Love is a complicated, messy thing. That’s true of every relationship that’s lasted more than a week, and it’s especially true of the relationships that celebrities engage in. Every single one of these relationships is complicated by fame, and it doesn’t help that many of the people who are attracted to stardom also happen to have massive egos.
As a result, there have been a fair number of infidelities over the course of Hollywood’s long history. Because these people are celebrities, their affairs are made public, and the two people at the center of the relationship have to figure out what to do next.
Often, the relationship completely falls apart. That’s only natural when you consider the promises that have been broken. In a surprising number of cases, though, the couple decides to stay together. In spite of the cheating and the lies, the person being cheated on decides that they’re better off with the other person than without them.
Sometimes, those decisions to tough it out stick, and other times, things still fall apart, it just takes a little longer. Relationships are always complicated, and fame only makes things worse.
Here are 16 Stars Who Forgave Their Spouses For Cheating.
Jamie Bergman and David Boreanaz
Although it’s important to take these kinds of statements with a grain of salt, especially when they come from the person who did the cheating, David Boreanaz actually claims that his 2010 affair strengthened his marriage to Jamie Bergman. Boreanaz recognized that every marriage has rocky moments and claims that he appreciates his relationship much more after cheating.
Whether Bergman, a former Playboy bunny, agrees is up for debate. Even so, the marriage seems to have outlasted the affair. The couple is raising their children, and they have been married for 17 years now. In Hollywood, that’s a pretty long-lasting relationship.
Their relationship certainly isn’t perfect, but, at this point, it seems like it’s better than many others in the world of Hollywood and celebrity.
Halle Berry and Eric Benet
Halle Berry tried to make things work with Eric Benet after it was revealed that he had cheated on her. Despite initially forgiving him, she ultimately found herself completely incapable of trusting him.
Benet acknowledges the affair and claims that he and Halle tried to find a groove even after she found out about it. This story is not an uncommon one. Many couples try to save their marriages in this same way, and they ultimately fall apart in the end.
Benet even entered rehab for a love addiction, although he ultimately realized that he wasn’t an addict. Even so, he did make an effort. Relationships are the establishment of trust between two people, and when one of them cheats on the other, that trust is broken. Some couples are able to repair, others, like Eric Benet and Halle Berry, cannot.
Eniko Hart and Kevin Hart
For a long time after Kevin Hart admitted that he had cheated on his wife Eniko, she maintained some pretty impressive radio silence. Hart had already publicly discussed the distance that his affair had put between himself and his wife and children, but Eniko seems willing to stick with Hart in spite of his infidelity.
Eniko first addressed the affair in a coded Instagram captioned with the sentence “The naked truth is always better than the best-dressed lie.” In other words, Eniko was happy that the truth came out about her husband, because she realized that that was the only way that they could ever hope to move past it.
The two of them seem to have successfully done just that, and are living a life free of scandal - at least for the moment.
Elizabeth Hurley and Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant has dealt with quite a bit of scandal throughout his career, but no scandal was bigger than the one he went through in the mid 90s, when he was arrested as part of a sting operation after hooking up with a night-wrorker.
At the time, Grant was dating Elizabeth Hurley. The two of them had been dating since the late '80s, and Hurley remained by Grant’s side even after his legal troubles.
The two did eventually break things off, but not until 2000, almost five years after this scandal had unfolded. Grant was very forthcoming about the fact that he had done something wrong. In fact, he found the whole thing to be rather simple. In life, you make good choices and bad choices, and Grant was clearly aware of which he’d made.
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s romance was ultimately much more successful on screen than it was in real life, but Pattinson tried his best to give Stewart a second chance, even after it was revealed that she had cheated on him with the director of Snow White and the Huntsman.
Stewart issued a public apology for the pain that she had caused Pattinson, and the two got back together for some time afterwards.
This relationship was always one of intense privacy. In fact, they dated for four years before they ever publicly acknowledged their relationship. Even so, Stewart’s actions clearly had an impact on Pattinson. The story made such a big splash that, back when it was unfolding, Donald Trump weighed in with some tweets suggesting that Pattinson should not take Stewart back.
Sienna Miller and Jude Law
When Jude Law publicly admitted to having an affair with his children’s nanny - one of the more cliched things a man can do - it’s easy to see why it shook his relationship with Sienna Miller to its core.
In July of 2005, Law issued a public apology for the affair, but that didn’t end the relationship, at least then. The couple stayed together for more than a year, and didn’t part ways permanently until November of the next year.
Law has had something of a tormented love life, but cheating rarely helps that situation. Still, he’s managed to put together a long and fairly prosperous career in spite of his romantic turmoil, and Miller hasn’t missed a beat in her own career since ending her relationship with Law more than ten years ago.
Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade
Dwyane Wade not only cheated on Gabrielle Union when the two were engaged, he also had a child with the woman he was having an affair with. The basketball player had claimed that he and Union were on a break at the time, but there’s evidence to suggest that they were very much a couple when the child was conceived.
In spite of this, Wade’s relationship with Union is still on. The news of this affair broke in 2013, but Union and Wade were married in 2014 in spite of the news, and are still together today.
It’s possible that Wade was telling the truth, and they truly were on a break. If not, then Union just happens to be a fairly forgiving person. Either way, it seems to be working out for them.
Louise Louie and Woody Harrelson
Woody Harrelson is, for many, a beloved cultural figure. He’s given a number of great performances over the course of his career, in everything from Cheers to The Hunger Games. Even so, Harrelson hasn’t always been a gentleman to his wife Louise Louie.
