With Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes breaking off their marriage this summer, ending five years of weirdness, here are the Top 10 Hollywood Divorces of the past century.
10) Kathryn Bigelow & James Cameron
Married in 1989 and divorced by 1991, this split was made all the more interesting almost two decades later during the 2010 Oscars when these two top Hollywood honchos were up for the Best Director gong. She won for The Hurt Locker, while he had to limp home with three technical awards for Avatar. Zing.
9) Ryan Philippe & Reese Witherspoon
Most believe that the problems faced by this pair of stars stem from the fact that her career eventually eclipsed his, putting excessive pressure on his ego and the relationship. Of course in reality it could have been something simpler, like a disagreement over a game of Scrabble.
8 ) Bruce Willis & Demi Moore
A power couple during the 80s and 90s, Moore and Willis are responsible for oddly named progeny and an even weirder post-divorce relationship, exemplified by…
7) Demi Moore & Ashton Kutcher
Dating and then marrying a man 16 years her junior, Moore made things look super awkward by also allowing ex-husband Willis to hang around with them and the kids. Imagine the picnics they had. Nightmare.
6) Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman
Before there was Katie, Tom only had eyes for Nicole. If you don’t count that this was in fact his second marriage. It’s almost as if Cruise isn’t cut out for matrimony, for some reason.
5) Rock Hudson & Phyllis Gates
The marriage, which most believe was concocted in order to cover up Hudson’s now notorious homosexuality during a less accepting period of history, lasted three years. Its legacy is far more enduring.
4) Madonna & Guy Ritchie
Much of their marriage was presumably spent arguing over who was the worst director. It’s obviously Madonna, but I imagine that Ritchie was nice enough to argue his corner with mockney grit.
3) Pamela Anderson & Tommy Lee
Sex sells, but it also has to climax at some point, after which you’re stuck on a boat with a couple of idiots and a camcorder full of footage that you may end up regretting more than the entire relationship.
2) Arnold Schwarzenegger & Maria Shriver
25 years is a long time for a Hollywood marriage to last, but sadly the infidelities of The Governator, which resulted in extramarital offspring courtesy of cleaning staff, were too much for Shriver, who rightly slung her hook in 2011.
1) Jennifer Aniston & Brad Pitt
In the 1990s everyone wanted to be Rachel from Friends and jump the bones of Brad Pitt until they were mere shards. So when Aniston and Pitt joined forces it was a match made in heaven. But anyone who saw his awful cameo in his wife’s sitcom should hardly be surprised that the pair eventually split. At least Aniston hasn’t been hounded by the press and presented as some kind of latter day Emily Dickinson. Oh, wait…

