We spend a lot of time obsessing over
celebrity couples, so when some of the sweetest stars have found their way into bad
relationships with less-than-stellar people, it can be pretty disturbing. These are
some sweet celebs who married awful people. When Sandra Bullock got teary-eyed while thanking
then-husband Jesse James at the 2010 Oscars, we all rooted for them. That also
made it hurt twice as much when news broke that James allegedly cheated on
America's sweetheart with a slew of women, at least one of whom had no issue rocking
Nazi regalia while modeling for pictures. "A lot of people, particularly women,
hated you for what you've done, as you say, to America's sweetheart." "Yeah. I think those people
barely liked me anyway." That Nazi image may not have bothered James,
though. He's reportedly been linked to Nazi-related art for quite a while, and some very
unsettling photos of him in Nazi gear went public. Bullock kicked him to the curb and told People - "The photo shocked me and made me sad. This was
stupid, this was ignorant. Racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, homophobia, anything Nazi and a boatload
of other things have no place in my life." Zsa Zsa Gabor's ninth husband,
Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt, seemed to capitalize on her December 2016 death
as much as he could. According to The Hollywood Reporter, von Anhalt made much of his speech
at her memorial service, about Hollywood and about himself, even admitting that he met
her because he paid a photo agency $5,000 to snap him with a star to establish himself
as a celebrity — and that star was Gabor. As if that wasn't enough, he also used
his platform to call Elizabeth Taylor fat, when she was wheelchair-bound
at the end of her life. Christie Brinkley married Peter Cook in 2001,
but by 2007, he got sloppy with his alleged cheating. Around 2005, Cook supposedly
began hooking up with an 18-year-old assistant behind Brinkley's back. The
assistant's stepfather reportedly learned about the affair and spilled the beans to
Brinkley, who quickly filed for divorce. They had a bitter custody battle over their
daughter, and a nasty battle over money that Cook lost. In the end, he took home only $2.1 million
of Brinkley's estimated $60 million fortune. After Cook and his subsequent wife split in
2014, she publicly apologized to Brinkley for ignoring her warnings about
Cook, who, according to Page Six, was later accused of photographing
women without their knowledge. Anne Hathaway wasn't married to
Italian businessman and alleged swindler Raffaello Follieri, but he
said he'd bought her an engagement ring and was getting ready to ask for her
hand when their world came crashing down. In 2008, four years into their relationship,
Follieri was arrested for money laundering. "I broke up with my Italian boyfriend and two weeks later he was sent to
prison for fraud…. Yeah! Wow!" According to the Daily Mail, authorities
seized personal photos and even Hathaway's diaries from his Trump Tower apartment as
evidence in the crimes. The tabloid claimed relationship problems surfaced days earlier when
news broke that Follieri's charity organization was being investigated by authorities,
prompting Hathaway to resign from its board. Madonna and Robin Wright were
both married to Sean Penn, and he's been accused of
treating both of them horribly. People and the Daily Mail alleged that Penn's
jealous rages during his relationship with Madonna led him to physically attack not just her, but
also some of her friends and business associates. As far as his relationship with Wright, well, it doesn't seem like his dating life suffered
during their marriage, as he allegedly had relationships with celebs like Petra Nemcova
and Jewel before he and Wright divorced. Ike Turner helped propel Anna Mae Bullock
to superstardom when he took her under his wing and changed her stage name to Tina
Turner. Unfortunately, with his tutelage and musical genius came reported domestic abuse,
which Tina detailed in her memoir, I, Tina, and which was dramatized in the film
"What's Love Got to Do With It". Before divorcing Ike in 1976, Tina claimed
his abuse was so severe that, at one point, he broke her jaw. Robin Givens was a star on the rise when she
met heavyweight champion Mike Tyson in 1987. The couple tied the knot after a year
of dating, but this marriage was far from perfect. During a joint 1989
interview with Barbara Walters, Givens explained that she loved
Tyson and why she was with him, but when asked about Tyson's alleged domestic
abuse, she was equally forthcoming, saying - "He's got a side to him that's
scary. Michael is intimidating, to say the least. I think that there's a
time when he cannot control his temper, and that's frightening to me, and to my
mother, and to anyone around. It's scary." Tyson and Givens divorced
shortly after that interview. Tyson accused Givens and her mother of
conspiring to swindle him for his money. Britney Spears may have dodged a bullet
when she annulled her ultra-brief marriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander.
