Let’s face it, breaking up sucks. There’s no easy way to crush someone’s heart or get yours broken. The only thing that can ease this sad situation — or make it worse — is the manner in which the break-up is done. As technology evolves, so has communication, and the amount of ways people can cut ties without looking that dreaded someone in the face has grown exponentially.
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Celebrities, however, are usually held to a higher standard. Why? Because their Hollywood splits are always high-profile occasions. Knowing this information, it’s a wonder that some stars continue to be such douchebags when walking this sensitive ground. At the end of they day, movie stars are still humans and some of them have proven to be really crappy ones.
Check out this timeline to see how the evolution of celebrity break-ups have evolved, and decide whether or not technology has made going your separate ways easier or worse.
1988: Changing the locks – Clint Eastwood
![Fed Ex deliveries to Instagram hashtags: the unfortunate evolution of celebrity break ups Clint Eastwood and Sandra Locke]()
After being together for over a dozen years — and co-starring in 6 films together — Eastwood had his lawyer send Sandra Locke a letter informing her that he had changed the locks to their shared Bel Air home. According to ABC News, this message also instructed Locke to come pick up all her belongings, including her pet parrot.
1995: Fax – Sylvester Stallone
![Fed Ex deliveries to Instagram hashtags: the unfortunate evolution of celebrity break ups Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Flavin]()
The “Rocky” star decided he would break up with his third wife, Jennifer Flavin, by sending her a letter via Fed-Ex. The specifics of that six page note remains private — perhaps it was actually burned. After a brief engagement to Angie Everheart, Stallone and Flavin reunited, had three kids and are still together to this day.
1995: Ghosting – Daniel Day-Lewis
![Fed Ex deliveries to Instagram hashtags: the unfortunate evolution of celebrity break ups Daniel Day-Lewis and Isabelle Adjani]()
These two were together from 1989 to 1995, but Day-Lewis left Isabelle Adjani high and dry just before the birth of their son, Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis. Opening up to London’s Mail on Sunday in 1996, Adjani said, “I told him I was pregnant before he went in—not by fax as has been mistakenly reported. My love for him did not waiver but I guess he did not feel the same. We never saw each other again. He never told me it was over. I wish he had because I like clarity.”
2015: Ghosting, again – Charlize Theron
![Fed Ex deliveries to Instagram hashtags: the unfortunate evolution of celebrity break ups Sean Penn and Charlize Theron]()
Ghosting stands the test of time when it comes to the worst way to break-up with someone.
It’s also not just men who leave women high and dry, ladies are guilty of this, too. According to US Magazine, Theron left Penn in the dust after 18 months together. “Charlize wasn’t responding to his calls and texts,” a source revealed. “She just cut it off.”
However, after letting these rumors swirl in 2015, Theron finally went on the record to say her side of the story, “The fucking ghosting thing,” she said to WSJ, “like literally, I still don’t even know what it is. It’s just its own beast. We were in a relationship and then it didn’t work anymore. And we both decided to separate. That’s it.”
Hmm. Jury’s still out on this one.
1998: ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ – Matt Damon
![Fed Ex deliveries to Instagram hashtags: the unfortunate evolution of celebrity break ups Matt Damon and Minnie Driver]()
While most people don’t have national talk show access to break-up with someone, Academy Award winner Matt Damon saw this as a great opportunity to get the word out.
Afterward, Minnie Driver told the Los Angeles Times, “Everything has to be made so mythic. I had to be the victim. It’s horrendous breaking up with someone anyway, but to have it be so public and to be cast in a role that would never play if they were paying me-this wronged woman.” She added, “It’s unfortunate that Matt went on Oprah. It seemed like a good forum for him to announce to the world that we were no longer together, which I found fantastically inappropriate.”
2011: Text message – Russell Brand
![Fed Ex deliveries to Instagram hashtags: the unfortunate evolution of celebrity break ups Katy Perry and Russell Brand]()
Not even a voicemail? Katy Perry found out she would be splitting from her husband Russell Brand by text message. The “I Kissed a Girl” singer told Vogue in 2013, “He’s a very smart man, a magical man and I was in love with him when I married him,” but “let’s just say I haven’t heard from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me December 31, 2011.”
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2013: The 27-second phone call – Joe Jonas
At least Joe Jonas had more courage than Russell Brand, but Taylor Swift deservedly put his short phone call on blast while appearing as guest on “The Ellen Degeneres Show.” Swift said it “was, like, a record, I think, for how quick. I looked at the call log—it was like 27 seconds.”
2013: Twitter – Kordell Stewart
![Fed Ex deliveries to Instagram hashtags: the unfortunate evolution of celebrity break ups Porsha Williams and Kordell Stewart]()
“I literally was lying in bed and I looked at Twitter and it was going crazy,” Porsha said to ABC News. “I saw on Twitter that my husband has filed for divorce.”
The “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star was sitting in the house she shared with her then husband, and went into another room to discuss it with him. “It wasn’t a confrontation,” she explained. “It was me just simply asking my husband, ‘Had you filed?’ He said he thought about it and we’ll talk about it later and he left for work. I had to call my attorney to find out.”
2016: Instagram hashtags – Alex Pettyfer & Marloes Horst
![Fed Ex deliveries to Instagram hashtags: the unfortunate evolution of celebrity break ups Instagram Photo]()
While their Instagram announcement appears to be mutual and friendly, hashtagging one’s break-up just seems like a step too far. No one is that cool with each other during a split. Adding cute break-up hashtags just makes Pettyfer and Horst seem like next level attention whores.
However, they’re not the first couple to announce their break-up via Instagram. Nowadays, it appears as if this has almost become the norm. Read about more celeb couples announcing their break-ups on social media here.