Celeb Couples Who Called Off Their Engagements

The list includes Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts, Britney Spears, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sienna Miller, Jude Law, Demi Moore and Nick Cannon

By Corinne Heller Feb 15, 2017 5:00 PMTags
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Remember when the original "Bennifer" called it quits on their relationship and engagement? And did you know Julia Roberts was almost a real-life "Runaway Bride"?

The actress and fellow stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are among several celebs who canceled their wedding plans.

The list also includes Britney Spears, Miley CyrusLady GagaGwyneth Paltrow, Sienna Miller, Jude Law, Demi Moore and Nick Cannon

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Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez: The two started dating after meeting on the set of their film Gigli, a box office bomb, in 2002. He appeared in her "Jenny From the Block" music video.

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The two got engaged later that year. Affleck proposed with a now-famous 6.1-carat pink solitaire custom-made diamond ring by Harry Winston.

Their wedding was to take place in Santa Barbara in September 2003 and paparazzi flocked to the coastal city in California's wine country in anticipation of the big day. Days before the ceremony, Lopez and Affleck postponed the wedding date due to what they said was "excessive media attention."

Over the next few months, they began to spend time apart. In January 2004, it was announced J.Lo and Affleck had split.

In 2014, Lopez said on the Today show her and Affleck's breakup was probably her "first big heartbreak." In 2015, she told HuffPost Live she had "no regrets" about her time with the actor. A month after that interview was posted, Lopez and Affleck reunited briefly at the Oscars.

Lady Gaga and Taylor Kinney: The two began dating in 2011 after meeting on the set of her "Yoü and I" music video. They got engaged on Valentine's Day 2015. Kinney proposed with a heart-shaped diamond engagement ring.

In July 2016, it was revealed the two had called it quits. Gaga then explained they "have been taking a break." But last week, it was revealed she is dating talent agent Christian Carino.

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Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth: The two began dating after meeting on the set of the 2010 romantic drama The Last Song. They got engaged in 2012 and broke up a year later. In January 2016, it was revealed that they rekindled their romance. They also got re-engaged, with Cyrus again sporting her enormous diamond engagement ring.

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Jennifer Morrison and Jesse Spencer: After dating for about a year, the House actor proposed to his co-star over Christmas 2006 in Paris—in French, no less!

"I was like, 'Uh, what are you doing?' " the actress, who now plays Emma on Once Upon a Time, told InStyle Weddings. "He said, 'I'm asking you to marry me in French!' I was just staring at him. I don't speak French. And he said, 'Well, are you going to answer?' And I replied, 'Oh, yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!'"

After several months, the two called off their engagement and split. They continued to work together on House.

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Tara Reid and Carson Daly: The then host of MTV's Total Request Live met the American Pie actress on the set of MTV's spring break show in Cancun and soon began dating. He proposed to her the following October.

In summer 2001, their engagement and relationship was over.

"When something's not right, it's not right," Reid told the New York Daily News. "I did everything I could to make the relationship work, and it didn't."

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Julia Roberts and Dylan McDermott: 

The actress has called off wedding plans twice.

She broke off an engagement to Dylan McDermott, who played her husband in Steel Magnolias, after meeting Kiefer Sutherland on the set of Flatliners in 1990, People reported.

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Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland: They planned to wed in June 1991. They were set to exchange vows on a Twentieth Century Fox sound stage, decorated to look like a pastoral garden, in front of some 150 guests.

Three days before their wedding, their reps announced the event was postponed and it was later revealed that the actress had called it off completely.

On the day of their wedding, the actor moved out of a home he shared with Roberts. The actress, meanwhile, was spotted out with another man—Sutherland's Lost Boys co-star Jason Patric.

"They had a relationship that ended and I was with her for a little while and it ended," Patric told Vulture in 2011. "They've both been subsequently married several times and I think they're fine. But we never had any issue, even back then."

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Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow: The two met on the set of the 1995 thriller Se7en, in which she played his wife, who met a disturbing fate. They got engaged in late 1996. He proposed to her in Argentina, where he was filming Seven Years in Tibet.

"I can't wait, man," Pitt had told Rolling Stone. "Walk down the aisle, wear the ring, kiss the bride. Oh, it's going to be great. Marriage is an amazing thing. And what a compliment—'You're the one I want to spend the rest of my life with,' you know? Because I'm only going to do it once."

