It’s always awkward to run into an ex after a breakup, whether it’s messy or mutual. But what about when you have to work with them post-split? These celebrities might have made it look fairly easy to star opposite each other or perform together on stage, but we know it’s never that simple.
While some of these exes have remained friendly over the years, some aren’t quite as close as they once were. See which stars had to keep a professional relationship going once the cameras started rolling and who had to play lovers on-screen post-breakup (yikes!).
Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham
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The Fleetwood Mac legends also had a legendary love affair. Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham had a relationship for a significant period of time in the 1970s and were friends for years before that. But in 1976, about a year into their time as members of Fleetwood Mac, Nicks and Buckingham called it quits.
Doing what any musician would do during a breakup, both Nicks and Buckingham penned massive hit songs about each other, many of which appeared on their band’s most popular album, Rumours. And although they were exes, the former couple had to continue to work together for years afterwards.
“I broke up with Lindsey in 1976,” Nicks recalled. “We’d only been in Fleetwood Mac for a year and a half, and we were breaking up when we joined Fleetwood Mac… I just bided my time, and tried to make everything as easy as possible, tried to be as sweet and nice to Lindsey as I could be. He wasn’t happy, either.”
The band took time apart at different points during their run, sometimes due to tension between Nicks and Buckingham. But when they reunited, it was clear there was still a spark between the former lovers, although Nicks says that was all a part of the show.
“Lindsey and I, you know, there will always be that attraction,” Nicks shared in 2009. “So, it’s magical, and the people see it. When we walk onstage, we are still able to pull back that love affair, and we can have it, the audience gets to have it, and everybody enjoys it. When we walk off the stage, we go to our own separate limousine and we go to our own separate hotel and we’re cool. And then we do it again the next night.”
Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco
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While they were falling for each other on-screen in The Big Bang Theory, Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco had their own romance. The series began in 2007 and behind the scenes, Galecki and Cuoco were falling for each other. But in 2008, they made it official and dated for two years before calling it quits.
But not long after they split in real life, their on-screen counterparts got together and remained so for a majority of the series, as their characters went on to get married. The actors, however, remained good friends through the end of the series in 2019 and afterwards.
“I’m so lucky it was a mutual ending and that we don’t hate each other,” Cuoco shared later. “We’ve seen that happen on other shows.” In a later interview, she added, “It took a minute, a bit of awkwardness. By the grace of God, we became best buddies and moved on in such an elegant way…[he] was in the front row at [my] wedding, with a huge smile on his face.”
Chad Michael Murray and Sophia Bush
Gregg DeGuire / Contributor
They were an on-screen power couple as Lucas and Brooke on the early 2000s drama One Tree Hill, so it was no surprise when Chad Michael Murray and Sophia Bush began dating in real life. Not long after meeting on set in 2003, their romance began and they even tied the knot in 2005. Although their characters were in an on-again-off-again relationship, the two remained together.
That is, until they called it quits after only five months of marriage. Rumors of infidelity on Murray’s part swirled, but that didn’t keep the two from remaining friendly, as they had to continue to work together. The former couple even had to get back together on-screen as Lucas and Brooke at the same time they were separating off-screen.
“I was a very naïve 21-year-old kid. And that’s all there is to it,” Bush explained. “I think lots of people do stupid s— before their prefrontal cortexes are fully formed — and they’re not until they’re 26. So, you do the math on my timeline. I literally didn’t have a whole brain.”
Courteney Cox and David Arquette
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The two actors first met on the set of Scream in 1996 and tied the knot in 1999. Together, they welcomed a daughter, Coco, and continued to star in each of the films from the Scream franchise until 2011, but the couple called it quits in 2013. Although Cox and Arquette remained friends and co-parents of their daughter, they hadn’t starred alongside each other since Scream 4 (2011).
“I had no apprehensions,” Cox said of working with Arquette again. “I was just so happy to be working with (Arquette and Neve Campbell).” Arquette, meanwhile, shared, “It’s been 25 years of our lives. We’ve grown up together. We have a child together… It’s a cathartic experience to just be able to act opposite Courteney.”