Over the last ten years, we’ve watched our favorite celebs hook up, break up, break down, flip out and start over. With all of its love triangles, legal battles, family dramas and political scandals, the “Naughties” certainly earned its wicked name!
1. The Jen/Brad/Angelina Triangle
Gossip bloggers should give daily thanks to the pop culture gods for Brad Pitt’s and Jennifer Aniston’s 2005 divorce. No other recent event has led to so much tabloid fodder. Despite their adulterous start, the tabloids quickly adopted “Brangelina” (and their million kids) as THE hip Hollywood couple, and Jennifer Aniston (against her will) became the poster-child for lonely, single women everywhere.
2. Cruise and Kidman Call It Quits
Tom Cruise shocked fans—and Nicole Kidman—when he filed for divorced from his wife of ten years. Kidman revealed six weeks after the filing that she had suffered a miscarriage, fueling rumors that the baby may not have been Tom’s. There were also whispers that the couple’s inability to have a biological child and Kidman’s unwillingness to convert to Scientology contributed to the split. Would you convert to Scientology for a man? What if it was Tom Cruise?
3. LiLo and SamRo: A Love Story
Serial man-dater Lindsay Lohan announced in a September 2008 email to the New York Post that she and DJ Samantha Ronson loved each other, and said in the December 2008 issue of Harper’s Bazaar, “I think it’s pretty obvious who I’m seeing.” The relationship took a lot of crazy twists and turns, and finally ended in April 2009. Or did it? If rumors and Lindsay’s tweets are to be believed, the two can’t seem to quit each other, and have been on and off for months.
4. Kate Minus Jon Plus 8
Before 2007 no one had heard of Jon and Kate Gosselin. Two years later, they were the tabloids’ favorite train wreck. After their televised marriage hit the skids in 2009, with each one blaming the other and publicly airing all of their dirty laundry, all we could do was watch, opine and bask in the great cocktail of reality TV: a cool mix of schadenfreude and pity.
5. Britney and Kevin: Chaotic, Indeed – If Brad and Jen were Hollywood’s Ken and Barbie, perhaps Britney and Kevin were Raggedy Ann and Andy? In 2004, Britney Spears announced that she was engaged to backup dancer-turned-rapper Kevin Federline, even though they’d only been dating for three months and Federline’s ex, Shar Jackson, had just given birth to their second child. Brit-Brit and K-Fed married in September 2004, but after two years and two sons together, Spears filed for divorce. When Brit started acting crazy (remember the head-shaving incident?), Federllne won sole custody of the kids, with visitation rights for Spears.
6. Tom Cruise “Jumps the Couch” – May 23, 2005: A day that will live in infamy. Appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show to talk about new ladylove Kaite Holmes, Tom Cruise made a scene by jumping up and down on Oprah’s couch in a display that many viewers found contrived. Still, TomKat welcomed baby Suri in April 2006 and were married later that same year. So, maybe it’s true love after all and the “marriage contract” rumors are just cynical gossip?
7. Anna Nicole’s Baby Battle – When Anna Nicole Smith died in February 2007, several men claimed to be the father of her infant daughter Danielynn, including former bodyguard Alexander Denk, attorney/boyfriend Howard K. Stern and ex-lover Larry Birkhead (what a group of names!). Although Smith and Stern had both maintained that Stern was Danielynn’s daddy, Birkhead demanded a paternity test. That April, a DNA test proved that Birkhead was the father.
8. Paul McCartney and Heather Mills Divorce – After marrying in 2002 and separating in 2006, Mills started talking crazy in 2007, saying that Paul’s “evil” daughter Stella was to blame for their breakup, and that the Beatle had been emotionally and physically abusive. Things only got nastier from there, as Mills made a play for Paul’s money and the tabloids gave the pair front-page press. The divorce was finalized in May 2008, at which point McCartney commented that he would have “peace at last.”
9. Melissa Etheridge’s Unlikely Sperm Donor – In 2000, Etheridge revealed to Rolling Stone magazine that aging rocker David Crosby was the biological father of her two children with then-partner Julie Cypher. Cypher gave birth to both babies, conceived via artificial insemination.
Posted by: YourTango.com
