14 Celebrities Who Were Blindsided By Divorce Filings

Published on February 23, 2016. Updated November 8, 2018

Divorce can be a tricky thing in Hollywood. For some celebrities, it comes completely out of nowhere. Just ask these 10 celebs who were completely blindsided by their spouse’s divorce filing!

14. Keshia Knight Pulliam

This past summer, Keshia Knight Pulliam was blindsided by her divorce from former NFL pro, Ed Hartwell. He filed for divorce just days after she announced she was pregnant! At the time, the couple had only been married for seven months. In an interview with ET online, Pulliam said there was no warning he wanted out of their relationship and she was completely blindsided. The Cosby Show star said he had been unfaithful during their marriage and that she was the one who brought up divorce early on in their marriage, but she decided to give him another chance. Months later, he turned around and filed on his own. “The part that hurt me the most when he filed for divorce was that he had asked me to give him another chance, and I was willing to do that and forgive him, for our family…That’s why I gave him one last chance, only for him to pullthe rug from under me and blindside me,” she said.

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13. Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard were only married for 15 months when she filed for divorce in May 2016. Heard totally blindsided Depp with the divorce which was clear from the timing of it all. She filed three days after his mother passed away and just days before the premiere of his newest film, Alice Through the Looking Glass. The entire divorce played out in the media and got incredibly nasty with allegations thrown back and forth involving abuse, blackmail and even a request for a domestic violence restraining order. The divorce was finally settled in August after Depp agreed to pay Heard $7 million and both withdrew their accusations of black mail and abuse.

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12. Yolanda Foster

It was so disheartening to hear the sweet Beverly Hills Housewife tell Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live that she was blindsided by her divorce from her Grammy Award wining husband, David Foster. The couple were married for four years and she had been battling Lyme disease for the later half of their marriage. “I know exactly the day — November 15,” she said. And when Cohen asked how it all went down, she replied: “It was a conversation, yeah…I married for love, not money…I didn’t think that was the end of the road. I would have hoped to wait until I got 100 percent well.” David was accused by many that he left Yolanda because of her illness, but he was adamant that was not the case.

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11. Brad Pitt

The divorce between two of Hollywood’s biggest stars was a huge shock to everyone, especially Brad Pitt! According to sources, he found out she was filing the day before it went public. He apparently pleaded for her to hold off and asked Jolie to try and work things out, but she had already made up her mind. An incident happened while they were traveling that acted as the “last straw” for her. The Maleficent star then filed for divorce the next day on Monday, September 19 and cited irreconcilable differences. She also requested physicial custody of their six children, and shared legal custody. Things were heating up for a nasty custody battle, especially when allegations of abuse were thrown around, but the couple ended up settling their divorce outside of court and away from the public eye.

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10. Tom Cruise

When Katie Holmes filed for divorce from Tom Cruise and demanded sole custody of their daughter Suri, he did not see it coming. He didn’t have much to say at the time except that he was “deeply saddened” by the situation.

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9. Kevin Federline

Kevin Federline said that Britney Spears blindsided him with her divorce filing. “It’s hard enough to be in a marriage, and then have a kid, then kids. It changes everything,” he said. “For me, I’d become more concerned with my children. Not that I ignored Britney, but my kids are always most important… I mean, we were having complications. I didn’t give her an ultimatum, but I was trying to work stuff out with her, and she didn’t even talk to me or anything and went behind my back and filed [for divorce]. [I was] completely blindsided.”

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8. Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman was left in a state of shock when Tom Cruise filed for divorce from her. According to her camp, he gave no warning. She thought their life together was perfect when he made the sudden announcement that he was going to file for divorce. Tom’s camp, on the other hand, made it sound like the decision to divorce for was mutual, but Nicole has continued to say over the years that she never wanted a divorce. She wanted to work things out and stay together.

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7. Kris Humphries

According to Kris Humphries’ father, the basketball player was totally blindsided by Kim Kardashian’s decision to file for divorce after only 72 days. “Kris was completely surprised. There was never a discussion about it. It just came out of nowhere and blindsided Kris,” his father told Life & Style. “How could someone do that? Kris was completely surprised. The news was already published before he found out.”

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6. Hulk Hogan

When Hulk Hogan’s first wife, Linda, filed for divorce, he was blindsided. He first heard about it from a newspaper that called him asking for comment. How embarrassing!

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5. Jennie Garth

Jennie Garth said that she felt blindsided when Peter Facinelli told her that he didn’t want to be married to her anymore. This was around the time that she started her reality TV show, Jennie Garth: A Little Bit Country. Peter was supposed to be on the show with her and she really thought that they would work things out, but he wasn’t interested.

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4. Gavin Rossdale

According to Radar Online, Gavin Rossdale was blindsided by Gwen Stefani’s divorce announcement. He reportedly believed that he could change her mind, so when she filed he was said to be pretty devastated, which is a bit of a shock. He did cheat on her with the nanny, so expecting her to let it go is naive.

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3. Nick Lachey

When Jessica Simpson informed Nick Lachey that she wanted a divorce, he was caught off guard. He tried to get her to change her mind, suggesting marriage counseling, but her mind was made up.

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2. Pete Wentz

Pete Wentz was reportedly blindsided by Ashlee Simpson’s divorce filing. He really wanted to make it work with her, but she was done with the marriage and it wanted it finalized. Sources say that the two were too young when they married and had just grown apart.

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1. Jeremy Renner

When Sonni Pacheco filed for divorce from Jeremy Renner, his camp claimed that the filing took him by surprise. She cited irreconcilable differences and asked for their prenup to be thrown out because it was based on fraud. The judge didn’t throw out the prenup, but she did get $13,000 a month in child support, which is pretty sweet.