poison apple
Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders sent shocks through the Twilight fandom when his affair led to the demise of one of YA fiction's most powerful unions: the glittery human-to-vampire relationship between Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. Does dating a co-star ever work?
In 2012, photos of a then-22-year-old Twilight Star canoodling with her 40-something Snow White director hit headlines. At the time, Kristen Stewart and her on-and-off-screen love Robert Pattinson were just about the most famous couple in the world. To make matters even more scandalous, the affair happened under the nose of Sanders' wife and Stewart's Snow White co-star, Liberty Ross. It was sensational enough to also warrant a comment from Donald Trump, who tweeted that Stewart treated Pattinson "like a dog."
According to reports from Metro and People, both Sanders and Stewart issued a public apology following the release of the images, but it wasn't enough to save their relationships. Ross filed for divorce, and Stewart and Pattinson split, which was apparently so stressful that Stewart started losing her hair, according to The Daily Mail. "You never know what's coming in life," Sanders said of his affair to Metro. "Around every corner there's something unexpected, and that's life. You just have to brush yourself off and continue moving forward the best you can. Everyone makes mistakes. I am bound to make more mistakes and I wouldn't expect my life to be exciting if I didn't."
Jesse James has clearly not learned from his past
Jesse James isn't exactly known for his fidelity. The star became a household name for cheating on Sandra Bullock with a litany of women before the pair divorced in 2010. At the time, he even admitted to Nightline that he was "the most hated man in the world," but that also didn't stop him from allegedly cheating on Kat Von D the following year with about 19 women, by her estimate.
Continuing his expected trajectory, the 50-year-old former reality TV star reportedly cheated on his fourth wife, billionaire heiress Alexis DeJoria, with a 33-year-old hairdresser named Myla Harris. It's one of those fine lines of social media cheating that never physically went all the way. In an interview with InTouch, Harris admitted she exchanged nude photos and discussed James' fantasies throughout their Snapchat relationship. "I know that's awful because I know he's married," Harris told the tabloid. "But in the back of my mind, I knew what type of person he was and so I was like, 'Why not?'"
According to a report from The Daily Mail, Harris wasn't the only one involved with James throughout his marriage to the drag racer. He reportedly slept with at least 20 women, which seems to be par for the course. The New York Daily News reports that the couple announced their split in March 2020, three years after news of Harris hit the headlines.
Woody Allen married his ex-girlfriend's daughter
Woody Allen has had his fair share of controversy in the past, including the 1992 molestation allegations leveled at him by his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow. That same year, news of his affair with Mia Farrow's then 21-year-old daughter Soon-Yi Previn hit headlines. Allen was 57.
According to The New York Times, Mia and her second husband, Andre Previn, adopted Soon-Yi from a Korean orphanage in 1977. The child was around the age of seven. By 1979, Mia had moved into a relationship with Allen. It wasn't until the end of 1991 that the director entered an affair with Soon-Yi. According to The Outline, Mia and Allen were living in separate apartments across Central Park when the actress discovered that her partner of 12 years was holding onto nude images of her adoptive daughter. She confronted him, and the filmmaker admitted the pair had been intimate two weeks prior. He later revealed that he intended to keep the entire thing a secret. About six months after coming clean to Mia, the star publicly announced that he was "in love" with the 21-year-old.
In 1997, The New York Times reported that Soon-Yi and Allen wed, and they've been together ever since. Over the years, Allen has defended their relationship. In 2001, he told TIME, "The only thing unusual is that she's Mia's daughter. But she's an adopted daughter and a grown woman. I could have met her at a party or something."
Matt Lauer got cozy with the intern
Matt Lauer has been a subject of controversy ever since he was fired from NBC in 2017 following sprawling allegations of sexual misconduct. That same year, his alleged secret relationship with former Today intern Addie Collins came to light. At the time, Collins was 24 years old, and Lauer was a 40-something who had recently married Annette Roque.
According to a report from Variety, Lauer's short relationship with Collins began in 2000 when she took a position as a local anchor on WDTV in West Virginia and planned to leave NBC. She was hoping to get career advice from the TV host before her time at the network was up, so the pair met for lunch where Lauer reportedly "aggressively hit on" her. Confused and flattered, Collins leaned into it. They ended up entering a four-week affair, where they had a secret rendezvous in Lauer's dressing room.
"It crossed the line. It was a consensual encounter. It happened in his dressing room above studio 1A, which was empty in the afternoons," she told Variety. "He got in his car and I had to go back to work, and now my life had completely changed ... The situation really took its toll on me ... Fear crept into my life. I became unsure of myself. Any confidence I had was gone. For him, it was a conquest."
Roque ultimately filed for divorce, which was finalized in 2019, according to People.
A Real Housewives marriage was shattered
Another Real Housewife, another marriage headed to divorce. According to Us Weekly, The Real Housewives of Orange County star Meghan King Edmonds and Jim Edmonds split in October 2019 shortly after their fifth anniversary, but could the nanny be the one to blame?
As reported by Us Weekly, that answer is yes. Jim is allegedly another Hollywood husband who fell for the help — at least if you ask Meghan. Per People, rumors of an affair started swirling when Jim was spotted out with Carly Wilson, the pair's 22-year-old nanny, on various occasions, including at a hockey game. Both parties denied the allegations, but Us Weekly reports that Meghan still believed something was up. After "a week of fighting" about the alleged affair, Jim reportedly filed for divorce.
Meghan has been publicly vocal about the MLB star's alleged affair, even if she's only slyly admitted it. According to InTouch, who captured Meghan's covert shade, the reality TV star gave a thumbs up to an Instagram commenter who wrote that her divorce was likely triggered by Wilson. "Judging by Jim's Instagram, I'm guessing it's [the] nanny ... whom he posted NINE photos of 11 months ago. And she has deleted her IG," they wrote. It's not like Jim is totally innocent either. According to Us Weekly, the MLB star previously admitted that he had "inappropriate conversations" with a woman while Meghan was pregnant with twins.
Newt Gingrich was hoping for an open marriage
Bill Clinton wasn't the only one in Washington who had a cheating scandal in the 1990s, though his certainly dominated the news. This helped Newt Gingrich more or less brush his own affair (which happened while he was leading the impeachment proceedings) under the rug. During the politician's final year as Speaker of the House, the star called his wife Marianne Ginther Gingrich while she was visiting her mother and asked for a divorce. He was seeing someone else, which Rolling Stone reports was hardly a secret in Washington, but Marianne told The Washington Post that she was "totally shocked" and "had no idea."
Shortly after, the couple went to therapy, and Marianne found out that her husband's mistress was Callista Bisek, a congressional aide 23 years his junior whom he later married. According to a Washington Post report, he allegedly gave Marianne two options during their counseling sessions: open up the marriage so he could see other women or get a divorce. Marianne opted for the latter.
In 2007, Gingrich reflected on his affair in an interview (via ABC News). "There were times when I was praying and when I felt I was doing things that were wrong. But I was still doing them," he admitted. "I look back on those as periods of weakness and periods that I'm not only not proud of, but I would deeply urge my children and grandchildren not to follow in my footsteps."