15 Classic Hollywood Couples That Were Not As Romantic As You Think

Hollywood is full of romantic love stories that have become legends over the years. However, most of these relationships were not at all like the movies. In many movies, those intensely romantic black and white films, the girl and the guy meet, fall in love, and it ends with them getting married and/or living happily ever after. This is a nice thought but it is not reality. With every relationship comes strife, difficulties, emotions, and trouble. Relationships are all about collaboration between two individuals and it requires the ability to put pride and arrogance aside to understand the other person. However, when you're famous, glamorous, and beautiful, you're probably not used to having to cooperate anyone. This may be why so many Hollywood stars have notoriously short relationships and marriages.

After the pre-code era of Hollywood, filmmakers had to follow strict rules and regulations when it came to their movies. This involved no mention of physical relationships, no extensive kissing scenes, and no mention of drugs or alcohol. This censorship has lead many to believe that old Hollywood was decent and modest though that is far from the case. Behind the scenes, Hollywood stars were known for their scandals, indecency, and depravity. However, there were many people in charge of covering up these scandals in order to make Hollywood look less depraved and more wholesome. These are some of the stars whose relationships were ruined by depravity, scandals, and tragedy though they seemed picture perfect on the outside, at least for a time.

15 Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner

Frank Sinatra was one of the most famous people in the world after being a teenage heartthrob to Academy Award winning actor. After he had become one of the most famous singers in the world, he left his wife for the most beautiful and famous actress at the time, Ava Gardner. The two were such big stars at the time that they were basically the Brangelina of their day. However, they were not a match made in heaven. Gardner had already been divorced from two men: Mickey Rooney first and Artie Shaw second. He realized that she was the kind of girl he could never get to settle down. The two were also driven apart because of  Sinatra's raging jealousy which led him to bug her phone and hire a private investigator to catch her talking to other men. The two were divorced after a long and tumultuous union but Sinatra always regarded her as the love of his life. That is… until he saw her years later in Europe and she was so drunk, she could barely stand. That changed his opinion of her real quick. All in all, their relationship seemed steamy and passionate on the outside but, in reality, it was fueled by jealousy and selfishness.

14 Clark Gable and Carole Lombard

The marriage of the incredibly dashing Clark Gable and the beautiful Carole Lombard matches the legendary relationships of all time such as Romeo and Juliet and Tristan and Isolde. The reason being, they all end tragically. Though the two had known each other for many years, they fell in love at an elegant ball where they danced the night away before entering into a passionate love affair. The two were married and their relationship was blissful and had mutual admiration. The union, however, was not without its strife. While Gable was about to start filming a picture with Lana Turner (a young, sexy movie star), Lombard was worried that her husband would stray. The two argued and left on bad terms. Lombard flew to Indiana for a war bond rally and the two reconciled while away. Though she could have taken a train, she wanted to fly in order to be with her beloved husband as soon as possible. Unfortunately, they were never reunited. The plane crashed in Las Vegas and Gable mourned her death for the rest of his life.

13 Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall

Humphrey Bogart had many talented and beautiful leading ladies but none of them matched his tough guy persona like Lauren Bacall. Bacall's persona in Bogart's movies was practically designed by director Howard Hawks specifically for the ideal Bogart leading lady: a beautiful, no-nonsense dame that could find her way into Bogie's heart without even trying. Though their relationship is one of the most idyllic of all Hollywood romances, it was not without its trouble. While Bogart was battling cancer, Bacall was having an affair with Frank Sinatra but Bogart was no stranger to infidelity. For seventeen years, he had an affair with his personal secretary, Verita Bouvair Thompson. After Bogart died, Bacall continued her relationship with Sinatra but he broke it off after he had urged her to sign an autograph as "Betty Sinatra." When this made its way into the news, Sinatra broke up with her, saying she was too pushy. The two never spoke again.

12 Elvis Presley and Priscilla Ann Presley

Elvis Presley first met Priscilla Beaulieu while he was stationed in Germany with the U.S in 1959. Army. She was fourteen years old at the time and he was 24. Okay, creepy. However, Priscilla was not the only teenage girl he fell in love with. His romantic partners were almost always young girls though he claimed to have never spent the night with them. They were married in 1967 but Presley's young wife soon realized that he was not the kind of guy she thought he was. He had become obsessed with the occult and became addicted to prescription drugs which caused him to become passive and even more insecure than he was before. He never viewed his addiction as a problem because the medication was prescribed. She also claimed that he was no longer attracted to her after she gave birth to their daughter. When she left him for her karate instructor, Mike Stone, his ego was incredibly damaged and began to grow more and more insecure about his age. The marriage may have seemed perfect on the outside but, in reality, it was far from romantic.

