The most scandalous celebrity love triangles of all time

Perhaps the most scandalous and well-known love triangle in modern-day pop culture was that of Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston, creating a story which none of the three could ever quite shake. 

Brad and Jennifer were the Hollywood golden couple, having tied the knot in 2000. Their perfect façade came crashing down in early 2005 when rumours began swirling that Brad had been unfaithful after meeting Angelina Jolie in 2004 on the set of Mr and Mrs Smith.

While the duo hit back at these rumours in their 2005 divorce statement and assured everyone that their split was not the result of infidelity, Brad and Angelina's controversial "Domestic Bliss" shoot for W magazine in the same year all but confirmed the whispers.

Angelina, who went on to welcome six children with Brad, shared with Vogue that she had fallen in love with him while filming Mr and Mrs Smith.

"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," she said.

"I think a few months in I realised, 'God, I can't wait to get to work.' It took until, really, the end of the shoot for us, I think, to realise that it might mean something more than we'd earlier allowed ourselves to believe. And both knowing that the reality of that was a big thing, something that was going to take a lot of serious consideration."

Despite the incredibly public nature of Brad and Jennifer's split, the Friends actress told Vanity Fair that she harboured no ill will towards the new couple.

"We spent seven very intense years together; we taught each other a lot – about healing, and about fun," she explained. 

"We helped each other through a lot, and I really value that. It was a beautiful, complicated relationship…I have a lot of compassion for everyone going through this."

The love triangle between Olivia Wilde, Jason Sudeikis and Harry Styles sparked a fan frenzy online, with the actress and director receiving a wave of unwarranted hate after her romance with the singer went public.

Olivia and Jason first met at a Saturday Night Live party in 2011, were engaged two years later, and welcomed two kids together, Otis and Daisy. However, due to their busy lives and blossoming careers, their relationship began to erode until there was no turning back.

"Jason and I had been having a rough time there for a while," Olivia recalled on Call Her Daddy. 

"We had a real bumpy ride, and we were driving home from my birthday party my friends had had, and I said, 'Did you give me a birthday present?' [He said] 'What would I get you, Olivia? I don't know you.' And he wasn't wrong. We didn't know each other anymore."

"You can get to a place in a relationship where you stop engaging in the knowing of each other, in the curiosity about each other, and you find yourself in a place where you're like, 'I don't even know you,'" she added. 

"That was when we realised it was over. And it was f****** tough, and it brought us to the place of like, okay, this is done. We're gonna end this."

The couple split in late 2020, and shortly thereafter, Olivia was spotted out and about with Harry Styles – the lead in her new film, Don't Worry Darling. 

"People were f****** pissed," the director explained of the public's reaction to their romance.

Olivia recalled that his fans would attack her online for attending his concerts, and ridiculed her for being a decade older than him. 

Despite the hate she received, the mother of two shared on the podcast that she and Harry enjoyed a blissful two years together before parting ways in late 2022.

"We had the loveliest relationship. Like so, so sweet and so beautiful and like, really, actually, very domestic and kind and lovely. We existed in this little bubble, and the judgment never really got into that bubble," she said.

The love triangle that consumed the tabloids in the 2010s was that of Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin, creating a narrative that chased Justin and Hailey into their marriage. 

Justin and Selena began dating in 2010 and went public with their romance a year later, much to the delight of tweens and teens worldwide. 

Despite their public displays of affection and red carpet appearances, the couple first called it quits in 2012 – and from then on were constantly breaking up and getting back together, perpetuating a toxic cycle.

"When stuff would happen, I would lose my freakin' mind, and she would lose her mind, and we would fight so hard because we were so invested in each other," Justin told Complex of their deep bond. 

"Love is a choice. Love is not a feeling." They ended things for good in March 2018, and the 'Baby' singer shocked the world when he was seen out with his former flame Hailey Baldwin, model and niece of actor Alec Baldwin.

