By Jessica Wedemeyer
5:41am PST, Mar 5, 2020
Wonderwall.com is taking a look back at the stars who found love, suffered heartbreak or experienced some other major event in their love lives in early March 2020, starting with this age-mismatched duo… On March 4, The Sun and MailOnline reported that Nicolas Cage's new girlfriend is a 26-year-old woman named Riko Shibata. The duo, who made their debut at the Independent Spirit Awards on Feb. 8, were photographed holding hands during a lunch outing in New York City on March 3. Riko is 30 years younger than the actor and three years younger than his eldest child, son Weston Cage. Now keep reading for more of the week's biggest celeb love life updates…
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On March 2, ABC announced that Clare Crawley will look for love on the upcoming 16th season of "The Bachelorette." The hairstylist previously had the misfortune of romancing Juan Pablo Galavis on season 18 of "The Bachelor" in 2014. She then appeared on the first two seasons of "Bachelor in Paradise" before competing on 2018's "The Bachelor Winter Games," which ended with her accepting a proposal from Benoit Beausejour-Savard. (They called it quits less than two months after the finale aired.) On the March 2 episode of "Good Morning America," Clare said that she's looking for a man "who will take off his armor," is "strong" and will "open himself up and be vulnerable." As for Benoit, he took to Instagram to congratulate his ex on her new gig: "Congratulations to this gem!! She will be an amazing Bachelorette. She is smart, fun, strong, knows what she wants and most importantly, she will call out the guys messing around!! Hell yeah!! Good Luck on your journey to find love @clarecrawley!! You will be the best 🙌🏼 #thebestbacheloretteever," he captioned an old photo of himself and the blonde beauty.
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Page Six reported on March 4 that Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry— who's pregnant with their first child together — are planning to tie the knot in Japan in June. The pop star reportedly wants "an intimate, low-key ceremony." In early February, there were reports that the duo, who initially intended to wed in December, rescheduled their nuptials for April. Meanwhile, during an interview with Stellar that hit the Internet on Feb. 29, the bride-to-be described herself as "a 'bridechilla' as opposed to a bridezilla." Said Katy, "Orlando and I are united with our approach [to wedding planning]. It's not about the party, it's about the coming together of people who will hold us accountable when things get really hard. Because it's really great and then it's really hard. Those are just the facts when you're with someone who challenges you to be your best self."
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Kylie Jenner sparked the latest round of rumors that she and Travis Scott have reconciled romantically when she took to her Instagram Story on Feb. 28 to share several cozy-looking photos of herself and her ex, from whom she split in October, during a 2017 basketball game. "It's a mood," she wrote across the throwback pics. A few days later, however, People magazine reported that, according to a source, the duo are in a "great" place and are "very happy" but have yet to rekindle their romantic spark. "Kylie still isn't labeling their relationship. It seems they aren't seeing other people, though," said the insider, adding that the pair's "focus is on spending as much family time together as possible."
Us Weekly reported on March 3 that, according to a source, Brody Jenner and former partner Kaitlynn Carter — who sparked reconciliation rumors when they traveled to Bali together in late February — "are just friendly" and "not romantically involved or getting back together."
On the March 2 episode of "Watch What Happens Live," Elisabeth Moss shared her reaction to persistent rumors that she and Tom Cruise plan to tie the knot after connecting romantically through their shared Scientology faith. "I actually was confused," she said. "[I] mainly got texts from people being like, 'I didn't know. Why didn't you tell me?' And just confusion from my friends [who were] mainly poking fun at [the rumor] cause obviously they knew that it wasn't true." The wildest moment came when the former "Mad Men" star saw the false report about her relationship with the A-list actor "on the cover of one of the gossip magazines." According to the actress, the tabloid published a photo of another woman with Tom and alleged that it was her. "I was like, 'I've never had that haircut.' It was supposed to be a picture of the two of us, and I was like, 'I've never styled my hair like that.' It's clearly not me," she said.
