You find yourself flipping through magazine pages and browsing websites, gazing in both awe and horror at the press you find about your favorite celebrity couples. There are some success stories (think long term cuties Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell who have never tied the knot but are still passionately devoted to each other) and then there are those that perhaps never should have happened (remember that unfortunate, short spell when Carmen Elektra was linked to X-Factor judge, Simon Cowell?). Why does it seem like there are so many disastrously paired duos and ill-fated lovebirds?
Whether they like it or not, celebrities are in the public eye and that includes their romantic romps and relationships. Celebrities and celebrity partnerships are featured in the media, again and again, and…well, you get the point. There is nothing greater than seeing your favourite stars shacking up and making it work. Sometimes your ideal romantic partnerships are reflected in Hollywood hook-ups and they give you something to look up to, and other times, there are gag-worthy relationships you wouldn’t pay to see on the silver screen. Then there are the celeb couples you figured were going to be together forever, only to leave your head spinning when you heard news of their unreconcilable differences. You’re still recovering from the recent, devastating split of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt (didn’t 6 children seal the deal?!) and even though you’d love to see Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck make it work, it’s hard to look past his nanny infidelity.
When it comes to defining your unique, romantic partnership, you’re better off looking to family and friends for models of healthy relationships than some celebrity couples. These 15 celeb couples are unfortunately still linked, but are anything but #goals.
15 Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt
Even if you haven’t watched The Hills, you’re probably familiar with this selfie-obsessed couple, nicknamed “Speidi,” who are well known for wanting as much on-screen time as they can wrangle. Spencer and Heidi are no strangers to drama, and while their onscreen relationship appears incredibly superficial, they are better at creating drama outside of their relationship. They slammed Hills co-star Lauren Conrad about an alleged sex tape that never existed (apparently, Spencer made up the whole rumor) and the couple admitted much of their onscreen love spats were staged purely for the drama. There is no bad press for these devilish blondes, who have had appearances on Celebrity Big Brother, Marriage Boot Camp and I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! There’s nothing wrong with liking the limelight and camera time, but when your motto is "bad press is still good press," it might be time to re-evaluate who your celeb couple icons are.
14 Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola and Ronnie Ortiz-Magro
This relationship was like a train wreck and unfortunately, the two look to still be maintaining their disastrous relationship. You saw that the tracks weren’t aligned a long time ago, and it was only a matter of time before the train derailed. The Jersey Shore stars spent most of their onscreen time battling each other (and their fights were fiery)! Throughout the six seasons of the show, the pair duked it out, got back together, had some cataclysmic spars and split, only to rekindle their romance once again. These two are on and off again more times than a light switch, making it incredibly difficult to keep track of their romance. While they broke up after Jersey Shore ended, they were once again romantically linked this year after being spotted vacationing together. These battling Jersey babes fight way too much for their own good. Sometimes when something is broken, it’s broken for a reason.
13 Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth
While it’s rumored that these long time on again, off again love birds may be back together, it’d probably be for the better if Miley and Liam stuck to the title of their shared film, The Last Song. The pair met while filming this dramatic romance in 2009 and over the course of their relationship, they apparently went through numerous break-ups. While this good-looking duet looks incredibly cute together, it just seems too good to be true. During Miley’s good girl days, the duo seemed like a perfect match, but in recent years, Miley has been exploring her wild girl side, and looks a little too loca for the tame Liam. With her public nudity, tongue twisting stunts and shorn ‘do, it’s hard to recognize Miley from her Hannah Montana self. The couple was engaged for years before breaking off their engagement in 2013, but now it looks like the Hunger Games star and Miley’s engagement could be back on.
12 Donald Trump and Melania Trump
This bold and brash businessman might now be President of the United States, but this relationship is less than enviable, namely because of Donald’s poor track record. Donald was married (and subsequently divorced) twice before he and Slovenian model, Melania tied the knot in 2005. Sure, the president and first lady appear to be happy enough (their only son, Baron Trump was born in 2006) but seriously, with Donald’s blatant disrespect and bashing of women (Rosie O’Donnell, Hilary Clinton and Fox News contributor Megyn Kelly to name a few), you’ve got to wonder, just where is the attraction? While Melania came under fire for a speech that was a little too reminiscent of Michelle Obama’s speech, she is a total babe, and well out of Donald’s league. This presidential couple is anything but #goals because can you really imagine narcissistic Donald treating Melania with the love, devotion and respect she deserves?
