Mad romance!
Here are the celeb dalliances and reunions you would never have expected… By Keeley Ryan
There have been many iconic — and well-known — famous couples over the years. But sometimes, there comes an unexpected celebrity romance that seems to come out of left field — and leave fans stunned, too. This week, we’re taking a look back at some of the most surprising celebrity couples over the years who you may have forgotten dated…
Emily In Paris fans were left stunned after they recently uncovered Lucien Laviscount’s former romance with Kerry Katona.
The former couple first met during their time in the Celebrity Big Brother House back in 2011 — and they hit it off very quickly. Afterwards, they took part in a magazine photoshoot together where they spoke about their relationship.
Kerry joked at the time that she wasn’t sure if she was the Waterloo Road star’s “type”.
She added, “Lucien has it all — he’s a geek, intelligent, loveable, great for cuddles, understanding. He is everything all rolled into one. But I don’t think I’m his type.”
Lucien, who was 19 years old at the time, disagreed — and added that he didn’t feel like“there’s an age gap at all”between the two of them.
He said,“she’s not too old for me! I like women who know where they’re at. It’s so frustrating to hear Kerry talk like that because she’s amazing. When I’m with her, I don’t feel like there’s an age gap at all.”
And while things may not have lasted between the pair, the magazine cover went viral after the release of Emily In Paris season three in December 2022.
Kerry later responded to the cover doing the rounds again, calling Lucien“charming” but that the whole thing was“just a bit of fun”.
She said,“apparently my OK! magazine cover from 2011 with my former Celebrity Big Brother housemate Lucien Laviscount has gone viral on social media!
“Lucien was very charming and obviously easy on the eye, and it was all just a bit of fun.”
The 42-year-old added that her former flame is a“great actor”and that she can see why he’s among the stars tipped to be the next 007 — and praised his acting in Emily In Paris.
She said,“i have seen Lucien as Alfie in Emily In Paris on Netflix — he’s a great actor, so it’s no wonder he is being tipped to be the next Bond.
“People were even joking that I could have made a good Bond girl — and that just made me giggle!”olivia Wilde and Harry
Styles quickly sent the rumour mill into overdrive in 2021 — and soon became one of the year’s most unexpected celebrity couples.
The Don’t Worry Darling director confirmed her split with her ex-fiancé
Jason Sudeikis in November 2020, although they are said to have called time on their relationship much earlier in the year.
In January the following year, she and Harry were photographed at the wedding of Jeffrey Azoff, the As It Was hitmaker’s manager. Over the following 18 months, the pair were spotted in London, Newyork and Los Angeles.
Olivia explained in August 2022 that they were keen to keep their relationship as private as possible.
She said,“i’m not going to say anything about it because I’ve never seen a relationship benefit from being dragged into
“he LOVED TO READ BOOKS AND JAZZ MUSIC...”
the public arena. We both go out of our way to protect our relationship; I think it’s out of experience, but also just out of deep love.”
The couple ultimately ended up hitting pause on things in November last year, with reports at the time saying it was an “amicable decision”.
In 2009, Chris Pine and The Hills’ Audrina Patridge marked romance rumours after they were photographed in Los Angeles together — although both of them stayed quiet about the speculation at the time.
And then in 2021, the reality TV star seemingly decided that enough time had passed — and confirmed that the pair went out“a few times”before things came to an end.
She recalled during an episode of the Hollywood Raw podcast,“i was filming The Hills all the time, and his career was taking off. He didn’t like the whole paparazzi side of it.
“That was my life, going out, and I was followed by paparazzi. So being on The Hills, our lives [were] completely opposite and just so different with my lifestyle and filming.
“He was more a real actor, theatre actor, and loved to read books and jazz music. Didn’t really like to go out to clubs or anything like that.
“At that time in my life, that’s all I was doing was going out to clubs because we were filming all the time and around people.