Us Weekly reported on March 2 that, according to a source, Liam Hemsworth "feels more at home" with his new girlfriend, Gabriella Brooks, than he did with his ex-wife, Miley Cyrus, and "feels like he can be his complete self without any drama." Said the insider, "Gabriella helped Liam boost his confidence and played an encouraging role in his life after his split with Miley. They are very happy together and it's comfortable and easy. … Liam's family really likes Gabriella for him. She understands Liam's values as well as his family's, which is something that's very important to him and them." In December, the Australian actor was seen introducing the model to his parents.
Meanwhile, Us Weekly reported on March 4 that, according to a source, Miley Cyrus and her boyfriend, Cody Simpson, are "good for each other." Said the insider, "They both understand each other's lifestyles and the traveling that comes along with each of their jobs." Added the source of the duo's dynamic, "They aren't putting any hard restrictions on their relationship and are just having fun and seeing where it goes. Cody isn't a jealous person and is pretty relaxed and laid back, which works for both of them."
E! News reported on March 3 that, according to a source, Lady Gaga is "really into" her new boyfriend, Michael Polansky. "[They] are opposites of each other, which all-around is a good thing for her," said the source, adding that the Parker Foundation CEO "definitely cares a lot" about her.
During an interview for the cover of the April 2020 issue of Elle magazine, which hit the Internet on March 3, Sophie Turner revealed that she thinks her husband, Joe Jonas, is out of her league. "With Joe, I always felt like I was the one who was punching, like, way above my league. And I still feel like that," she said. "He's so handsome, talented, funny, charismatic. I'm really lucky to be with him and have someone like him want to be around me and spend time with me." But she hasn't always been a fan: The "Game of Thrones" alum told Elle that she and her childhood pals "hated" the Jonas Brothers, whom they blamed for the breakup of the British band Busted. She went on to detail how she finally connected with the singer after two colleagues told her how much they'd like each other. "You should meet Joe Jonas. I feel like you would really get along with this guy," said a producer who once lived next door to the JoBros. "You remind me of one of my clients. I bet you two would really hit it off," Joe's agent told her when they ran into each other in a meeting. Eventually, Joe DMed her about getting together while he was touring through the U.K. "When I told my friends, they were like, 'That's hilarious. You have to do it!'" recalled the actress. "I expected him to show up with security and everything. I thought, 'He's gonna be such a d—.' I brought all my guy friends to come with me to meet him, because in the back of my mind I still worried that he could be a catfish." They met up at a "dirty" bar in the London area, and the rest is history! "He didn't bring security. He brought a friend, and they drank just as hard as the rest of us. I remember the two of us spending only a couple of minutes on the dance floor, and then we just found a space far in the corner and we just talked. We talked for hours, and hours, and hours. And I was, like, not bored. It wasn't contrived. It wasn't small talk — it was just so easy. And soon we were, like, inseparable. I went on tour with him," said Sophie. As for married life, "I feel like the only thing that's changed for me is having this incredible sense of security. Just the word husband and the word wife — it just solidifies the relationship," she said. "I love being married. I think it's wonderful. I'm sure we'll have our hiccups and our different things. But right now, it's like the security and the safety is everything."
On the March 3 episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," Justin Bieber revealed the pet name he and wife Hailey Bieber have for each other: "She calls me Goo Goo, which is kind of weird, but I like it," he said, adding that his missus has him "wrapped around her finger, pretty much." When asked what he does that annoys the model, he sweetly replied, "I feel like she loves me regardless of anything I do." Meanwhile, on the Feb. 28 episode of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," Hailey dished on meeting Justin for the first time in 2009 when her dad, Stephen Baldwin, introduced them at the "Today" show studios. "[It] sounds like this weird arranged marriage situation, but we met because my dad brought me to the 'Today' show when Justin performed there. He was no more than 15, I think," she said, adding that at the time, Justin was "so new" that she "didn't really know a lot about him yet." Friendship quickly blossomed: "His mom and my dad kind of just connected as friends and we invited them over to our house the next day, so him and his mom just came over for family dinner with me and my family, and we went bowling!" Hailey told Jimmy. She also revealed that the "Tonight Show" played a role in her 2018 reconciliation with Justin following their brief 2015-2016 romance: "Last time I was here, we did this little party trick where I opened a Corona bottle with my teeth, and the next morning after the interview had aired, I got a certain phone call from a certain someone," she dished. "It was a little like: 'Hey, how are you? I saw you on Jimmy Fallon last night. You were looking really good. I loved that trick that you did. I had no idea that you can do that. It was so cool.' Cut to: I'm now married to that certain someone. … Yeah, so I feel like Jimmy gets a little credit for helping re-spark the romance, OK?"
