20 queer couples whose break-ups really, really made us hurt
Relationships and marriage, no matter your gender or sexual identity, can be complex, comforting and greatly life-changing. So, news of a queer couple break-up can be especially painful for supporters and shippers. Here are 20 of the most heart-breaking queer celeb couple break-ups:
1. Ellen Page and Samantha Thomas.
When actor Elliott Page made his red carpet debut with girlfriend Samantha Thomas in 2015, it was magical. A near endless stream of Page looking up at Thomas with pride and love.
But all the dreamy shots of the pair in the world couldn’t stop them from breaking-up after 18 months of dating.
They were last pictured together in January 2017, but it is not known exactly when they called time on their long-term love. Sad reacts all round for this winsome pair.
2. Colton Haynes and Jeff Leatham.
If the Guinness World Record has an award for ‘Most Attractive Couple’, these two would have easily have scored it.
Actor Colton Haynes and celebrity florist Jeff Leathan had a rocky relationship that stretched marriage (that Kris Jenner officiated), divorce filings, re-coupling, then divorce again.
The divorce settlement was hammered out in August 2019, bringing closer an end to the six month marriage between the Teen Wolf star and the floral designer, according to TMZ.
3. Jane Lynch and Lara Embry.
At a fundraiser in California, actor Jane Lynch and psychology Lara Embry locked eyes. They had a wedding ceremony in 2010 that was quiet and intimate.
As one of the first high-profile same-sex marriage couples, news of their divorce in 2013 sent shockwaves. Igniting a messy and reportedly fired spousal support negations.
During a Larry King Live interview, Lynch claimed that she and Embry remain friends.
4. Daniel Franzese and Joseph Bradley Phillips.
Mean Girls star Daniel Franzese and his partner Joseph Bradley Phillips ended their engagement in a rather beautiful statement.
“Sometimes shooting stars shine so brightly that they burn out and now we must go separate ways, but I hope my path always crosses with his,” Franzese said in a statement.
Franzese proposed to Phillips in 2016 at the Starbucks where they first met. He had a barista call out “Mr and Mr Franzese” before he got down on one knee.
5. Sam Smith and Brandon Flynn.
We’re not sure if there were 13 reasons why the couple split, but the news broke in June 2018.
The singer started seeing the actor shortly before the release of his second album, The Thrill Of It All. They called it quits nine months later.
6. Jillian Michaels and Heidi Rhoades.
Announcing momentous changes in one’s life over a Instagram post is commonplace nowadays, and exactly how TV personality Jillian Michaels announced her splitting from longtime partner, Heidi Rhoades.
Michaels and Rhoades had been together since 2009. Michaels adorably popped the question to Rhoades in 2016 on the season finale of her show, Just Jillian.
Thought the separation, they both emphasised that 8-year-old daughter Lukensia and 6-year-old son Phoenix were their top priority.
7. Zachary Quinto and Miles McMillan.
Actor Zachary Quinto and model Miles McMillan were, for a time, the queer male it couple of Hollywood.
The pair were first seen together in 2013 and made their relationship official later that year. In 2015, the two moved into a New York City apartment together.
Yet all good things must come to an end. Despite engagement rumours flying around, a rep confirmed their split earlier this year.
8. Anderson Cooper and Benjamin Maisani.
It took journalist Anderson Cooper nearly six years to publicly acknowledge his relationship with Benjamin Maisani, a night club owner.
“I guess when you’re with someone a long time, you start to pose alike,” he wrote on Instagram in 2015. Cooper had come out as gay in 2012.
Three years later, the pair had a very public separation.
9. Michael Sam and Vito Cammisano.
Sharing the first gay kiss during a sports game is certainly one way to enter the history books.
When NFL player Michael Sam found out he had been drafted by the Rams, he passionately pecked his partner, college sweetheart Vito Cammisano.
Six month after they announced their engagement, they threw in the towel.
10. Antoni Porowski and Trace Lenhoff.
While heartbreaking for the couple, the news of Antoni Porowski and Trace Lenhoff’s break-up was a relief for the former’s many admirers.
The pair were dating since last summer after meeting through an Instagram direct message, Porowski told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live in March.
