Couples Ruined by Reality TV

By Wonderwall.com Editors 10:40am PDT, Apr 30, 2020

J. Lo and Marc Anthony are divorcing amid 'Idol' rumors, another 'Real Housewives' marriage ends, and more!

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony

Could working together have been the problem for "American Idol" judge Jennifer Lopez and her soon-to-be ex-husband Marc Anthony? On July 15, the couple announced they were ending their seven-year marriage, just two months after they performed together on the Idol stage. The parents to 3-year-old twins Max and Emme dodged rumors this year that they were splitting due to tension behind the Idol scenes. One report said that "Jennifer's judging stint on 'American Idol' has taken up her time at precisely the time when Marc wishes that she would take care of their twin toddlers," while InTouch magazine said money problems were coming up because Idol meant a move to L.A. and money issues. "They kept it bottled up while she was trying for the job on 'Idol', but now it's all coming out," an insider told the magazine in January. "Marc, especially, is cracking… He either yells at her or doesn't take her calls. From what I can see, they just aren't getting along." The couple denied the rumors and hasn't explained their split just yet. But they did recently throw another reality show into the mix—the couple was working on an OWN singing competition show called "Q' Viva! The Chosen." Time will tell what comes of it.

Taylor and Russell Armstrong

Taylor Armstrong spent her time on the first season of Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" trying to save her marriage.

RELATED: Hollywood's summer baby boom

But on July 15, she announced she's filing for divorce from Russell, her husband of seven years. "It was a difficult decision," the blond mom of one told People magazine. "Although we have tried our best to work out our differences, I have come to the conclusion that it is in the best interest of our family that we separate." After appearing estranged in front of TV audiences, the couple said they were undergoing therapy and Taylor even told OK! magazine that Russell helped her overcome an eating disorder. She also admitted the show took a toll on them. "Reality TV has a way of fast-tracking everything in your life," Taylor told People. "[Russell and I] had to observe that we'd lost touch with one another… It wasn't easy going through it." Perhaps fellow Beverly Hills divorced housewife Camille Grammer has some advice for her.

Camille and Kelsey Grammer

America already knew Kelsey Grammer as the Emmy-nominated star of the hit sitcom "Cheers" and its subsequent spinoff, "Frasier."

But many were not so familiar with his third wife and former Playboy model Camille (nee Donatacci). After a lucky 13 years together—the actor's longest marriage to date—the couple announced their divorce in July, just a few months after it was revealed that Camille would star on Bravo's upcoming series, "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills." "I didn't want to do the show," the newly crowned reality TV star told Access Hollywood. "Kelsey wanted me to…When we were together, he thought it would be good for basically the country and women out there to know who his wife really is." And now, as her ex reportedly moves on to another woman ( pregnant with his child), Camille is ready to move on to her new show, which premieres in October. But the Hollywood wife's past is already coming back to haunt her—she became a spokeswoman for irritable bowel syndrome a decade ago and spoke about its debilitating effects on Today."We can't basically make a lot of plans because you never know when an episode might come on," her now former husband said in 2000. Luckily, now he can get a TiVo.

Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey

Twenty-two-year-old virgin and pop star Jessica Simpson made headlines in 2002 when she famously wed (and bed) boy band member Nick Lachey.

Less than a year after their highly publicized wedding, the couple thrust themselves further into the spotlight with their hit MTV series, "Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica." But besides her on-air inability to say "platypus" or determine the contents of a can of Chicken of the Sea, Simpson earned attention in 2005 when she and Lachey announced their "mutual decision" to "part ways" in a statement. It seems that as the couple's fame grew stronger, their marriage became weaker. Although the two have since gone on to high-profile relationships, they have tried not to play them out on television. "I have to sew my lips together," Simpson told Elle years later of her love life. "It's hurt me in the past."

Kate and Jon Gosselin

Before Kate Gosselin became the butt of an incredible Emmy opening number joke and a tabloid magazine staple, she was a part-time nurse and mother of a set of sextuplets and their older twin sisters.

RELATED: 2011 Emmy nominations

America watched as she and her husband Jon, then an IT technician, struggled to make ends meet and raise eight children on TLC's hit show "Jon & Kate Plus 8." After three successful years on TV, the couple became gossip magazine gold in the summer of 2009, as rumors of infidelity, child abuse, and partying, all the ingredients for a Hollywood split, infiltrated their rural religious family life. By December, the Gosselin marriage could not hold up to the pressure of the headlines, and an ugly divorce and custody battle soon followed. Still, Kate was convinced that being on the air was best for her family, telling Vanity Fair her kids were all "wailing and sobbing" when cameras stopped rolling. "They love our crew, they love the interaction, they love the events. There is nothing harmful about it."

