5 Celebs Who Admitted To Cheating On Their Partners

Although no one necessarily wants to be a cheater, sometimes it happens — and more often than you might expect. According to a 2021 study by Health Testing Centers, per PsychCentral, 46% of those in monogamous relationships have cheated on their partner at one point. That's a fairly large percentage. But why people cheat is more telling than how many people cheat.

"We have a really black-and-white way of looking at infidelity," sex therapist Vanessa Marin told Health. "But it's important for us to see that there are a lot of shades of gray to it ... People who cheat, they're not terrible, evil, horrible people. There are plenty of really great, wonderful people who cheat, as well," added Marin. "People do bad things. That doesn't make them bad people." A 2020 study published in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy found that, to no surprise, the reasons people cheat are varied and complicated, ranging from feelings of anger toward a partner to low self-esteem to simply being a victim of circumstance.

While being cheated on is a terrible feeling, what's important is that the cheater can admit to being wrong — and not many cheaters can. Admitting to your partner that you were unfaithful, let alone the whole world, speaks volumes to one's character. In other words, these celebrities may have cheated, but at least they're not denying it.

When photos surfaced of Kristen Stewart and Rupert Sanders, the director of her film "Snow White and the Huntsman," in 2012, Stewart immediately became the talk of the town. At the time, she was in a relationship with her "Twilight" costar, Robert Pattinson, and Sanders was married with two children. The scandal grew so out of proportion that it even garnered the two cents of Donald Trump who, for reasons we'll never really know, was very much invested in the relationship and the outcome, tweeting that he didn't think Pattinson should take Stewart back.

In 2019, Stewart talked to Howard Stern about her relationship with Pattinson and the alleged cheating. "I did not f*** him," she told Stern, via DailyMail, of Sanders, adding that paparazzi photos can be misleading, "you make out with a dude in public, it definitely looks like you did [have sex] ... We lived in a different time then, you know what I mean? I feel like the slut-shaming that went down was so absurd." 

Although both Stewart and Sanders apologized to their partners, ultimately, everyone involved in the drama went their separate ways. Stewart is currently engaged to screenwriter Dylan Meyer and Pattinson just welcomed a baby with Suki Waterhouse.

While it's no secret that Princess Diana was cheated on by Prince Charles during their marriage, Diana engaged in some infidelity as well. In the 1980s, Diana had an affair with her riding instructor, James Hewitt, that supposedly lasted for years. Although the relationship eventually came to an end and Hewitt went on to write a tell-all book, "Princess In Love," Diana never denied any of it or wavered in her feelings for Hewitt.

In 1995, Diana sat down with the BBC's Martin Bashir and gave one of the most revealing interviews to ever come out of the House of Windsor. Not only did she make the now-famous comment, "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded," regarding her marriage to Charles and his mistress Camilla Parker-Bowles, but she also spoke of Hewitt. When asked about the legitimacy of Hewitt's book and their relationship, Diana said, "Yes, I adored him. Yes, I was in love with him. But I was very let down." Even after Diana's death in 1997, Hewitt continued to let the princess down, trying to cash in on the love letters she had sent him during their affair.

When an affair starts in Florence, you know it's going to be good — and that's what Martha Stewart delivered in the 2024 documentary "Martha." According to Stewart, she was 19 and on her honeymoon when a handsome stranger waltzed into her life.

"It was a very romantic place, crowded with tourists, and met this very handsome guy," said Stewart. "He didn't know I was married. I was this waif of a girl hanging out in the cathedral on Easter Eve. He was emotional. I was emotional. It's just because it was an emotional place. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced. It was like nothing I had ever done before. So why not kiss a stranger?" Although Stewart considered the moment an emotional infidelity, it wasn't the only time she had dalliances outside her marriage — as did her husband, Andrew Stewart. 

"I had a very brief affair with a very attractive Irish man. And, um, it was just nothing. It was nothing, in terms of ... I would never have broken up a marriage for it. It was nothing, It was nothing," said Stewart, comparing it to the kiss she had in Florence. The Stewarts divorced in 2000 and Martha never remarried. In fact, Stewart said in the documentary, "If you want to be happy for a year, get married. If you want to be happy for a decade, get a dog. If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, make a garden."

Although Gabrielle Union is now happily married to former basketball player Dwayne Wade, during her marriage to football player Chris Howard, things were quite different. In 2023, Union opened up about her marriage to Howard on Dax Shepard's "Armchair Expert" podcast, per LA Times, talking about how they both had their fair share of infidelities.

"Part of it was keeping up with his activities," Union said of Howard's cheating. "I just felt entitled to it as well. I was paying all the bills. I was working my ass off, and I felt like that's what comes [with] the spoils of riches and, like my dad before me, whoever has the most gets to do whatever the hell they want — is what I thought. And it was just dysfunctional from Day One." 

Union added that she wished she felt more guilt about what happened, but they were just two people who should have never evolved from dating to marriage. Something that couples therapy confirmed for the two. "We were gifted therapy, and the first session, the therapist was like ... 'You have not one thing in common — no morals, no values, no scruples,'" Union told Shepard. "'The one thing you both have in common is other people. ... So why don't you just go be with other people?'"

Although she didn't admit to it at the time, Meg Ryan cheated on her husband, Dennis Quaid, with Russell Crowe while filming "Proof of Life" in 1999. During an interview with InStyle in 2008, Ryan discussed her affair, as well as Quaid's infidelities during their marriage. "It was a great story," Ryan told InStyle, per Today. "But what wasn't in the story was the reality of my marriage for nine years. Dennis was not faithful to me for a long time, and that was very painful. I found out more about that once I was divorced ... Russell didn't break up the marriage. He was definitely there at the end, but it wasn't his fault."

Like Hester Prynne before her, Ryan found herself branded with a scarlet A, but as she told InStyle, she wasn't a victim. "My time as a scarlet woman was really interesting," Ryan told the magazine. "As painful as it was, it was also incredibly liberating. I didn't have to care about what people thought." 

Ryan never remarried, but dated singer-songwriter John Mellencamp from 2010 to 2019. Quaid became an outspoken Trump supporter, even applauding Trump's handling of COVID.