11 Scott Disick and Kourtney Kardashian
Maybe it should have been a sign that things were never headed in the right direction, considering Kourtney and Scott first met in 2006 while partying at a Girls Gone Wild even in Mexico in 2006. Throughout their first few seasons of Keeping Up with The Kardashians (KUPWK), the two worked through a few alleged accounts of Scott cheating. The two broke up in 2009 only to get back together when Kourtney found out she was pregnant with their first child. During episodes of KUPWK and Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami, Scott repeatedly aired his bad boy status which included partying, getting belligerently drunk and exhibiting aggressive behavior. Despite having two other children in 2012 and 2014, Scott’s partying and alcoholic addiction seemed to spiral out of control. The couple have been on and off again, but recently, after being apart for over a year, the couple has been reported to be back together.
10 Ozzy And Sharon Osbourne
Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne and wife and X-Factor mentor Sharon Osbourne have been married 34 years and have two kids, which is an amazing achievement, but sometimes even long term commitment is subject to infidelity. Perhaps 67-year-old Ozzy was trying to relive his youthful rocker days when he had an affair with hair stylist, 45-year-old Michelle Pugh. Sure, Ozzy is a talented front man with unbelievable vocal range, but Sharon has been a rock for him throughout his drug and booze-fueled years (including a few alleged accounts of infidelity). Doesn’t Ozzy owe it to Sharon to fully commit to her (especially this far into their long-lived marriage)? She successfully helped Ozzy launch his solo career and has been a stalwart companion through his musical career. Even though this English pair is adorable (yes, even though Ozzy’s bumbling is hard to interpret at times), the two are not goal-worthy because it seems like Sharon is just too good for him.
9 Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott
Beverly Hills, 90210 star Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott have been married nearly a decade and have four kids together, but this Hollywood romance isn’t the white picket marriage that it may appear. Tori and Dean haven’t been shy about showcasing their relationship throughout the years on television series like Tori & Dean: Inn Love and Tori & Dean: sTORIbook Weddings. The two have had a publicly rocky relationship, as aired more recently on the American docu-series, True Tori. In this series, their public marital issues, infidelity (as confessed by Dean during the show) and financial woes are displayed for all to see. While their ability to lay it all out on the line, and to have such intimate personal details aired for audiences is admirable, this couple seems to spend more time arguing then loving each other. There’s a whole lot of drama and it’s hard to tell whether it’s their relationship, or more for the sake of the cameras.
8 Hank Baskett and Kendra Wilkinson
This Playboy model and reality TV star showed she knows how to flex her forgiveness muscle two years ago, when she and husband Hank Baskett moved on from his alleged affair with a transgender model. While the story was publicized and Hank didn’t admit to cheating on Kendra directly, he did admit to being in a situation where a transgender woman fondled him. Whatever the true story is, this NFL player seems to have too many stories with transgender women for Kendra and him to move on happily move forward (even though the couple appeared on Marriage Bootcamp and have worked to resolve their trust issues). It’s great that the pair has worked to rebuild their relationship after that incident that caused Kendra to temporarily kick hank out of their house, but a solid partnership needs to be built on trust, stability and loyalty. Unfortunately, there is too much secrecy in this marriage.
7 Bryan Tanaka and Mariah Carey
While Mariah Carey and backup dancer Bryan Tanaka look good together onstage and onscreen, this budding romance seems to be the replayed (and usually unsuccessful) "pop star and her backup dancer boyfriend" routine. Britney Spears, Madonna, Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Lopez are all talented pop queens who hooked up with their backup dancers, all unfortunately, to no avail. After recently separating from her fiancé, James Parker, Mariah looked to backup dancer, choreographer and friend, Bryan for emotional and eventually romantic support. This isn’t their first waltz together, as Mariah and Bryan have worked together professionally for over ten years (he was her backup dancer on her Adventures of MiMi tour in 2006). While the crooner and her dancer seem to have great chemistry, onstage and off, it’s hard to see this relationship turning into anything serious. Unfortunately, Mariah’s new beau seems more like a relationship rebound then the real deal.
6 Tony Bennett and Susan Crow
This soulful crooner seems happy and youthful with wife, Susan Crow, and it’s no wonder, as she’s almost 40 years younger! The famous jazz singer is now 90 years old and his wife of eight years is 56 years old (though the pair have been together for almost three decades). While this wedded pair appear happy and blissfully in love, it’s hard to overlook the huge gap in age. This couple just isn’t goal-worthy because it’s hard to imagine the pair being able to enjoy anything together (besides curling up on the couch). While Susan appears athletic and fit, Tony is an elderly man, which probably means a stroll around the block is the only active outing this couple could have. Perhaps the duo is happy to stay close to home due to Tony’s age (the man is 90 after all). The couple apparently first met when Tony was in a company with Susan’s parents when they were pregnant with Susan. Now that’s more gag-worthy than cute.
