Famous Men Who Left Their Wives For Much Younger Women

In the classic 1996 film "The First Wives Club," three women confront the fact that their husbands have all left them for younger women. Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton play the main characters, friends who embark on a series of revenge plots as a way of coping with the fact that they're getting older and their husbands found someone younger. "There are only three ages for women in Hollywood," muses Hawn's character Elise. "Babe, District Attorney, and 'Driving Miss Daisy.'" Ivana Trump, a woman who knew a thing or two about being left for a younger woman, tells the ladies, "You have to be strong and independent, and remember, don't get mad, get everything!"

The movie is playing on a real-life phenomenon: plenty of famous men have made headlines for ending a relationship in favor of one with a much younger woman. These splits have involved infidelities and rebounds, secret relationships and denials, and often, extremely messy divorce settlements. Occasionally, the younger woman goes on to become a longtime partner herself; other times, that second relationship falls apart, too, leaving everyone involved wondering, "What was I thinking? Read on for a look at all the ways these relationships can turn out, and keep in mind the immortal words of Elise: "You think that because I'm a movie star I don't have feelings? Well, you're wrong. I'm an actress. I've got all of them!"

Some celeb splits go down in Hollywood history thanks to their sheer messiness. When 1980s funnyman Ted Danson split from longtime wife Casey Coates to link up with Whoopi Goldberg instead — who was 18 years younger than his wife — Hollywood was enthralled. After all, the divorce wound up being one of the costliest in Tinseltown history.

Danson and Goldberg got together on the set of "Made in America," and his marriage to Coates crumbled. They'd been together since before he starred on "Cheers," so Coates was entitled to a significant chunk of Danson's wealth. According to Marie Claire, she walked away with $30 million.

Goldberg and Danson's relationship didn't last. Danson famously appeared at a Friars Club roast in blackface, performing a set full of slurs. The future host of "The View" defended her boyfriend's choice, but the writing was on the wall. They split in 1993, with a source telling Variety (via the Eugene Register-Guard), "In some ways, they seem so different as people. And I can't believe that whole Friars Club thing helped." Years later, Danson expressed regret for how the whole thing went down. "I wish that hadn't been me, but even your wounds, you kind of have fondness for if you've gone through them and live through it and acknowledged it and made amends and all that stuff," he told NPR.

Ewan McGregor was married to Eve Mavrakis for more than two decades, but the year 2017 changed everything. That's when the "Star Wars" star filmed a season of the FX show "Fargo," where he met "Final Destination 3" star Mary Elizabeth Winstead. She's 14 years his junior, but that didn't stop the two of them from falling for one another on set. 

According to The Sun, McGregor confessed to Mavrakis that he was in love with his co-star. As you might expect, that didn't go over particularly well in the McGregor household. Though McGregor insisted that they hadn't consummated their mutual attraction, Mavrakis wasn't convinced. A source told the outlet, "Eve is sure Ewan and Mary were together before he confessed his feelings for her. It is hard for her to believe him. This situation is extremely difficult for her and their four children."

Further complicating the situation, Winstead was married, too. The Daily Mail reported that her husband, filmmaker Riley Stearns, had threatened McGregor on Instagram, writing, "Laugh at me, will ya? F**k the woman of my dreams behind my back, will ya? @mewins @mscregor_ewan You're F***ING dead..." Stearns denied having written the threat, insisting that the tabloid had photoshopped the screenshot of his Instagram account. Either way, both couples ultimately divorced amid the fallout. Winstead and McGregor's relationship has continued ever since.

When 2008 began, actor Eddie Cibrian was married to "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Brandi Glanville. That year, he shot a movie called "Northern Lights," and his co-star was "Can't Fight the Moonlight" singer LeAnn Rimes. The two fell in love on set, leading to an affair that sent shockwaves through Hollywood that still reverberate to this day.

In 2021, Glanville wrote an op-ed for The Sun about her experience, revealing that she'd gone to visit Cibrian on set and knew that something was going on. Then, one day at the grocery store, she saw tabloid photos of her husband kissing the country singer. The internet had video, too, proving that her husband had been cheating on her all along. "He tried to convince me it wasn't real but I knew it was over," Glanville wrote. "They were sucking on each other's fingers in the footage yet he was telling me nothing was happening. It was insane." Glanville was 36 when her marriage fell apart, and Rimes was a full decade younger.

