9 Celebrity Exes Who Stayed Friends Despite Their Very Public Breakups
9 Celebrity Exes Who Stayed Friends Despite Their Very Public Breakups
Avalon HesterWed, April 22, 2026 at 11:00 AM UTC
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Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston at the Zeigfeld Theater in New York City ; Ben Affleck (L) and Jennifer Garner attend the 2014 Vanity Fair Oscar Party on March 2, 2014 in West HollywoodCredit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage; Jeff Vespa/VF14/WireImage
Despite going through breakups in the public eye, many Hollywood couples decided to remain friends after calling it quits.
One of the most notable couples to maintain a strong relationship after the breakup is Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin, who split after more than a decade together. In fact, after Paltrow got married to Brad Falchuk in 2018, the couple brought the kids and their exes on one big family honeymoon.
"My new husband and his children, my children, my ex-husband," Paltrow explained. "It was a very modern honeymoon."
Other celebrity couples who stayed close after breaking up include Mindy Kaling and B. J. Novak, who continue to support each other, as well as Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, who have remained committed co-parents.
Here’s everything to know about Hollywood couples that stayed close after splitting up.
01 of 09
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston attend the World Premiere of "Troy" at Le Palais de Festival on May 13, 2004 in Cannes, FranceCredit: Evan Agostini/Getty
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston got married in July 2000 before splitting five years later.
The two had a friendly reunion backstage at the 2020 SAG Awards. Both actors won awards in their respective categories, and Pitt was pictured holding Aniston’s hand backstage while they had a brief chat, flashing big smiles at each other.
A source later confirmed to PEOPLE that "Jen was happy for Brad," before shutting down rumors that the two had rekindled their romance in any way.
“They are friends and happy for each other. They want nothing but happiness for each other,” the source said. “She is happy to have Brad back in her life as a friend, but that’s it.”
02 of 09
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner
Actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner attend the 2nd annual Save the Children Illumination Gala at the Plaza Hotel on November 19, 2014 in New York CityCredit: Jim Spellman/WireImage
Affleck and Garner were married for 10 years before splitting in 2015. They share three children together: Violet, Seraphina and Samuel.
The two have continued to support each other, with Affleck frequently praising Garner for her parenting skills and their ability to co-parent together.
"I’m really lucky that I have a really good co-parent and partner in Jennifer Garner, the kids’ mom, who’s wonderful and great and we work together well," he said in a March 2025 interview with GQ.
03 of 09
Bruce Willis and Demi Moore
Bruce Willis and Demi Moore attend the after party for the Comedy Central Roast of Bruce Willis at NeueHouse on July 14, 2018 in Los AngelesCredit: Phil Faraone/VMN18/Getty
Bruce Willis and Demi Moore had a whirlwind romance, resulting in their 1987 marriage. While their relationship ended in 2000, the pair continued to step out together as a family unit with their three daughters: Rumer, Scout and Tallulah.
Their eldest daughter, Rumer, opened up to PEOPLE in 2021 about what her parents’ strong friendship meant to her growing up.
"I'm incredibly grateful that both of my parents have made such an effort my entire life that I never felt like I had to choose between them," she said.
Rumer added, "I have a lot of friends who grew up with parents who got divorced at a young age and I watched their parents, like, pit them against each other or have to choose between holidays. I didn't have to do that, and I feel so grateful that my parents made it such a priority that we could be a family, even though it looked different."
Moore has continued to support Willis as his health has declined due to frontotemporal dementia, which the actor was diagnosed with in 2023.
Shortly after the diagnosis, a source told PEOPLE that the family “is all closer than ever.”
04 of 09
Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin
Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow at the 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 12, 2014Credit: Christopher Polk/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/NBC
Paltrow and Martin were together for more than 10 years before they announced their split in 2014.
The couple, who share children Apple and Moses, famously presented their split as a "conscious uncoupling,” in a mutual statement posted to the Goop website.
Paltrow has since said that she feels she and Martin were "meant to be together," just not as a married couple.
“Family structure can be reinvented and divorce doesn’t have to be devastating,” Paltrow told the UK’s Evening Standard in January 2019. “It doesn’t have to be the end of your relationship with somebody.”
