Stars Who Have Stayed Friendly After Their Split

While Hollywood breakups are famous for their scandals and negativity, some celebrity couples realize they just work better as friends than lovers.

Whether it's in an effort to co-parent their kids or just for the sake of friendship itself, there are numerous celebs who used their breakups and post-split friendships as an example of how to keep things civil in the spotlight.

ET is taking a look at a few of the A-list couples who have managed to keep their relationships amicable, even after calling it quits on their romances.

Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen

Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen
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The retired NFL star and the supermodel announced their decision to get divorced in October 2022. However, in the wake of their split, they've been working hard to co-parent effectively and maintain a healthy post-split relationship. Bündchen expressed her continuing support for her ex during an interview with Vanity Fair in March, sharing, "I have always cheered for him, and I would continue forever. If there's one person I want to be the happiest in the world, it's him, believe me. I want him to achieve and to conquer. I want all his dreams to come true. That’s what I want, really, from the bottom of my heart." The pair shares two children -- Benjamin, 13, and Vivian, 10 -- while Brady also shares a 15-year-old son, Jack, with his ex, Bridget Moynahan.

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony
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The music superstars -- who share 15-year-old twins Maximilian and Emme -- may have called it quits on their marriage but they've managed to maintain their friendship, and even recorded an album together. During an appearance on Live With Kelly in March 2017, Lopez said, "We are like best friends. We are making an album now… At first I was like, 'We’re good with the kids, but if we start working together, are we going to start going at each other again?' But it’s been awesome. Honestly, I think it’s even helped our relationship and it's made things even better." Lopez has since tied the knot with her other ex, Ben Affleck, while Anthony got married earlier this year to Nadia Ferreira.

Demi Moore and Bruce Willis

Demi Moore and Bruce Willis
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The Die Hard star has kept a healthy friendship with the Corporate Animals actress long after their split in 1998 and divorce two years later. The pair shares three adult children -- Rumer, Tallulah and Scout -- and have created a blended family with Willis' new wife, Emma Heming, and their two daughters -- 11-year-old Mabel and 9-year-old Evelyn. Willis actually spent the early lockdown days of the coronavirus pandemic with Moore, and his entire blended family has been by his side and supporting him following his frontotemporal dementia diagnosis and retirement from acting.

Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian

Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian
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After dating for nine months before eventually splitting up and going their own ways, Davidson and Kardashian appeared to be on good terms as they reconnected at the 2023 Met Gala in May. Davidson and Kardashian were spotted laughing and joking together while joined by Usher inside the star-studded event. The stars have also only had supportive words for one another since their split.

Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk

Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk
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Cooper and Shayk split in 2019 after four years of dating. The pair has appeared to remain on friendly terms since the breakup, even vacationing together last summer. They were most recently spotted together walking arm in arm in New York City last November. The pair has been working hard to provide a good co-parenting experience for their 6-year-old daughter, Lea. Most recently, the two shared a cute moment at the 2023 Met Gala, although they walked the carpet solo. Since welcoming their child, both Shayk and Cooper have kept her largely out of the spotlight. In April, Shayk opened up about what they are both teaching their daughter when it comes to the concept of beauty, telling Harper's Bazaar, "Every time we send her to school, we’re like, 'Just remember kindness and love.' So I think that’s what true beauty is."

Kate Beckinsale and Michael Sheen

Kate Beckinsale and Michael Sheen
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The former couple, who met in 1995 and split in 2003, shares a 24-year-old daughter, Lily, but their post-split relationship is rooted in so much more than only co-parenting. As the Underworld actress told ES Magazine in December 2016, "We split up ages ago. We have been not together far longer than we were ever together. But I really love him and like him and we make each other roar with laughter."

Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin

Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin
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The pair made the term "consciously uncouple" a household one after doing so themselves in 2014, and have remained close in the subsequent years. While they are both dedicated to co-parenting their two kids -- 19-year-old daughter Apple and 17-year-old son Moses -- they make sure to have real fun as a family, and show each other a lot of love. Speaking with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show in January 2018, Paltrow said, "I think we really genuinely wanted our kids to be as unscathed as possible [by the divorce]. And we thought, if we could really maintain the family even though we weren’t a couple, that was kind of the goal. So that’s what we’ve tried to do… He's really like my brother. We're very familial. It's nice. It's great."

