7 Celebs Who Found Out About Their Own Divorce On The News

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In November 2026, Jen Affleck of "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" shocked fans of the hit reality show when she filed for divorce from her husband, Zac Affleck, seemingly out of nowhere. The timing was made even more surprising given that Jen and Zac, who were married for seven years, were expecting their fourth child together. The now-estranged couple shares two daughters, Nora and Penelope, and a son named Lucas. Then, just two days after Jen submitted the papers, TMZ claimed that Zac was blindsided by the news that this wife had decided to officially end their marriage.

"Yes, it is true that Jen filed for divorce yesterday, and it is true that I found out from a TMZ reporter about the filing," Zac confirmed in a TikTok he posted addressing their separation. However, he admitted that he and Jen had been having issues for quite some time and that Jen had told him she wanted a divorce. "I basically begged her to stay, told her we'll work on things, fix things, become whoever she needed me to be. And, ultimately, [we] just couldn't make it work," he acknowledged. "It sucks because I really do love Jen, and I still love Jen."

Zac is hardly the first celebrity to learn about his own divorce through the press. Others, including Sophie Turner and Jen's "Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" castmate Jessi Draper, have also shared similar experiences of being left out of the loop about their own divorces in interviews and podcast appearances. Let's take a look.

Like Zac Affleck, WWE's Hulk Hogan also didn't find out about his divorce from his ex-wife Linda Hogan until a reporter reached out to ask for his comment on their separation. In fact, he was so startled to hear about the filing from a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times that all he could utter was, "Thank you for the great information," according to CBC. However, after taking a moment to collect himself, the legendary wrestler called back to give a proper statement. "You caught me off-guard," Hogan reportedly told the journalist. "My wife has been in California for about three weeks. ... Holy smokes. Wow, you just knocked the bottom out of me. I just pulled over to the side of the road for five minutes to find out what was going on here."

He and Linda were married for 24 years, from 1983 to 2007, and shared two children, Brooke Hogan and Nick Hogan. Although it was no secret that the two had been going through a rough patch for some time (and were, in fact, attending counseling), Linda's publicist confirmed that she decided enough was enough after finding out about Hulk's affair with their daughter's best friend, Christiane Plante. "There were infidelities," Linda dished in an interview on "Good Morning America," after their divorce was finalized in 2009. Hulk didn't deny the allegations but seemed pretty upset over how things played out. "Well you know, we'd had problems over the last 10 years, but, [...] I thought that when you put your hand on the Bible, you know, until death do us part and for better or worse, I thought people really meant that when they said it," he told Access Hollywood in 2008 (via Today).

Jennie Garth and her husband, Dave Abrams, have been married since 2015 after dating for less than a year and getting engaged within just a few months of knowing each other. However, as fans may recall, things haven't always been smooth sailing between the two. Less than three years into their marriage, Abrams blindsided fans and Garth herself by filing for divorce amid the couple's struggles to start their own family (Garth already has three daughters from her marriage to Peter Facinelli). "I found out that he filed for divorce from TMZ. That was a big deal for me," the "Beverly Hills, 90210" star said of Abrams in a conversation with People. "I was in a bad mindset for five or six months," she added. "It wasn't very comfortable. And it made accepting it so much harder."

Their separation didn't last long, though; the pair reconciled, with Abrams calling off their divorce in 2019. Looking back, Garth felt the split was necessary and ultimately made their relationship grow stronger. "We definitely had to part ways completely. We needed that time to grow," she said. Still, in her book, "I Choose Me," she wrote that Abrams held onto the divorce papers for quite some time even after they'd agreed to give their marriage another go. "I think it represented something profoundly freeing to him: He has a choice. To be together or to split," she mused (via Page Six). "He can sign those papers anytime he wants. We all have free will."

After four years of marriage and two kids together, Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas shattered the hearts of thousands of fans everywhere when news broke of their impending divorce amid rumors of marital trouble. Jonas initiated the divorce proceedings by filing a petition to dissolve their marriage, which he described as "irretrievably broken" in court documents obtained by Today. Later, they issued a joint statement emphasizing that their decision to separate was mutual and amicable. They wrote (via Instagram), "There are many speculative narratives as to why but, truly this is a united decision and we sincerely hope that everyone can respect our wishes for privacy for us and our children."

