10 celebrity exes who had to play lovers after breaking up
10 celebrity exes who had to play lovers after breaking up
Brianna ZiglerFri, August 28, 2026 at 5:43 PM UTC
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Jennifer Aniston and Tate Donovan in 1997; Rosamund Pike and Simon Woods in 2002Credit: K.Mazur/WireImage; Dave Hogan/Getty
Acting requires a suspension of disbelief, and that sometimes includes having to pretend to be in love with an ex. Many Hollywood stars have found themselves in this unique, fascinating position.
There’s Dominic Cooper and Amanda Seyfried, who played characters on the verge of marriage in Mamma Mia! (2008) while they were an IRL couple, though they had broken up by the time of the 2018 sequel. Or French actors Benoît Magimel and Juliette Binoche, who had to play passionate paramours in 2023’s The Taste of Things, two decades after they broke up.
Keep reading for Entertainment Weekly’s list of 10 celebrity exes who had to be intimate on screen after their relationship had ended.
01 of 10
Christopher McDonald and Geena Davis
Christopher McDonald and Geena Davis at the premiere of ‘Thelma And Louise’Credit: Robin Platzer/Getty
During a 2026 career retrospective for the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Happy Gilmore actor Christopher McDonald recalled the awkward situation that arose when he had to play the husband of his real-life ex-fianceé Geena Davis in Thelma & Louise (1991).
“The inside story is Geena Davis and I were engaged to be married for about five weeks, and she fell in love with Jeff Goldblum doing her first movie over there in Europe,” he said. “And I don’t blame him. She’s stunningly beautiful and everything like that, but you know what happens on sets, some things happen, but I was broken.”
“I was doing Hamlet at the time playing Laertes. And I had another three weeks to finish, and then I was going to go over and join her,” McDonald explained, noting that he ended up getting the news that Davis was leaving him from Ed Begley Jr. He recalled feeling “really, really devastated.”
When Thelma & Louise director Ridley Scott told Davis that he’d cast McDonald as her husband, she was totally on board, revealing that she “‘used to go with him,’” per McDonald.
He didn’t want things to be weird, so he extended an olive branch. “I called her the next day and I said, ‘Hey, you want to go to lunch?’ So, we hugged it out. We had a really lovely afternoon,” he said. “And then we did what, I think, is probably the most ironic thing in the world,” which was to take fake wedding photos as their characters.
“We went, ‘Oh my god, are you kidding me?’” McDonald continued. “So, yeah, we did all that. It turned out great, and we’re dear friends now. She’s just a remarkable woman, and she wrote a book and wrote something really nice about that time for me. So thank you, Geena.”
02 of 10
Rosamund Pike and Simon Woods
Rosamund Pike and Simon Woods at the world premiere of ‘Die Another Day’ on Nov. 18, 2002 in London, EnglandCredit: Dave Hogan/Getty
While studying at Oxford, English actress Rosamund Pike dated fellow actor Simon Woods for two years. After they broke up, they would go on to play sweethearts Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley in director Joe Wright’s 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. But that’s not even the half of it — while filming with her ex, Pike became engaged to Wright (the couple broke things off by 2008).
In an interview with The Guardian around the time of the film’s release, Wright admitted that things could have gotten hairy between the love triangle, but it was the exact opposite. “I tried very hard not to cast Simon, but I knew he was perfect,” Wright explained. “Finally I rang Ros and asked if she’d mind, and she said, ‘Absolutely not.’”
Up until that point, the exes hadn’t seen each other for two years, but once they got on set together, everything went swimmingly.
03 of 10
Benoît Magimel and Juliette Binoche
Benoît Magimel and Juliette Binoche during the closing ceremony of the 29th Cabourg Romantic Film Festival on June 13, 2015 in Cabourg, FranceCredit: Stephane Cardinale/Corbis via Getty
In the French period drama The Taste of Things, Benoît Magimel and Juliette Binoche play Dodin and Eugénie, a gourmet and his cook, respectively, who have been lovers for 20 years. In real life, it had been 20 years since Magimel and Binoche had broken up. They fell in love on the set of 1999’s Children of the Century, but ended things five years later.
In the end, The Taste of Things allowed the two former lovers — who share a daughter, Hana — to finally reconnect after becoming just short of estranged. “I was trying to get ahold of Benoît more than he tried to get ahold of me. Because of having the responsibility of a child — you can imagine how much weight it has, and there’s the desire to connect. That’s why starting on the set together for The Taste of Things was very moving for us,” Binoche told Vulture in 2023, in a joint interview with Magimel.
