Breaking up is hard to do.
And for these stars, the sting of heartbreak was amplified by the fact that they found out their relationships were over through the media. Minnie Driver discovered her year-long romance with Matt Damon was over when he went on the Oprah Winfrey Show back in 1998 and Brianna ‘Chickenfry’ LaPaglia recently revealed she was “blindsided” when Zach Bryan announced their breakup on social media.
Below, see the stars who found out their relationships were over at the same time as the rest of the world.
Minnie Driver
Matt Damon and Minnie Driver.
Steve Granitz Archive 1/WireImage
Minnie Driver and Matt Damon began dating after starring in Good Will Hunting together, but the love was not long-lasting.
According to Driver, she found out they were officially broken up when Damon declared himself single while on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1998. And while she admitted that watching Damon win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay a few weeks after their breakup was “devastating,” Driver said she and the Bourne Identity actor had a nice interaction in the summer of 2020.
“I did see Matt Damon on the beach and I had not had a conversation with him, seriously, since we made the film,” Driver said while on the Keep It! podcast in 2021. “That was last summer and it was actually very nice to see him, and his kids, and his wife and it all felt quite middle-aged actually, which was reassuring.”
Brianna Chickenfry
Zach Bryan and Brianna Chickenfry.
Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty
Zach Bryan and Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPagalia went their separate ways shortly after celebrating their one-year anniversary.
On Oct. 22, Bryan announced that he and the internet personality were no longer together after rumors of their separation started swirling.
“Addressing something: Brianna and me have broken up with [each other] and I respect and love her with every ounce of my heart. She has loved me unconditionally for a very long time and for that I’ll always thank her,” wrote Bryan on his Instagram Stories.
Hours later, LaPaglia took to YouTube to reveal that she found out about the post with the rest of the world.
“I just woke up to Zach posting on his Instagram that we broke up and I had no idea that post was going up. He didn’t text me, he didn’t call me. I just woke up to a bunch of texts, like, ‘Are you okay?'” she explained in the emotional video, posted to her Plan Bri UnCut account.
LaPaglia also said she was “completely blindsided” by Bryan’s decision to make the news public. “Do you see the swelling on my face? I’ve been crying for like five days straight,” she admitted.
Rita Ora
Calvin Harris and Rita Ora.
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
Back in 2014, Rita Ora reportedly found out that her relationship with Calvin Harris was over when the Scottish DJ Tweeted about their breakup.
“To address speculation — myself and Rita ended our relationship some time ago. She is a beautiful, talented woman & I wish her all the best,” he’d written at the time. The Sun reported that she hadn’t expected him to go public with the news, and later she told Wonderland, “At the time… I just wanted to crawl in my bed and die. But I got out of it the other side, I’m surviving,”
She later told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live that she and Harris had made peace, saying, “The thing is, I don’t keep grudges with anybody. Everybody uses social media how they want. I choose not to so that’s just my personal way to express myself, but everyone does their own thing.”
Sophie Turner
Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner.
Bruce Glikas/WireImage
Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas were couple goals for the four years they were married.
However, following their separation in 2023, Turner claimed she found out the “Cake by the Ocean” singer was filing for divorce online.
In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan and obtained by PEOPLE, the Game of Thrones actress revealed she learned of Jonas’ divorce filing “through the media.”
Turner also revealed that the “breakdown” of the couple’s four-year marriage happened “very suddenly following “an argument” on Jonas’ 34th birthday on Aug. 15. He then filed for divorce nearly three weeks later on Sept. 5 in Miami.
A rep for Jonas denied the claim, saying, “Sophie was aware that Joe was going to file for divorce.”
The pair have since reached a settlement.
Laura Dern
Laura Dern and Billy Bob Thornton.
Thornton (Photo by SGranitz/WireImage
Laura Dern and Billy Bob Thornton seemed to have a happy relationship … until she found out he had married Angelina Jolie without having called things off with her first.
“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,” Dern told Talk Magazine in 2000, ABC reported.
“It’s like a sudden death. For no one has there been any closure or clarity,” she said.
For his part, Thornton stood by his decision, telling The Guardian, “Others may say that ‘You left our girl and married someone else.’ But it made me happy and somebody else happy. I’m sorry it caused pain.”
Kris Humphries
Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian.
WireImage
While Kim Kardashian’s 72-day marriage was a shock to many, it seems that its ending was just as much of a surprise to Kris Humphries as it was to all of us.
“I love my wife and am devastated to learn she filed for divorce,” he said in a statement to E! News, shortly after Kardashian filed in October 2011. “I’m committed to this marriage and everything this covenant represents. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make it work.”
The pair would officially divorce in 2013.
Max Ehrich
Demi Lovato, Max Ehrich.
Demi Lovato and Max Ehrich were together for about four months before he popped the question. Two months after that, an insider told PEOPLE exclusively that Lovato and Ehrich were calling it quits.
Following the news, Ehrich took to Instagram and revealed that he found out about the breakup with the rest of the world.
“Imagine finding out about the status of your relationship through a tabloid. While your [sic] in the middle of filming a biopic movie about a Pastor in a Christian Church whose intention of the film is to help people,” Ehrich wrote in his Instagram Stories.
A source later told PEOPLE, “Demi made Max aware that the relationship was over and it was going to come out in the press.”
Jennie Garth
Dave Abrams and Jennie Garth.
Tiffany Rose/Getty
Jennie Garth and her husband Dave Abrams have been married for almost a decade now, and as with most relationships, their union has had its ups and downs.
Having married in 2015, the two separated for 10 months several years later — then Abrams filed for divorce in 2018. The filing was news to Garth, who found out through the newswires.
Garth and Adams ultimately reconciled and she even used the ordeal as inspiration for a storyline on BH90210.
“I found out that he filed for divorce from TMZ,” Garth told PEOPLE in 2019. “That was a big deal for me. So we used it in the show, because why not use the things that hurt us most and then take the power out of them and make them funny.”
Drake Bell
Janet Von Schmeling and Drake Bell.
Tasia Wells/WireImage
Drake Bell’s estranged wife, Janet Von Schmeling, filed for divorce on April 21, 2023, a week after the Drake & Josh actor was reported missing and endangered in Florida and later found safe.
The news didn’t seem to faze Bell, who revealed on X (formerly known as Twitter), “I found out my wife filed for divorce from TMZ … check out my new song,” he wrote.