6 Hollywood marriages that started with scandal

When rumours began that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were seeing each other, one of them was already in a highly publicised marriage. Brad had been married to Jennifer Aniston since July 2000, and when he began filming Mr. & Mrs Smith with Angelina in 2004, speculation arose that the co-stars were getting close. Although both denied anything untoward during the shoot of the spy thriller, they later admitted they "fell in love", which sparked immediate controversy since Brad was still married at the time. However, like professionals, Angelina and Brad weathered the frenzy and did not officially get together during production.

Two years later, Brad separated from Jennifer in January 2005 after five years of marriage, with the announcement sending shockwaves through Hollywood for America's golden couple. 

Not long after, Brad and Angelina were spotted holidaying together in Kenya in April before appearing in a W magazine spread in July 2005 titled "Domestic Bliss". The shoot featured photographs of the pair looking happy together, reportedly taken in March. In response to the feature, Jennifer later told Vanity Fair in October 2006 that her ex-husband seemed to have a "sensitivity chip" missing.

The Ocean's Eleven star later married Angelina in 2014, and the couple stayed together for 12 years, raising six children. Sadly, their marriage began in scandal and ended in one too. In 2016, the pair separated, and Angelina filed for divorce from the Troy actor, plunging them into a protracted legal battle that was finally concluded in December 2024.

LeAnn Rimes and Eddie Cibrian were both married when they fell in love on the set of Northern Lights in 2008; the singer was with Dean Sheremet, while the actor was with Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville.

Initially, LeAnn and Eddie denied the affair, but later the 'Can't Fight the Moonlight' singer admitted to People in 2010 that their connection began under murky circumstances. "I did one of the most selfish things that I possibly could do, in hurting someone else," LeAnn said. "I take responsibility for everything I've done. I hate that people got hurt, but I don't regret the outcome. It was very emotionally driven. I never once thought what I was doing was okay."

The couple stepped out together for the first time in 2009 after divorcing their respective spouses, and tied the knot in 2011. LeAnn later shared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that ultimately, she didn't regret her decision to be with Eddie.

"We all make choices that lead us into a different path, here and there, and you learn from those, or you don't," she explained on the show in 2011. "It obviously brought us to the place where we are now. And we're happy, and we're married. I think we have both come to a really good place in our lives. And right now, I'm really at peace."

One of Hollywood's most enduring romances was between Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, who fell in love and left "collateral damage" in their wake, as their daughter Melissa shared.

The actors first met in 1953 while appearing in a play, but Paul was married to Jackie Witte at the time and had welcomed three kids with her, so he and Joanne remained friends. Then, in 1957, they began working together on The Long, Hot Summer, and sparks flew.

In early 1958, Paul divorced his wife and married Joanne, and the couple went on to welcome three daughters together, including Melissa, who told Fox News in 2023 that their love was "like a freight train" in its inevitability.

"It was sort of inexorable. Jackie was a wonderful person, but I think they were just escaping the Midwest. I'm not sure if it would've lasted. So I would say that my parents' relationship started in a minor key with collateral damage," she explained.

"My mother made sure that all the children from both sides got together every summer,” she continued. "We lived together. And my sister Steph says, 'Your mum gave me my sisters.' She came and lived with us when she was 14, and we’re still really close." Paul and Joanne remained deeply in love until he died in 2008.

Another Hollywood love story that began as an affair is that of Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, who met on the set of To Have and Have Not in 1944, when he was 44, and she was just 19.

Humphrey was married to actress Mayo Methot at the time and was well-established in the industry, while Lauren was just starting to make a name for herself. Their relationship garnered many critics, including Lauren's mother, who would reprimand her for sneaking out to meet Humphrey.

"My mother used to say, 'Where do you think you're going so early in the morning? That man, he's a married man!' She was furious," the star told Parade in 1997. The studio was equally as furious, and threatened to sell her contract off unless they stopped seeing each other. Lauren and Humphrey ignored this threat and went on to marry in May 1945, just 11 days after his divorce from Mayo was finalised.

While the duo went on to star in three more films together and welcomed kids Stephen and Leslie, their love story was abruptly cut short in 1957 when Humphrey died from throat cancer, 12 years into their marriage. "Everyone could see their love right there on celluloid. He was the great love of her life, and she his," their son later told People in 2024.

One of the most celebrated A-list couples of the 20th century was Johnny Cash and June Carter; just take the letter he sent to her on her 65th birthday in 1994, which was later voted the greatest love letter of all time.

Yet their romance began in murky waters, as they were both spoken for when their affair began. Johnny was married to Vivian Liberto at the time, and they shared four daughters, while June was married to former policeman Edwin Nix, and they shared a daughter.

Johnny and June first met in 1956 when he made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry, and her first husband, singer Carl Smith, introduced him to the crowd.

"I can't remember anything else we talked about, except his eyes," June wrote of their first meeting in the notes on his 2000 box set, Love, God, Murder.

"Those black eyes that shone like agates… He had a command of his performance that I had never seen before. Just a guitar and a bass and a gentle kind of presence that made not only me, but whole audiences become his followers."

The duo began touring together in the '60s, and they slowly developed feelings for each other despite being married to other people.

"I never talked much about how I fell in love with John," June told Rolling Stone in 2000, decades later. "It was not a convenient time for me to fall in love with him, and it wasn't a convenient time for him to fall in love with me... I was frightened of his way of life. I thought, I can't fall in love with this man, but it's just like a ring of fire."

Eventually, their feelings couldn't be denied any longer; June and Edwin divorced in 1966, while Johnny and Vivian divorced that same year. "I should have been relentless at saving [the marriage], as relentless as June was at destroying it," Vivian wrote in her memoir, I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny, about her divorce. "I'd have given anything to hear Johnny say [he was sorry]."

Johnny and June married in 1968 and welcomed their son, John Carter Cash, two years later. The couple remained by each other's side until June's death in May 2003. In a twist of fate, Johnny passed away just four months later.