7 Cursed Oscar Couples

They broke up within a year of an Academy Award win
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 1, 2014 12:54 PM CST
7 Cursed Oscar Couples
In this March 5, 2006, file photo, Ryan Phillippe arrives with Reese Witherspoon at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles.   (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, File)

Winning an Oscar is great ... but for these couples, rounded up by People, it was followed by the demise of their relationship less than a year later:

  • George Clooney and Stacy Keibler: As a co-producer of Argo, Clooney won Best Picture last year—five months later, he and Keibler broke up after two years together.
  • Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes: Winslet won Best Actress in 2009 for The Reader, calling Mendes "wonderful" in her acceptance speech. But a year later, their marriage was over.
  • Hilary Swank and Chad Lowe: Swank won Best Actress in 2005 for Million Dollar Baby, and in her acceptance speech she told then-husband Lowe, "You are my everything." Eleven months later, they were separated.

  • Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe: Witherspoon was another Best Actress winner (in 2006, for Walk the Line) who called her husband "wonderful" onstage; seven months later, she filed for divorce.
  • Sean Penn and Robin Wright: But when Penn won Best Actor for Milk in 2009, though, he didn't thank Wright—and within six months, she had filed for divorce.
  • Julia Roberts and Benjamin Bratt: When she won Best Actress for Erin Brockovich in 2001, she also barely mentioned Bratt onstage; three months later, they broke up.
  • Sandra Bullock and Jesse James: She famously called him "really hot" during her acceptance speech when she won Best Actress for The Blind Side in 2010; just 47 days later, their marriage was over.
Click for the complete list—or for happier news, check out nine couples in which both members have an Academy Award. (More Ryan Phillippe stories.)

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