The Reality TV Couples Curse
Plenty of pairings don’t make it, but reality TV is a serious buzzkill when it comes to relationships. With the news of Bruce and Kris Jenner’s separation after 22 years of marriage, we looked at 10 couples that broke up after shooting together – and five more who have stayed together.
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Bruce and Kris Jenner
The façade has cracked. (And we’re not talking about Bruce’s face.) After months of speculation, Bruce and Kris Jenner confirmed that they were separated. Married for over two decades, the Keeping Up With the Kardashians couple built a multimillion-dollar empire since launching the series in 2007, which produced three spin-offs and helped Kris nab a daytime talk show. The E! show is expected to continue and will feature Bruce in a new home. But how long can they really continue keeping it up?
Jon and Kate Gosselin
After having sextuplets (and twins), the Gosselins got their own show, Jon & Kate Plus 8, in 2007. But by season five, the duo started showing signs of strain, and filed for divorce in 2009. The episode in which they announced their breakup raked in a record-breaking 10.6 million viewers for TLC. While Kate soldiered on for two seasons on Kate Plus 8, non-stop tabloid gossip – from Jon’s womanizing and playboy lifestyle to Kate’s diva-like antics – overshadowed the show, and the family has been out of the limelight for two years.
Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian
At a reported cost of $20 million, Kris and Kim were married on-air for her E! show Keeping Up With the Kardashians – but the union lasted just 72 days. Broken down, that translates to more than $250,000 a day spent on their time as husband and wife. But fans got paid back in spades with endless tabloid tales, since the divorce took a whopping 20 months to finalize. While technically still married, Kim started dating Kanye West and got pregnant with baby North West.
Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson
Was it chicken or was it fish? Either way, it spelled divorce. Many say Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica is where the reality TV curse started. In 2003, both of the pop stars’ careers needed a boost, and that’s exactly what the MTV show provided. But it also drove their relationship into the spotlight, and following three years of marriage, they divorced. Jessica now has two children with football player/fiancé Eric Johnson and Nick is married to Vanessa Minnillo. And Chicken of the Sea is still, uh, tuna.
Linda and Hulk Hogan
After almost 25 years of marriage and four seasons of Hogan Knows Best on VH1, Hulk and Linda threw in the towel. Their breakup provided a feeding frenzy for gossip sites, as Hulk supposedly cheated on Linda with one of their daughter Brooke’s friends. Then, after the split, 49-year-old Linda got engaged to 19-year-old Charlie Hill, who went to high school with Brooke. After a stint on VH1’s Relationship Rehab, that romance ended. But the family is still the gossip gift that keeps on giving. In 2012, a sex tape featuring the Hulkster, who’s now remarried, was leaked on the Internet. Whatcha gonna do, brother?
Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston
The 2005 Bravo program Being Bobby Brown stands frozen in time as a sign of things to come. Speculation about Whitney’s drug use ran rampant after the single-season show aired. (First rearing its head in 2001, when the rail-thin star performed at a Michael Jackson concert and later declared “crack is wack.”) The unlikely pair of Bobby and Whitney married in 1992, divorcing 15 years later – and just a year-and-a-half after the show concluded its run. After struggling to pull her life and career back together, Whitney died in 2012.
Dave Navarro and Carmen Electra
Remember ‘Til Death Do Us Part: Carmen and Dave? Maybe not, but who can forget the couples’ creepy-romantic wedding invitations, which featured them naked and holding hands while laying on metal gurneys in a morgue? The short-lived, seven-episode 2004 MTV series followed the rocker and the Baywatch babe as they planned their unorthodox union. (Carmen was previously married to Dennis Rodman – for nine days.) Despite the title, Carmen and Dave didn’t last forever: They divorced in 2007.
Kevin Federline and Britney Spears
While Britney and K-Fed’s short-lived reality show Britney and Kevin: Chaotic likely didn’t cause their split – because, really, did anyone watch all five episodes? – the title defined their relationship. The series, which aired in 2005 on UPN (now the CW), was shot through their eyes, since they filmed each other using hand-held videocams. Married in 2004, the couple’s whirlwind relationship ended less than three years later and produced two children. Soon after, Britney suffered a public breakdown, which saw her shave her head, check into rehab and almost lose her kids before cleaning up her act.
Bret Michaels and Kristi Gibson
You may not remember her, but Kristi was Bret’s on-off girlfriend for 18 years and the mother of his two daughters. The couple was featured on the 2010 VH1 reality show Bret Michaels: Life As I Know It, which lasted just one season and culminated in Bret proposing in the final episode. A year-and-a-half later, the engagement was called off. We’re not sure what happened behind the scenes, but it seems like a woman who sticks by you through three seasons of the booze-and sex-fueled Rock of Love – not to mention all those years of fronting Poison – should be a keeper, no?
Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler
While they appeared to be a normal(-ish) family on MTV’s Meet the Barkers, the Blink-182 drummer and former Miss USA-turned-Playboy model have had a tumultuous real-life relationship fill with break-ups, make-ups and more break-ups. After they married in 2004, two seasons of the show aired and Barker filed for divorce in 2006. The next two years was a roller-coaster ride of nasty public feuds peppered with brief reconciliations until they ultimately divorced in 2008. . . only to get back together again. The final nail seemed to come in 2009, the last time the couple were a public item.
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne
Proving it’s not all doom and gloom for reality couples – at least in terms of love – the Prince of Darkness and his queen are still going strong after more than 30 years, despite a recent bump in the road. The revolutionary MTV show The Osbournes aired from 2002-05, revitalizing Ozzy’s career and making insta-stars of wife Sharon and kids Kelly and Jack. (In some circles, Sharon might even be a bigger deal than her hubby, appearing on America’s Got Talent and daytime talk show The Talk.)
Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed
It’s nothing short of a small miracle: Not only has this couple stayed together, they tied the knot on their A&E show Gene Simmons Family Jewels after 30 years and two children together – despite the KISS bassist’s repeated claim that he would never ever get hitched. And while the show ended in 2012 after seven seasons, there’s no sign of divorce in sight.
Ice-T and Coco Austin
Despite their larger-than-life lifestyle, the stars of E!’s Ice Loves Coco have managed to stay grounded – and married. With three seasons under their belt, the couple continues to endure after 12 years of wedded bliss, despite rumors in early 2013 of a split.
Reverend Run and Justine Simmons
Whose house? Run’s House. That was the battle cry of six seasons of the award-winning MTV show, which ran from 2005-2009 and featured Run-D.M.C. leader Rev. Run and his super-sized family in a Cosby Show-like setting. And Run’s house is still running strong: the couple will celebrate 20 years together in 2014. But that’s not the only event they’ll be popping corks over, as the beloved Simmons family will be returning to TV with their very own home improvement series on HGTV.
Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag
When reality’s biggest villains said “I do” in 2009, nobody would have bet they’d make it a few weeks, let alone a few years as husband and wife. But here it is, 2013, and the “bad guys” of MTV’s The Hills, a.k.a. Speidi, are still standing. (Heidi filed for divorce in 2010 before calling it off, claiming she was just looking for attention.) The duo wreaked endless havoc on the series, which ran from 2006-10, and dominated magazine covers with their antagonist antics, leading fans and critics alike to think the relationship was all a big hoax. But who’s having the last laugh now?