“I think Chris and I were meant to be together and have our kids,” Paltrow added. “But our relationship is much better like this: friends and co-parents and family.”
05 of 09
Courteney Cox and David Arquette
Courteney Cox and David Arquette arrive at the world premiere of The Weinstein Company's "Scream 4" at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on April 11, 2011Credit: John Shearer/Getty Images
Courteney Cox and David Arquette became an iconic '90s couple after meeting on the set of Scream.
The two welcomed daughter Coco before Scream 4, which they filmed as a couple after separating in 2011.
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However, the two remained friendly after their split.
"He's my favorite person in the world," Cox told PEOPLE in 2012. "He's my best friend. No matter what happens in our future, he's my very best friend."
Following their separation, Cox supported Arquette during his time on Dancing with the Stars.
Arquette doubled down on his ex-wife’s statement that the two are best friends, telling PEOPLE in 2013, "I love her, too, and she's an amazing person, a beautiful person."
06 of 09
Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman during 2005 Glamour/Miramax Golden Globes PartyCredit: L. Cohen/WireImage
Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman were a famously funny pair for five years before breaking up in 2008.
Kimmel admitted that even amongst two comedians, remaining friends with exes can “take time,” in a 2019 appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.
“I would say that it took some time, definitely … It was never like where we didn’t like each other, hated each other or anything like that. But it definitely took some time to be comfortable enough to be friends again,” he said.
In 2018, Kimmel even got an update from Silverman about her love life when he interviewed her on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
“What’s going on with me dating-wise?” she quipped to her ex. “I’m waiting for this tryst with you to be over.”
Silverman also joked that she was jealous of Kimmel's wife, Molly McNeary, for getting the “new, woke Jimmy.”
“It’s not fair! She gets like new, woke Jimmy. I had Man Show Jimmy,” she said, referencing Kimmel’s Comedy Central show.
07 of 09
Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder
Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder attend the 20th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party at The City of West Hollywood Park on February 26, 2012 in Beverly Hills, CaliforniaCredit: Jamie McCarthy/WireImage
Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder took their onscreen love into the real world when they started dating while filming the hit CW series The Vampire Diaries from 2010 to 2013.
Dobrev insisted that the split was drama-free, with the two committed to retaining a friendly and professional relationship in an interview with E! News.
"I've said this before, that we didn't break up because anything bad happened or because there wasn't love or friendship," she said. "I love him and the friendship is still strong and I think he's great and I care about him."
Dobrev continued, "And that didn't change. Yes, we're professional and that's fine. We were friends long before we dated and we still are now."
08 of 09
Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak
B. J. Novak and Mindy Kaling attend the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 12, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California.Credit: Jon Kopaloff/Getty
Kaling and Novak have been committed friends for even longer than they were in a relationship.
The Office costars mirrored their characters' on-again, off-again relationship in real life. They met on set for the show in 2004 and, according to Novak, even they were confused by the blurred lines in their relationship.
"No one, including us, ever really knew, 'Is this dating? Is this not dating?' " Novak told Vulture in 2012. "We were never really dating, we were never really not dating."
He continued, "We didn't know. No one knew. All you'd know for sure was that you'd always find one of us next to the other, even if we weren't getting along."
Novak and Kaling cemented their closeness when he became the godfather to two of Kaling’s children, Katherine Swati and Spencer Avu (she also has a daughter named Anne).
Kaling explained that while they don’t identify as romantic partners, they’ve moved into something “deeper."
"It isn't the thing that people sometimes think it is," Kaling said in a 2019 interview on CBS Sunday Morning. "But he's really part of my family now, which is great. Even though that's less of a sexy characterization of our relationship, I think it's a deeper and a closer one."
09 of 09
Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet
Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz attend the "China: Through The Looking Glass" Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 4, 2015 in New York CityCredit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty
Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet were one of the coolest couples in Hollywood in the '80s.
After marrying in 1987, they welcomed their daughter, Zoë Kravitz, the next year.
In 1991, the two separated, but Kravitz continued to express his gratitude for their time together decades later in his 2024 PEOPLE cover story.
"I am what I am because of our experience, because of everything that I was, everything that she was and everything that came together," he said.
on People
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