Celeb Scoop: Celebrity Divorce-ageddon
Over the last year, we have had an onslaught of celebrity breakups, divorce, and drama, and frankly, it’s getting hard to keep up. So, in classic scoop fashion, here’s the lowdown on all the key drama from this year so far, so you can catch up.
1. Shakira & Gerard Piqué – June 4, 2022
After writing and performing the official theme song for the 2010 World Cup, Shakira waka waka, eh, eh-d her way into the heart of Spanish soccer player, Gerard Piqué. In 2013, she told ELLE, “I even had lost my faith for a while… I started to think that there was no God. And suddenly I meet Gerard, and the sun comes out.” While Shakira and Piqué became ever more besotted with each other, the tabloids become engrossed in a Spanish Posh & Becks story, and for 11 years, they marinated in the bliss of their two beautiful children.
In September 2022, a few months after Piqué’s initiation of divorce proceedings, Shakira opened up for the first time about the split. “What’s also real is the disappointment to see something as sacred and as special as I thought was the relationship I had with my kids’ father and see that turned into something vulgarized and cheapened by the media… This is probably the darkest hour of my life.” Among allegations of Piqué’s infidelity, rumours have swirled about the reason for the divorce, and in Shakira’s diss track collab with DJ Bizzarap, she sings “I’m worth two 22-year-olds, you traded a Ferrari for a Twingo; you traded a Rolex for a Casio.”
2. Ariana Grande and Dalton Gomez – June 2023
Ariana Grande confirmed her relationship with real estate agent Dalton Gomez in 2020, in her collab music video with Justin Bieber for “Stuck With U”, and just 7 months later, a since-deleted post on Ariana’s Instagram announced their engagement (complete with 5-6 carat asymmetrical solitaire diamond ring, and a pearl rumoured to be Ariana’s grandfather’s). On Feb 20, 2023, Dalton and Ariana secretly separated, while Ariana was in London filming the then-unreleased movie Wicked, in which she stars as Glinda. Interestingly enough, Ethan Slater portrays Boq in the film, and it was reported to the Daily Mail that Ariana and Slater were “all over each other” at Michelle Yeoh’s Oscar’s party. Rumours began to formulate, and after photos of Ariana at Wimbledon without her wedding ring on pop up, the tabloids very quickly gathered sources surrounding the relationship. “Ariana and Dalton have been separated for months!” they say. “But Dalton’s wife was completely blindsided!” Ariana’s PR team is going to need to run some heavy-duty interference; this is the messiest celeb breakup in a decade.
3. Taylor swift and Joe Alwyn – April 9, 2023
The pair, who met at the Met Gala in 2016, have been pathologically private about their relationship (as private as can be, Swift having released a “Lover” album dedicated to Joe). Swift and Alwyn often skipped red carpet events, never shared pictures of each other to social media, and deflected questions about their relationship in interviews. However, after the release of the “Midnights” vault track, “You’re Losing Me”, Swifties began to question whether their relationship had run its course. Fans speculated that this line – “I’m the best thing at this party / And I wouldn’t marry me either / A pathological people pleaser / Who only wanted you to see her” – infers that Swift was even turned down in marriage. Entertainment Tonight revealed the split, trusted to be honest due to the historic use of Entertainment Tonight by Taylor’s PR team. Taylor bounced back swiftly with Matt Healy, lead singer of The 1975, however that was over quickly (unsurprising, given Healy’s slightly messy reputation), and her next major tabloid moment was a New York restaurant gossip sesh with close friends Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. Fast forward a few months, and now Taylor is dating NFL star Travis Kelce, who is very quick to publicly show his adoration for the 33-year-old singer-songwriter.
Anouk H, Year 10