Some people think being a celebrity in love sounds like a fairy tale. However, love in the limelight comes with many downsides as well. Along with whirlwind romances come toxic dynamics behind closed doors. While many celebs stay quiet about relationships filled with manipulation and gaslighting, some have admitted to the toxic relationships of their past and had the courage to leave them behind. Here are all the stars brave enough to speak out – find out what they have to say below.
1. Bella Hadid
Even supermodels have problems. Hadid has spoken out about numerous abusive relationships, many of which she’s been stuck in due to her people-pleasing traits. She also believes much of this occurred due to growing up around men who didn’t think her voice was as important as theirs. Because of this, she repeatedly went back to abusive partners who didn’t respect boundaries. Getting off social media and living authentically helped her heal.
2. Billie Eilish
According to this singer, her song “Your Power” was about abusive relationships and men who take advantage in relationships. She admitted feeling trapped when “in a very emotionally abusive relationship.” She’s been outspoken about the fact that this isn’t about one person or the music industry, but that it happens everywhere, expanding, “I don’t know one girl or woman who hasn’t had a weird experience, or a really bad experience.”
3. Lily Collins
Collins opened up about a relationship where she dealt with both emotional and verbal abuse. Her partner consistently made her feel small and created feelings of anxiety in her. On a podcast, she shared: “He would call me ‘Little Lily’…and he’d use awful words about me in terms of what I was wearing and would call me a whore and all these things,” and expanded that he would constantly belittle her until she became silent, making herself smaller.
4. Nicki Minaj
Minaj always encourages her fans to learn their worth, and she does so based on her own history of unhealthy relationships. On Twitter, she wrote a heartbreaking statement: “I really used to think love had to hurt…A man should make you feel safe, not afraid.” She reminds her fans that a man who loves you does not publicly embarrass you on social media, hit you, cheat, put you down, or hide information.
5. Reese Witherspoon
As a teen, Reese Witherspoon suffered from low self-esteem due to a toxic relationship as a teenager. Despite it being a difficult decision, Witherspoon walked away because mentally, “A line got drawn in the sand,” and she couldn’t go any further. Ultimately, standing up for herself and leaving that situation changed who she was as a person. Making that decision is never easy,
6. Tyra Banks
Tyra is no stranger to toxic relationships, and hers included a pattern that many of us are familiar with. Banks stated that they would constantly break up and get back together – they did it a whopping 14 or 15 times, all due to his power over her. The model expanded, “He told me that that is what he does. That he knows how to break a woman down. And it took so many different friends and family for me to finally say goodbye to him.”
7. Rihanna
Rihanna opened up about her toxic relationship with Chris Brown, whom she got back together with a second time after that infamous 2009 photo emerged. She admitted to Vanity Fair that she was protective over her ex, but realized that she was wrong for putting up with the abuse and that sometimes you need to walk away from an abusive situation.
8. Amy Schumer
Although many people see Amy Schumer as an empowered, confident comedian, she too experienced the pitfalls of a toxic, abusive relationship. On Paris Hilton’s podcast, Schumer shockingly revealed that an ex chased her with a knife, got laughed at all the time, and even peed on. She admitted that in many of these relationships, manipulation is the norm, and so walking away is harder than it sounds.
9. Halle Berry
Despite having much higher standards for her romantic partners these days, Halle Berry has had her share of toxic relationships in her life. After growing up in an abusive home, she found herself in a similar situation as an adult. Berry revealed that her ex once slapped her so hard it left permanent damage to her eardrums. Today, she’s an advocate for the prevention of domestic violence.
10. Tina Turner
One of the most famous women who suffered from being part of a toxic relationship, Tina and Ike were a once-dreamy musical collab that became an abusive nightmare for the talented singer. In the early ’80s, Turner was one of the first women in the entertainment industry to speak out about domestic abuse during her 14-year marriage to her ex Ike. She said that he hit her many times before she ultimately managed to escape and file for divorce in 1976.
