Nikki Reed and Paul McDonald broke up after 2.5 years of marriage: predictable?

The 2012 MTV Movie Awards
One of the stranger aspects of my job is seeing celebrities hook up, date in public, marry and then split up. When you hear the news from the moment they start seeing each other, you can get somewhat invested and it can be a let down when they break up. Not that you don’t often see it coming.

That’s the case with Nikki Reed and Paul McDonald. For those of you going “who?” (don’t do that, Google), Nikki is one of the more demure Twilight castmembers and Paul finished 8th on American Idol in 2011. The two met on the red carpet at an event and there’s literally video of them meeting for the first time and getting moony over each other. They got engaged in three months and were married seven months after they met. So I guess it’s not surprising that their marriage burned out almost as quick. It’s still sad to me. Nikki’s rep confirmed the news, along with the fact that Nikki and Paul have been separated for about six months. Damn. They even have an album coming out this year. That will be awkward.

Nikki Reed and Paul McDonald have decided to end their marriage, PEOPLE has learned exclusively.

“After much consideration, Nikki Reed and Paul McDonald are ending their marriage. They have been living separately for the past six months due to work obligations,” says a rep for the actress.

“They will continue to share their love of music, and are still working on their debut album, I’m Not Falling, releasing in 2014. They remain best friends and look forward to their continued journey together.”

The Twilight star and the American Idol musician tied the knot in October 2011.

[From People]

Nikki traveled around with Paul supporting his music career for a while, but then she did a bunch of movies so that may have been what precipitated the split. There are photos below of Nikki and Paul together that are dated mid December of 2013, which makes about three to four months that they were separated, not six, but of course they may have been living separately at that time. Nikki is all of 25 now and Paul is 29. They’re young to be married by today’s standards, especially if they were apart for months at a time. It’s still sad to me. I was hoping the Chris Kattan lookalike and the non-famewhore Cullen would work it out.

Who will get custody of their two dogs?!
Semi-Exclusive...Nikki Reed and Paul McDonald Lunch at Sun Cafe

Nikki Reed's German Shepherds, Enzo and Mario

Photo credit: Getty Images, WENN.com and FameFlynet

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61 Responses to “Nikki Reed and Paul McDonald broke up after 2.5 years of marriage: predictable?”

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  1. Birdie says:

    Always thought they were an odd couple to begin with. Anyway, divorce sucks, so good luck to them both.

  2. blue marie says:

    Those are some beautiful shepherds.

    • MonicaQ says:

      Agreed. I need them in my life.

      • The Original Original says:

        Im in New Hampshire, and there are a pair of Shepards that have been together their whole lives and need to be adopted together at the shelter here. They have been there for months and months and it brings tears to my eyes everytime they pop up on my news feed yet again looking for their forever home.
        If anyone wants to give them a loving home it would be the best thing ever……

    • Hubbahun says:

      I know right! Gorgeous.

      sad for Nikki who I like very much bit he always seemed like such a famewhore.

    • Nicolette says:

      Yes they are. Wonder who will get custody of them.

    • Tiffany says:

      I am with you Marie. One look and LOVE!!!!

    • Tatjana says:

      They are adorable. I have two and they are the most intelligent and loyal breed I’ve ever had.

  3. Liv says:

    Totally predictable. I don’t even know them and knew from the beginning that they wouldn’t last. Why are they so stupid? Marrying after 7 months is most of the time super stupid. I am looking at you, Kaley Cuoco.

    • gg says:

      My thoughts exactly.

      Also, Chris Kattan lookalike – what-the-what?

    • Hope says:

      Exactly what I thought when reading this. Kaley are you paying attention!! Lol

    • Algernon says:

      It’s one thing to get married after less than a year when you’re in your forties and have a much better idea of what you need and want in a life partner, and how to make that work, than to do it in your early twenties when you’re still growing and changing. I seriously wonder what the statistics are on divorce rates for people who marry under 25.

      • LAK says:

        In this era of easy divorce, very high. It’s the highest rate of divorce among all age ranges.

        It makes you wonder whether in previous eras, where divorce wasn’t an option, people stayed together in mutual loathing.

        And incidentally, the stats for divorces for people in their 60+yrs (ie married during eras where divorce was unacceptable) is now rising too. Apparently it’s the fastest growing divorce trend.

  4. Sara says:

    I used to be far more judgemental of people who got engaged or married very fast; but now that I’m older I realize that nothing can really predict if a marriage or a relationship will last. Some people stay married for years after a whirlwind courtship; I’ve had friends divorce after a few weeks although they had been together for 10 years before marrying.

    It seems to me that the secret (given to me by an older friend) is simply that a relationship stops working when BOTH of the people involved decide to stop trying. She told me that during her 30+ marriage at times she had given up, and at times her husband had given up, but never simultaneously…

    • AlexandraJane says:

      Thats interesting advice, something to remember!

    • roci says:

      I so agree with you. Nothing can predict if a relationship will last…it´s all about timing, circumstances, and the willingness of both parties to solve any issues that may come up. Relationships are unpredictable, such is life.

    • M.A.F. says:

      I’ve had older co-works say the same thing-marry your best friend. One man met and married his wife w/seven months and they have married 40+ yrs and other dated his now wife a little longer but both agreed that their wives were their best friend. And that marriage is also a give and take, finding the balance.

    • Nicolette says:

      Totally agree. Marriage is hard work, and both have to be prepared for that. There will inevitably be times where things are going great, and the times where you will be stuck in a rut and think it’s all falling apart. Communication is the most important factor. If things don’t get talked out, and just swept under the rug, the issues never get resolved and resentment just builds. No one wants to hear the dreaded “we need to talk”, but you have to. Respect each other and love each other, and be able to look at yourself and know that you are not perfect as you complain about something your spouse has done to irritate you. Pick and choose your battles, and let the little stuff go.