5 Chris Brown and Ammika Harris
While 26-year-old R&B singer Chris Brown appears to be happy in love with aspiring Instagram model, Ammika Harris, it’s hard to overlook Chris’s less than stellar past. He did serve his time after the infamous domestic abuse scandal with Rihanna where Chris physically assaulted Ri Ri during a fight in their car, but the bad boy’s dating list is also a mile long. Also noteworthy, while Chris was dating ex-girlfriend Karrueche Tran (off and on from 2010 to 2015), he cheated on her with Nia Guzman and fathered his now two-year-old daughter, Royalty Brown. Ammika is an aspiring model who started dating Chris last year, but if she wants her modeling career to take off, perhaps she should stay clear from Chris, who evidently doesn’t have the best track record. It’s evident that Chris can’t commit, nor is he the type of guy you want to bring home to your parents.
4 Nina Agdal and Leonardo DiCaprio
What’s not to love about Leonardo DiCaprio? He won over fans after his breakthrough performances on Romeo & Juliet and Titanic and has been making cinematic ripples since that time with films like Catch Me If You Can, The Departed and Django Unchained. While Leo’s film biography is unquestionably impressive, his dating life is a little less so. His newest romantic endeavor is 24-year-old Danish model, Nina Agdal. Nina isn’t Leo’s first model girlfriend and unfortunately, probably not the last. While the duo look sweet as sugar together, it’s hard not to see Nina as just another one of Leo’s models. Purportedly, Leo has been with ten Victoria Secret models over his dating history. Leo’s model girlfriends include long-term love Gisele Bundchen, Bridget Hall, Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen, and Bar Refaeli. Leo clearly has a type and unfortunately, Nina seems like another cookie cutter version of his adored model loves.
3 Lakiha Spicer and Mike Tyson
Former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson and his wife Lakiha Spicer have been married for seven years and while they seem happy enough, the pair have less than exemplary pasts. In 1997, Tyson notoriously took a bite out of boxing competitor Evander Holyfield's ear during their WBA Heavyweight Championship Fight in Las Vegas. Lakiha is also no stranger to drama, as she previously served six months in a federal penitentiary for fraud and conspiracy after receiving a large sum of money for a teaching job she never completed. The scam was coordinated by Lakiha’s mother in West Philadelphia. The boxer-turned-actor has been married two times before Lakiha, so perhaps the third time is the charm. Even though Mike has shown his softer (and sometimes bashful) side since departing the boxing ring, with their less than squeaky clean past records, these two are just not the best relationship models.
2 Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck
This famous Hollywood couple fell in love after filming 2003’s Daredevil movie together. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner started dating in 2004 and said “I do,” in 2005 to the delight of adoring fans. Over their ten years together, the duo raised three adorable kids, but recently, this long-term marriage was flipped on its head when Ben and Jen announced plans for divorce following’s The Good Will Hunting Star’s infidelity with the family’s nanny, Christine Ouzounian. Though the pair publicly denied that the nanny scandal was to blame for their separation, they announced plans to divorce last year in June. The couple has evidently been trying to keep their marriage together for the sake of their three children, but will Jennifer really let Ben back in after the cheating incident? As much as you’d love to see these two make it work, you know the adage -- once a cheater, always a cheater.
1 Kim Kardashian and Kanye West
Keeping Up with The Kardashian (KUPTK) reality TV star Kim Kardashian and outspoken rapper/songwriter Kanye West (or Kimye as they’re known in the media) have been together since 2012, though allegedly, Kanye was in love with the pop princess long before that. The couple gave birth to their first child (North West) in 2013, married in 2014 and had their second child (Saint West) last year in 2015. Rumors of the couple’s divorce have recently been publicized, but sources claim they aren't true, and despite some recent stresses (West was hospitalized for health issues and Kim was robbed at gunpoint), the couple seems to be doing fine. This couple is anything but #goals, however, because the pair seem to be far to narcissistic to be in a relationship together. While Kanye’s raps reflect his self-love, Kim’s self-obsession is evident in her recently published book, Selfish, a book documenting her selfies throughout the years.