On the Feb. 29 episode of his "How Men Think" podcast, Brooks Laich alluded to his sexual journey … again. "A big part of my journey in 2020 is exploring my sexuality. And by that I don't mean if I'm gay or straight. I mean, in my sexual relationship, what is my sexuality and what am I craving, and what are my desires and what are my wife's? And how could we have this language to feed each other and get everything we want and be sexually expressed to the nth degree in everything?" said the former hockey star, who's married to Julianne Hough, with whom he's reportedly been going through a rough patch. Brooks went on to say that until recently, he hadn't prioritized "discovering and learning and figuring out my capacity for sexual feelings." He then gave credit to his missus, saying that she's "exploring" her sexuality as well and has "shared a lot of this with me and has perked my interest in it." One thing he's not down to explore? Inviting another partner into the bedroom. "I don't know if I could ever get that. I can't ever see myself being physical with somebody else. I just don't think I could get there. I just don't," he said. "In this stage of life, I'm looking for a deeper connection and romance."
During an interview for the cover of the April 2020 issue of Cosmopolitan, which hit the Internet on March 2, Sofia Richie said that she's "very happy" with Scott Disick and that criticism of their relationship on social media "doesn't bother" her. "Why would I let someone from the middle of nowhere ruin that for me?" she asked. The model reportedly added that their age gap of 15 years is great and noted that there's a similar age gap between her parents, Lionel Richie and Diane Alexander, and that they're fine with her relationship with the father of three. Sofia — who's had her ups and downs with Scott's former partner, Kourtney Kardashian — also shared her advice on how to deal with a significant other's ex: "I mean, just be nice. There's no reason not to be nice," she said.
Getting serious! Ariel Winter and her boyfriend of a few months, Luke Benward, made their official Hollywood debut as a couple at the afterparty following a special screening of "Burden" at the 1 Hotel West Hollywood on Feb. 27.
People magazine reported on Feb. 27, that Frankie Muniz and Paige Price, who eloped on Oct. 3, had a small wedding for close family and friends on Feb. 21 — the four-year anniversary of the day they met. "My wedding day was literally the best day of my life!" gushed the former child star. According to Us Weekly, they tied the knot in Phoenix, Arizona. The duo got engaged in late 2018.
Bachelor Nation's JJ Lane — who competed for Kaitlyn Bristowe's heart on season 11 of "The Bachelorette" in 2015 — married Kayla Hughes in Denver on Feb. 29. Their guests included Tanner Tolbert and wife Jade Roper (and their daughter, Emmy, who served as the flower girl), newlyweds Jared Haibon and Ashley Iaconetti, Ben Higgins, Clint Arlis, Chris Bukowski and Katrina Badowski. Speaking of Chris and Katrina…
Two weeks after they first sparked romance rumors by stepping out together for a Valentine's Day dinner, Chris Bukowski and Katrina Badowski seemingly made their rumored romance Instagram official. "The Owskis," Katrina captioned a photo of herself and Chris at JJ Lane and Kayla Hughes' Feb. 29 nuptials. An E! News source, however, insisted that the wedding was "not a date" and that the Bachelor Nation stars "are both single." A second E! source previously said that the pair "are friends" and although they "get along and really like each other," they're "not a couple."
In other Bachelor Nation romance news… During a Feb. 27 Q&A with fans on her Instagram Story, former "The Bachelorette" star Andi Dorfman made it clear that she and Tyler Cameron are just friends. "I tried, he wasn't having it. Just kidding," she wrote. "But no, we are just friends. I love him, he is literally one of my favorite humans and we have a good banter where we give each other a hard time but are also supportive of one another without any judgments. Plus, he and [his roommate, Matt James] are always putting a smile on my face and making me laugh so hard that I've gotten a 6-pack since meeting them." The duo have been seen together several times since they first sparked romance rumors last summer when Andi was photographed giving Tyler a friendly peck on the cheek. (See the photo here.)