Glanville confessed that she didn't handle the situation as well as she might have. She reflected, "It was so public. Everyone felt sorry for me and wanted to hug me. But I wanted to punch everyone in the face." After the fallout subsided, Cibrian married Rimes in 2011; they've been together ever since. Glanville has also let fans inside her friendship with Rimes, something that once seemed impossible.

In 2003, "Fried Green Tomatoes" star Mary-Louise Parker announced that she was pregnant with longtime boyfriend Billy Crudup. That same year, while Parker was still pregnant, Crudup ended their relationship in order to romance Claire Danes instead. Danes was in her early 20s, whereas Parker was 15 years older.

Danes and Crudup's relationship didn't last, but the situation was so dramatic that it became a major part of the story of everyone involved. In 2015, Danes appeared on "The Howard Stern Show" (via Us Weekly) and addressed the affair. "I was just in love with him. And needed to explore that and I was 24," she reflected. "I didn't quite know what those consequences would be." Danes found all of the attention at the time to be quite frightening, recalling, "That was a scary thing. That was really hard."

It was hard for Parker, too; after all, she's the one who was seven months pregnant when her partner left her for a younger woman. The "Weeds" star addressed the incident in her book "Dear Mr. You," writing (via Us Weekly) about an incident in which she argued with a cab driver. After he told her to get out of the taxi, Parker took the rejection hard. "I am alone. Look, see? I am pregnant and alone," she recalled telling the stranger. "It hurts to even breathe."

Sean Penn and Robin Wright got married in the early 1990s, and at first, they seemed like the rare Hollywood couple that was meant to last. In the late 2000s, however, things began to fall apart. Beginning in 2007, they went back and forth for several years, repeatedly filing for divorce and then getting back together. Wright told Psychologies (via People), "All marriages have their phases. It's life. We go through it, if we're married long enough. If you're lucky you grow and you work it out."

Ultimately, they were not, in fact, able to work it out, and the actors separated for good in 2009. Wright told More (via People) that she was tired of the back-and-forth. "I know what I don't want. There's no limbo anymore. There's no time," she said. "I'm too old for this s***." At the time, she was 43.

Penn's next relationship was with Scarlett Johansson, who was only 26 at the time. They were reportedly spotted making out at the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2011. "Scarlett was pawing at Sean, holding on to his hip while he was smoking," a source told Us Weekly, noting that the "Avengers" star sat in her beau's lap while everyone was eating. The relationship didn't last; these days, Johansson is married to Colin Jost.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Ben Affleck likes a woman named Jennifer. After ending his engagement to Jennifer Lopez, the "Daredevil" star linked up with Jennifer Garner, and they were together for more than a decade. In 2015, however, they went their separate ways. Almost immediately, Affleck pivoted away from Jennifers entirely. He debuted a new relationship with "Saturday Night Live" producer Lindsay Shookus, who is eight years younger than Garner.

Multiple sources who spoke with People insisted that Shookus and Affleck had been having an affair, revealing that they'd been hooking up for years while Affleck and Garner were both still married. "They were having secret rendezvous every time he came in to New York City and other places, too," one source said. "Both of them were cheating on their spouses so they were very careful about it." Another source disputed this, however, insisting that they were simply friends until they were both single. "It's still in a really early stage," the source claimed. "He's working on himself, he's working on being happy and healthy."

Whether it was an affair or not, Affleck's relationship with Shookus petered out. Instead, he later got back together with Lopez, fascinating pop culture-watchers with a rekindled Bennifer all these years later. That relationship, too, fell apart; click here to relive the messiest moments from Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez's marriage and divorce.

Brandi Glanville's marriage to Eddie Cibrian isn't the only "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" relationship that ended in a spectacularly messy fashion. When Camille Grammer's stint on the show began, she was married to "Frasier" star Kelsey Grammer. Alas, in 2010, the couple divorced. Quite quickly, Kelsey moved on with a much younger woman named Kayte Walsh.