They were husband and wife for just 55 hours in 2004, but by 2012,
he still wasn't over it, saying - "Nice guys finish last. Look out for yourself.
If you are going to really get involved into a relationship with a celebrity and you are just an
average Joe, make sure you are thinking business!" He also was dismissive of Spears'
engagement to then-manager Jason Trawick, which ended in 2013. Alexander said, "I think it's fake and I think
people are afraid to say it." In February 2016, court documents obtained by Us
Weekly revealed that Alexander spent four months behind bars on domestic violence charges in 2015,
pleading guilty to a count of felony assault. Former Spice Girls member Melanie
"Mel B" Brown filed for divorce from estranged husband Stephen Belafonte
after more than a decade together. According to stories from Daily Mail and The
Sun, Belafonte reportedly had quite the rap sheet before they got together. In 1994, he was
charged with receiving stolen property, after allegedly pleading down from burglary and
theft. In 2000, he was accused of assaulting two men in a road rage incident; that charge
was reduced to vandalism. In 2003, Belafonte pleaded no contest to allegedly battering his
then-common-law wife while he was drunk. He also admitted to bludgeoning a duck to death with a
brick outside of his New Jersey home, when he was a teenager. He reportedly fled to Los Angeles
and never paid his court fine for that incident. During their marriage, he was allegedly involved
in a physical altercation with three men at a London hotel in 2010, leaving one hospitalized,
but he was never charged. After their split, Brown accused him of physically abusing her
throughout their marriage, alienating her from her family, sexually exploiting her for
money, and cheating on her with their nanny, who he allegedly got pregnant and forced to get
an abortion. Belafonte denied all of those claims. Model and actor Ali Landry was married to Mario
Lopez, who later confessed to cheating on Landry during his bachelor party just days before their
wedding in 2004. He told Howard Stern in 2011 - "It was spring break...everybody was hanging
out. That was a situation where I was not mature enough and not man enough. I had
no business of being in that position." Their marriage was annulled after just two
weeks, but in his memoir, "Just Between Us," Lopez poured salt on the wound by writing
that he never loved Landry in the first place. Josh Duggar of "19 Kids and Counting"
fame married Anna Duggar in 2008. In 2015, a police report surfaced from 2006, in which Josh
admitted to being, quote, "extremely sorry" for, quote, "wrongdoing". The wrongdoing of which
he was accused was particularly heinous: Molesting five young girls, including his own
sisters, Jill Dillard and Jessa Seewald, per TMZ. The sexual abuse reportedly occurred
in 2002, when Josh was 14 years old. He wrote in a since-deleted message on
the family's Facebook account that he and his victims all sought counseling
after he confessed to the incident. Also, in 2015, Gawker revealed that Josh had spent
at least $1,000 for a paid Ashley Madison account, a service where married people go to find sexual
partners for extramarital affairs. According to People, Josh later confessed to cheating on
Anna and to being addicted to pornography. In April 2021, Josh was arrested
for alleged possession of images or video portraying sexual
abuse of children. Per People, he pleaded not guilty to the charges and faces
up to 20 years behind bars, if convicted. Bethenny Frankel's divorce proceedings from ex Jason Hoppy lasted longer
than her two-year marriage. "This has been a very big surprise and I never
would have expected that it would have gone one tenth of how far it's gone." The pair tied the knot in 2010,
but were separated by 2012, and by Frankel's account, the
split was very ugly. However, it was Hoppy's alleged behavior after
their divorce that was most unsettling. TMZ reported that, in November 2016,
Frankel's boyfriend, Dennis Shields, had his lawyer send Hoppy
a cease and desist letter after Hoppy allegedly sent him more
than 100 harassing emails about Frankel. In January 2017, Page Six reported that Hoppy
was arrested for allegedly threatening Frankel when she picked up their daughter from
school in New York — and it was revealed that he allegedly sent more than 150 emails of
various insults and threats to her and Shields. Dita Von Teese married Marilyn Manson in
November 2005 after five years of dating, but by December 2006, the couple divorced.