As for how seeing her parents together again on film was for their daughter, Binoche said, “I asked Hana two days after she saw the film, ‘How did you feel watching your parents play together? Was it healing?’ And she said, ‘Yes. Totally.’ But just after she watched the film, she was overwhelmed. She hid in the restroom. I went to her and took her in my arms and she was crying, saying, ‘I didn’t know it was going to be so upsetting.’ And we cried together.”
Magimel explained that acting with his ex again felt normal: “It seems like everyone else is more interested in what it was like for us to get back together again than we are. For me it felt very natural. We know each other well. And there was a modesty between us, too.”
“We need to do it again. And not wait as long this time,” Magimel said, of wanting to act with Binoche again. “Maybe not when I’m 80,” Binoche joked in response.
04 of 10
Jacob Elordi and Joey King
Jacob Elordi and Joey King at a screening of ‘The Kissing Booth’ on May 10, 2018 in Los AngelesCredit: Rachel Murray/Getty
Before Jacob Elordi became an Academy Award-nominated star and Joey King starred opposite A-listers like Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock, the two young actors were an item while starring in the Netflix YA trilogy The Kissing Booth. After meeting on the set of the first film in 2017, the pair became an item, and shortly after, King spoke to BELLO magazine about going from coworkers to lovers.
“Was it love at first sight? Well, I thought he was very cute when we first met, but it started as a friendship. Right away we were talking about gross things with each other,” King said. “But before long I started to realize, ‘Hey, I think I kind of like this person!’”
By 2018, fans had speculated that the two had gone their separate ways due to cryptic social media posts — but the actors still had two more Kissing Booth movies to film as their characters Elle Evans and Noah Flynn. In 2019, the breakup was further solidified when King made an appearance on the Mood With Lauren Elizabeth podcast and referenced having to act as a couple with her ex.
“I’m a fan with how [the film] resonated with the world, it resonated with me,” King explained. “So going back and doing that and making the sacrifice of what, obviously, everyone is thinking about — outwardly addressing, but what I’m kind of on the sly addressing, making those sacrifices was totally worth it.”
05 of 10
Tate Donovan and Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston and Tate DonovanCredit: K. Mazur/WireImage
Tate Donovan and Friends star Jennifer Aniston had been dating for two years when he booked a guest spot on the wildly popular sitcom. For five episodes in 1998, he played the new love interest of Rachel Green. However, in real life, Aniston and Donovan were actually going through their breakup just as they were playing a couple on TV.
“I was just happy to be on the team. The only bummer was Jennifer and I were breaking up at the time,” Donovan told Us Weekly in 2018. “And so that was tricky to sort of act, and act like we are just meeting each other, and falling in love, or whatever, interested in each other, when we’re sort of breaking up. That was just tough.”
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Despite his complicated feelings about having to play a couple with his ex, he enjoyed the experience, particularly when it came to working with the rest of the Friends crew.
“Those six people were amazing to me,” he said. “They were fantastic. It wasn’t cliquey for me at all. I was lucky. The good thing that came out of it was that everyone was really cool about it, and really as helpful as they could be. In other words, they were just compassionate, very compassionate about the whole breakup.”
He continued, “It was sort of like I proved that, hey, I guess I’m a pro. If you can go through a tough breakup, and still do your job, then you’re a pro. It was good. It was really ultimately a great experience of how people can treat you really well, and you still do your job even though you’re sort of dying inside.”
06 of 10
Diane Keaton and Woody Allen
Woody Allen and Diane Keaton on the set of ‘Sleeper’Credit: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty
As one of Woody Allen’s closest collaborators, the late Diane Keaton starred in eight of the director’s films, including an early short mockumentary titled Men of Crisis: The Harvey Wallinger Story (1971). And while the pair’s ill-fated onscreen love is forever cemented in the timeless rom-com Annie Hall (1977), they were also once an item during the 1960s.
They dated back when Keaton starred in a Broadway production of Allen’s Play it Again, Sam, which later became a film in 1972, and by then the two were no longer together. However, they continued to work together on Allen’s films and remained close friends. And while some speculated that Annie Hall was based on their prior romance, Keaton mostly shot the rumor down in a 1977 interview with the New York Times: “It’s not true, but there are elements of truth in it.”
Their friendship continued over the years, with Keaton speaking fondly of Allen in an interview with The Guardian in 2014. “He’s the strongest person I’ve met in my life. He’s made of steel,” she said. “And talk about a work ethic — he’s one of the people that really did teach me that you have to work hard. But he wanted to. He’s the most disciplined person I’ve known, with the exception of my dad.”
