Here is a list of not-so-faithful famous people and their not-so-subtle affairs. Photos / Getty Images
OPINION
Ah, the wandering eye. An ailment that not even the pomp and romp of Hollywood can escape.
Unlike chicken pox or measles, if it catches you once, you’ll probably catch it a few times more. It’s an infectious affliction and needs to be treated accordingly.
A condition that is often kept under wraps because of its ignominious reputation, a species that often fails to conceal this particular sickness is none other than the cream of the crop, the high muckety-muck, Hollywood’s heavyweight heroes: A-list celebrities.
We’re naming and shaming the spotlight’s perfidious elite, calling out all the little moments they couldn’t keep it in their pants or under wraps when it came to their high-profile hanky-panky.
From Jada Pinkett Smith’s “entanglement” to the King of England’s “tampongate” scandal, here is a list of not-so-faithful famous people and their not-so-subtle affairs.
Imagine having a whole album written about your indiscretions. And imagine it being filled with absolute bangers. You don’t have to use your imagination too hard when listening to Beyonce’s second visual album Lemonade, featuring tracks about her cheating husband Jay-Z and “Becky with the good hair”.
In 2017, the rapper addressed cheating rumours with the New York Times Magazine, saying, “So you go into survival mode, and when you go into survival mode, what happens? You shut down all emotions. So even with women, you gonna shut down emotionally, so you can’t connect ... In my case, like, it’s deep. And then all the things happen from there: infidelity.”
this week ten years ago, kristen stewart was caught cheating on boyfriend robert pattinson with her "snow white and the huntsman" director rupert sanders: pic.twitter.com/ZF7cFEWzSe
— popculturediedin2009 (@pcd2009) August 17, 2022
Team Edward and Team Jacob girlies joined forces and schemed mutiny in 2012 when Kristen Stewart chose neither and, instead, opted for a pash with some guy named Rupert.
Fandoms flailed and Twilight stans had a menty-b when paparazzi photos of Stewart - who was dating heartthrob and co-star Robert Pattinson at the time - and her Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders went viral. The pictures showed the pair sharing a kiss and a cuddle in broad daylight - knowingly out of Edward’s sparkly-skinned reach.
The actress shortly after said: “I’m deeply sorry for the hurt and embarrassment I’ve caused to those close to me and everyone this has affected. This momentary indiscretion has jeopardised the most important thing in my life, the person I love and respect the most, Rob. I love him, I love him, I’m so sorry.”
Who would’ve thought, Kevin Hart not only falls short when it comes to height. He falls short when it comes to matrimonial commitment.
Height and loyalty are obviously two things the actor has in small supply, for he cheated on his wife Eniko Hart in 2017 when she was pregnant with his child.
The two weathered the storm and weren’t afraid to brave the touchy subject. The comedian revealed in his docuseries, Kevin Hart: Don’t F**k This Up: “The worst part was just knowing how you made somebody feel. There’s a major effect it could have on the people that you are closest to, who you love the most. When I got to see that first-hand with Eniko when I got to see the effect my reckless behaviour had … It was crushing, that tore me up. That really tore me up.”
Jude Law put the term “cliche” to good use in 2005 newspaper headlines when he confessed to cheating on Sienna Miller with the nanny (sigh).
Law said: “Following the reports in today’s papers, I just want to say I am deeply ashamed and upset that I’ve hurt Sienna and the people most close to us. I want to publicly apologise to Sienna and our respective families for the pain that I have caused.”
He continued in his grovel: “There is no defence for my actions which I sincerely regret and I ask that you respect our privacy at this very difficult time.”
The early noughties golden couple stuck it out a bit before calling it quits and reconciling a few years later and breaking up again. While they weren’t end game, they did make seriously juicy tabloid fodder.
You could practically hear the collective gasp from fans when Hugh Grant was arrested in 1995 for having sex in public - in a car to be precise - with a sex worker named Divine Brown.
