Divorce, babe, divorce: A rundown of the biggest celeb breakups

It has been confirmed. Taking to Instagram this, the Hollywood it-couple Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner announced they are divorcing after four years of marriage. The couple married back in 2019 in a secretive ceremony in Las Vegas, before having a more elaborate second ceremony in the south of France for friends and family. 

The pair met in 2016 after multiple mutual friends tried to set them up, before finally caving and dating later that year. After a whirlwind romance, the couple were engaged by December 2017, just under a year since they began dating. 

However, after four years of marriage, and the birth of their two daughters, they have announced that they will be divorcing citing “the marriage between the parties is irretrievably broken” according to files obtained by the Associated Press news agency.

As they take to Instagram to confirm their divorce, let’s take a look back at more celeb breakups from Kim K and Kris Humphries to Britney Spears and K Fed.

Kim K and Kris Humphries 

Back in 2011, Kim K and professional basketball player Kris Humphries infamously had one of the shortest marriages in Hollywood history – only making it to 72 days before ultimately splitting. The marriage was a lavish event and the lead-up and event were featured extensively in Keeping Up With The Kardashians, with the wedding getting its own television special – Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event.

Though this fairytale did not have a happy ending, with the pair splitting 72 days later due to Kardashian claiming “irreconcilable differences”, which led to Humphries citing fraud and claiming Kardashian had only married him for television ratings. 

Following a lengthy divorce trial, the couple finally officially divorced in 2013, by this point Kim K had moved on to Kanye West, which leads seamlessly into the next iconic divorce.

Kim K and Kanye

Following her fleeting marriage with Humphries, Kim K infamously partnered up with rapper Kayne West. Sources at the time claimed “they had been friends for a while and decided to give a try [with dating]”. It was no secret about Kanye’s feelings either, as he referenced the romance in his song Cold, “I admit I fell in love with Kim … ‘Round the same time she fell in love with him … That’s cool, babygirl, do your thing … Lucky I ain’t had Jay drop him from the team.” – referring to how JayZ had been a co-owner of the New Jersey Jets Basketball team, which Humphries had played for at the time.

However by 2019, with Kardashian’s career shift to follow in her father’s footsteps in becoming a lawyer and Kanye publicly announcing his intentions to run for President of the United States in the 2020 elections. It all culminated in 2020, with Kanye announcing on Twitter that their pair would be splitting, which was the topic of subsequent serieses of KUWTK.

A particularly turbulent divorce, as Kanye kept challenging Kardashian’s requests to be declared legally single, Kardahsian moved on to SNL star Pete Davidson, which of course Ye, made his thoughts very clear in his song Eazy, with an effigy of Davidson starring in the music video, which angered Kardashian further.

Kanye and Kardashian finally divorced in November 2022 and despite their feuds, the pair came to amicable agreements concerning their children and their combined assets. As Kanye continues to garner controversy for his political beliefs, Kardashian came out to say in June 2023 that she misses the Kanye she married. 

Britney and K Fed

Pop superstar Britney and dancer Kevin Federline, often referred to as K-Fed, had met in a Hollywood club in early 2004 and married that later year in a whirlwind romance. Together they have two children, Sean and Jayden.

In 2006, eight weeks after the birth of younger son Jayden, Britney filed for divorce citing ‘irreconcilable differences”. The divorce came amid a dark era for Britney as she suffered very public breakdowns and bouts of rehab, which were all captured by paparazzi further exploiting Brit in the press.

These breakdowns allowed for K-Fed to gain full custody of the children, further fuelling Britney’s mental struggles and it was during this period, that her father, Jamie Spears put his superstar daughter under a conservatorship, which has dominated are conscious for the years following, with fans preaching #FreeBritney across social media. 

Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee

In a whirlwind romance, Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee wed after being together after just four days – following them tying the knot, the whirlwind romance became more of a tornado.

The two met in December 1995 and holidayed to Cancún six weeks later, where they wed four days into their romantic getaway. However the relationship soon soured following the leaking of their intimate home movie, obtained by a scorned electrician who was fired by Lee’s band Mötley Crew. 

Anderson and Lee filed a $10 million lawsuit against the distribution of the tape which has eventually dropped. The stress inevitably caused a strain on their marriage, which folded in 1998, just two years after the pair wed. As the marriage reached its breaking point, Tommy was arrested following a physical altercation at their home, resulting in Anderson filing for divorce. Lee was ultimately sentenced to six months in jail, and the pair briefly rekindled their relationship upon his release in 2001 before calling it quits.

By 2008, Lee told Rolling Stone, that they were giving the relationship another shot – however, much like the prior attempts, the relationship was short lived and they once again parted ways in 2010. Throughout its tumultuous history, fans have been hooked on the story – culminating in the controversial 2022 release of Hulu drama, starring Lily James and Sebastian Stan.

Following its release, Anderson opened up about her turbulent marriage in the Netflix documentary Pamela, A Love Story and subsequent memoir, Love, Pamela, which both tell her side of the story. Though always in the public eye, we’re glad to see Anderson is gaining the closure she deserves.

Amber Heard and Johnny Depp

Last year we saw a lengthy and highly publicised trial between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp, all over news outlets and social media. The pair had been married for just 15 months before Heard filed for divorce from Depp in May 2016 and gained a temporary restraining order from Depp, after claiming Depp had thrown a phone at her and left her bruised.

In a constant back and forth with Depp denying claims of domestic abuse towards Heard, fans of Depp were quick to take to social media hurling sexist abuse at Heard claiming she was a hysteric woman in lieu of the abuse allegations. Meanwhile, fans emphasised with Depp as he played the role of a wrongly accused lover, testament to the power of Depp’s fans.