Celebrities aren’t known for their lasting marriages, but these pairs married and divorced before they rounded 30. We like Olivia Wilde’s optimistic opinion that young divorce “blasts you wide open and frees you to be honest with yourself.”
Do you think these stars are better off single?
1Olivia Wilde (Tao Ruspoli)
When Olivia Wilde was only 18, she married Italian prince, Tao Ruspoli, at the back of an empty school bus. They made it eight years before calling it quits when Wilde was 26.
2Avril Lavigne (Deryck Whibley)
When Avril Lavigne and Deryck Whibley were newlyweds, she thought she was “the best thing that ever happened to him.” Maybe she still is, but things got a little, well, complicated, and Lavigne filed for divorce in 2009, shortly after her 25th birthday.
3Scarlett Johansson (Ryan Reynolds)
Scarlett Johansson’s marriage to Ryan Reynolds was so hush-hush we barely knew it was happening until they were drawing up the divorce papers. After a quiet wedding in Canada, the two lasted a little more than two years before calling it quits in December 2010, less than a month after Johansson’s 26th birthday.
4Reese Witherspoon (Ryan Phillippe)
After meeting at Reese Witherspoon’s 21st birthday party, Reese and Ryan were one of the cutest couples to come out of the 90s—until Ryan cheated on her. Witherspoon filed for divorce when she was 30, opting instead for single motherhood and ever-rising stardom.
5Drew Barrymore (Tom Green)
No one was quite sure what Drew Barrymore was thinking when she fell for comedian Tom Greene, but hey, she’s always walked to the beat of her own drummer. Sadly, love fizzled after only five months and Barrymore filed for divorce two months before her 27th birthday.
6Macaulay Culkin (Rachel Miner)
After a rather misguided teenage marriage to actress Rachel Miner, Macaulay Culkin found himself home alone again at only 20 years old.
7LeAnn Rimes (Dean Sheremet)
LeAnn Rimes married backup dancer Dean Sheremet in 2002 and fell off the radar until a widely publicized affair with her “Northern Lights” co-star, Eddie Cibrian. Needless to say, Sheremet was none too pleased and filed for divorce in 2009, when Rimes was only 27.
8Kate Hudson (Chris Robinson)
Golden girl Kate Hudson married Chris Robinson, the frontman for The Black Crowes, on the eve of 2001. They bought a house, had a baby, and seemed happy until Robinson filed for divorce when Hudson was 27. But she rebounded with Alex Rodriguez, which seems like a pretty sweet deal to us.
9Jessica Simpson (Nick Lachey)
In the early 2000s, Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey were the “it” couple with the teen crowd, but then they got married and “Newlyweds” happened and no one was really that surprised when they finally got sick of each other. The pop star filed for divorce at 25.
10Ashlee Simpson (Pete Wentz)
Taking after her big sister, Jessica, Ashlee Simpson married—and divorced—well before 30. Married to Pete Wentz at age 24 and divorced at 26, she even one-upped her sister by having a baby in between there.
11Britney Spears (Kevin Federline)
Last but not least: Britney. At 23, she had a 55-hour marriage to a childhood friend, followed up by another stellar choice to marry dancer Kevin Federline. Two kids later, she filed for divorce at age 25 and embarked on a truly epic breakdown with an equally impressive comeback. Hey, at least she proves it’s possible.