Teese later told Harper's Bazaar of the split - "Let's just say that it must have been
something pretty bad for me to move out of the house after six years together and
to pack up my stuff on Christmas Eve." She didn't specify the reason, but
it's speculated that Manson took up with actor Evan Rachel Wood at that
time. Manson and Wood went on to date from 2007 to 2010. In February 2021,
Wood alleged on Instagram of Manson - "He started grooming me when I was a teenager
and horrifically abused me for years. I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission. I am
done living in fear of retaliation, slander, or blackmail. I am here to expose this dangerous man
and call out the many industries that have enabled him, before he ruins any more lives. I stand with
the many victims who will no longer be silent." According to Vanity Fair, at least four
other women accused Manson of abuse, and "Game of Thrones" star Esme Bianco sued
Manson for sexual battery in April 2021. The "Dope Show" singer has denied all allegations. After adopting daughter Soon-Yi Previn in 1978,
Mia Farrow began dating Woody Allen in 1980, and they were together until 1992.
Though they never married nor cohabited, they shared son Satchel, now journalist
Ronan Farrow, and adopted daughter Dylan. Mia and Allen split when she found
nude photos of Soon-Yi in Allen's home, which the filmmaker later claimed
was no big deal, telling Time - "Soon-Yi had talked about being a model
and said to me would I take some pictures of her without her clothes on. At this
time we had an intimate relationship, so I said sure, and I did. It
was just a lark of a moment." After their split, Mia accused Allen of
sexually abusing adopted daughter Dylan; a prosecutor claimed there was, quote,
"probable cause" to prosecute Allen, but reportedly declined to press charges in
order to save Dylan the trauma of a trial, per CBS News. For his part, Allen has
long denied the allegations, but Dylan, Ronan, and Mia stand by them to this
day. Allen and Soon-Yi wed in 1997. Roman Polanski married Sharon Tate in January
1968, but their union ended tragically when she and their unborn child were victims
of the Manson Murders in August 1969. In 1977, Polanski was arrested for sexually
assaulting 13-year-old Samantha Gailey, now Samantha Geimer. He initially denied the
charges, but later agreed to a plea bargain. However, the judge in the case reportedly
planned to renege on the plea bargain and sentence Polanski to 50 years behind bars. Polanski fled first to London, then to France,
where he evaded extradition for decades. In 1988, Geimer sued Polanski and they agreed
to a financial settlement, but by 1996, it was reported he still owed her over $600,000; they
reportedly settled the matter by 1997, per the Los Angeles Times. In 2009, Polanski was arrested
in Switzerland and initially jailed, but then placed under house arrest in his sprawling estate.
Then, according to The New York Times, Switzerland refused to extradite him to the United States. A
Polish court also turned down extradition in 2015. According to The New York Times, an
eyewitness alleged in court that Aaliyah, then 13 or 14 years old, had a
sexual relationship with R. Kelly, then in his mid-20s. A year later, Kelly and
Aaliyah illegally married, allegedly because he believed she was pregnant with his child.