Josh Duhamel and Fergie

Josh Duhamel and Fergie
%David Livingston/Getty Images

The former flames -- who share a 9-year-old son, Axl -- split in February 2017, but didn't announce the news until September of that year. However, during their time apart, the pair continued to support each other and co-parent with love. Shortly after their split, Duhamel brought his ex a bouquet of roses following her highly criticized performance of the national anthem at the 2018 NBA All-Star Game. The two have moved on, with Duhamel tying the knot with Audra Mari last year, but have remained close co-parents.

Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak

Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak
%Jemal Countess/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images

The Office co-stars have had a long and complicated romantic past. While they definitely dated, both Kaling and Novak have admitted that they never were quite sure of the status of their relationship. Speaking with InStyle in May 2015, Kaling said, "My relationship with B.J. Novak is weird as hell. He is not my boyfriend, but he is not my best friend. I guess you could describe our relationship as a 'romantically charged camaraderie with loud arguments,' but I don't think Facebook would accept this as a new status."

Chris Pratt and Anna Faris

Chris Pratt and Anna Faris
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After years of being America's cutest couple, the pair shocked the world in August 2017, when they announced that they were calling it quits after eight years of marriage. However, despite the split, Pratt still wrote the forward for Faris' recent book, Unqualified, and the actress said, during an appearance on Live With Kelly and Ryan in September, "He’s amazing. We're great friends and we always will be." Both Pratt and Faris have since found love with other people -- Pratt tied the knot with Katherine Schwarzenegger in 2019 and Faris married cinematographer Michael Bennett in 2021. However, co-parenting their 10-year-old son, Jack, has brought the families together. Faris told People in November 2022, "We're all getting much closer, and I so appreciate that... They're very protective of me, and I want to be very protective of them. I so appreciate their support."

Kate Hudson and Matt Bellamy

Kate Hudson and Matt Bellamy
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The Marshall star and the Muse frontman called it quits in 2014 after being engaged for three years, but they've made sure to maintain their friendship as they provide a loving and nurturing environment for their 11-year-old son, Bingham. The pair has shown how friendly their post-split relationship really is as they've reunited time and again for birthdays and holiday celebrations. "I think forgiveness is the biggest part of it," Hudson told Marie Claire. "I think everybody wants to point fingers. If you are a person who takes responsibility for yourself and your part in it, you have a much better chance of maintaining a nice relationship. It also means that you grow up."

Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr

Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr
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While the couple got divorced in 2013 after two years of marriage, they have remained close friends and have actively worked together to amicably co-parent their 12-year-old son, Flynn. That friendship persisted even as both stars moved on -- Kerr tied the knot with Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel in May 2017, while Bloom reunited with his ex, Katy Perry, in February 2018. Bloom and Kerr's friendship and dedication to co-parenting even influenced where she wanted to live with her new husband. Kerr told Harper's Bazaar in August 2016 that she and Spiegel bought their Malibu home so that she could be closer to Bloom, and that way their son could more easily spend time with both of them. "I started looking for houses because we wanted to be close as a family," she said.

Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt

Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt
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It's been close to two decades since Pitt and Aniston divorced, back in 2005, and they have remained on good terms. A source previously told ET, "Brad and Jen are still friends. They talk and have a nice, friendly, cordial relationship." The two have been supportive of each other post-split, with Pitt attending the Friends actress' 50th birthday party in February 2019. They also reunited for a Fast Times at Ridgemont High table read in June 2021, where Aniston said, "Brad and I are buddies, we're friends... We speak, and there's no oddness at all, except for everyone that probably watched it and was wanting there to be, or assumed there to be."

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon
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While Cannon has fathered 12 children with six mothers, his kids with Carey were his first two, and he's made sure to keep things cordial with the songstress in the years since their divorce in November 2016 -- which came two years after they first announced their split. However, they've spent holidays together, vacationed together and celebrated birthdays together for their 12-year-old twins -- Monroe and Moroccan -- countless times.

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