9 Controversial Celebrity Relationships That Fueled Nonstop Tabloid Drama

In 2011, 16-year-old aspiring model and singer Courtney Stodden sent an email to actor Doug Hutchinson, then 50, regarding an acting workshop he was teaching. They struck up a friendship and started to speak on the phone. Hutchinson claims that he didn’t know Stodden’s age at the time.

The pair fell in love. Hutchinson received consent from Stodden’s parents to marry the teenager, and the couple tied the knot in Las Vegas. As expected, the media ran wild with the controversial story, and the pair was inundated with criticism, with many calling Hutchinson’s behavior predatory.

The couple leaned into their celebrity with appearances on the VH1 show Couples Therapy. Many wondered how authentic the relationship was. Stodden filed for divorce in 2018.

In 2020, Stodden took to Instagram to question why no one helped them:

Ten years ago, I turned 16. Nothing could have prepared me for what was around the corner. I had a child’s mind, a teenager’s body, and I was a virgin. However, it appeared to everyone around me that I was a woman who was grown and able to make my own choices. According to many, I was ‘mature’ enough to date men my father’s age (or older), and eventually marry one.

Looking back, I now see how desperately I craved my father’s attention… I wed a 50-year-old man I had just met in person. I gave him my all - my body, my mind, my heart, my soul. No one stopped me. No one stepped in and said this wasn’t okay. Instead, after achieving a kind of fame I wasn’t prepared for, the world became my jury.

Hutchinson also had his regrets:

She was 16 and I was 50, so I knew our union was going to turn heads, but I didn’t realize the impact it would truly have. I didn’t realize that in marrying Courtney, my manager would drop me, my agent would drop me. I was blacklisted. I was blackballed from casting directors. I shot my career in the head for love.

Hutchinson also claimed that the couple received death threats and hate mail. 

Elvis Presley was already the king of rock n’ roll when he fell for 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu. The 24-year-old singing sensation was stationed in the US Army in Germany when he reportedly told his friend Rex Mansfield that Priscilla was “young enough that I can train her any way I want.”

Their courtship was reportedly sexless and secret to the public because of Priscilla’s age. Presley used that time to allegedly groom the teenager; he dictated everything in her life from what she wore to how she styled her hair.  

They married in 1967 when Priscilla was 21. Lisa Marie was born nine months later. During that time, Elvis was reportedly unfaithful and did not show any interest in having an intimate relationship with his wife. Priscilla admitted to having her own affair.

They divorced in 1973. “I did not divorce him because I didn’t love him," said Priscilla in 2016. "He was the love of my life, but I had to find out about the world.”

Angelina Jolie was on the cusp of superstardom when she met Billy Bob Thornton on the set of the 1999 movie Pushing Tin. Thornton was engaged to Laura Dern at the time.

Despite his engagement, the 44-year-old and the 24-year-old embarked on a whirlwind romance. A couple of months later, they eloped in Las Vegas. 

In 2000, Dern said of her fiancé's marriage to Jolie:

I left our home to work on a movie, and while I was away, my boyfriend got married, and I’ve never heard from him again.

The tabloids ate up their controversial relationship, and the couple fed the media machine with plenty of red carpet PDA and endless interviews. The pair famously wore necklaces with vials of each other’s blood.

Rumors spread of Thornton’s infidelity. They separated in 2002.

Jolie explained in 2004:

It took me by surprise, too, because overnight, we totally changed. I think one day we had just nothing in common. And it's scary but... I think it can happen when you get involved and you don't know yourself yet.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s relationship started in controversy; rumors sparked that the pair was having an affair while making the 2005 film Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Pitt was still married to Jennifer Aniston at the time.

Pitt and Jolie officially started dating in 2004, but did not get married until a decade later. Two years after that, they went their separate ways. 

Despite sharing six children, both biological and adopted, Pitt and Jolie have had a publicly contentious split that has included allegations of Pitt being physically abusive to his kids and Jolie. The major incident allegedly occurred in 2016 while the family was traveling on a private plane. Jolie claimed that Pitt grabbed her and choked one of the children. Pitt was never charged.

Since then, the former power couple has been inundated with contentious legal issues, child custody battles, and financial disputes over assets such as their French winery. Meanwhile, the press has been there every step of the way.

Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly’s passionate relationship has played out in the media. The pair met in 2020 on the set of the movie Midnight in the Switchgrass and started a relationship despite Fox still being married to Brian Austin Green. 

Fox said of Machine Gun Kelly: 

I knew right away that he was what I call a twin flame. Instead of a soul mate, a twin flame is actually where a soul has ascended into a high enough level that it can be split into two different bodies at the same time. So we're actually two halves of the same soul, I think. And I said that to him almost immediately, because I felt it right away.

The pair shared their relationship on social media. Green responded with pictures of their three children and a pledge to love Fox forever. 

Fox and MGK became known for wild public displays of affection. The rapper's marriage proposal reportedly included ritualistic drinking of each other’s blood. Kelly said he designed Fox’s ring so that it physically hurt her if she took it off.

Over the next couple of years, the pair engaged in public feuds, rumored breakups, and alleged infidelity. They never got married, but did welcome a daughter in 2025.

Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson’s relationship has been well-documented by the tabloids, books, and the 2022 mini-series Pam & Tommy. The rock drummer and Baywatch star met at a club in 1994 and had their first official date in Cancun. They had known each other for only three days when Lee proposed. The pair shocked the world and got married on the beach in Mexico.

The two '90s stars became instant tabloid fodder, and they did not disappoint. They became regular participants in the LA party scene and were known for their publicized spats that sometimes turned violent. 

And then there was the sex tape scandal. Their honeymoon video was stolen and spread like wildfire thanks to a new invention called the internet.

Anderson was traumatized by the scandal, which turned into a public shaming and court battle. The couple went on to have two sons. Lee’s heavy drinking and the couple’s tumultuous arguments turned violent. Lee was arrested in 1998 for felony spousal and child abuse. The rocker served six months in jail.

Anderson filed for divorce (a second time), and the pair officially separated. Over the next several years, the couple had an on-again, off-again relationship.