In still more Bachelor Nation love news… Bachelor Nation's Olivia Caridi — who competed for Ben Higgins' heart on season 20 of "The Bachelor" in 2016 — debuted her new boyfriend on Instagram on Feb. 26. "He's the reason I've been spending a bit of time in Amsterdam, and now we're living the dream at @tswalu in the Kalahari. What is life," she captioned a photo of her beau, whose name she's yet to reveal, pecking her on the cheek during a vacation in South Africa.
And finally… Jasmine Nguyen and Alexa Caves — who recently competed for Peter Weber's heart on season 24 of "The Bachelor" — accidentally sparked romance rumors on March 1 when Jasmine took to Instagram to share some cozy-looking photos from Alexa's birthday celebration. "Spoiler: we did find love after all🌹," Jasmine originally captioned the pics. Two days later — after receiving a ton of questions about the nature of their relationship — Alexa, who identifies as sexually fluid, took to her Instagram Story to set the record straight: "I wasn't going to address this because I thought it would just blow over, but I see now I'm getting a lot of questions and the story seems to be getting bigger. We don't want to mislead anyone. Jay and I are not dating. She's one of my best friends. I'm sorry to get your hopes up! That would be a great story," she wrote. "She really just thought that was a cute caption and didn't think much of it. Jay is beautiful, kind, down to earth and also very straight. Here's to our friendship." Jasmine later added on her Instagram Story, "I never meant to lead anyone onto anything. I was in Chicago to visit and celebrate a close friend's birthday and liked the photos, so I posted. We love each other very much, have each other's backs, and I appreciate her in my life. That's it. That's all the caption was meant to be, with a fun 'Bachelor' theme to it because of how we met."
On the March 3 episode of Laura Wasser's "All's Fair" podcast, Jeff Garlin opened about divorcing his wife of more than two decades, Marla. "We're at the end of our divorce. [It's] very amicable, and it will be amicable because I love her. I love her madly — I do. I just, you know, sometimes you can't be with someone anymore," he said. "But I love her and I respect her. And I also know that I'm going to take care of her for the rest of her life." The actor, who has two adult sons with Marla, added that he wants "to be friends with her forever" and will "still take care of her" after their divorce is finalized. "All four of us — my children and I and her — we spend time together, we have meals together, we all love each other," he said. The "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star, who filed for divorce in September 2018, went on to explain why he plans to continuing providing financially for his former missus: "Whatever stress I would face for giving a lot of money to my ex is going to be a lot less stress than I'd face nickel-and-diming [her] every day and putting my ex through hell and putting my children through hell and therefore putting myself through hell," he said. "I don't want any part of that."
On March 4, TMZ broke down exactly how William Shatner and his fourth wife, Elizabeth, are splitting up their assets under the terms of their divorce settlement. The former "Star Trek" star is reportedly walking away from the marriage with two show horses, all horse semen and equipment from his breeding operation, two dogs, a home in Los Angeles' Studio City neighborhood and a ranch in Three Rivers, California. Elizabeth is holding onto two horses, a home in Malibu, a home in Versailles, Kentucky, her shares in her family's farm in Indiana and three cars. Elizabeth, who already received a $2 million lump sum payment for spousal support from her ex, has also been granted visitation rights with the dogs and horses William is keeping, as well as the right to "occasionally harvest some fruit" from the ranch, where her first husband's ashes are located.