However, it turns out that their separation was neither mutual nor amicable. During the legal proceedings, Turner accused Jonas of filing for divorce without her knowledge after they got into an argument on Jonas' birthday just two weeks prior. In fact, she claimed she only found out about Jonas' filing by reading about it on the news. "Thereafter, the breakdown of the parties' marriage happened very suddenly," according to documents she filed weeks later (via the Daily Mail). But Jonas pushed back, stating they had "multiple conversations" leading up to it and that "Sophie was aware that [he] was going to file for divorce." In the end, after a year of legal wrangling, the pair eventually reached a settlement, and their divorce was finalized in 2024.

Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries will go down in pop culture history as one of the shortest celebrity marriages of all time, having been married for just 72 days, or roughly two and half months, before calling it quits. "The Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star took matters into her own hands by filing the necessary papers with the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2011. Their divorce was finalized in 2013. "I hope everyone understands this was not an easy decision," Kardashian said in a statement, per E! News. "I had hoped this marriage was forever but sometimes things don't work out as planned. We remain friends and wish each other the best."

However, according to Humphries' father, the former NBA star was totally clueless about Kardashian's intentions to divorce him. He claimed Kardashian hadn't given him any warning that she wanted out of their marriage. "It just came out of nowhere and blindsided Kris," the father alleged to Life & Style (via ET). "How could someone do that? Kris was completely surprised," while pointing out that his son found out about the news alongside the rest of the public.

In his own statement, the pro athlete-turned-restaurateur admitted that he was "devastated" over his ex-wife's wish to formally separate. At the time, he was determined to work things out with Kardashian and save their marriage. "I'm committed to this marriage and everything this covenant represents, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make it work," he stressed (via People).

Following his alarming (but brief) disappearance, Drake Bell's now-ex-wife, Janet Von Schmeling, officially filed for divorce from the star in 2023, citing "irreconcilable differences" as the main catalyst for their split, and listed September 2022 as the date of their separation. The exes were married for five years — having secretly tied the knot in 2018 — and are parents to a son named Wyatt (born in 2021). On X, Bell didn't seem fazed by the turn of events despite purportedly learning about his own divorce through the press. He wrote, per People, "I found out my wife filed for divorce from TMZ ... check out my new song."

Earlier, the embattled actor made headlines after he was reported missing in Florida and was deemed "endangered" by police following reports that he had texted family members about his intentions to take his own life. He was found safe just a couple of hours later. Fast forwarding to 2025, Bell responded to his wife's divorce by filing his own petition in Seminole County, Florida, two years after Von Schmeling sought to legally end their marriage in Los Angeles. "At this stage, both of them are simply concluding [the] legal process," a rep for Bell said in a statement shared with Entertainment Weekly. "Their priority remains the safety and well-being of their son, and they are doing so from a place of love and respect — closing a beautiful chapter of their lives."

In March 2026, "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" star Jessi Draper appeared on Alex Cooper's "Call Her Daddy" podcast, where she opened up about her separation from her ex-husband, Jordan Ngatikaura, and accused him (among other things) of blindsiding her with his divorce filing. The reality TV personality claimed that she and Ngatikaura had initially agreed to go through the legal process together, only for him to go behind her back and file on his own without telling her. 

In fact, Draper said she only learned about the filing after someone from TMZ reached out to her. "'Hey, we just saw Jordan filed for divorce. How are you doing?' They're like, 'It's TMZ,'" she recalled the outlet's text messages to her saying. She wasn't totally surprised, though, being the one to initiate the breakup. "I did end it with him, so I knew it was coming. But we had made an agreement to do it together," Draper explained, "and he blindsided me and filed because he wanted the headline first."

Still, she was heartbroken, especially for their children, whom they hadn't yet told about their plans to separate. (They were married for five years and share two kids. Ngatikaura also has a daughter from a previous relationship.) "We haven't done that, including his daughter, who's like 13 years old," she also revealed. Elsewhere in the tell-all, Draper went on to accuse her ex-husband of trying to silence her by including a gag clause in his proposed divorce settlement, which she refused to sign. "I found out from my lawyer this morning. [...] So, sorry," she said with a laugh. "That would all have to be negotiated and it was just what he wanted, but it's not going to happen."