By Jessica Wedemeyer
11:31am PST, Nov 21, 2017
Wonderwall.com is taking a look back at the biggest celebrity love life stories of 2017, starting with the breakup that left Hollywood shook: Chris Pratt and Anna Faris announced that they were calling it quits on their marriage of eight years in August. The funnywoman's desire for a more "traditional" family life (more kids and more time spent together) was reportedly at odds with her husband's focus on his booming career. Other factors that allegedly contributed to the breakup were the duo's tendency to compete over who's funnier and the "Guardians of the Galaxy" star's "very, very religious" nature (the "Mom" star is reportedly not religious at all). Less than three months after they announced their separation, TMZ reported that Anna had already moved on with cinematographer Michael Barrett, whom she reportedly met on the set of the upcoming "Overboard" remake. The new couple were photographed vacationing together in Venice, Italy, in November. Now keep reading for more of the biggest celebrity romance stories of the year…
RELATED: Celebrity splits of 2017
Not long after Alex Rodriguez split from 23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki after nearly a year of dating, the baseball star found love with Jennifer Lopez. In March, Page Six broke the news that the duo had been seeing each other for a few months after J.Lo approached A-Rod at a restaurant. They made their red carpet debut at the Met Gala in May and vacationed together in France in June. But it hasn't been all smooth sailing: On June 7, the National Enquirer reported that a woman named Lauren Hunter claimed she'd had a steamy affair with Alex for the past five years and that he'd cheated on Jennifer with her. (She also made various claims about his sexual preferences.) Around the same time, TMZ reported that an unnamed woman had threatened to release private text messages between herself and A-Rod if he didn't pay her off to the tune of $600K. According to TMZ, the baseball star dated the woman back in 2014 — though never seriously — and since then, she'd periodically hit him up for cash. Though he never coughed up the dough, his former fling persisted — and started demanding more once Alex and Jennifer got serious. A TMZ source alleged that the woman "intended to release old texts with Alex from when they were dating, and make it seem like he was still contacting her while dating Jennifer." But the superstar stood by her man, who was reportedly honest with her about the situation throughout the ordeal. Since then, all has been well for the loved-up duo, whom friends insist will eventually tie the knot.
RELATED: New celebrity couples of 2017
Jennifer Garner finally filed to divorce Ben Affleck in April following a two-year separation. Just a few months later, the Oscar winner stepped out for a dinner date with "Saturday Night Live" producer Lindsay Shookus, with whom he reportedly first connected in 2014 while he was married to Jen and she was married to "Late Night With Seth Meyers" producer Kevin Miller (whom she reportedly left for Ben). On July 11, People magazine reported that Jen actually confronted Lindsay, who's also been linked to Jon Hamm and Chris Noth, about the affair back in 2015, the year the "Daredevil" co-stars separated. (Some sources close to Ben denied that he and Lindsay had an affair, maintaining that they didn't take their relationship to the next level until this year.) Whatever the timeline, one thing is clear: Ben and Lindsay are the real deal. He attended the Emmys as her plus-one and she's been helping him hunt for a home in Santa Monica, not far from the home he once shared with Jen.
RELATED: The top celebrity stories of 2017
Prince Harry's whirlwind romance with Meghan Markle got super-serious in 2017. The duo, who have been seeing each other since July 2016 and were publicly outed in October 2016, vacationed together in Norway in January, packed on the PDA at a wedding in Jamaica in March, smooched at the Audi Polo Challenge in London in May, went on an African safari in August as part of her birthday celebrations and finally made their official public debut at the Invictus Games in Toronto in September. In October, reports surfaced alleging the couple had already gotten engaged but were waiting for the perfect opportunity to break the news. That opportunity presented itself on Nov. 27. Harry and Meghan announced their engagement on Twitter and then posed for their first official photos as an engaged couple at London's Kensington Palace before confirming that they'll wed in May 2018 at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.
Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna's off-and-on romance of a little more than a year finally came to an end in February after an engagement and a baby, daughter Dream. The breakup-prone pair gave the impression that they'd reconciled yet again in April and seemed to be handling co-parenting duties well in June when they celebrated Father's Day together at Disneyland with their little girl. But things took a turn for the worse on July 5 — a few days after Chyna took to Instagram to announce that she was single and happy — when Rob posted NSFW photos of her on social media while accusing her of cheating, abusing drugs, having a baby with him to get back at her other ex, Tyga, and lying about how she lost weight after giving birth to Dream. On July 10, Chyna was granted a temporary restraining order against Rob, whom she accused of slut-shaming her and of possibly violating California's revenge-porn law. She also claimed that in the past, Rob punched her and "threatened to kill himself multiple times in text messages … trying to manipulate me to respond to his outbursts." The former stripper reportedly returned the jewelry and cars that Rob gifted her during their happier times and the onetime reality TV star apologized to his family for the drama and sought professional help through therapy. But that wasn't the end of it…
Though they reportedly settled their custody agreement over daughter Dream in August, Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian continued making headlines for their courtroom drama throughout the remainder of the year. In September, The Blast reported that the former stripper planned to sue the entire Kardashian clan for damaging her brand. Around the same time, TMZ reported that Chyna also intended to sue Rob for $1M for posting nude photos of her online and for revealing that she lost her baby wait through surgery, which she claims ruined endorsement deals she had in place for weight-loss products. Rob then filed a suit against his ex accusing her of attempting to strangle him with the cord of a phone charger during a drunken rampage in late 2016. (He claims she vandalized their rental home — damaging a TV, a door and walls — injured him with a metal rod and threw a chair at his car.) The other shoe finally dropped in October when Chyna sued her ex and his family for their alleged roles in tanking the E! reality TV show on which she and Rob starred, which she says cost her millions. But, hey, it takes two to tango. Here are the other people with whom the former couple shared the dance floor in 2017…
In February, Blac Chyna was spotted looking cozy with another man during a Super Bowl viewing party in Los Angeles. In June, she was photographed leaving a Los Angeles nightclub with hairstylist Kellon Deryck (pictured), who's made appearances on the former stripper's social media accounts since late 2016. When paparazzi asked if he was her beau, she responded that they were dating. "We've been dating," she said. (In fact, the duo had previously been spotted holding hands in Miami in May.) By November, Chyna had apparently moved on with Playboi Carti. Meanwhile, in May, In Touch and Us Weekly reported that Rob Kardashian had been secretly dating "Bad Girls Club" and "Basketball Wives LA" reality TV personality Mehgan James for months. But it was all news to Rob, who tweeted after the reports surfaced that he'd never even met Mehgan or heard of her before. The former Bad Girl also took to Twitter to address the romance rumors, curiously writing, "I don't control the media but we all know who does. Im just as confused as everyone else." Hmm!
After months of quietly dating in the shadows, Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn, who were first linked in mid-May, went public with their burgeoning romance in June, when they were spotted boarding a private jet in London. Two days later, they were seen sipping what appeared to be coffee on a balcony in Nashville, where they reportedly spent time with Taylor's friends and family, who've all given the "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" star the stamp of approval. Joe reportedly inspired several tracks on Taylor's new "Reputation" album.
It was the breakup no one saw coming: Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor revealed on May 26 that they had separated after almost two decades together. "With tremendous love and respect for each other, and the 18 years we spent together as a couple, we have made the decision to separate," they said in a joint statement. "Our priority will continue to be raising our children as devoted parents and the closest of friends." The "Zoolander" co-stars, who tied the knot in 2000 and share a son and a daughter, reportedly split over Ben's hectic work schedule. "It gets hard — he has a very busy Hollywood career, and she's been very focused on being a mom," a source told People magazine.
Ewan McGregor and "Fargo" co-star Mary Elizabeth Winstead (pictured) raised eyebrows when they were caught on camera smooching at a restaurant in London in October — even though the "Star Wars" actor has been married to Eve Mavrakis, with whom he shares four daughters, for 22 years. After the photos surfaced, People magazine confirmed that Ewan and Eve had actually separated in May, which is right around the time that Mary Elizabeth's marriage to her childhood sweetheart, Riley Stearns, came to an end. She and Ewan reportedly shot the third season of "Fargo" together in Canada in late 2016 and early 2017, which left more than a few people drawing conclusions about the suspicious timeline of events.