Perhaps the even bigger exclamation came from actress and model Elizabeth Hurley, whom he was dating at the time.
After the news broke, the Notting Hill actor said, without his signature “ums” and “ahs” but laden with regret and shame: “Last night I did something completely insane. I have hurt people I love and embarrassed people I work with. For both things, I am more sorry than I can ever possibly say.”
Woody Allen made fans uncomfortable and unquestionably curious about his private life when he cheated on his wife Mia Farrow with her adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. The famous director went on to marry Previn, citing: “The heart wants what it wants. There’s no logic to those things. You meet someone and you fall in love and that’s that.”
While his future wife was allegedly 21 years old when they started dating, she first met the filmmaker when she was only 10.
Creepy? We think yes.
Manager, mum and matriarch of the Kardashian family, Kris Jenner now runs an empire with her first husband’s namesake. However, the momager made headlines in 2011 when she admitted in her memoir to cheating on Robert Kardashian.
In the biography, Kris Jenner... and All Things Kardashian, she refers to her lover as “Ryan”, confessing: “He kissed me and I kissed him back… I hadn’t been kissed like that in 10 years. It made me feel young, attractive, sexy, and alive.”
“Ryan” was reportedly professional soccer player Todd Waterman, who admitted to the steamy affair in an interview in 2012. “We came back to her friend’s home in Beverly Hills. And our first time [we had sex] was in her friend’s closet”, according to Daily Mail. “We found a little place in the house and consummated the relationship.”
“It was a magical night, surreal,” he added. “I think it was two people who were both open to experiencing something in their life at that time. It was fate, we invited it and we just ran with it and from that point on. We didn’t hold back.”
One can’t help but wonder if Keeping Up with the Kardashians missed on a gold mine when hiding this fruity romance from the screen.
Another one of the 90s’ hottest couples burst into flames and disintegrated faster than you can say “fire hazard” when they were involved in an A-lister triangle that had people stumped.
Meg Ryan cheated on her hunk hubby Dennis Quaid with none other than Gladiator star Russell Crowe.
After her split from Quaid in 2000, Ryan turned to In Style to clear the air - and point fingers at her ex-husband for doing the deed first.
“It was a great story, but what wasn’t in the story was the reality of my marriage for nine years,” she explained. “Dennis was not faithful to me for a long time, and that was very painful. I found out more about that once I was divorced.”
Defending Aussie actor Crowe, she said: “I think he took a big hit. But Russell didn’t break up the marriage. He was definitely there at the end, but it wasn’t his fault. I was a mess. I hurt him, too, at the end. I couldn’t be in another long relationship, it wasn’t the time for that. So I got out.”
Jada Pinkett Smith not only fuelled gossip sites for weeks with her infidelity admission but she added a new term to our internal vocabularies: entanglement.
The actress - and wife of Oscar-winner Will Smith - had a four-year affair with August Alsina, who was close friends with her son, Jaden Smith.
The couple famously discussed the “entanglement” on her show Red Table Talk where Smith’s tearful face broke hearts around the world and provided ten-out-of-ten meme content for years to come.
Okay, we’ll be honest, everyone knows this guy wasn’t ye old faithful - but we couldn’t pass on the opportunity to bring up his “tampongate” catastrophe - again.
For those in need of a refresher, Charles and now-queen Camilla famously frolicked around when Princess Di was married to the future King of England. Pointing out Camilla as the “third person in their marriage”, Diana’s revenge dress and ensuing slay era would have never happened if it weren’t for Charles’ infidelity with Parker-Bowles.
Not afraid to dabble in dirty talk, Charles and Camilla’s affair was made public when a raunchy phone call in 1989 was leaked to the press. The late-night chat famously shed light on the King’s hopes to be reincarnated as Camilla’s tampon - to be close to her.
Odd? Very. Kind of sweet? A little bit. Cheating? Absolutely.
Dolly Parton will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her charity work.