Kelly was accused of bribing a government employee to get Aaliyah a fake ID saying she
was 18 years old. The marriage was annulled. Aaliyah is one of the youngest girls
that Kelly allegedly sexually abused; numerous other women accused Kelly of
sexually abusing them when they were minors. In September of 2021, BBC reported
that Kelly was found guilty of eight counts of sex trafficking and one count
of racketeering. As of this video, Kelly also has a trial pending in Chicago over
alleged obstruction of justice and possession of child sex images, and he has been charged with
sex abuse in the states of Illinois and Minnesota. From 1996 through 2002, four women each sued
Kelly for various sex offenses that allegedly occurred when the women were underage; the cases
were settled out of court. In June 2002, Kelly was charged with making videos depicting child
sexual abuse, but was found not guilty. Separate charges of producing child sexual abuse images
in Florida were dismissed between 2002 and 2004. Ronnie Spector of The Ronettes married
music producer Phil Spector in 1968, but outside of the studio, their relationship
got ugly fast: Ronnie told The Telegraph that Phil held her hostage in their shared home and
only let her leave the house once every month, for just 20 minutes, to purchase feminine
hygiene products. She alleged that if she took more than 20 minutes, he'd send a bodyguard
out to find her and that he often hid her shoes from her to keep her from going out, and
prohibited her from performing live at all. She also revealed that Phil
kept a gold coffin in their home and threatened to kill her if she ever left him. In 2009, Spector was convicted of shooting and
killing actor Lana Clarkson at his home in 2003, despite maintaining his innocence and
insisting that Clarkson had taken her own life. When asked about Spector's 19-to-life
sentence, Ronnie told The Telegraph - "It feels wonderful! The
more he tried to destroy me, the stronger I got. It made me think,
'How dare you? You don't own me.'" Denise Richards began dating Charlie Sheen after
guest starring on "Spin City" in 2001, and they married in 2002. Four years and two daughters
later, they divorced, with Richards alleging that Sheen was using drugs while she was pregnant with
their youngest child, and that he threatened to kill Richards and her parents. The split pair were
amicable at first, but have since been at war in the press and in the courts over custody and child
support, with Sheen frequently insulting his ex. Sheen married Brooke Mueller in 2008. The
couple welcomed twin boys in March 2009, but all was not well: That December,
CNN reported that Sheen was arrested after Mueller accused him of threatening her at
knifepoint and trying to strangle her. In 2011, he was arrested again for allegedly threatening
to murder Mueller. The couple subsequently split. Richards and Mueller weren't the only women
to accuse Sheen of various forms of abuse: In December 2015, his ex-fiancee
Scottine Ross alleged that Sheen was physically abusive and that he didn't
disclose to her that he was HIV-positive before they had unprotected sex. Bree Olson also
accused Sheen of not disclosing his HIV status, and another woman sued him for the same.
Sheen denied all the allegations and said he's paid close to $10 million in settlements
before publicly revealing his diagnosis. John Legend and Chrissy Teigen were considered
a golden couple, but in spring 2021, reports resurfaced about past online bullying
from Teigen. Her most frequent target was model Courtney Stodden, who was groomed to marry
Doug Hutchinson when they were underage. Teigen directed some insulting public tweets
at Stodden but it didn't end there: Stodden revealed in an interview with
The Daily Beast that Teigen also sent them direct messages urging them to kill
themselves. Teigen also blasted Lindsay Lohan and Farrah Abraham on the platform.
Most of her mean tweets, which reportedly may have cost her some endorsements, were from
2011. She and Legend tied the knot in 2013. Teigen posted a public apology to Stodden
in May 2021 via Twitter. However, Stodden told TMZ that Teigen never actually reached
out to them or their team privately at all. Cameroonian singer Denica also accused
Teigen of shoving her at the 2016 Grammys, and more recently, Teigen beefed with
comedian Heather McDonald in September 2021. Amy Winehouse was reportedly in
a toxic relationship with husband Blake Fielder-Civil before her death
in 2011. She married Fielder in 2007, which many fans point to as the beginning of her
downturn into the drug and alcohol addictions that led to her death. Winehouse's former
manager Nick Shymansky told The Guardian - "It was horrible to see her going from
someone so tender and brilliant and warm to being kind of derelict and lost. I've been
very angry with [Fielder-Civil] in the past, but at the end of the day he wasn't a grownup,
he was a lost kid who had his own issues." Fielder-Civil denies responsibility for Winehouse's issues. He told
The London Sunday Times - "I don't think I ruined her, no. I think
we found each other and certain people need to realize that she did have
other addictions before she met me." If you or anyone you know is struggling
with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's
National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