Just a month after rekindling their romance (and four months after his split from Selena), Justin popped the question, and he married Hailey in September of that year. 

While that signified the end of Justin and Selena's romance for good, it didn't prevent fans from pushing the narrative that Justin belonged with his ex, rather than with his new wife.

Selena was forced to address these fans on social media in 2023, after a select few sent death threats to Hailey over her relationship with Justin. 

"Hailey Bieber reached out to me and let me know that she has been receiving death threats and such hateful negativity," Selena wrote. "This isn't what I stand for. No one should have to experience hate or bullying. I've always advocated for kindness and really want this all to stop."

While Selena went on to marry Benny Blanco in 2025 and Hailey and Justin welcomed a son, Jack Blues, in 2024, the mother of one told Vogue that she still dealt with hate from those who believed that Justin and Selena were endgame. 

"Well, I thought seven years in it would’ve already, and it hasn’t," she said when asked if the comments would ever stop. "You would think after having a child, people would maybe move on, chill out a little bit, but no."

The most infamous Hollywood love triangle of all time is undoubtedly that of Elizabeth Taylor, Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.

Debbie and Elizabeth were close friends, having grown up together in the film industry, and the pair often spent time together alongside their husbands, Eddie Fisher and Mike Todd. Debbie and Eddie even served as the matron of honour and best man at their friends' wedding.

Fractures began forming in 1958 when Mike was killed in a horrific plane crash, leaving Elizabeth devastated and alone. 

Debbie was by her side and helping her through her grief, as was Eddie, although he began to see her privately – and began to fall in love with her. In 1959, scandal erupted when the news of their affair went public.

"I was the last to find out about the affair," Debbie told the Daily Mail. 

"There had been hints in the papers, and I had noticed that when I turned up at functions or parties on my own, my friends were whispering. Although I didn't want to find out the truth, I had to face up to it. Even so, it was a great shock to find them together. It left me shattered."

Although Eddie and Elizabeth married in 1959, their romance came crashing down five years later when she ran away with her Cleopatra co-star, Richard Burton. 

Despite the incredibly public nature of their love triangle, Elizabeth and Debbie made amends several years later when they happened to be travelling on the same boat.

"I looked up, and I saw tons of luggage going by me and birdcages and dog cages and nurses, and I realised Elizabeth was on the same ship as me," the Singin' in the Rain star told Popeater. “I almost changed my mind about going."

She continued: "I sent a note to her room, and she sent a note back to mine saying that we should have dinner and get this over with and have a good time. Because we were very good friends when we were 17 and went to school together on the MGM lot. And we had a wonderful evening with a lot of laughs."

They remained friends for the rest of their lives, and even co-starred in the 2001 film These Old Broads, proving that the scandal was well and truly behind them.

Another of Angelina's scandalous love triangles came when she won the heart of her Pushing Tin co-star, Billy Bob Thornton, in 1999, while he was engaged to Hollywood star Laura Dern.

Laura and Billy Bob had first met in 1997 while guest-starring on an episode of Ellen, and were preparing to say "I do" when he and Angelina spontaneously eloped in Las Vegas, sparking controversy over Billy Bob's infidelity and the couple’s 20-year age gap.

"I left our home to work on a movie, and while I was away, my boyfriend got married, and I've never heard from him again," Laura later told Talk magazine. "It's like a sudden death. For no one has there been any closure or clarity."

Angelina and Billy Bob's relationship consisted of bizarre displays of affection – like wearing each other's blood in a vial around their necks, and the eye-catching tattoo she received to honour him on her shoulder.

Their whirlwind romance ended in 2003, with Billy Bob later sharing in an interview for HFPA in Conversation that their lifestyles were just too different. 

"Hers is a global lifestyle, and mine is an agoraphobic lifestyle," he said. "So, that's really – that's the only reason we're probably not still together, maybe, because of a different path in life we wanted to take."