On Sept. 14, Fergie and Josh Duhamel announced that they were splitting after eight years of marriage. "With absolute love and respect we decided to separate as a couple earlier this year," the couple said in a joint statement. "To give our family the best opportunity to adjust, we wanted to keep this a private matter before sharing it with the public. We are and will always be united in our support of each other and our family." The duo — who share a son, 4-year-old Axl — reportedly split over Fergie's desire to have a rock 'n' roll lifestyle, while Josh was ready to put their partying days behind them.
Model Jeremy Meeks, who's known as the Hot Felon, made headlines in July when he was spotted kissing Topshop heiress Chloe Green (pictured) on a yacht in Turkey — while he was still married to nurse Melissa Meeks, the mother of his son. Things between Jeremy and Chloe progressed quickly from there. They made their red carpet debut in September, and the following month, the model-convict filed to divorce Melissa after seven years of marriage. (He first filed for legal separation in July.) "It's true love," Jeremy said in November of his relationship with Chloe.
Jesse Williams and Aryn Drake-Lee Williams, his wife of nearly five years and partner of more than a decade, filed for divorce in March. Though various media outlets initially reported that the split was amicable, things soon turned nasty, with Aryn accusing her ex of having a "revolving door" of women and fighting for sole custody of their two kids. Meanwhile, Jesse accused his former missus of trying to block him from spending time with their children. In the midst of all that, the "Grey's Anatomy" star started spending time with Minka Kelly, who split from Josh Radnor in early 2017 after a brief romance of just a few months. Though Jesse and Minka were seen together again in July, the actor shot down rumors that they were anything more than friends in JAY-Z's "Footnotes from 4:44" video. "I was in a relationship 13 years, 13 real years, not 5 years, not 7 years, 13 years and all of a sudden mother f—— are writing think pieces that I somehow threw a 13-year relationship," he said, "like the most painful experience I've had in my life like with a person I've loved with all my heart — that I threw a person and my family in the trash because a girl I work with is cute." (It's believed that the girl to whom he's referring is Minka.)
In March, just months shy of their 10th wedding anniversary, Mel B filed to divorce Stephen Belafonte. The following month she requested a restraining order against him and made a wide range of accusations about his allegedly abusive behavior. Here are some of the most shocking claims she's made: Stephen frequently physically and emotionally abused her. He extorted her into having group sex with other women. He threatened to release sex tapes in which she appeared. He mismanaged her money. He locked her in a room and blocked her from calling an ambulance when she once took an entire bottle of Aspirin in an attempt to kill herself during a bout of emotional and physical exhaustion. He threatened to destroy her career and take away her children. And he got their children's nanny pregnant and then coerced her into getting an abortion. (He's denied it all.) Their divorce drama would continue to play out in the press for the remainder of the year until they finally settled their domestic violence restraining order case in November. Simultaneously, the "America's Got Talent" judge started getting close to a married Beverly Hills police officer. She maintains they just got to be friends after he was hired to work as part of her security detail, but the man's wife somehow missed the memo. After Mel and her "pal" were linked in August, the wife went after the former Spice Girl on social media, dissing her career and warning that she'd never be replaced.
Scott Disick's messy love life made him a mainstay in the headlines throughout 2017. The self-proclaimed "sex addict," who split from longtime love Kourtney Kardashian in 2015, infuriated members of the Kardashian-Jenner clan in January when he secretly flew a girl to join him in Costa Rica during the family's annual vacation. After the fiasco in Costa Rica, he jetted off to Miami, where he was seen canoodling with multiple women, including two models. Then during the Cannes Film Festival in May, Scott spent time with a revolving door of beautiful women: He was seen getting close to Bella Thorne (pictured), celebrity stylist Chloe Bartoli (the same woman who played a role in his 2015 split from Kourtney), blogger Maggie Petrova, model Chloe Ross, Sofia Richie and Chantel Jeffries, who previously dated Justin Bieber. The hookup reportedly left Bella feeling humiliated and used, but Sofia was less turned off by Scott's hard-partying ways…
Though Sofia Richie denied she and Scott Disick were an item in June after they were seen canoodling during the Cannes Film Festival, by September, it was clear that they were the real deal. Since then, the age-defying duo (he's 34 and has three children and she's 19) have packed on the PDA in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, Mexico and Italy. But sources have told various media outlets that it's only a matter of time before Scott and Sofia's romance crashes and burns.