Hulk and Linda Hogan

After nearly 25 years of marriage and a career that led to fame far beyond the wrestling ring and his accompanying handlebar mustache and red and yellow leotard, heavyweight champion Hulk Hogan decided to bring his family into America's consciousness with a VH1 reality show called "Hogan Knows Best."

In 2005, Hulk and his then-wife Linda and their 16-year-old daughter Brooke and 14-year-old son Nick lived out their Floridian life for the cameras and the country to see. Two seasons and a seriously scandalous car accident later, the show became "Brooke Knows Best" and the original series was canceled—but the damage had already been done. In 2007, rumors began surfacing that the professional wrestler had an affair with his daughter's friend, 21 years his junior. We then learned what Linda was gonna do when Hulkmania ran wild on her—after nearly a quarter century together, she filed for divorce just after Thanksgiving 2007.

Jillian Harris and Ed Swiderski

During the lucky 13th season of "The Bachelor," Jillian Harris nearly won the heart of Jason Melnick before one of the most heartbreaking rose ceremonies in the show's history—in which Melnick decided he'd offered a ring to the wrong girl.

Although Harris missed out on that scandal, she created her own after her season of "The Bachelorette" in 2009. The Canadian native chose Ed Swiderski out of 30 eligible men and he proposed on camera. A year later, amid rumors of infidelity on Swiderski's part, the series' host, Chris Harrison, told Radar Online that the couple had "a time, a date, and a place set and despite what was crazily reported and all that stuff they are doing fantastic." But that sentiment didn't last for long for this reality TV duo, and by July Harris and Swiderski had called off their engagement. "I'm really sad, but I have to look out for me," Harris told Us Weekly.

Jake Pavelka and Vienna Girardi

Before ultimately settling (and then un-settling) with Ed Swiderski, Jillian Harris wooed Jake Pavelka during the fifth season of "The Bachelorette."

Though he didn't win Harris' heart, ABC brought him back to star in the 14th season of "The Bachelor" and he appeared to find love when he proposed to winning contestant Vienna Girardi. Shortly thereafter, Pavelka went on to star on his third reality TV show, "Dancing With the Stars," and just two months later, he and Girardi shocked America when they announced the dissolution of their engagement. Allegedly, E! Online reported, Girardi was upset about his stint on the ballroom floor, as she is "not a fan of reality TV." Out of 14 seasons of "The Bachelor" and five of "The Bachelorette," only two couples remain united, proving reality TV is not the place to meet your happily ever after.

Cat and Charles Ommanney of "The Real Housewives of D.C."

When Cat Ommanney, a British MILF with a sharp tongue, signed on for "The Real Housewives of D.C.," she didn't expect to be cast as the villain and lose her Prince Charming.

But that's exactly what happened. Ommaney talked about the show has changed her life, "I'm not in a very happy place," she recently told The Daily Beast's Nicole LaPorte. "I've lost all my family." Cat and her former husband Charles, a famous Newsweek White House photographer, called it quits last May after the cameras, which tore them apart, stopped rolling. "It was actually his boss that asked me if she could put me up for the show," she told The Daily Beast. "I didn't know what I was getting into. I hadn't heard of the show." Charles didn't either, it seems. "I was naïve and foolish to sign off on doing this," he told The New York Times. "But, at the end of the day, it was innocent. I wanted happiness for someone I was in love with … Then I regretted it. I lost touch with everyone, and mix that with my marriage falling apart and the show taking over, it was very sad."

Shanna Moakler and Travis Barker

Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and former beauty pageant queen Shanna Moakler may have been doomed from the start—the punker proposed to his model bride at the elevator entrance to the Haunted Mansion ride in Disneyland.

The couple married in October 2004 and soon thereafter, an MTV reality show called "Meet the Barkers," documented their journey toward the aisle. But in August 2006, six months after the last of their 16 episodes aired (included some sexcapades), Barker filed for divorce, and the tween-like MySpace battle of the blogs soon ensued. In the years that have followed, the cantankerous couple has gotten together and broken up a handful of times—but they'll always have those two seasons of reality TV bliss.

WENN