07 of 10
Dominic Cooper and Amanda Seyfried
Dominic Cooper and Amanda Seyfried at a Gucci dinner in Los AngelesCredit: Donato Sardella/WWD/Penske Media via Getty
After meeting on the set of Mamma Mia, in which they played soon-to-be newlyweds Sophie and Sky, Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper became a couple in real life and dated for about a year after the film came out in 2008. However, by the time of the sequel a full decade later, the two had long since moved on; in 2017, Seyfried married her The Last Word costar Thomas Sadowski, with whom she shares two kids, while Cooper has been with Gemma Chan since 2018.
However, Cooper said it was no sweat having to play a couple again with his ex. “She’s a friend,” he told Attitude magazine. “It was always going to be OK. You just have to be delicate with those situations.”
“She’s married now and has a beautiful child,” he continued. “We knew we were going to be working together [again] on a set, going back to a part which was certainly going to remind us of 10 years earlier, but I know her family, I know her mum, who was there a lot.”
He concluded by saying, “It was a pleasant atmosphere. It was really interesting to see how different our lives are after 10 years. It is a long time and it was nice to spend time [with her].”
08 of 10
Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake at the New York premiere of ‘Bad Teacher’ on June 20, 2011
Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz were an item between 2003 and 2006, reportedly after they met for the first time at the Kids’ Choice Awards. So, by the time they filmed a sex scene together for the 2011 comedy Bad Teacher(in which Timberlake’s character plays the object of Diaz’s affections), they had been broken up for a few years.
But Diaz insisted that all was good between the two exes on set. “No, it’s great. Justin and I have always had a good laugh together, and to make a movie where we get to have a laugh together, and there really was no one else who was more perfect for this part,” she told Us Weekly.
She went on to praise her ex, calling him a “a genius comedian” and adding that “he’s clearly talented. We went for the best person for the job, and it just so happened that it was him. And he delivers.”
“It really wasn’t a big deal,” she continued, “we had a great time and did the job, and we do what all actors do afterward: We all go our separate ways. We’ll all come back together for the premiere.”
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09 of 10
Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck and Gwyneth PaltrowCredit: Ke.Mazur/WireImage
Before Bennifer, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck dated for three years, from 1997 to 2000. And despite media speculation that the two might’ve still been together at the time of their romantic flick Bounce (2000), Affleck told EW, “Gwyneth and I are not going out. We’re not a couple. We’re not an item.”
However, he did discuss how he ended up taking on the role of Buddy Amaral in the film: It was Paltrow’s idea. “We weren’t even really talking that much. We had broken up and it was in that phase where it’s obviously difficult,” Affleck said, about when he received a call from his ex.
Paltrow had read the script for Bounce and thought it was a great role for him — and unlike his past ones. “I’ve always had this ongoing dialogue with Ben about doing stuff that required more of him,” she told EW. “When I see something like Armageddon and see him just not connecting, I get sort of like, ‘Yeah, you’re charming… but it’s not what you’re capable of.”’
Despite the fact that Paltrow’s friends and family didn’t want her playing house with her ex-boyfriend (“They were like, ‘Don’t do it, it’s going to be a drama”’), she successfully persuaded him to do it.
10 of 10
Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern
Laura Dern and Kyle MacLachlan at the premiere of ‘Smooth Talk’ on Feb. 26, 1986 in New York CityCredit: Ron Galella Collection via Getty
After Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern met while filming David Lynch’s 1986 psychological drama Blue Velvet, they briefly became a couple through 1989. The two remained friends, though, so when they were paired up again for the Twin Peaks revival series The Return in 2017, where they had to film an intimate sex scene, it was no big thing — although he admitted it was a bit awkward.
“Laura is just, as you know, just wonderful and a very special person, so we had this scene that we had to do together, we both knew going in was going to require some nakedness on both our parts,” MacLachlan said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
“And it’s very funny because [director] David [Lynch] would sit down and just say, ‘Okay, this is what we’re doing to do,’ and he talks you through it. So you feel pretty comfortable and then you sit down, and Laura and I kind of were like, ‘Okay, here we go. Welcome back 25 years later.’”
When DeGeneres asked about whether filming the scene was weird, MacLachlan responded, “Yeah, it was pretty weird.” But they still had a good time with it: “We laughed, we did, we had a couple laughs for sure.”
on Entertainment Weekly
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