Tabloid headlines and box office success go hand-in-hand. When a celebrity’s marriage hits the skids and becomes gossip column fare, their bankability shoots skyward.
Kirstie Alley and Parker Stevenson: Two children, Scientology, and disagreements on just about everything made this divorce a tabloid favorite. The fourteen-year marriage ended reportedly due to Alley becoming involved with actor James Wilder. Stevenson not only wanted custody of the kids, he wanted $75,000 a month in child support from Alley.
Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds: They were everyone’s favorite couple until Fisher decided he’d rather provide comfort to Elizabeth Taylor after Mike Todd’s untimely death than stay at home with Reynolds.
Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan: Their divorce after ten years of marriage was finalized in 2001. From all accounts it was an agreeable divorce iwth neither seeking child support or alimony and the two of them privately dividing all of their assets equitably.
Paula Jones and Stephen Jones: Paula Jones brought a sexual misconduct suit against then President Clinton. Stephen Jones cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for ending the couple’s eight year marriage. Paula Jones received $201,000 of the $850,000 out-of-court settlement with Clinton, the bigger portion going to lawyers.
Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith: Griffith was just fourteen when she moved in with Johnson. At eighteen they married and a year later they divorced for the first time. Griffith then married actor Steven Bauer only to divorce him and marry Johnson a second time. Johnson’s drinking problem allegedly helped contribute to the break-up of that marriage. Griffith married Spanish actor Antonio Banderas in 1996.
Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller: She wore black and had the British actor’s name written in blood across the back of his shirt at their 1995 wedding. A year later they separated then filed for divorce in 1999. She reportedly reunited with Miller after her marriage to actor Billy Bob Thornton ended. Their relationship was on-again, off-again for years.
Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton: They had themselves tattooed with each other’s name, wore vials of each other’s blood, and were quoted in the press as enjoying S/M sex. The marital fun began in 2000 when they eloped to Las Vegas and ended in 2002 when Thornton’s infidelity reportedly brought the marriage to an end. When Jolie began dating her ex, Miller, Thornton broke up with his model girlfriend to try to convince Jolie to give their marriage another try.
Jennifer Lopez and Ojani Noa: Actress Lopez married male model Noa in 1997. The marriage ended thirteen months later. Noa sued Lopez for fraud and breach of contract in 2004 claiming that Lopez hired him to manage her new restaurant then fired him six months later.
Jennifer Lopez and Cris Judd: J-Lo has been known to get fairly personal with her leading men and husband Judd, who she married in September 2001, just months after breaking up with long-term boyfriend Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, lost out in June 2002 to then leading man Ben Affleck. Affleck was dumped for Lopez’s current husband Marc Anthony.
Jennifer Garner and Scott Foley: Foley acted with Garner in the televsion show Felicity and in 2000 they got married. They filed for divorce in 2003 and Garner started dating Alias co-star Michael Vartan.
Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck: Affleck and Garner were married June 2005 in a surprise Caribbean ceremony. In December 2005 she gave birth to their daughter. Affleck had previously been engaged to marry Jennifer Lopez.