One of the most powerful celebrity couples, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, are rumored to be splitting and it’s happening in the middle of their joint world tour. Now, as awkward as things are between them, Bey and Jay will have to do concerts together and we can only imagine how they feel about it. However, if it’s any comfort to these two, they are not the first celebrities who had to work with their exes. Here are some other couples who went through the same.
Blake Lively and Penn Badgley
These two Gossip Girl stars ended their romance at around the same time that their onscreen fling (between characters Serena and Dan) ended as well. However, the show picked up the Serena and Dan thread a season or so later, ending with the two characters getting married. That had to have been awkward! Soon after the show’s end, Lively got married to actor Ryan Reynolds. Badgley recently admitted that he hadn’t sent Lively a wedding present.
Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake
Diaz and Timberlake dated for four years and reportedly had a messy breakup, with word spreading that Diaz threw a tantrum after seeing Timberlake with current wife Jessica Biel at a 2007 Golden Globes party, but the pair didn’t let any of their relationship problems hinder them from bringing the funny in Bad Teacher. “We wanted the best person for the job, and Justin was that person. He’s such a great comedian.” Diaz said. “We all knew what he would deliver on this and how great he would be.”
Rachel Bilson and Adam Brody
Rachel Bilson and Adam Brody couldn’t fight their natural chemistry once filming started on The O.C. As the two were falling in love on-screen as Seth Cohen and Summer Roberts, so were they in real life. However, while Rachel and Adam broke up a year before the series was over, Summer and Seth ended the run with a wedding.
Jennifer Carpenter and Michael C. Hall
The Dexter co-stars have managed to not let their personal business interfere with their careers. The duo met portraying foster brother and sister Dexter and Debra Morgan on Showtime’s hit show in 2006 and eloped on New Year’s Eve 2008. A year later, Carpenter filed for divorce, but the professional pair have remained perfectly amicable on the show’s set and will co-star for at least two more seasons. “Jennifer is an astonishing actress. She remains a dear friend as well as a dear colleague,” Hall told NPR.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck
After meeting while making Shakespeare in Love, the pair dated on-and-off right up until they both landed the leads in Bounce and had to shoot the whole thing playing lovers in front of the cameras even though they were newly broken up in real-life.
Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan
After divorcing Scott Foley in 2003, Garner rebounded with Alias co-star, Michael Vartan, for about a year. The show lasted six seasons, while the relationship ended long before the series did. Awkwardly enough, on the show, Garner’s character Sidney eventually got married to Vartan’s character, Vaughn. When the wedding scene was filmed, Garner was pregnant with new husband Ben Affleck’s baby.
Angelica Huston and Jack Nicholson
Nicholson and Huston dated for roughly 20 years, during which they appeared together in the movie Prizzi’s Honor. They ended up having a bitter break up in 1990, but Sean Penn persuaded them to reunite for his 1995 film The Crossing Guard. They had to play antagonistic exes, which probably wasn’t too hard given their history.
Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson
These two stars fell in love while filming the Twilight Saga together, but Kristen was caught cheating on Rob with the director from another film she starred in, Snow White and the Huntsman. Although Kristen deeply regretted her actions, the two broke up after the truth came to light. Even though they had already finished filming the last Twilight installment, the two were obligated to promote the final movie together.
Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony
Despite a much publicized divorce last year after seven years of marriage, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony stayed committed to working together, both on raising their twin children and as judges and producers on their reality show “Q’Viva! The Chosen,” which follows Lopez and Anthony as they traveled to 20 countries in search of the best Latin performers. “I don’t think one of us thought about abandoning the project, ever, because of anything that happened. It was just how we were going to do it,” Lopez said about working together post-divorce in one of the “Q-Viva” episodes.
Sophia Bush and Chad Michael Murray
These One Tree Hill co-stars became engaged in 2004 and subsequently married in 2005. Despite the announcement of their separation in 2005, just five months after the wedding, the couple continued to work together on the show.
Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder
This Vampire Diaries couple has made sparks both on-screen and off. Somerhalder and Dobrev were a couple in real life for three years before splitting up. Fortunately they have remained civil, which is a good thing because their hit show is heading into its fifth season.