Pitt and Paltrow called it quits several months later.

"I was such a kid," Paltrow told Howard Stern's Sirius XM radio show in 2015. "I mean I was 22 when we met and it's taken me until 40 to get my head out of my ass. You can't make a decision when you're 22 years old."

"I definitely fell in love with him," she said. "He was so gorgeous and sweet. I mean, he was Brad Pitt."

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Sienna Miller and Jude Law: The two met in 2003 on the set of their film Alfie and began dating. They got engaged on Christmas Day 2004. In mid-2005, the actor was reported to have had an affair with the nanny of his three children. Law apologized publicly.

"I just want to say I am deeply ashamed and upset that I've hurt Sienna and the people most close to us," he said in a statement to the British Press Association. "I want to publicly apologize to Sienna and our respective families for the pain that I have caused."

They attempted to reconciled but ultimately ended their engagement in November 2006. The two reunited a couple of times years later before called it quits again in 2011.

Last May, Miller told PORTER magazine she still cares about Law "enormously."

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Sienna Miller and Tom Sturridge: The two began dating in 2011 and announced their engagement the following year. They welcomed a daughter, Marlowe, six months later. It was reported in July 2015 that the couple ended their engagement. They continue to co-parent and have reunited several times since then.

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Demi Moore and Emilio Estevez: The two began dating after meeting on the set 1985 cult drama film St. Elmo's Fire. They then got engaged but called off their wedding due to their busy acting schedules and later broke up.

In 1987, she dated Bruce Willis before they wed three months later at the Golden Nugget hotel in Las Vegas. The two, parents of daughters Rumer Willis, 28, Scott Willis, 25, and Tallulah Willis, 22, split in 2000.

Moore went on to date and marry Ashton Kutcher. They divorced in 2013 after eight years.

Moore and Estevez have remained friendly since their split and reunited several times over the years. The two starred together in the 2006 Robert F. Kennedy biopic Bobby, which he wrote and directed and which also features Kutcher.

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Rory McIlroy and Caroline Wozniacki: The Northern Irish golf star and Danish tennis star began dating in 2011 and engaged on New Year's Eve in 2013. Five months later, days after they sent their wedding invitations, McIlroy said the two were no longer engaged, explaining in a statement that sending out the invites made him realize he "wasn't ready for all that marriage entails."

"The problem is mine," he added. "I wish Caroline all the happiness she deserves and thank her for the great times we've had."

Wozniacki later revealed on In Depth with Graham Bensinger that McIlroy broke up with her over a 10-minute phone call and never talked to her again.

"In my head I had everything until that moment. I had a great career, I was getting married, I have a perfect family. Everything was great...then all of a sudden something happens that you don't expect," she told The Independent newspaper in 2015. "It really feels like someone close to you has died."

"I think that taught me so much," she added. "I think I grew up so much in that short amount of time. I also realized who is always there for me and who is just there when things are good."

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Britney Spears and Jason Trawick: The two began dating in 2009, when he was her manager. A year later, her rep announced he was no longer working for her and that they were focusing on their personal relationship. They got engaged in late 2011 and broke up in early 2013, during which she returned the $90,000 3.5-carat diamond engagement ring he gave her.

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Nick Cannon and Selita Ebanks: The America's Got Talent host began dating the model in February 2007 after meeting at a Super Bowl party in Miami.

The following May, he proposed to her in Times Square after they left the annual Met Gala. Cannon popped the question with a 12-carat sparkler, while the MTV JumboTron flashed the question, "Selita will you marry me?" They then celebrated at an after-party.

Five months later, they called off their engagement.

"Selita and Nick are taking a break to focus on their careers but still very much love each other and remain the best of friends," Ebanks' rep said.

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Sheryl Crow and Lance Armstrong: The singer and now-disgraced cycling champion got engaged in 2005 after dating for almost two years. They announced their split in 2006.

Crow has kept her personal life private over the years but did announce in 2007 she adopted a baby boy named Wyatt. She revealed in 2010 she adopted another son, Levi.

"Hey, I would love to get married—I'm still old-fashioned. But I don't think marriage is the be-all and end-all," Crow told Good Housekeeping in 2014. "It's better to have three broken engagements than three divorces."

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