Why are we so obsessed with celebrity couples breaking up? Expert reveals the truth, and how it could be hurting our own relationships

When Molly-Mae Hague and ex-fiancé Tommy Fury split, millions of people mourned. When Jennifer Lopez filed for divorce from Ben Affleck just over a week later, millions cheered.

Women and girls cried in emotional TikTok videos about Hague's split from Fury five years after they met and fell in love on Love Island, while X (formerly Twitter) was flooded with memes about the second Bennifer split in 20 years.

Watch the video above.

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Despite the hugely different public reactions to these two celebrity splits, one fact remains; people are more obsessed with failed celebrity romances than ever before.

"It's been going on for decades, but it has increased with social media," Australian Psychological Society President Dr Catriona Davis-McCabe tells 9honey.

"Because we can now access anything related to celebrities immediately, straight away, and I think that that fosters this deep sense of connection, this feeling like we know them, we can relate to them."

That sense of connection to celebrities - and in turn, their romantic relationships - is what makes so many Australians so invested in famous couples and their sometimes inevitable splits.

We care deeply when our friends get their hearts broken, so it makes sense that we'd care when celebrities we relate to go through the same kind of heartbreak.

It's especially true of more relatable stars like reality TV contestants, who seem more accessible and "normal" than their Hollywood counterparts and tend to share their personal lives more publicly online.

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Just look at Hague and Fury, who posted everything from their first dates outside the Love Island villa, to their pregnancy announcement, daughter Bambi's birth, and Fury's proposal on social media.

By letting more than 13 million strangers (their combined Instagram following) into their relationship, or at least the "highlights reel", they create a personal connection that can feel very real for fans.

"When we see them over and over, we relate to them, and it leads to this deeper sense of familiarity," says Davis-McCabe.

"It almost blurs the lines between public and private life, because we have access to everything … and that can really help our own sense of identity or our sense of belonging."

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Despite never having met these celebrities, many everyday people feel connected to them, identify with them, or even aspire to be like them, including in their romantic relationships.

So when those relationships fall apart, we do too.

"Often people see them as embodying a sort of perfect romance, they're the perfect couple … the epitome of love and glamour and success," Davis-McCabe says.

"When something that seems so perfect falls apart, it just shatters people's idealised image, I suppose, and it makes that breakup just even more shocking."

Hence why so many young women posted that they'd lost faith in love after Hague and Fury's split; after all, if a beautiful, rich and famous duo like them can't make it work, what hope do the rest of us have?

But not all celebrity splits are met with grief.

Lopez and Affleck's divorce was predicted the moment they tied the knot and when it was officially announced that the Jenny From The Block singer was divorcing the Batman v Superman star this week, social media went into a frenzy.

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Instead of mourning the Hollywood duo's breakup, people have turned their split into a meme online, poking fun at their two-year marriage after Lopez once described theirs as "the greatest love story never told."

Davis-McCabe explains that the difference in reactions comes down to how and why members of the general public relate to the individual celebrities, as well as the couple as a whole.

"For example, with Ben Affleck, if they are favouring Jennifer, they see him as having done something to her, and they take her side," she says. Meanwhile, those who identify with Affleck take aim at Lopez.

Davis-McCabe adds, "We saw this years ago with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie."

The fact is that people have been invested in celebrity splits for decades, and social media has only made it more intense. But is our obsession with famous couples healthy?

While Davis-McCabe acknowledges that identifying with celebrities can be good for an individual's sense of connection and identity, balance is vital; get too invested, and you might just see your own relationship suffer.

"No person and no relationship is perfect, and it's important not to idealise these relationships or compare your own relationship," she says.

"Because [what you're seeing] is not always the reality. You're not seeing the full story."

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Davis-McCabe notes that the intense interest in celebrity relationships likely takes a toll on the stars involved too, be they Love Island alums or Hollywood elites.

"It must be really very difficult to go on social media or online and see all sorts of stories and comments about yourself that aren't true … it really can impact people's mental health."

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