8 Stars Who Believe Getting Divorced Was A Mistake

Find out why these stars wish they didn’t get divorced…

In 2021, Bill Gates and his wife Melinda split after 27 years of marriage. Looking back on their relationship and family life, Bill told The Times of London that their divorce was “the mistake I most regret.” He admitted that parting ways was “miserable” for the couple for at least two years, although he’s feeling better now.

“Despite the fact that the divorce wasn’t great, having those three kids, the work we were able to do together -- even if I knew that it [wouldn't] last forever, I would still do it again,” he later said on the Today show.

He continued, “My business career, though, there’s been some up and downs, has been incredibly phenomenal. My kids are phenomenal. So it’s even hard for me to complain about things…I’ve moved past the divorce, and Melinda’s doing well. I’ve got a lot of work that I love to do. So I’m not really complaining about anything."

Ben Affleck may have moved on from his relationship with Jennifer Garner but back in 2020, he shared that “the biggest regret of my life is [the] divorce.” The former couple, who share three children, split in 2015 and then finalized their divorce several years later. While he admitted to feeling shameful about the split, he said it wasn’t a feeling he should dwell on.

“Shame is really toxic,” he told The New York Times. “There is no positive byproduct of shame. It’s just stewing in a toxic, hideous feeling of low self-worth and self-loathing.”

He continued, “It’s not particularly healthy for me to obsess over the failures -- the relapses -- and beat myself up. I have certainly made mistakes. I have certainly done things that I regret. But you’ve got to pick yourself up, learn from it, learn some more, try to move forward.”

Real Housewives star Vicki Gunvalson was married to her husband Donn Gunvalson for 16 years before they filed for divorce in 2010. Reflecting on their decision to split, Vicki admitted that if she could have redone everything, she would not have divorced Donn.

“I think Donn was an amazing man, so I’m not going to say he wasn’t good for me. I think that if I had to do it all over again, I would not have divorced Donn. I know that for a fact. We both went sideways for multiple reasons, but hindsight, if we could do things differently, he was a great man, great husband,” Vicki shared on Watch What Happens Live.

After Gavin Rossdale’s split from Gwen Stefani ​​in 2015, he expressed regret about how things went down in their relationship. Their divorce came amid rumors that Gavin had cheated with the family’s nanny and he admitted he “obviously” wished things had been different.

“[Divorce] was completely opposite to what I wanted,” he told The Sun in 2017. “Really not…but here we are. Apart from death, I think divorce is one of the hardest, most painful things to go through.”

He continued, “I know we all wish [things were different], but we can’t, so I have to deal with reality. You can’t not have regrets and be human at the same time.”

Samantha Lee was married to Tyrese Gibson for three years before they decided to split in 2020. Looking back, she says she made the decision about their divorce when she was  “extremely emotionally intoxicated” and only talked through things with her attorney -- who she does not believe had her best interests in mind. She explained that she feels that she may have made a different decision if she “had different people in [her] ear at the time.”

“I was very, very hurt, I was very angry. I remember when I made the decision I was hysterically crying on the phone with my attorney,” she said on the Hardly Initiated podcast.

She continued, “I would never tell somebody to make that decision when they’re that emotional, but of course, I wasn’t talking to someone that genuinely would be for marriage or for reconciliation. That’s no slight to my attorney. At the time when I was on the phone and I made that decision, I was livid. I was emotional. If I’m that emotional and I’m that hurt and I’m on that level, if it’s misguided and misdirected it could go in a bad direction.”

Before Will Smith was married to Jada Pinkett Smith, he was married to Sheree Zampino, the mother of his oldest son, Trey. Looking back, Will says it was one of his greatest failures and a big regret in his adult life.

“With Sheree and with Trey, that was a really difficult time,” he shared on Red Table Talk. “Divorce was the worst thing in my adult life, divorce was the ultimate failure for me. I’ve been hurt a lot in my adult life, but I don’t think anything touches the failure of getting divorced from my 2-year-old son’s mother.”

Kris Jenner and her late husband Robert Kardashian split decades ago but Kris admits that she still regrets their divorce and her affair being the catalyst for their break up. Through the years, Kris has frequently spoken about Robert, sharing that she still wishes she could pick up the phone and call him.

“I got married when I was very, very young,” she said on the InCharge With DVF podcast. “I met Robert when I was 18 years old. We dated for four years, got married at 22, sooner or later during my life when I was in my 30s, I had an affair and my biggest regret was the fact that it broke up my family.”

Larsa Pippen knows her family is in a better place now that she and ex-husband Scottie Pippen have split, but she admits she has regrets that they had to divorce. Looking back in 2022, she said she wished she could have kept her family together.

“I wish my kids would have had, you know, a mom and dad in the same home. I felt guilty because I just, you know, I grew up with my mom and dad,” Larsa told Us Weekly. “I wanted my kids to grow up like that, but as far as our relationship, it couldn’t be better than it is right now. To be honest with you, we’re like, in such a great place. We love each other. We’re always gonna support each other. We support our kids, you know, we’re just in a really good place.”