Forgotten celeb couples

Susannah Guthrie
Mar 03, 2014, updated Mar 03, 2014

If you’re prone to procrastination, it may be best to stop reading now. If you read on and discover Tumblr page Old Loves – a tour of the best and worst romantic pairings of the last century – you may never get anything done again.

“Old Loves is my passion, I check it, like, once a week It’s how I kick back on a Friday night.”

Lena Dunham, of Girls fame, recently professed her addiction to the website after she discovered her current boyfriend’s famous ex during a night trawling its pages.

Dunham, who is dating guitarist Jack Antonoff of the band Fun, stumbled across a photo of her man and his ex during a weekly internet binge.

“Old Loves is my passion, I check it, like, once a week It’s how I kick back on a Friday night,” Dunham explained to Bill Simmons of the Grantland YouTube channel. “And I was going through it and I saw my boyfriend and his girlfriend from high school. Scarlett Johansson.”

“I was like, ‘My mind is going to explode,'” Dunham said.

But Old Loves has more to offer than spying on high-profile exes. Most notably, it provides a whole lot of delightfully shocking “They dated?!” moments. It may also prompt you to undertake an intensive YouTube search for clips of that ever-so-perfect couple you forgot existed but now you’re sad all over again that they broke up.

For us, that was Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling. It just doesn’t get any better.

(If you feel the same, watch this gem.)

Here’s our list of favourite pairings, whether they be random, disastrous, easy-to-forget or absolutely perfect.

Kylie Minogue and Lenny Kravitz

The Aussie popstar dated the American rockstar for eight months in 1993. He later moved on to another Australian – Nicole Kidman in 2004.

Alanis Morissette and Ryan Reynolds

Actor Reynolds is notorious for settling down with women early on in his relationships. His habit was formed with Morissette when the unlikely pairing met in 2002 and got engaged in 2004. They split in 2007 and Reynolds went on to marry ex-wife Scarlett Johansson and current wife Blake Lively.

Dita Von Teese and Marilyn Manson

The eccentric pair appeared to be a match made in alternative heaven when they wed in 2006 after six years together. They filed for divorce a year later, however, and Manson later confessed that the marriage “destroyed” him and left him with “no soul”. Fun times!

Juliette Lewis and Brad Pitt

After meeting on the set of a 1990 TV movie, 16-year-old Lewis and 26-year-old Pitt dated for two years and moved in together. Lewis says the pair are still on good terms after their split and describes occasionally bumping into Pitt as “like running into an old comrade”.

Shelley Duvall and Ringo Starr

The Shining actress and the Beatle dated in 1978 for one year. Starr went on to feature in Duvall’s Bedtime Stories series of animated children’s books as a narrator.

Amanda Seyfried and Emile Hirsch

The young actors dated briefly in 2005 after meeting on the set of their film Alpha Dog.

Kelly Preston and Charlie Sheen

Preston, who is now married to John Travolta, is probably thanking her lucky stars she ditched Sheen before his post-Two and a Half Men meltdown. Back in 1990, the engaged couple broke up as rumours circulated that Sheen had shot Preston in the arm. Years later, the pair cleared up the bizarre incident by explaining that Preston had accidentally shot herself in the arm with an old handgun belonging to Sheen while he was downstairs in the kitchen. Since then, Sheen has been married three times (he’s currently engaged to a pornstar) while Preston raised a family with Travolta.

Cher and Tom Cruise

We know … weird, right? The mismatched couple had a fling in the late ’80s despite their 16-year age gap. Cher recently described Cruise as “one of my top five lovers” admitting she was “crazy” for him.

David Copperfield and Claudia Schiffer

The supermodel and the musician were engaged for six years after meeting in Berlin in 1993. They split due to busy schedules and growing rumours that Copperfield was gay and the relationship was fake. Copperfield sued in 1997 Paris Match magazine over a particular report accusing Schiffer of being paid to be his girlfriend. A court deemed the story defamatory and the couple were awarded damages.

Zooey Deschanel and Jason Schwartzman

The indie darlings dated from 2003-2005 in a match made in hipster heaven.

Owen Wilson and Sheryl Crow

The country music star and comedy actor started dating in 1998 and the relationship lasted for two years. Wilson later told Playboy magazine that he regretted their break-up, blaming his own “lack of focus” for their split.