11 Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn

Though Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy were known for their relationship that lasted over 27 years, the two were never married… at least not to each other. Tracy and his wife were even together for 40 years until he died in 1967. Hepburn and Tracy starred in 9 romantic comedies together and their relationship became the stuff of legends. Hepburn described Tracy as tortured because he was an alcoholic, frequently depressed, and was overcome with guilt because his son was born deaf. He never left his wife because they were both Catholics and it made more sense to carry on affairs than to part ways. Despite Tracy's marriage, the two were very much in love and they carried on a relationship what lasted longer than most Hollywood relationships. Hepburn later said that they both would have been miserable if they broke up so they never did. They carried on their affair until he died and Hepburn never acknowledged the affair publicly until his wife passed away in 1983.

10 Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe

When Marilyn Monroe was at the height of her career, she had already been married once and had gotten a divorce. Then she married New York Yankees superstar Joe DiMaggio. One of the biggest red flags of their relationship was the fact that DiMaggio thought of Monroe like the entire world thought of her: a goddess. Like many men of his time, he wanted to be the Alpha in the relationship and wanted to domesticate his superstar wife. He was also uncomfortable with the fact that she was seen as a desired symbol by the entire world. The idea of his wife cheating on him drove him crazy. He read all of her fan mail, hated when she wore provocative clothing, and wanted her to give up acting and be a housewife. Though he took care of her after her divorce with Arthur Miller, their relationship was far from perfect. There was also a rumor that DiMaggio had a life-like doll made to look like his ex-wife but it has never been confirmed. However, it seems that a lifeless and obedient mannequin that looked like Marilyn Monroe was exactly what he wanted in the first place. Not very romantic at all.

9 Desi Arnez and Lucille Ball

Though you may think of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez as the ultimate Hollywood couple, their relationship was not without strife. Ball was a strong and independent woman but she loved her husband so much that would have done anything for him. She even turned a blind eye to his multiple affairs that he had while traveling though she almost left him numerous times. Ball is said to have thought up the idea for the pair to be on a TV show together so that she could keep him in one place or more accurately, keep an eye on him. Thus I Love Lucy was born. However, the show finally came to an end when the two could not stay together anymore and they were divorced after 20 years together. Though their relationship was full of trials, jealousy, and betrayal, Ball never had a bad thing to say about her ex-husband and the two remained very good friends.

8 Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly

Though the marriage of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco was like something from a fairytale, the union did not end with a happily ever after. Kelly was the quintessential Hitchcock blonde: beautiful and elegant on the outside but scandalous and racy on the inside. She was known for hooking up with her costars such as Cary Grant, William Holden, and Clark Gable--but honestly, who could blame her? However, the Prince of Monaco knew nothing of her past relationships and even believed her to be innocent. After the two were married, Kelly found her domestic and royal life to be dull and wanted to return to acting. Hitchcock offered her the lead role in his film Marnie but there was a public outcry in Monaco against her returning to Hollywood. More accurately, her husband did not want her to go back to Hollywood with all of the handsome leading men and he also was against the idea of her having a job. She was in the process of returning to Hollywood to appear in a television show but the project never came to be. She died in a car crash in 1982.

7 John Lennon and Yoko Ono

It is widely thought that it was Yoko Ono who convinced John Lennon to leave The Beatles though their relationship was much more complicated than that. Though Lennon is known for being a peaceful, hippy musician who sang about the end of war and free love, he was no saint. Throughout his marriage to his first wife, he had many affairs, left drugs strewn around the house, and occasionally hit his son Julian. After he left his wife for Ono, his philandering ways did not stop. He had a famous affair with the couple's assistant, May Pang. However, Ono has since said that their affair did not hurt her and she relished a break from Lennon. Lennon also admitted to hitting women and said that is why he advocated for peace so rigorously, saying "It is the most violent people who go for love and peace." His death was, of course, tragic, but no one should be under any delusions in regard to Lennon's misogynistic and abusive tendencies.

