Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie; Claire Danes and Billy Crudup; Benjamin McKenzie and Morena Baccarin. Photos / Splash
Co-stars falling in love. It's a story nearly as old as time.
With actors spending so much time together filming love scenes for their latest movie or TV series, it almost seems inevitable that the romance spills over into real-life.
But not all co-star hook-ups are created equal - here are a few of the more scandalous on-set love stories from recent times.
Like many actors, Keri Russell is not immune to dating a co-star. She had previously dated her
Felicity
co-star, Scott Speedman, before eventually meeting the father of her two older children (and now ex-husband) Shane Deary.
However, she raised eyebrows when she was spotted out and about with her co-star from
The Americans
, Matthew Rhys, largely because rumours of their relationship began so soon after Russell's separation from Deary.
Russell and Rhys finally confirmed they were more than just co-stars in April 2014 - and have just revealed they're now expecting their first baby together.
Also expecting their first baby together are
Gotham
co-stars, Benjamin McKenzie and Morena Baccarin.
The couple surprised everyone with the news of their relationship - and their impending arrival - late last year.
It was especially saucy given Baccarin was still married to husband Austin Chick at the time.
Baccarin has stated in her pending divorce papers that she plans to wed McKenzie once her current marriage is legally over.
The relationship between
Twilight's
lovebirds, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, wasn't exactly scandalous, with the co-stars spending a long time denying they were indeed in love off screen.
However, the end of their relationship certainly delivered in the scandal stakes. When Stewart was snapped kissing her
Snow White and the Huntsman
director Rupert Sanders back in 2012, she released a desperate statement, declaring her love for Pattinson.
"I'm deeply sorry for the hurt and embarrassment I've caused to those close to me and everyone this has affected," she wrote.
"This momentary indiscretion has jeopardised the most important thing in my life, the person I love and respect the most, Rob. I love him, I love him, I'm so sorry."
Pattinson decided to give their relationship another shot, but the damage was done. The pair split for good less than a year later.
When
Stage Beauty
co-stars Claire Danes and Billy Crudup struck up a relationship in 2006, they garnered much negative press. Namely because Crudup left actress Mary-Louise Parker in order to do so, a woman he'd had a seven-year relationship with and who was seven months pregnant at the time.
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During an interview with SiriusXM years later, Danes spoke of her relationship with Crudup, saying: "I was just in love with him and needed to explore that and I was 24 ... I didn't quite know what those consequences would be."
Danes has since married another co-star, Hugh Dancy, with whom she has a son named Cyrus.
These two
Gigli
co-stars also raised eyebrows when they got together, if only because they seemed such an unlikely match.
Becoming the Hollywood power couple known as "Bennifer", Affleck and Lopez went so far as to get engaged, with Affleck shelling out $US2.5 million for the ring.
However, Affleck eventually called off the wedding - but not before he starred in a cringeworthy sequence in Lopez's music video for
Jenny From The Block
.
Affleck later said the year he spent in the media spotlight as Lopez's fiancé was his "annus horribilis".
But the most scandalous co-star hook-up crown still sits with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.
When these two actors met on the set of Mr & Mrs Smith, the chemistry was evident for all to see. So it came as little surprise that Pitt's marriage to Jennifer Aniston ended soon after that film wrapped up.
Even so, the gossip columnists still had a field day with the story, given three of the world's biggest stars were caught up in a love triangle. For years, fans aligned themselves as either 'Team Jolie' or 'Team Aniston', but eventually they got over it. Eventually.
Jolie and Pitt are, of course, still together, married and have six children.
- nzherald.co.nz
New York Times: The iconic singer, songwriter and actor died in September aged 88.