Breaking up is difficult… But it’s even harder when ex-spouses have to work together after they’ve split! Relationships should end with clean breaks and new beginnings. Some celebrities, however, are not so fortunate.

Even the finest actors find it difficult to maintain a professional relationship with their ex, but several Hollywood couples have managed to move past their break ups for the sake of their professions.

For individuals in the performing industry, the show must go on, even if it means making out with your ex in front of the camera. Here are some famous couples that have broken up yet still have to work together.

Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev

Somerhalder and Dobrev began dating in 2010 while costarring on The CW program The Vampire Diaries, so Damon and Elena’s chemistry on the show was extremely real.

Dobrev told Seventeen in 2012, “I didn’t want to be dating one of my costars — my goal on the show was to be professional. But sometimes you can’t help who you have a connection with, and you can only fight it for so long — which I did for a really, really long time.”

The pair had broken up in May 2013, but Damon and Elena’s will-they-won’t-they relationship was still going strong. Despite this, Dobrev remained a series regular and shared love moments with her ex until her character’s departure in 2015.

Jacob Elordi and Joey King

Jacob Elordi and Joey King met on the set of “The Kissing Booth” in 2017 and dated for nearly a year before parting up in 2018.

Since their breakup, King and Elordi have collaborated on the Netflix film “The Kissing Booth 2” and the third installment of the series, all of which were shot simultaneously.

Sean Penn and Charlize Theron

Penn directed The Last Face, and the two were even believed to be engaged before Theron ended their relationship in June 2015 (supposedly by “ghosting” him). They had to reconvene a year later when conducting publicity for the picture at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016.

Joshua Bassett and Olivia Rodrigo

While the cast members of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series never acknowledged their off-screen romance, fans were certain they were more than pals — and Rodrigo’s debut album, Sour, released in 2021, hinted at lots of breakup drama. When the twosome regrouped for season 2 of the Disney+ series, which launched in May 2021, they put their past behind them.

Penn Badgley and Blake Lively

Blake Lively and her on-screen beau, Penn Badgley, had an off-screen affair.

While appearing on The CW’s “Gossip Girl,” the two dated for a few years.

They split up in 2010, but remained on the program as a couple until it concluded in 2012. On the series finale, their characters, Dan and Serena, even married.

Nicholas Hoult and Jennifer Lawrence

The ex-couple met on the set of X-Men: First Class in 2011 and later collaborated on X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). They parted up after two years of dating, then renewed their romance in late 2013, only to break up for real a year later in 2014. Following their breakup, the two collaborated on the film X-Men: Apocalypse, which was released in 2016.

Cole Sprouse and Lili Reinhart

In July 2019, Us Weekly reported that the Riverdale co-stars had called it quits after nearly two years of dating. The actors, who play on-screen couple Betty and Jughead, began filming season 4 of the CW sitcom just before the news of their divorce broke.

The couple’s on-again, off-again romance ended for real in May 2020, although they later reconnected.

Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson

Stewart and Pattinson are said to have started dating around 2009. Stewart was seen kissing married director Rupert Sanders while acting in “Snow White and the Huntsmen,” implying that their romance terminated before the premiere of the final “Twilight” picture in 2012.

After their alleged split, the actors continued to work together to promote the release of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.”

Michael Vartan and Jennifer Garner

Garner and Vartan acted as a couple in the ABC spy thriller Alias, and the two even dated for a few months. After their breakup in 2004, the co-stars remained friends and demonstrated that they could maintain a professional relationship while still performing their Alias roles.

Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz

The former boy bander and the Charlie’s Angels veteran dated for four years before splitting up in 2007. Despite their breakup, they reunited for the 2011 film Bad Teacher, in which Diaz’s Elizabeth Halsey tries to hook up with Timberlake’s Scott Delacorte. “Justin and I have always had a good laugh together,” Diaz told Us Weekly in March 2011, “and to make a movie where we get to have a good laugh together… there really was no one else who was more perfect for this part.”

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony divorced in 2011 and ended their 10-year marriage in 2014, but it didn’t stop the two superstars from collaborating on music.

They collaborated on the competition program “Q’Viva! The Chosen” in 2012, and they also released a Spanish-language CD in 2016.

Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow

Paltrow and Affleck’s affair blossomed during the filming of Shakespeare in Love in 1998, in which she portrayed Viola de Lesseps and he played actor Ned Allen. The couple split up in 2000, the same year that their romantic comedy Bounce was released.