“It’s like, the 2019 way,” the Queer Eye food and wine expert said.
11. Cara Delevingne and Annie Clark.
“I’d never experienced anything like paparazzi following you in a high-speed chase down the streets of London,” said Annie Clark, on her relationship with supermodel Cara Delevingne.
The pair called it quits after a year and a half, beset by the perils of long-distance dating.
Both had a habit of looking flawless as they emerged out of pour over coffee shops in New York and red carpet functions, but considering that Delevingne said just a month before breaking-up that she “didn’t know what love was” before meeting Clark, the couple will be very much missed.
12. Raven-Symoné and AzMarie Livingston.
If only the That’s So Rave star could have seen this one coming.
After three long years of being together, Raven-Symone and model AzMarie Livingston split up in 2015.
Though, the fire was briefly re-lit in 2016, it has, to the dismay of shippers, been dampened since.
13. Luke Evans and Jon Kortajarena.
Actor Luke Evans and fashion model Jon Kortajarena had a relationship that was the fantasy of every showbiz reporter – as in, we barely know anything.
It’s a romance of since-deleted Instagram posts, ‘happen to be in the same place’ Instagram stories’ and paparazzi shots together at fashion functions.
The visually gifted and talented couple were together for two years from 2014. They allegedly rekindled their love which, yet again, was based on some sleuth detective work from their Instagram accounts. How millennial.
14. Melissa Etheridge and Tammy Lynn Michaels.
Singer Melissa Etherridge made her relationship public with actress Tammy Lynn Michaels in her concert video, Live…and Powerful.
And boy, was it powerful. The couple were together for nine years and bore two children.
But their legacy is more defined by their divorce in 2012. One of court disputes, child custody disagreements and a lot of opprobrium.
15. Cheyenne Jackson and Monte Lapka.
Glee star Cheyenne Jackson split from husband of 2 years, physicist Monte Lapka, in 2013.
After 13 years together, the couple threw in the towel. Sources suggested that the two had been living totally separate lives in the later arc of their relationship.
It came after the two men got married in a beautiful beach ceremony in the Hamptons, New York.
16. Ricky Martin and Carlos Gonzalez Abella.
Stockbroker Carlos Gonzalez Abella was there for a number of big changes in Latin singer Ricky Martin’s life.
Abella co-parented the twins that Martin had by surrogate in 2008. He was also with Martin when he officially came out to the public as gay, in 2010.
So, when the news slipped that the pair were splitting after five years, many were shocked and resolutely heart-broken.
17. Rosie O’Donnell and Kelli Carpente.
The former Nickelodeon executive married Rosie O’Donnell in San Francisco in 2004. The marriage took place only two weeks after the mayor granted the approval of marriage licences issued to same-sex couples.
But after three years of marital bliss, Kelli Carpenter and O’Donnell divorced in 2007.
The pair now share four children and have gone on to remarry.
18. Jodie Foster and Cydney Bernard.
Actor Jodie Foster gave a powerful and surprisingly candid speech when she received the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at the 16th annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast. But it was a speech that inadvertently outed her and Cydney Bernard.
Foster was known for protecting her private life, so the slip opened the doors into an intimate marriage. The couple reportedly wore eternity rings on their wedding fingers to symbolize their commitment to each other.
However, after 14 years, the Oscar winning actress slept from Bernard in 2011.
19. Ellen Degeneres and Anne Heche.
Talk show host, Ellen DeGeneres and actress Anne Heche crossed paths in 1997 at a Vanity Fair Oscar party. From the get-go, they were all things glamorous.
They sported matching wedding bands for years, but suffered a very public break-up back in 2000.
Heche reportedly suffered a mental breakdown as a result.
20. Gus Kenworthy and Matt Wilkas.
The bearded and browny pair were the textbook definition of an Instagram couple. Literally, considering that they first met on the social media platform in 2015.
In January the pair got matching tattoos to commemorate the life of their late-puppy Beemo, who passed away the previous May. The gorgeous guys adopted the pup from a South Korean dog meat farm in February.
Five years down the line, they called it quits.
