Music superstar Janet Jackson and Qatari billionaire Wissam Al Mana married in secret in 2012. This was Jackson’s third marriage and the first in which she had a child. After Janet gave birth to their son, Eissa, in January 2017. The couple announced their separation just a few months later.
In an interesting coincidence, it is rumored that if their marriage lasted for five years, Janet was set to receive $100 million and another $100 for bearing a child.
A Stab in the Back
Sophia Bush and Chad Michael Murray met and fell in love on the set of the hit teen TV drama “One Tree Hill.” They got married by the sea, in Santa Monica, California in 2005. But just like their characters on TV, these two couldn’t seem to make it work. Rumors of Chad’s infidelity ran rampant (allegedly he had an affair with Paris Hilton), and Sophia filed for an annulment based on fraud.
The annulment wasn’t granted, and their divorce was finalized less than a year later. The entire marriage lasted only five months. Afterward, when Sophia was asked if she and Chad still talk, she replied, “My mother once said to me that if you don’t have anything nice to say, not to say anything at all.”
A Terrible Husband
"The Handmaid's Tale" and “Mad Men” star Elisabeth Moss has been very vocal about her 8-month unhappy and "traumatizing" marriage to "SNL" alum and comedian Fred Armisen.
Fred talked to Howard Stern about the one-year marriage and described himself as a “terrible husband.” And also answered “yes, there’s that” when questioned about his problems with monogamy. His response seems to give an indication as to why the marriage soured.
Too Goofy for Marriage
Famous actress Drew Barrymore and somewhat famous actor and comedian Tom Green didn’t think getting married was serious business. Their original idea was to get married on the comedy show “Saturday Night Live.” Tom asked Drew to marry him in a skit at the start of the show and she said yes. Drew is known as kind of a free spirit and Tom is known for being strange, so the whole thing didn’t seem so out there.
By the time the end of the show came around, Drew had a change of heart and decided she didn’t want to get married on live television. The two were engaged for a year and finally eloped to the South Pacific in March 2001. After less than a year of marriage, Tom filed for divorce, stating that he “wished it could have worked out.”
A Lavish Affair
Paris Hilton was not the first Hilton to know her way around a scandal. Her grandfather, hotel heir, and Hollywood playboy Conrad “Nicky” Hilton, married movie star legend Elizabeth Taylor when the actress was just 18 years old. MGM paid for the wedding and it was a lavish affair with 600 guests and many of Hollywood’s elite in attendance. The marriage fell apart in less than a year, which included a three-month-long European honeymoon.
In court, a young Liz threw all the blame on Nicky and accused him of being verbally abusive. Later she would say that the marriage had been a mistake and that she was “very naïve.” Taylor did not give up on love and went on to get married seven more times over the years.