Hollywood is known for being a hotbed of men and women living lucrative, hedonistic lives. While not all actors indulge in lurid affairs, there are more messy love triangles in the entertainment industry than there are in a Shonda Rhymes TV-series. Cheating Scandals are by no means new to the industry, dating as far back as the establishment of Hollywood itself. One could say where there’s a film, there’s a fling!
Old Hollywood arguably had some of the biggest, most jaw-dropping scandals in its history. From mysterious deaths to actual manslaughter, early 20th-century Hollywood was premium gossip column fodder. During the classical and golden-era of Hollywood, there were strict moral codes society labored under, making the stakes even higher. Cheating scandals ruined careers, and in certain cases, exiled you from your own country. From the golden-era to present-day, here are 10 Hollywood love triangles fans forgot about.
10 Sophia Loren, Cary Grant, And Betsy Drake
In her Memoir, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, Sophia Loren revealed that she had a sizzling affair with Hollywood Charmer, Carey Grant, while filming The Pride and the Passion (an apt name for an on-set romance). Grant was married to his third wife at the time, Besty Drake and also happened to be thirty years Loren’s senior. A year later, they starred in another film together, a romantic comedy called Houseboat. According to Loren’s memoir, the sexual tension between her and Grant was so fraught that the director, Melville Shavelson, complained that the film was difficult to make.
9 Eddie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, And Elizabeth Taylor
A love triangle of the ages, Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds, and Eddie Fisher had one of the most scandalous “forbidden love” stories in Hollywood history. Movie-musical star, Debbie Reynolds, and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof bomb shell, Elizabeth Taylor, were close friends during their time at MGM. So close in fact that when Taylor married her third husband, Reynolds was her maid of honor. When Taylor’s husband suddenly died in a plane crash, she turned to Eddie Fisher for solace (and maybe a little TLC). Fisher decided to leave Reynolds for Elizabeth Taylor, and were married only a year later.
8 Spencer Tracy, Louise Treadwell, and Katharine Hepburn
Spencer Tracy, a Hollywood lothario with a reputation for fraternizing with his co-stars, had a near life-long affair with exalted actress, Katherine Hepburn. Louise Treadwell, Tracy’s wife of thirty years, remained silent about his infidelity until his death.
Despite this very open secret, Tracy never divorced his wife, in part due to his Catholic faith. Interestingly, Hepburn and Tracy were lovers for more than 26 years and co-starred in nine movies together. As Tracy’s health began to decline in the late '60s, Hepburn took time away from her acting career to care for him.
7 Marlon Brando, Rita Moreno, And Elvis
Rita Moreno, Puerto Rican West Side Story actress, had a torrid on-again off-again relationship with Marlon Brando, a Hollywood heavy-weight and influential movie star. On The Wendy Williams Show, Moreno spilled that she desperately wanted to marry Brando, but he wasn’t interested in monogamy.
Out of spite, she accepted an invitation to go on a date with “The King,”Elvis Presley. Raging with jealousy, Brando threw a literal tantrum, according to Moreno. She told Williams “That man threw chairs. It was wonderful."
6 Meg Ryan, Dennis Quaid, and Russell Crowe
Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid, Hollywood lovebirds of the 1990s, met while filming Noir, Mystery-Thriller D.O.A. In 2004, Ryan was accused of having an affair with Russell Crowe after filming their movie Proof of Life. Since their divorce, both actors have admitted to cheating in some form throughout their marriage. However, Ryan maintains that she only sought out extramarital affairs because Quaid strayed first. Suffice to say, they’re in a healthier place not being married to one another.
5 Laura Dern, Billy Bob Thornton, and Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie has been involved in more than one love triangle back in the day. Before Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, there was Billy Bob Thorton and Laura Dern. The couple’s relationship ended abruptly in 1999, when Thornton met Jolie on the set of Pushing Tin.
In 2000, Dern told Talk magazine that, “I left our home to work on a movie, and while I was away, my boyfriend got married, and I've never heard from him again," In her interview, she described their abrupt break up as, “a sudden death,” explaining that she never got closure.
4 Sienna Miller, Jude Law, and Daisy Wright
Broadway and film star, Sienna Miller and British casanova, Jude Law, met on the set of the romantic sex-comedy, Alfie. Betrothed in 2004, Jude law’s extramarital affair went public in 2005. Daisy Wright, Miller’s nanny, publicized her affair through the Sunday Mirror, giving intimate details of her relationship with Law.
Once the story broke, Law admitted to his infidelity and issued a public apology to Miller. In the midst of the scandal, Miller was starring in a West End production of As You Like It. She told the Daily Beast, “That was one of the most challenging moments I hope I’ll ever have to experience. Because with that level of public heartbreak, to have to get out of a bed let alone stand in front of 800 people every night, it’s just the last thing you want to do.”
3 Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, and Ryan Shawhughes
Jude Law isn’t the only Hollywood actor who left his wife for “the nanny.” Before she was "Kill Bill," Uma Therman met Dead Poet’s Society actor Ethan Hawke on the set of 1997’s Gattaca. They quickly wed a year later and had two children together, Maya and Levon. Thurman filed for divorce in 2003, reportedly due to Hawke’s infidelity. Immediately following their breakup, Hawke started dating Ryan Shawhughes, their family nanny. Cliché? Very.
2 LeAnn Rimes, Eddie Cibrian, And Brandy Glanville
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville hit marital strife in 2009, when her husband Eddie Cibrian met singer LeAnn Rimes on the set of their Lifetime movie, Northern Lights. Both Cibrian and Rimes left their partners for one another, marrying in 2011. Since then, Rimes and Glanville have even publicly feuded on Twitter.
1 Chris Brown, Rihanna, and Karrueche Tran
The origin of Chris Brown and Rihanna's romance was born out of a love triangle with Karrueche Tran. Tran and Brown started dating after he had been charged with two felonies from his domestic abuse scandal with Rihanna.
On Christmas Day, 2012, Tran was staying at Brown's apartment when he snuck out to meet with Rihanna at a Laker's game. She found out within a matter of hours, after pictures of the two of them surfaced online.