While most break-ups have a certain level of awkwardness, there’s a very unique form of weirdness when it comes to celebrities who dated, broke up and then had to keep working together. However, it happens more often than many realize. While each former celeb couple had their own ways of handling it, there are undoubtedly some obstacles they reckoned with. We’ve compiled 15 famous couples that worked together even after breaking up.
1. Milo Ventimiglia and Hayden Panettiere
Do we have any Heroes fans in the house? While it sounds kind of awkward to imagine Ventimigilia, who played Panettiere’s uncle in the series as her real-life boyfriend — it happened in real life. While their off-screen relationship only lasted two years, they continued to work together on Heroes as characters Claire Bennet and Peter Petrelli after calling it quits.
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2. Zendaya and Jacob Elordi
While their characters definitely don’t vibe at all on the hit-HBO series, Euphoria (I mean, they’re basically enemies), at one point these too were vibing a lot in real life. After meeting on the set of Euphoria , they began dating, and even traveled to Australia and Greece together. However, things fizzled after about four years. Now, Zendaya and Spiderman co-star Tom Holland are an item, and it’s adorable.
3. Jennifer Lawrence and Nicolas Hoult
The bell rang for X-men: First Class, and Lawrence and Hoult decided to be there for each other after bonding on set. They were careful to keep their relationship fairly private and eventually broke up on good terms. Distance played a key role in the dissolution of their relationship. We guess distance doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder. They continued to collaborate professionally after their break-up.
4. Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison
Even though they tried to date in secret, before long, the cat was out of the bag for Michele and Morrison. Before co-starring on Glee together, the two had worked on Broadway for some times. In fact, when they were both Broadway stars, they dated and then they revisited that spark again while filming Glee (but tried to hide it then, maybe because they portrayed teacher and student in the show). The relationship was apparently extremely brief with out much public information on why they split. The two remain friends.
5. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart
This one is kind of a huge bummer. The world was thrilled to see the Twilight couple together both on-screen and in real life. However, that excitement became scandal when Stewart cheated on Pattinson with Snow White and the Huntsman director, Rupert Sanders. To say the least, it was not the happily ever after anyone had hoped for. Now, Stewart is openly queer and engaged to screenwriter, Dylan Meyer, while Pattinson is in a relationship with model, Suki Waterhouse. Even after a big mess, it seems they both found new people to cherish.
6. Mindy Kaling and B.J Novak
Kaling met Novak on the set of The Office and they dated on-and-off again for a few years until calling it quits. Both admit to having a “weird” relationship with one another, which includes blurring the lines between friendship, romance and anything in between. They continue to work together professionally and even attend red carpet events as a pair.
7. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Dany Garcia
After being married for 10 years and starting a family, The Rock and Garcia filed for divorce. However, the two remain very close. In fact, Garcia is Johnson’s manager and they have many professional projects together, including the company they co-founded called Seven Bucks Productions.
8. Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki
For 12 seasons, Cuoco and Galecki played romantic interests Penny Teller and Leonard Hofstadter on The Big Bang Theory . While the two were married on the show, their off-screen romance only lasted two years. However, they continued working together and being close friends after their break-up.
9. Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron
This High School Musical couple was probably one of the most dote-worthy duos in history. Fans felt like their dreams were coming true when Hudgens and Efron started dating in real life. They dated for around 4 years and then broke up. Despite their break-up, the former couple continued their High School Musical tour and other shared obligations with Disney.
10. Channing Tatum and Amanda Bynes
While most people have their minds on Tatum being with Zoe Kravitz right now, once upon a time, he was with Amanda Bynes. The popular movie She’s The Man brought the two together, but they were very private about the relationship. Bynes fought for Tatum to get a role in the movie, and for that, he “loved her.” While the two continued to work together professionally, their dating life is very much over.
11. Heidi Klum and Seal
After being married for almost seven years with five children, Klum and Seal decided to split. Klum is currently remarried and Seal is single, but they continue to co-parent as a team. They’ve both shared that it’s not always easy to raise their children between the divorce, busy schedules and career management, but they make it work.
12. Jenny Slate and Chris Evans
When they couldn’t make their schedules work, Slate and Evans broke up after nine months. The two met on the set of Gifted, but didn’t date until Slate was divorced. Even after splitting, they worked on Gifted and other projects. Slate is currently married to filmmaker, Dean Fleischer-Camp and Evans is single (hard to believe Captain America doesn’t have a GF!).
13. Lili Reinhart and Cole Sprouse
Almost like fate Reinhart and Sprouse started dating around the same time as their on-screen characters started their romance. They dated from 2017 to 2020, but continued to work on Riverdale after their relationship ended. Reinhart shared with the public via Instagram when the two officially weren’t an item anymore.
14. Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn
This former pair dated for a year while ironically filming The Breakup (was that not a bad omen for the future?). Art imitated life as the two found themselves calling it quits while working on the film about the couple that calls it quits. With that said, the two have remained friends with fondness for each other.
15. Blake Lively and Penn Badgley
Despite playing romantic interests in Gossip Girl, Lively and Badgley actually kept their real-life relationship fairly private. While they seem to get along well enough now, they’re both in relationships with other celeb partners, but have plenty of memories to look back on.
Let us know what you think of these former couples that worked together in the comments and if any of them surprised you.
