10 TV Shows That Ended Marriages
Aah, the ‘curse of Strictly’. All that close-quarters rumba action between Brendan Cole and newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky on the BBC dance show drove a wedge between Cole and his fiancée and fellow dancer Camilla Dallerup. Kaplinsky’s 12-year relationship also wound up at the same time, though rumours on an affair between first series winners Cole and Kaplinsky were denied.
The marriage of Emmerdale stars Peter Amory and Claire King (who starred as Claire and Chris Tate in the soap) came to end when King moved to London after landing a role in Bad Girls. Amory continued living up north and begun an affair with co-star Samantha Giles - who played Bernice Blackstock - with King only learning of the affair in a letter from Samantha’s husband. “It’s all water under the bridge now,” said King in 2014.
Working together as husband and wife isn’t always the recipe for a successful relationship. Elizabeth Montgomery married the producer and director of the sitcom 'Bewitched’, in which she played the suburban witch Samantha Stevens. Her co-star Dick York was said to have been in love with her, but she spurned him, and he was later fired. Things weren’t going well with Asher by the show’s eighth season, the friction between them palpable, and they split in 1972, meaning that a planned ninth season was axed.
Jennifer Garner and Scott Foley met on the set of J.J. Abrams’ late 90s show 'Felicity’ (he played Noel Crane, she played his long-distance girlfriend Hanna). The co-stars began dating and married in 2000 but split in 2003, with Foley blaming the fact that Garner’s career was rapidly blowing up. She then began dating her 'Alias’ co-star Michael Vartan in mid-2003, but that ended in 2004 at which point she started seeing Ben Affleck. They wed in 2005 but split in 2015. Their wedding ceremony had been officiated by 'Alias’ co-star Victor Garber.
LeAnn Rimes left husband Dean Sheremet in 2009 after she had an affair with actor Eddie Cibrian on the set of Northern Lights, a Lifetime made-for-TV film. Cibrian was also married and had two sons. Rimes said about the affair: “I hate that people got hurt, but I don’t regret the outcome.“ The duo married in 2011.
What better foundation for marriage is there than having an MTV camera crew follow you around from the get-go? The crew jumped on celebrity pair Nick and Jessica in their first year of marriage in 2003, and rode that horse for two years, three series and a special. The pair split in 2005 and finalised their divorce in 2006. Great work, guys.
Another case of the 'Strictly curse’ reared its head in series five of the show, back in 2007. Flavia was in an 11-year relationship with dancer Vincent Simone, but the pair split and she began dating her show partner, the actor Matt Di Angelo. Their romance lasted until 2010, when it emerged that Cacace was dating her new TV dance partner, the actor Jimi Mistry.
A reality show will likely put a bit of strain on a relationship. Just ask Hulk Hogan, who claims that the VH1 show 'Hulk Knows Best’ accelerated the collapse of his 24-year marriage to Linda Hogan. It might have had more to do with 33-year-old Christiane Plante, the former best friend of Hulk’s daughter Brooke.
Tom Hardy met his current wife Charlotte Riley on the set of ITV’s 2008 adaptation of windswept Brontë romance 'Wuthering Heights’, the Heathcliff to her Cathy. At the time he was with his long-term partner director Rachael Speed, also the mother of his son Louis, but split with her and started seeing Riley in 2009. He and Riley were engaged the following year, and married in 2014.
Speaking to Ellen DeGeneres in 2011 about her soon-to-be ex-husband, the former 'Frasier’ star Kelsey Grammer, Camille Grammer said that their marriage began going down the pan once the cameras rolled on 'The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’. “Kelsey wanted me to do it,” she said. “I didn’t want to do the show. I wasn’t ready to expose my life that way. He thought it would be good for me to do something that was separate from us being a couple. I found out [Kelsey] wanted out of the relationship during the shooting.”
Getting up close and personal - and working at the same time - is a bit of a recipe for disaster in the world of telly. Here are some of the marriages to have suffered at the hands of this cruel mistress.
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