The Saddest Things Celebs Have Ever Said About Love

“Breakup statements often seem impersonal because there is really no way to put into words what two people experience over a few years … not only in the relationship, but in life in general. I’m forever grateful for the love, time, and life lessons that Z and I shared. I want nothing but the best for him and will continue to support him as a friend that I have immense respect and love for. As for the future, whatever’s meant to be will be. xG”

— Gigi Hadid, announcing she and Zayn Malik are no longer together, on Twitter

“It was my first breakup — or second, next to the horse [she gave up as a teenager] — and so public. As an outsider, you might think I handled it so well, but it’s always in your heart, and you always feel it very heavily. It’ll be hard for a while. Love hurts, but you have to pull through.”

— Bella Hadid, opening up about her split from The Weeknd to Teen Vogue (2017)

“I always wanted Nicki [Minaj] my whole life … Of course breaking up with anybody you love is a loss, period.”

— Meek Mill, speaking about his split from longtime love Nicki Minaj, to Philadelphia radio station Power 99

“I think I’m a little bit heartbroken all the time, even when I’m in a happy relationship. I don’t do casual very well, and my feelings, even the good ones, get so intense that they hurt.”

— Dakota Johnson, speaking to Vogue (2017)

“Anyways, I found myself in midtown in Nashville three nights in a row at like last call and with the lights coming on, and I’m still sitting there. So I wrote a song about it.”

— Miranda Lambert, talking to a concert crowd about her divorce from Blake Shelton (2017)

“I should have known he and I weren’t going to make it when for my seventeenth birthday he gave me a box of microwave popcorn and a used battery tester. You know, to test batteries before I put them in my Walkman. Like you give someone when you’re in love.”

—  Tina Fey, lamenting the quintessential high school relationship in Bossypants (2011)

“Looking back, it’s hard for me to understand what I was doing. Why on earth would I pursue someone who had no interest in me? It’s not like we had fun together; the man didn’t like me so much as tolerate me. I suppose the easy answer is that I hadn’t had a decent relationship yet, so I thought bagging a ‘cool’ and attractive male was the whole objective.” 

— Anna Kendrick, reflecting on past relationships in her memoir, Scrappy Little Nobody (2016)

“I realized there’s this idea of happily ever after which in real life doesn’t happen. There’s no riding off into the sunset, because the camera always keeps rolling in real life.” 

– Taylor Swift, dishing real talk to Elle (2015)

“It’s so devastating to come to terms with speaking of someone in past tense when you used to see them as your present and your future.”

— Swift, again, consoling a heartbroken fan on Tumblr (2015)

“There’s nobody that’s ever really been able to take care of me. Johnny did for a bit. I believed what he said. Like if I said, ‘What do I do?,’ he’d tell me. And that’s what I missed when I left. I really lost that gauge of somebody I could trust. Nightmare. Years and years of crying. Oh, the tears!”

—  Kate Moss, describing her relationship with Johnny Depp to Vanity Fair (2012)

“The breaking point was when I kept asking over and over and over again for respect and to be respected. And it just seemed like I was beating a dead horse … I just wasn’t getting it back so if I can’t get respect in the relationship, then I have to move on and save myself.”

— Mary J. Blige, speaking to Good Morning America about her divorce from Kendu Isaacs (2016)

“When you break up, your whole identity is shattered. It’s like death.”

— Dennis Quaid, opening up about his divorce from Meg Ryan to W (2001)

“There are many stages of grief. It’s sad, something coming to an end. It cracks you open, in a way — cracks you open to feeling. When you try to avoid the pain, it creates greater pain. I’m a human being, having a human experience in front of the world. I wish it weren’t in front of the world. I try really hard to rise above it.”

— Jennifer Aniston, describing the experience of public divorce to Vanity Fair (2005)

“At the time it hurt, but she didn’t mean to. I’ll never put that on her. I was hurt because I slowly started to realize what it was. I guess I thought it was more.” 

— Drake, talking about his relationship with Rihanna to Elle (2011)