6 Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth was different than all of the pale skinned Hollywood blondes. She was of Spanish decent and she had to change her name from Margarita Carmen Cansino to a more American name and went to great lengths to come across as less ethnic than she actually was. When she met Orson Welles who she instantly fell in love with. The two were married but Hayworth eventually realized that Welles did not feel the same way about marriage that she did. She struggled with the fact that he did not like being tied down. After she appeared in one of the most celebrated film noirs, Gilda, she and her husband appeared in The Lady From Shanghai, another brilliant movie that was misunderstood at the time. After the flop of their movie, Hayworth said that she couldn't "take his genius anymore." They got a divorce but she always acknowledged that Welles was the love of her life.

5 Lawrence Olivier and Vivien Leigh

When Lawrence Olivier and Vivien Leigh began their relationship, Olivier left his wife and his infant son and Leigh left her husband and young daughter. Their relationship was not with its troubles. Leigh suffered with mental illness which caused her to become verbally aggressive one moment then violently sobbing on the floor the next. She, however, refused to seek treatment. She eventually began an affair with Peter Finch during the filming of Elephant Walk. When Olivier found out, he tried to put an end to the affair but it was no use. She had another nervous breakdown on set and she was replaced by Elizabeth Taylor. She began psychiatric treatment in the form of electroshock therapy (a common treatment at the time) and she became somewhat stable for awhile but then her old ways returned. During one of these relapses, Olivier violently shoved her across a room and he realized that the two of them were both in danger of murdering each other. They were together for 22 years.

4 Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor

Though the relationship of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton is one of the most iconic Hollywood romances of all time, there is no question that it was incredibly problematic. For one, the two stars were married and divorced two separate times and could never quite shake each other. However, it was undeniable that the two had chemistry as they played the parts of lovers in Cleopatra and The Taming of the Shrew. Their first marriage initially ended after ten years when Burton had an affair with a young costar. The two found new partners but they didn't move on. The two met up again to talk about finances and they fell in love all over again. Burton said, "You can't keep clapping a couple of sticks of dynamite together without expecting them to blow up." However, a couple described as dynamite may sound exciting but it is hardly the ideal situation for a long and happy marriage. The two divorced again after just a year of marriage.

3 Sonny Bono and Cher

Here is another famous couple who struggled through a high-profile and tumultuous relationship which ended with a tragic death. Sonny Bono and Cher were the ultimate duo when it came to TV and music, however, their marriage was terribly troubled. The two met when she was 16 and he was 27 and Bono saw her as profitable star material. The now Academy Award winning actress has since said that Bono was a bad husband who routinely took advantage of her and thought of her as a goose that laid golden eggs than his wife. Even though she has revealed that he cared more about success than about her, she has forgiven him. Before he died in 1989 due to a ski accident, Cher made a famous public statement about her ex-husband: "Of all the people who have known me well. Sonny knew me the least.” Definitely not a match made in heaven.

2 Mickey Rooney and Ava Gardner

It's hard to believe that, at one point in time, Mickey Rooney was one of the most famous actors in the world. It's even more unfathomable that he married one of the most beautiful actresses ever. In reality, Rooney was a total womanizer who cheated on his new wife with multiple women, even while she was in the hospital recovering from an appendectomy. Once, after he cheated, he bought her a diamond ring and later asked that she give him money for the ring so that he could pay off his gambling debts. Not only was he a philanderer, he pretty much only liked underage girls. She later said that her husband, "went through the ladies like a hot knife through fudge." Since Rooney was such a big star, she was told to keep her mouth shut about the cheating when she filed for divorce. And she did keep her mouth shut, until she wrote her memoir, "Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations" which was published after her death in 1990.

1 Marlon Brando and James Dean

This relationship might be less romantic than it is believed to be because it is a relationship that may have not existed at all. Over the years, however, there have been many tales of a relationship between Marlon Brando and James Dean but we may never know if the stories are actually true. It is very possible that the two were more than friends. We know that there are many accounts of Brando and Dean being into both genders and friends of Dean have said that Dean would often wait outside Brando's apartment like a "puppy dog." Brando had admitted to having romantic relationships with men throughout his life. In a book biography about James Dean, there is a claim from composer, Alec Wilder, that Dean and Brando did have a secret relationship. Wilder said that Dean fell in love with Brando but Brando was too obsessed with himself to fall in love with anyone. However, if the two truly did have a romantic relationship, they took their secret to the grave.