Courtney Stodden took to Instagram on March 3 to confirm that she and Doug Hutchison, whom she married when she was just 16, are officially divorced after several years of off-and-on marriage. "Today I am officially divorced from actor Doug Hutchison. It's an emotional day for me. God only knows how he's feeling, but I can tell you that it's for the better," she captioned a photo of the actor, who's 34 years her senior, kissing her on the cheek. "I look back at this picture and feel absolutely taken advantage of," she continued. "I've been scared to even speak up about feeling groomed or being verbally abused during the almost 10 year marriage because I was a child and he was 50 when we married but I'm a woman now and it's time for me to put my big girl pants on and speak on this matter. I've felt completely trapped, manipulated and at times abandoned by adults // growing up in such an environment — it became a lonely and dark place." She concluded by telling her ex, "I'll always love you; yet I'll always be angry. You've left me — a child woman, feeling belittled and confused. These things I shall overcome. I wish you well. But please don't ever do this to another minor again. It's not right… even if the parent signs off. Wait a respectable amount of time before marrying. Children aren't on your level. I'll always love you regardless. Be better. As shall I." Later, Courtney told Us Weekly of her relationship with Doug, "I was scared to live without a man who convinced me that I couldn't live without him nor would I ever find love again." She then accused her ex of threatening to harm himself "in a manipulation tactic" to get her to stay with him. She added that they haven't spoken in a few months — since her therapist advised her to stop communicating with him. Courtney is now in the midst of a three-year romance with Chris Sheng. "It isn't easy to believe in love. It's hard for me to completely open up to him and trust. I'm constantly pulling back and criticizing everything about everything. I need time to heal and hopefully I can learn how to love again fully," she said. Doug's rep responded to Courtney's interview with Us Weekly by releasing a statement alleging that she staged some of their marital woes — a claim the actor recently made during an interview with Fox News. "None of the separations of their marriage were true, they were all conducted by Courtney. He went into the relationship with some money, then he gave her hundreds of thousands of dollars on plastic surgery. When it ran out Courtney started running these scams," said the rep. Fired back Courtney, "The fact is I was 16 and I didn't know any better when I married him. When we married, he only had $50k to his name and that went to paying off his debts. I became the primary breadwinner and had to shoulder that responsibility because he could not or refused work. I was just a teenager who felt responsible for this man who is older than my father."
While discussing her new album with The New York Times in an interview that hit the Internet on Feb. 29, Mandy Moore made it clear that she's done talking about her ex-husband, Ryan Adams, whom she previously accused of emotional abuse. "I just don't want this thing to be about him," she said. "He's taken so much for so long from so many people. … I can promise you he gets satisfaction being talked about in any capacity. I just know that about him. I haven't spoken to him in, I don't know, two years or something, but just knowing him as well as I know him, he really gets off on being talked about." Added the singer-actress, "I'm so done with that person having taken so much of my life and my time." Then on the March 1 episode of "CBS Sunday Morning," Mandy opened up about how her toxic relationship with Ryan affected her career: "I just felt like I was at a point in my life where I was the most comfortable making myself the least priority, and I made myself as small as possible in order to make someone else comfortable," she said.
In a lengthy March 2 YouTube video titled "I found out the truth about Annalise Mishler," Chad Johnson accused his ex-girlfriend of gaslighting him, manipulating him, lying to him, cheating on him and working as a paid escort. (He showed profiles for dating apps centered around cheating and escort services that he alleged belong to her.) "The whole time we were dating, it was like something was off. She would disappear at weird hours of the night," he said before accusing the YouTube star of lying about work commitments. "Is she cheating on me? Is she an escort?" he wondered. "She'd never go to dinner with me. She's only available for about an hour a day." Continued the former Bachelor Nation star, who was reportedly put on a psychiatric hold on Feb. 29, "I couldn't figure out why she was with me 'cause it seemed like she hated me, but I was just so lonely. … I just thought I'd stick it out — like, it would get better, she'll get better, she'll get me, she'll understand me or maybe I'll understand her better. … If you didn't want to be with me, let me know. I tried to let her out plenty of times. If you don't want to do this — we obviously fight a lot. … But for some reason we stuck this out." He concluded by calling Annalise "the absolute most insane human being I've ever dealt with." In an hourlong YouTube video of her own, Annalise denied all of the accusations against her and expressed concern for Chad's mental state. She also accused him of being paranoid, of exhibiting a wide range of controlling behaviors and of having memory issues, which she attributed to steroid use. She did, however, fess up to owning the profile on the app for escort services, which she claims she created for a YouTube video. She maintains she hasn't logged into it since then but said that a female friend occasionally uses it to meet older men.