“He was a nice guy, very charming and gentlemanly. So it just kind of dissipated.”
Rita Ora and Taika Waititi are another famous pairing that seemed to come out of the blue.
The rumour mill was sent into overdrive in April 2021 when the Letyou Love Me singer posted a“midweek update”on Instagram, highlighting “good times, memories, random things on my phone and the ones I love”.
Among the images was a photo of herself and the New Zealand director in matching cardigans.
Rita was said to be in Australia for filming on The Voice, while Taika was reported to be working on Thor: Love And Thunder.
The pair went public and attended their first event together in August that year — and their romance appeared to go from strength to strength, with rumours that they had tied the knot starting to swirl in August 2022.
And it turns out they did get wed at some point, as Rita recently confirmed they had married in the“perfect”ceremony.
While promoting her wedding-themed music video for her new songyou Only
Love Me, Rita said that she was“officially off the market”— and that the big day was “completely how I wanted it”.
Chrishell Stause and Jason Oppenheim had Selling Sunset fans surprised when they went Instagram-official with their relationship in July 2021.
The former Dancing With The Stars contestant posted a series of snaps of a trip to Italy, including two where she and Jason looked cosy together.
The pair confirmed their relationship later that month.
Jason said,“chrishell and I became close friends and it has developed into an amazing relationship. I care about her deeply and we are very happy together.”
They walked the red carpet together for the first time in August, before being snapped out for dinner with his parents a few days later.
The same month, Chrishell told how they had been dating for a few months before actually going public.
She said,“it’s just one of those things.you don’t want to share with everybody and get all their opinions before you really know what it is. We really were really private and secretive for as long as we could until we realised the walls were closing in. People were getting a little savvy to it.”
The pair announced in December that year that they had called it quits.
Bill Hader and Anna Kendrick were one of 2022’s surprising celebrity couples — and fans were even more surprised after reports of how long the pair had kept their relationship under wraps.
In January 2022, rumours emerged that the pair were together — and that they had been dating for more than a year.
An insider said at the time,“they met years ago. She’s hosted Saturday Night Live and they’ve done a movie together, but they got together well after the movie.
“They are both very private people, and with the pandemic it was easy to keep it quiet.”
The pair, who had previously starred together in Noelle, were reported to have called it quits in June 2022.
Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian had been longtime pals for years — but the news of their relationship going from platonic to romantic left fans surprised.
The couple were rumoured to be dating in January 2021, before they went Instagramofficial the following month.
Things moved quickly for the duo, with family vacations, tattooed tributes and plenty of Pda-packed social media posts over the next few months.
They made their red carpet debut as a couple in September that year — and took their whirlwind romance the next month when the drummer got down on one knee to propose. In April 2022, they had a non-binding wedding in Lasvegas — and a month later, the pair wed in Italy with a celebration lasting several days.
And sometimes it isn’t even that the fact the celebs dated in the first place that is so surprising — it’s that they’re giving their romance another chance, sometimes even decades after the fact.
And yes, we’re talking about Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez 2.0.
In early 2021, Ben and his Dark Water co-star
Ana de Armas called time on their relationship — and a few months later, J.LO confirmed the end of her relationship with baseball player Alex Rodriguez.
By the end of April that year, the pair were spending time together again — and the are-theyor-aren’t-they nature of their relationship quickly became a topic of conversation amongst fans.
The Shotgun Wedding star confirmed their romantic reunion in July 2021, when she shared a photo of herself and Ben kissing amongst an Instagram montage.
The whirlwind relationship continued, with the couple photographed together as they travelled the world — and in July 2022, the pair said ‘I do’ in an intimate wedding in Las Vegas.
Jennifer recently opened up about the “emotional transition”of the last year — and how it felt like“all your dreams coming true”.
She said,“we moved in together, the kids moved in together, so it’s been like a really kind of emotional transition. But at the same time… all your dreams coming true, it’s just been a phenomenal year.” ■