20 Historic Divorces That Shook Society

Don’t be fooled by puritanical notions: divorce has been around for a very long time, as Julius Caesar proved. He divorced Pompeia in 62 B.C. after Publius Clodius Pulcher allegedly sneaked into the Festival of the Bona Dea—an event reserved for women—which was being held at Caesar’s home. Caesar stated that he did not believe Pompeia had done anything wrong, but he nevertheless felt that his wife had to be above suspicion. In short, it was a very Roman way of saying that public image took precedence over family life.

Mark Antony legally married Octavia in 40 B.C., a decision intended to stabilize Rome, given that she was the sister of Octavian, his powerful political ally and future enemy. However, they subsequently separated when Mark Antony broke this alliance and divorced Octavia in 32 B.C., instead strengthening his ties with Cleopatra. This breakup was part of a much broader political disaster. 

Eleanor of Aquitaine and King Louis VII of France had their marriage annulled in 1152, after years of tension and in the absence of a male heir. This was a major event at the time, but Eleanor quickly recovered and, within a few weeks, married Henry Plantagenet. He later became King Henry II of England, thereby bringing Eleanor’s vast Aquitanian inheritance into a new political sphere. 

Henry VIII’s efforts to end his marriage to Catherine of Aragon led to one of the most notable marital conflicts in history. When Pope Clement VII initially refused to annul the marriage, Henry broke with Rome and helped set England on the path to the English Reformation. Catherine, too, had a personal stake in the matter; her heartbreak turned into a nationwide religious schism.

Today’s celebrities aren’t the only ones to have had relationships of an embarrassingly short duration. Take Henry VIII, for example, who married Anne of Cleves in January 1540 and had the marriage annulled as early as July of that same year. Anne handled this debacle with tact and accepted the annulment, a decision that undoubtedly helped her survive at Henry VIII’s court while maintaining her comfort and status. 

Lucrezia Borgia’s marriage to Giovanni Sforza was annulled in 1497, as her father, Pope Alexander VI, no longer needed the alliance with the Sforza family. Giovanni soon began spreading vile slander against the Borgia family, which only served to reinforce Lucrezia’s scandalous reputation for centuries to come.

Do you remember what we said about the impossibility of having sons? Well, Napoleon and Josephine divorced in 1810 for that very reason, and although their separation was staged with solemn dignity, everyone understood that the dynasty took precedence over love. Josephine, however, remained highly regarded in French society, which made Napoleon’s decision seem far colder than he would have liked.

The marriage between art critic John Ruskin and Effie Gray was annulled in 1854, after six years, with the failure to consummate the marriage at the heart of the matter. While this reason seemed, at first glance, entirely normal, their separation received exceptional media attention because it raised the question of whether the marriage had ever been consummated. Effie later married the painter John Everett Millais, a former protégé of Ruskin’s.

Albert Einstein and Mileva Marić divorced in 1919 after years of tension, separation, and family complications. The most interesting aspect of their divorce, however, is that their separation agreement stipulated—as is well known—that she would receive the money if he won a Nobel Prize, which he subsequently did. 

Mary Pickford divorced actor Owen Moore in 1920 and married Douglas Fairbanks shortly thereafter, sending shockwaves through Hollywood. Since Pickford was known as “America’s Sweetheart,” the speed and highly publicized nature of the divorce gave the moral guardians a hard time. That said, her marriage to Fairbanks only served to cement their status as one of Hollywood’s first major power couples.

Consuelo Vanderbilt’s marriage to Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough, promised to be a lavish “Golden Age” union between American wealth and the British aristocracy. It seemed unshakable until the couple separated in 1906, divorced in 1921, and then obtained an annulment after Consuelo’s mother admitted to having pressured her daughter into the marriage.

Wallis Simpson’s divorce from Ernest Simpson technically paved the way for her to accept King Edward VIII’s marriage proposal, but it also sparked a constitutional crisis in Great Britain. As a twice-divorced American woman, Wallis was considered unacceptable as Queen of England by many leaders of the time, and in 1936, Edward chose to abdicate; being king and head of the Church of England was considered incompatible with marrying a woman whose ex-husbands were still alive.

When a major Hollywood actress marries a member of a distinguished Muslim royal family, it’s bound to make headlines. Rita Hayworth’s marriage to Prince Aly Khan sparked a frenzy that neither of them could easily handle; as might be expected, their divorce in 1953 followed years of separation, disputes over custody of their daughter, Yasmin, and relentless media attention focused on her. They also ended up making the front page of virtually every newspaper.

Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio’s marriage, which took place in 1954, lasted only nine months before she filed for divorce on grounds of “emotional abuse.” Since Marilyn Monroe was, so to speak, the quintessential paparazzi icon, their separation immediately shocked her fans, and the press conference became one of the most photographed moments of her private life. 

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera divorced in 1939, after a marriage marked by political tensions and repeated betrayals. But even the divorce was not enough to keep them apart for long, and Rivera asked her to marry him again while Kahlo was in poor health. She accepted, and they remarried on December 8, 1940, Rivera’s 54th birthday.

When we talk about a rocky relationship… even back then. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton married in 1964 after a scandalous affair that began during the filming of Cleopatra. They then divorced in 1974. They remarried in 1975 and divorced again in 1976, giving the public an unexpected sequel to a soap opera they already knew well. 

Even after more than thirty years of marriage, Nelson Rockefeller and Mary Todhunter Clark Rockefeller ended their marriage in 1962. To make matters worse, his hasty remarriage to Margaretta “Happy” Murphy—who had also recently divorced—caused quite a stir when he ran for the Republican presidential nomination. 

Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, Lord Snowdon, divorced in 1978 after years of tabloid coverage and obvious tensions. It was the first divorce in the British royal family since the annulment of Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne of Cleves during the Tudor era, which made the event all the more sensational. As one might imagine, the British tabloid press went wild.

In what was undoubtedly one of the most highly publicized breakups in history, Prince Charles and Princess Diana had already been living apart for four years before finalizing their divorce in 1996. Their marriage had been touted as a true royal fairy tale, but after years of public tensions and relentless media coverage, the end seemed inevitable. Diana, however, retained the title of Princess of Wales. 

What has never really drawn much attention is that Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson also divorced in 1996. It is interesting to note that their separation also followed years of living apart (the couple had separated as early as 1992) and public scandals, but despite all that, they remained exceptionally close afterward.