During a recent interview on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, actor Martin Freeman said it wasn’t really fun to film Sherlock’s last season with his ex-wife, Amanda Abbington.
“Until then it has been great to work with her,” he said. “But we broke up during the last season, so it wasn’t really fun.” He is not the only one who still has to work with an ex.
These ten former couples also had to try to stay professional and work with exes.
Amanda Seyfried & Dominic Cooper
Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper met on the set of the movie “Mamma Mia!”, In which they played a couple. They were together for three years, but in 2011 their fairy tale came to an end. The ABBA musical was given a sequel in 2018, so Seyfried and Cooper also appeared again.
The actress is now married to Thomas Sadoski, who was reportedly not very happy that the two exes had to play husband and wife again. “I suppose he thinks Dominic still loves me the way he loves me,” Seyfried said. “But that is of course not the case. It’s pretty cute. I prefer that he is jealous than that he finds it completely okay.”
Ian Somerhalder & Nina Dobrev
For three years, Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev had a relationship that was as passionate in real life like the one they had on screen, in the TV series “The Vampire Diaries.” In 2013, however, the couple broke up, but their characters in the series stayed together. The two succeeded so well in putting aside their true feelings that in 2014 they won a People’s Choice Award for ‘best chemistry’. “Fortunately this is not uncomfortable”, the actress laughed then.
Dobrev resigned in 2015, around the same time that Somerhalder married actress Nikki Reed. Dobrev, however, denied that the two facts were connected. “When you’ve been with someone for so long, they obviously have qualities that you appreciate. That does not change because you are no longer together. I have a lot of respect and love for him and everyone. That doesn’t change. That should not be allowed. Why were you different from them?”
Chris Van Tongelen & Brigitte Derks
Exes sometimes also have to work together in Flanders. In 2017, Chris Van Tongelen told Story how he and his ex, choreographer Brigitte Derks, started the musical ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. The two were together for fourteen years, ten of whom were married. Working together was no problem, Brigitte said.
“If I had to work with a producer that I don’t know at all, then you have to explain everything. But Chris knows exactly what I mean after three words. This saves you a lot of time. I would have been very sorry if we could no longer have worked together because we were no longer a couple. Our relationship has now simply taken on a different shape and we can both agree with that.”
She described the reason for the break as follows: “You can compare it to a butterfly. If you want to let it live, you have to let it go and not pinch it. The divorce was therefore inevitable and we both do not regret it. But the most important lesson I learned from this relationship is that you can still keep seeing each other. Love conquers everything, including a divorce.”
Jennifer Lopez & Marc Anthony
Even the marriage of Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony may be over, their professional paths keep crossing each other. In 2012 they worked together on the TV show ‘Q’Viva! The Chosen’, and four years later they recorded a Spanish-language album together. Anthony didn’t mind working with his ex. “We just have to be at different levels in each other’s lives,” he said.
“It’s a long story, not a short one. Our marriage was just one chapter from that. Our children are another. We’ll stay together all our lives.” Lopez also agrees. “In the beginning, I thought: “We treat the children well, but if we start working together, will we start fighting again? But it’s great. Really, I think this even helps our relationship.”
Jennifer Lawrence & Nicholas Hoult
Jennifer Lawrence met Nicholas Hoult on the set of ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ in 2011. The two actors had a relationship for three years, but in 2014 the cake was gone forever. Only: then the two still had to record ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ and go on the accompanying promotional tour. For Lawrence, it turned out to be a difficult period: “These films have been part of my life for so long and really had priority over everything. At the same time, I had a relationship with someone for five years, and that was really my life.
So my life consisted of that person and those films, and we parted around the time when the films also roughly ended. I was 24 and suddenly I had to think about: ‘Who am I without these films? Who am I without this man? For Hoult, the break was a little less problematic, according to an interview with ES Magazine.
When the journalist asked how he and Lawrence dealt with each other on the set, he replied: “It’s pretty similar to ‘Skins’ (his previous TV show, ed.): We are one big family, we’ve been making movies together since we are twenty years old. Just like the ‘Skins’ group, the ‘X-Men’ group grew up together. We all agree well, we all have fun.”
Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana
Fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana decided in 2005 to break up together after 23 years. Although their love relationship was over, their Dolce & Gabbana brand still existed. The two Italians admitted in 2012 that it was not easy to keep working together. “It was a terrible time when we parted, but we continued to work together,” Gabbana told the Financial Times. “We thought this would be a break, but no.
The truth is that everything has remained the same. We just don’t have sex! “He went on,” Three or four years ago I thought, “I’m tired of seeing you all the time.” I mean, our conversations went like this: he says, “I want yellow.” But I want blue. And then he says: “I get a headache from this shirt.” And then, of course, I have to say: “Is that my fault?” And then he says … “No, it’s not your fault,” added Dolce. Despite arguing, cooperation seems to be worthwhile enough to continue working together because the brand still exists.
Chad Michael Murray & Sophia Bush
Another couple who did not end well. Sophia Bush and Chad Michael Murray played a couple in the ‘One Tree Hill’ series and also married in April 2005. Barely five months later, the fairy tale was already over. Unfortunately, the two had to work together until 2009, when Murray left the show. And that was clearly not fun. For example, Bush said: “It means that we are both adults. But what’s interesting is that when people break up in a rather unpleasant way, they usually literally hate each other – or in my case, one person hates the other.
But when you have to work with someone for half a decade, you just have to learn how to deal with it. Because for me my job is my priority. So for me, that was the reason that I was able to leave it behind.” When the presenter then asked if she was still in contact with her ex-husband, the actress answered: “That is an interesting question. But my mother taught me that if you have nothing kind to say, you should say nothing at all.”
Kaley Cuoco & Johnny Galecki
In ‘The Big Bang Theory’ the characters of Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki get married in the ninth season, but in real life, their romance ended less well. The couple was together for two years before they separated in 2010. However, that did not stop them from maintaining a good working relationship, as Cuoco said in 2015 on ‘Watch What Happens Live’. “We had a relationship about five years ago, so I think we both have moved on with our lives. Johnny is actually one of my best friends.
It is a situation that ended well – although I understand that sometimes things don’t turn out so well. It could have gone very wrong, but he is one of my most dear friends.” Galecki also agrees. He said on “The View” that the two have “a huge dose of mutual love and respect.” “It’s not easy, but almost anything is possible with those two ingredients. We are really good, good friends.” Galecki was also one of the guests at Cuoco’s wedding with Karl Cook in June 2018.
Penn Badgley & Blake Lively
In 2007, “Gossip Girls” actors Penn Badgley and Blake Lively started a relationship. The series came to a conclusion in 2012 and their characters ended up together, but already in 2010, the actors broke off their romance. They reportedly found it too difficult to be in love both on the screen and in real life. But they still had to work together for two years. “We had to be professional all the time,” Badgley said. “We should give ourselves a pat on the back because things like that are always complicated… and we did it anyway.” But it turned out that it wasn’t always easy.
After the series was completed, Badgley told Lively his best onscreen kiss had ever been. And his worst? “Blake, too, after we parted.” But Blake did not let that sneer touch her heart: “From every relationship you had, you learn and grow and you take something with you. So for me, it has never been really dramatic when something ends.”
Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson
It seemed like a fairy tale: Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, the stars of the popular film series ‘Twilight’, fell madly in love with each other on the set and started a relationship that was very much appreciated by fans. But in 2012, when the shooting of the last ‘Twilight’ film was just completed, Stewart was caught cheating with director Rupert Sanders. The relationship of the couple reached a low point, but the two still had to go on press tours for months. The two actors were able to put the whole thing in perspective afterward.
Robert Pattinson said in 2014: “Shit happens, do you know? We were so young, that’s normal. And besides, who cares? The hardest part was talking about it afterward. Because when you talk to other people about it, it influences them in ways you can’t predict.” Kirsten Stewart, who received a lot of criticism from ‘Twilight’ fans, has also left the event behind. “I don’t view the entire ‘Twilight’ fuss as very traumatic. Only someone with an unhealthy ego would be angry that not everyone loves her. It would be strange to say that I don’t care what people think of my work and of me, but those things are polarizing.”