It was a rocky year for LuAnn de Lesseps and Tom D'Agostino, who tied the knot on New Year's Eve, announced that they were calling it quits in August and finalized their divorce in September. The duo were plagued by rumors that the businessman, who reportedly hated his wife's "reality TV lifestyle," had been unfaithful since before they made it to the altar. (He was even caught on camera kissing another woman, which was revealed on the season finale of "The Real Housewives of New York City" in 2016.)
In September, Kevin Hart took to Instagram to apologize to his fans, his pregnant second wife, Eniko Parrish, and his two kids from his first marriage for making "a bad error in judgment" and putting himself "in an environment where only bad things can happen." The next day, TMZ published images of the comedian sharing an intimate moment with a mystery woman. The images were reportedly part of a nearly five-minute video that proved Kevin had cheated on Eniko. The individuals responsible for the video intended to extort the comedian for $10 million in exchange for keeping it under wraps. (Even the FBI got involved in the investigation!) Not long after, the mystery woman came forward to deny that she'd been involved in the extortion plot. "I had nothing to do with these recordings," she said. (Later, she told DailyMail.com that she flew to Las Vegas on a private plane with Kevin and had sex with him in his hotel suite three times over the course of three days.) In the midst of the drama, Eniko and Kevin, who's never explicitly admitted that he cheated, have presented a united front.
What a year for Scarlett Johansson! In January, news broke that she'd separated from Romain Dauriac the previous summer after two years of marriage. In early March, the actress reportedly "shocked" her ex by filing for divorce and asking for residential custody of their 2-year-old daughter, Rose. (The French journalist lives in France, while the actress travels the world for work, which was reportedly a major factor in their split.) Eventually, the divorce drama died down and the blonde beauty moved on with two new men: In May, she was spied making out with "Saturday Night Live" star Colin Jost. The following month, she was photographed holding hands with her lawyer, Kevin Yorn, after a dinner date. But before we could say, "Get it, girl!" she stepped out with Colin again.
In January, following an incredibly tumultuous 2016, Tarek El Moussa filed to end his seven-year marriage to Christina El Moussa. The "Flip or Flop" stars were fixtures in the headlines throughout most of early 2017 as the series of events that immediately followed their split came to light: In May 2016, Tarek went into the woods with a gun after a blowout fight with Christina. The reality TV star maintained to responding police (who hunted him down in a helicopter) that he simply went out to "blow off some steam" and denied that he intended to kill himself. (Later, he and his estranged missus called the whole thing "an unfortunate misunderstanding.") In January, reports surfaced that Tarek had emotionally abused Christina and "found humor in insulting his wife in repeated verbal attacks." Despite those allegations, the former couple continued working together on their HGTV show. Meanwhile, Christina moved on with contractor Gary Anderson from late 2016 to February 2017. She was then linked to hockey player Nate Thompson in March before reuniting with a former beau, Orange County businessman Doug Spedding, over the summer (in spite of his shady past). They split sometime around October after she discovered that he was allegedly seeing his ex-girlfriend behind her back and also using drugs again. As for Tarek, he's been single (though mingling) since late 2016 when he dated a woman who'd previously served as a nanny for his two kids with Christina. He then dated the nanny's friend.
Patton Oswalt's wife of 11 years, writer Michelle McNamara, died suddenly in April 2016. The funnyman moved on with actress Meredith Salenger, with whom he made his red carpet debut at the premiere of "Baby Driver" in June 2017. The duo announced that they'd gotten engaged the following month, but their happiness was marred by critics who accused the actor of moving on too quickly following his first wife's death. Fortunately, the haters didn't deter Patton and Meredith from tying the knot at Jim Henson Studios in Los Angeles on Nov. 4.
