Top 10 Notorious Celebrity Cheating Scandals You Will Never Forget

Thou shalt not get caught committing adultery. Here are ten iconic times celebrities forgot about this commandment.

From tabloid magazines to TMZ, a good cheating scandal makes headlines. With celebrity relationships as flimsy as they are, professional gossipers don’t need to look very far to find the next celebrity affair. Once in a while comes a cheating scandal that puts all the other celebrity cheating scandals to shame. Some celebrity cheating scandals are harder to forget than others. The fame of the celebrities, the public nature of the relationships, or the wild details of the story all play a part in making these affairs unforgettable.

Turns out infidelity is pretty common, 70 million members on a website geared at starting affairs common. Still, celebrity affairs continue to attract significant attention, and for good reason. Celebrities are larger than life, everything they do they do big. Their successes are large and their failures are even larger. It’s why 29 million tuned into the Royal Wedding and it’s the same reason why these cheating scandals are so memorable. Here is our list of the top 10 tabloid-shattering, contemporary cheating scandals.

10. Kris Jenner Keeps Up With The Waterman’s

The world’s most iconic “momager” has made her fair share of headlines and her affair with Todd Waterman was no exception. In her 2011 memoir, Kris Jenner… and All Things Kardashian, Jenner discussed her extramarital relationship during her seemingly perfect marriage to Robert Kardashian. Jenner wrote that her affair made her feel “young, attractive, sexy, and alive” but to her dismay, it also marked the end of her 13-year marriage.

While high profile, the affair’s lack of any public drama brings it to 10th place in our list.

9. Paris Hilton Knocks Over House of Cards

After her split with Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter, Carter accused Paris of cheating while he was on The Tyra Banks Show. The singer accused her of cheating on him with her House of Wax co-star, Chad Michael Murray, who was married to Sophia Bush at the time. A full love triangle, with public accusations and early 2000s star power land this celebrity cheating scandal on this list.

8. Demi Gets Punk’d By Ashton Kutcher

Traditional sixth-anniversary gifts include candy to symbolize sweetness and iron to symbolize strength. Ashton Kutcher opted to celebrate his 6th anniversary with Demi Moore with an affair. In October 2011, Ashton Kutcher got caught with two women at the San Diego Hard Rock Hotel.

7. Kristen Stewart Switches to Team Rupert

It turns out that Robert Pattinson wasn’t Kristen Stewart’s prince charming. The Twilight co-stars’ romance ended in a very public fashion. In 2012, US Weekly leaked photos of Kristen Stewart cheating on Pattinson with her Snow White and the Huntsman director, Rupert Sanders. The news blew up on social media, with even a future President even tweeting about it. All this combined makes this our 7th most iconic celebrity cheating scandal.

6. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt become Mr. & Mrs. Splits

Old habits die hard. Nearly a decade after Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston’s split sparked speculations of an affair with his Mr. and Mrs. Smith co-star, Angelina Jolie, Jolie found herself hiring a private investigator. According to Page Six, the PI discovered that Pitt was cheating on his wife with his Allied co-star, Marion Cotillard, “while also partying like a single guy on a mission.” 

5. Kevin Hart’s Affair was no Laughing Matter

For Kevin Hart, what happened in Vegas unfortunately didn’t stay in Vegas. In the third episode of the comedian’s Netflix special, “Kevin Hart: Don’t F**k this up,” Hart’s wife, Eniko Parrish, got candid about Hart’s affair.  Someone had sent Parrish a video of Hart with another woman during his 2017 trip to Las Vegas. Heavy discussion of the affair across social media and Hart’s famous apology video leads us to rank this cheating scandal at #5 on the list. 

4. Jay-Z & Beyonce’s Family Feuds

In 2014, a video of Solange Knowles, Jay-Z’s sister-in-law, attacking Jay-Z piqued the public’s interest.

Fans began connecting the dots when Beyoncé dropped her album Lemonade, which was full of not-so-discreet jabs at her husband’s affair. In 2017, Jay-Z confirmed his extramarital relationship. 

This scandal was huge, from the high-profile celebrity couple to the footage in the elevator, this affair had it all. As long as there are people listening to Beyonce’s Lemonade or Jay-Z’s 4:44 we will always remember this iconic scandal.

3. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Family Affair 

After twenty years of fathering a secret child with his family housekeeper, Mildred Baena, Schwarzenegger came clean about his affair. The truth came out in a 2011 therapy session with his wife, Maria Shriver, in which Schwarzenegger revealed everything. This included the fact he has been financially supporting his secret son, Joseph, without her knowledge. The striking resemblance between Schwarzenegger and his love child generated unforgettable public shock, driving this celebrity affair to #3 on our list. 

2. Tiger Woods in the Rough

When Elin Nordegren chased Woods out of the house in 2009, she thought that there were one or two other women. Nordegren was shocked when she learned that her husband was a serial cheater, having sexual relationships with roughly 120 other women throughout their marriage, including his 21-year-old neighbor. The most popular golfer in the world would stay on the cover of tabloids while new women revealed they had participated in his massive infidelity.

1. Bill Clinton Had Sexual Relations With That Woman

Bill Clinton learned some important lessons at Georgetown, but “don’t mix business and pleasure” wasn’t one of them. Between 1995 and 1997, Clinton had a sexual relationship with his then 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. Lewinsky sealed the relationship’s fate when she revealed her now-infamous stained blue dress to co-worker Linda Tripp. When Tripp started recording and releasing her and Lewinsky’s private conversations, Clinton had to admit that he had engaged in an “improper physical relationship” during his marriage to Hillary.

From the cover-up to the resignation, there are many reasons why this scandal is our biggest cheating scandal of all time. 

Do We Care About Monogamous Celebrities?

While many celebrities on this list lost their partners, they could count on continued loyalty from one group: their fans. Bill Clinton’s approval rating climbed by 10 points in the wake of his impeachment. Kris Jenner went on to build a reality empire. Tiger Woods may have lost some sponsors at the moment, but he continues to be the most popular golfer in the world. Fans seem willing to forgive celebrities for their cheating scandals. So what does this mean?

It means at some point we stopped caring whether our favorite celebrities stayed monogamous or not. While these affairs may mean a lot to those involved, for the audience of the tabloids it’s another story where we pick a side and cheer. It has little to no impact on our lives, but we become glued to our screens waiting to hear more details from them.

The good news for cheaters, celebrity affairs may contribute to life beyond the tabloids. Society’s romanticization of celebrities and their lifestyle may promote more widespread acceptance of infidelity, changing how we view monogamy for better or worse.