8 Movies That Caused Steamy Tabloid Scandals

Occasionally, when the cameras are rolling and two highly attractive actors are doing an intimate romance scene, some lines can become blurred. Love knows no bounds after all, and playing pretend as a married couple or falling in love can be dangerous for whatever’s going on in your real personal life. As a result, we have movies that caused a lot of drama and became tabloid fodder.

People enjoy a juicy rumor, and on-set affairs that resulted in marriage breakups are particularly captivating. Sometimes, what happens behind the scenes is much more captivating than the movie itself.

1. Kenneth Branagh & Helena Bonham Carter — Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Nothing says romance like rotting reanimated corpses and gothic gloom. Kenneth Branagh cast himself and Helena Bonham Carter as star-crossed lovers in his 1994 modern take on the classic Frankenstein story. But there was a tiny little problem. He was married to Emma Thompson, and while she thought he was a faithful Shakespearean heartthrob, Ken was apparently “auditioning” Helena for a different role.

Emma later admitted she was blindsided, saying she had “utterly, utterly” missed the cheating signs. Branagh and Thompson split in 1995, Branagh and Carter played a spooky couple for five years, then split in 1999. Even Hollywood’s finest necromancy couldn’t save that love story.

2. Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie — Mr. & Mrs. Smith

This movie was literally about a married couple secretly trying to kill each other, so it’s fitting that the real-life marriage carnage was even messier. Brad Pitt signed on while still married to America’s sweetheart, Jennifer Aniston. Then came whispers, paparazzi using cranes to spy on the set, and tabloid chaos.

Brad denied it, Jennifer cried, and then boom!—he and Jolie were spotted vacationing in Kenya. Well, you win some, you lose some. When “Brangelina” was born, the paparazzi had job security for a decade, and six kids later, the fairy tale imploded in 2016.

3. Kristen Stewart & Rupert Sanders — Snow White and the Huntsman

In 2012, Kristen Stewart proved she wasn’t just Twilight‘s brooding teen, she was also famous for kissing the movie’s director. Paparazzi caught her and 41-year-old Rupert Sanders, who was married at the time, locking lips in a car. Drama alert!

Rupert issued a Hallmark-worthy apology to his “heavenly children,” while Kristen begged Rob Pattinson’s forgiveness, but it didn’t work. Rob ended his relationship with Kristen, Rupert’s wife also left him, and everyone discovered that cheating photos never look flattering when taken through a zoom lens.

4. Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton — Cleopatra

Liz Taylor basically invented the Hollywood scandal playbook. Already on husband number four after stealing Eddie Fisher from Debbie Reynolds, Liz met Richard Burton on the set of Cleopatra in 1963. He was married. She was married. But who cares about some wedding vows when you’re shooting a movie in Italy? It turns out, a lot of people cared.

The Vatican called her behavior “erotic vagrancy,” a congresswoman tried to ban them from reentering the U.S., and tabloids had a field day. Naturally, Liz and Richard doubled down, married each other, divorced, remarried, and divorced again. The tabloids were ecstatic.