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A lot of us have that one person we think of as "the one who got away." Some people actually find their way back to that person, and sometimes, it lasts forever — but not always.
Here are nine celeb couples who broke up, got back together, and stayed together:
1. Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor got married in 2000, a year after they met while shooting an unaired TV pilot. However, they separated in 2017.
On The Drew Barrymore Show, Christine said, "[We] always stayed a family unit, so when the pandemic hit and we all had to figure out where to hunker down, we all ended up in our house together with two teenagers, and we found this way back. We had so much time to talk, there were no other distractions…it just happened organically."
2. When Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck first met on the set of Gigli in 2002, she was still married to Cris Judd. However, after divorcing him in 2003, she began dating Ben. They got engaged, but after initially postponing their wedding, called things off in 2004.
In 2022, Jennifer told Apple Music's Zane Lowe, "Once we called off that wedding 20 years ago, it was the biggest heartbreak of my life, and I honestly felt like I was going to die."
They rekindled their relationship in 2021, then got re-engaged in 2022. A few months later, they got married in Las Vegas.
3. Longtime friends Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber (who was known as Hailey Baldwin at the time) had a brief, casual relationship in 2016. However, it ended with a "very dramatic excommunication."
In 2019, Hailey told Vogue, "Negative things happened that we still need to talk about and work through,...here was a period where if I walked into a room, he would walk out."
4. In 2009, Billy Porter and Adam Smith met at a dinner party held by their mutual friends. They had an immediate connection and started dating soon after, but they broke up after seven months. However, they stayed friends.
In 2015, Adam realized he'd still been in love with Billy for years, but he "knew that it was on [him] if [he] wanted to ever change anything." When they saw Hamilton for Adam's birthday, Billy reached over and held his hand, and Adam thought, "Yeah, I'm gonna tell him today." After the play, they got back together, then got married two years later.
Billy told People, "I remember saying to my therapist, 'Now I know what love looks like, and it just walked out the door.' I didn't know what it looked like before, and it was after that that I realized: 'Oh, shit, that's the one that got away! But now that I know what it looks like, the next time it shows up, I will be ready.' I didn't realize it was gonna show up as the same person — but I'm grateful that it did!"
5. William Shatner and horse trainer Elizabeth Martin got married in 2001. However, they separated in 2019 and finalized their divorce in 2020.
However, they got back together in early 2023.
While making their first red carpet appearance as a reconciled couple, William told the Mirror, "My wife… she is the zest of life. She brings the flavor."
6. In 2005, Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino and Lauren Sorrentino (Lauren Pesce at the time) met in math class at Brookdale Community College. They dated throughout college but broke up in 2009, when he joined the cast of Jersey Shore.
However, the show ended in 2012, and Mike and Lauren got back together off screen soon after. They got engaged in 2018, then tied the knot a few months later.
7. Nene Leakes (Nene Johnson at the time) and Gregg Leakes first met in 1996 when she was working at a club. Within a year, they were married. They divorced in 2011.
However, nearly two years later, they reunited, getting re-engaged in early 2013. Six months later, they got remarried in the televised Bravo special I Dream of NeNe: The Wedding.
They stayed together until Gregg's death in 2021.
8. Jean-Claude Van Damme and Gladys Portugues got married in 1987. Then, they divorced in 1992, and he married Darcy LaPier in 1994.
However, Jean-Claude and Darcy divorced in 1997. Two years later, he remarried Gladys. She filed for divorce in 2015, but they were able to reconcile once again and called off their separation.
Jean-Claude told TMZ, "The JCVD family [is] still strong. The kids are strong. The wife is strong. ... [There's] so much divorce around the world, and it's bad for the children. That's the problem. The couple [has] to work [out] their stuff together. No matter what, they have to grow again."
She told People, "All of a sudden I'm a single mom, and I don't know how I'm going to pay my rent, let alone feed my kid. So I decided I had to get back to work."
Marie hustled her way to the top of the country music charts within two years. She was married to Brian Blosil from 1986–2007, and after their divorce, she "never wanted to be married again." However, she ended up reconnecting with Steve through their son, and they got remarried in 2011.
She told People, "The thing about a second marriage is that you realize things you thought were so important, aren't. I love being with my husband. He is the sweetest man I know. He lives to serve and really listens to people's needs."
And now, here are five celeb couples who broke up, got back together years later, then broke up again:
10. In 2009, Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth got together while filming The Last Song. After being on-and-off for a few years, they got engaged in 2012. However, they called off their wedding in 2013.
In 2016, Miley and Liam reunited and got re-engaged. They quietly got married around Christmastime in 2018. However, they separated for the final time in 2019.
On The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Miley said, "I had to make a healthy decision for myself to leave a previous life behind."
11. Bella Hadid and The Weeknd first started dating in 2015. A year later, they reportedly broke up because of their busy schedules.
Bella told Teen Vogue, "It was my first breakup…and so public. As an outsider, you might think I handled it so well, but it's always in your heart, and you always feel it very heavily. It'll be hard for a while. Love hurts, but you have to pull through. But I'll always respect him, and I'll always love him."
12. Louis Tomlinson and Eleanor Calder first became a couple in 2011. After being together for most of his One Direction days, they parted ways in 2015.
They got back together in 2017, and Louis wrote about her on his debut solo album Walls. However, they reportedly broke up again in early 2023.
Louis told the Sun, "There's another song on the album called 'Always You,' and it’s kind of about my story of traveling the world and just being a fucking idiot and going, 'Of course it was always you.' Here’s the thing, when you listen to my album, you won't have to read between the lines. You'll know what's about Eleanor."
13. Riverdale costars Camila Mendes and Charles Melton started dating in 2018. Shortly after celebrating one year together, they went on a break.
In 2021, they got back together after reconnecting on set. However, they broke up once again in 2022.
14. And finally, Meg Ryan and John Mellencamp first began dating in 2011. They split up in 2014 because they lived in different states.
At the time, John told The Howard Stern Show, "Meg is an angel. She was just an angel sent to me at the right time. We tried to have a relationship for three years long distance. ... We'll see what happens."