Although they weren’t married at the time, Harrelson was in a relationship with Louie in 2002 when he was approached at a bar about taking part in a foursome.
Ever the wild man, Harrelson agreed, and it eventually turned out that one of the girls was collaborating with a member of the paparazzi. The story went public, but Louie was understanding, and even had sympathy for how hard all of it must have been for Harrelson. The two were married in 2008, years after the story broke.
Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott
Surviving infidelity often comes down to whether the person who has been cheated on is willing to look past their partner’s disloyalty. In the case of Dean McDermott and Tori Spelling, Spelling was ultimately willing to move on with McDermott, and told E! that she loved him.
The pair made things work by completely rebooting their marriage. Ultimately, it gave them a chance to remember the reasons that they fell in love in the first place.
Not every relationship can or should survive this kind of infidelity, but McDermott and Spelling seemed to understand that if they wanted to stay together, it would require some real, substantive work. That work seems to have paid off. The two are still in a relationship today.
Kendra Wilkinson and Hank Baskett
Football player Hank Baskett took a unique path to regaining the trust of his wife Kendra Wilkinson after it was discovered that he had had an affair. Wilkinson, a former Playboy bunny, admitted that at one point she believed her relationship with Baskett was through, but the two of them ultimately reconciled, in part because Baskett gave Wilkinson the opportunity to be mentally single for a while.
This meant that Wilkinson could cheat on Baskett without the fear of any consequences, although she claims that she never did. Ultimately, that choice gave Wilkinson the freedom to decide what she wanted, and she ultimately came to realize that what she wanted most was to stay with Baskett. Sometimes, letting love go is the best way to make sure that it’s real.
Kathie Lee Gifford and Frank Gifford
Kathie Lee Gifford has made a lasting impression on millions of daytime TV viewers throughout her time on the air, and was married to sports commentator Frank Gifford for almost 30 years until his death in 2015.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the couple, though. In the late '90s, it was reported that Frank had had multiple encounters with a woman named Suzen Johnson.
Kathie Lee, who had made her marriage to Frank part of her daytime persona, was forced to decide whether she wanted to stand by Frank or leave him behind. Ultimately, she chose to stay with him, and the two of them were married for almost 20 more years after this scandal. They asked for privacy to get through the matter, a privilege that famous people are rarely afforded.
Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick
Kourtney Kardashian had a tortured relationship with longtime beau Scott Disick. The two dated for years, and even had three children together. Although they were never married, it was fairly widely known that Scott had cheated on Kourtney multiple times. It was even a recurring plotline on Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
This kind of open secret fueled the drama of the show, but it also took a toll on Kourtney, who couldn’t seem to help herself around him.
When it came time to end the relationship after more than a decade, Kourtney called things off via text. She may not always have felt like she had control in that relationship, but there’s no better way to establish your own dominance than simply cutting your significant other off cold.
Vanessa Bryant and Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant was accused of much worse than just having an affair when this story broke.
Bryan was accused of assault in 2003. When he faced the charges, Bryant admitted to having an affair with his accuser, but claimed that it was consensual. The charges were eventually dropped because Bryant’s accuser refused to testify, and a civil suit was later settled out of court. Bryant issued a public apology to the woman who accused him but continues to assert his own innocence to this day.
Through it all, Vanessa Bryant has stood by Kobe. In 2011, years after the incident, Vanessa filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable difference between the two of them. This divorce never materialized, and the couple is now raising three children together.
Regina Lasko and David Letterman
David Letterman made a career out of pushing boundaries, but that doesn’t excuse his affair with his longtime assistant Stephanie Birkitt, which was only made public because Birkitt’s boyfriend, Robert Halderman discovered a diary which detailed their relationship. Halderman attempted to extort $2 million from Letterman in exchange for keeping the whole thing a secret.
Instead, Letterman announced to the entire world on his late night talk show that he'd had an affair. His wife, Regina Lasko, has stayed with Letterman in spite of his infidelity, and the pair are still together today.
Letterman certainly understood that he’d done something wrong, but Lasko’s grace in the face of his infidelity was still something of a surprise. Relationships are complicated beasts, and some last longer than you’d expect.
Hillary and Bill Clinton
This may be the most well-known affair in the history of celebrity. Bill Clinton was plagued by accusations of infidelity throughout his life as a political figure, including a scandal inside the White House that nearly ended his presidency.
It wasn’t until recently that the public began to reevaluate Bill Clinton, and realized that his behavior may have been more predatory than it initially seemed.
Even so, Hillary has stood beside Bill through all of this, and the two seem to have worked out some sort of functional arrangement that keeps them both satisfied. Bill's philandering may have actually harmed Hillary somewhat in her recent campaign for the presidency, but she has stood by him all the same.
Beyonce and Jay-Z
Beyonce has enough money, power, beauty, and talent that she could be with anyone she wanted. No one is going to find themselves in a relationship with Beyonce and be upset about it. In spite of that, she has decided that her relationship with rapper Jay-Z is worth holding onto.
When Lemonade, Beyonce’s latest album dropped, many speculated that it was something of an inside look at her relationship with Jay-Z, and the way she’s had to deal with his cheating. Jay-Z may have forgotten how lucky he was, but on Lemonade, Beyonce was careful to remind him.
The relationship works in large part because Beyonce isn’t afraid to take control of the situation when she feels she’s being ignored. Jay-Z might be a powerful guy, but nobody messes with the queen.
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Do you think these stars made the right call? Let us know in the comments.