Apparently, the couple had never signed a pre-nuptial agreement, which meant Camille was entitled to a significant chunk of her ex-husband's fortune. She walked away with $30 million, telling Andy Cohen (via People), "Thank God I didn't have a prenup. Thank you Kelsey. I guess you loved me at one point." Camille was forced to defend the settlement on "RHOBH," reflecting, "I just didn't sit back, buying fancy clothes and shoving bonbons in my face. I mean, I worked hard."

Even though her husband was moving on with someone decades younger, Camille congratulated him on his new relationship. In a statement to People, she said, "What I most hope is that Kelsey and I can improve our communications and truly co-parent our two wonderful children. And I wish Kelsey and Kayte love and happiness in their new marriage." They were hitched a mere two weeks after the divorce was finalized. The "Cheers" star was 55 at the time, and his new bride was only 29.

Burlesque icon Dita von Teese was in a long-term relationship with shock singer Marilyn Manson, and they even got married in 2005. By 2006, however, the relationship fell apart, in part because Manson romanced a 19 year old Evan Rachel Wood instead. Von Teese didn't seek any financial benefit from their divorce, preferring a clean break that would allow her to move on, as she told The Telegraph. "It has always been very important for me to be self-supporting," she said. "I know people probably think I married Manson for the money, but that's so far from the case."

Instead, she alleged, Manson's hard-partying lifestyle became too much. "I wasn't supportive about his partying or his relationship with another girl, and as much as I loved him I wasn't going to be part of that," she said. They split, and Manson instead shacked up with the teenage star of "Thirteen."

The story took an especially dark turn when Wood looked back on their relationship years later. In 2021, she posted a statement to Instagram (via NPR) about her relationship with the much older singer. "[He] started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years," she wrote. "I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission. I am done living in fear of retaliation, slander, or blackmail." Manson sued her for defamation, but he ultimately dropped the lawsuit and paid her $300,000 in legal fees.

Country superstar Jason Aldean was married when he first skyrocketed to the top of the charts. He and his then-wife Jessica Ussery were high school sweethearts, young lovers who were together throughout the entire early part of Jason's career. In 2012, however, tabloids published photos of Jason making out with Brittany Kerr, an "American Idol" contestant 12 years his junior who had failed to advance in the competition. He apologized on social media (via People), writing a note to his fans that confessed, "The truth is that I screwed up. I had too much to drink, let the party get out of hand and acted inappropriately at a bar."

The apology wasn't enough, and Jason divorced his longtime wife. Furthermore, his dalliance with the much younger woman turned out to be more than a one-time thing; in 2014, the couple confirmed that they were dating after all. Brittany Kerr is now Brittany Aldean, after the couple married in Mexico in a 2015 ceremony. The "Hicktown" singer sent in a statement to Us Weekly about the ceremony, gushing, "This is the best day ever — I've got my girl here, my friends, my family — it's the best day ever!"

They're now a powerhouse country music couple, known for transphobic rhetoric online as much as they are for Jason's music. That doesn't seem to bother them; these days, the controversial country stars live an insanely lavish life outside Nashville. 

When Ashton Kutcher launched his relationship with Demi Moore, the country became fascinated by the idea of a "cougar." Moore had been famous since the 1980s, so her relationship with the hunky twentysomething star of "That '70s Show" surprised pop culture aficionados. They wound up getting married, and eventually, when Moore was 47 and Kutcher 31, she bristled at the label the media had given her. "I'm certainly not the first person to be in a relationship with a younger man, but somehow I was plucked out as a bit of a poster girl," she told W Magazine. "I'd prefer to be called a Puma."

Their marriage only lasted a few years after that interview. They split in 2011 and finalized their divorce in 2013, and ever since, fans have been interested in details about Kutcher and Moore's relationship and why they split. Moore was unhappy after they opened up their relationship, revealing in her memoir "Inside Out" that they'd experimented with having threesomes, which led Kutcher to cheat on her with younger women. For his part, Kutcher told Esquire, "Nothing makes you feel like a failure like divorce."

Instead of moving on with another older woman, Kutcher went the opposite direction. He linked back up with "That '70s Show" co-star Mila Kunis, who is five years his junior.