    • kc says:

      I agree. I married my husband after knowing him for 4 months, in my very early 20’s, and we’ve been married for 15 years. I still really really enjoy him, and I love watching who he is continue to develop. I think, for me, marrying young and quickly has also given me the perspective of ‘I chose this and jumped in, I need to commit my time and energy into making it work’. We have children, careers, I’ve been a stay at home mom, and I have had significant health issues, so I know that we can work through challenges; we have been tested. We have quite a few friends who married in their late 20’s and 30’s who are already divorced. While I think you know more about who you are, I think your tolerance for another person coming into your well set life can be lower. I don’t know that I, personally, would have made a better match for myself in my early 30’s because I would have developed an ideal. Which is not the same as settling, but I think I would have been far more critical, to the point of less tolerant of people. I know that reflects more on who I am than on dating in my 30’s ; ).
      In short, I think it depends completely on the people involved and their willingness to work through work through-able challenges, more than age and length of time dating. IDK.

  5. Emilia says:

    He is hot… like Bradely coopers bro or something..

  6. T.fanty says:

    Doesn’t he look like a budget B.Coop?

    (And that, my friends, is as much as I can bring myself to care about these two soggy towels)

  7. Elisabeth says:

    I always hate the phrase ‘They remain the best of friends’
    because honestly…do they?

    • MonicaQ says:

      I have seen a divorced couple remain “best friends” only once.

      However, I have seen the recreation of Angela Basset’s scene in “Waiting to Exhale/Chilli of TLC’s reaction to Andre Rison at least 4 times. (e.g. Burning his ish either in his car or bathtub)

  8. mirwren says:

    What is with all of these 1-3 year marriages? I’d love to know how much effort they actually put into the relationship or if they’re quitting at the first sign of trouble.

  9. Abbott says:

    She was alledgedly spotted with another dude last week, hence the ‘we’ve been split for 6 months’ notation. Good luck with that album :/

  10. DenaDe says:

    She should hook back up with Rpatz. It’s been a while since the Twihards/Robsten fans have acted crazy. I’ve missed them honestly. Celeb gossip isn’t as good without them.

    • Anname says:

      I thought one of the reasons they stopped hanging out was that she was calling the paps and leaking info to Lainey Gossip. She was super fame-hungry during the early Twi days, wasn’t she?

      • mimi says:

        Yes, I remember hearing about her calling the paps during Twilight filming. I remember seeing pap pics of her & Kristen having a heated exchange once when the paps suddenly showed up during a very low key cast outing after a day of filming. There was talk that Kristen realized then that her close friend and fellow Twi cast member was the one alerting paps in Vancouver during filming. I think she still does. We get pap pics at least once a week of her jogging or going to the gym. Seriously, what has she done since the Twilight saga wrapped almost 2 years ago, other than attend countless Hollywood red carpets, that warrants any interest in her these days?

    • ORLY says:

      Mimi- we get weekly pap pics of Ashley Green jogging or going to the gym , not Nikki Reid.

      • mimi says:

        I agree, Ashley definitely calls the paps too but at least once a week, I also see pap pics of Nikki either jogging, hiking or heading to the gym.

  11. Meredith says:

    “They’re young to be married by today’s standards”

    what the heck? 25 and 29 is average for today’s standards. I got married at 22 when I graduated college as did most of my friends that were in serious relationships at the time.

    I’m small towny though…we just like to settle down and be happy lol
    it makes me sad they are giving up so soon but who knows, there is probably a lot more to it.

    • MonicaQ says:

      29 for dudes and 28 for women are the national average according to Pew (I would link but I don’t know how links are treated).

    • gg says:

      Famous people rarely settle down quite like the rest of us though, simply due to hectic schedules.

      I think she outclassed him by a mile. I saw that Idol and his voice made me ff the remote never fast enough.

  12. Anna says:

    I thought they would’ve either separated sooner or stayed together..

  13. j.eyre says:

    I like that they are going for joint custody of the Love For Music. So often, it the LFM that is most affected by these splits. I hope they don’t slip in subtle digs at each other’s preferences like “ha, your father was a fan of country. I just put up with it to keep him from drinking .” Or “Oh, I see your mother is downloading One Direction now. Aren’t they a little young for her?”

    • mia girl says:

      I’m so glad you brought this up, and I share your concern.
      Joint custody of LFM can be a tricky thing to navigate. My friends went for joint custody of Love For Music, and there were certainly problems when he would return her iPod…it always had songs she didn’t want or songs missing.
      But the real problems began when he married a woman who did not have Love For Music. It changed the whole dynamic of their shared LFM.

    • j.eyre says:

      Oh your poor friend! I know the iPod exchange and how harrowing that can be – you send it out clean, with a new cover, the playlist perfectly blended with all the music the two of you used to listen to together, trying to maintain what used to be your shared values. And how does it come back? Fingerprints, smudges of peanut butter and on Shuffle.

      I once had my car returned to me by an ex that had been lent out with the presets on jazz, pop, R&B, easy listening and classical. When it came back, the 1st button took me to… sorry, I am still a little emotional about this – Talk Radio.

  14. melina says:

    Nikki is kind of a famewhore in my mind because a) she dated Rob Pattinson when he was in the spotlight and b) she dated a Greek heir(Paris Latsis). I mean it might have been love but i am a little suspicious…

  15. QQ says:

    I heard a lot that he enjoyed just not doing anything and living off of her while part of what initially attracted her was that he had his own thing going on? Meh! Too Low Tier. To care

    • Renee28 says:

      That’s what I’ve always heard. He wasn’t very ambitious. He just enjoyed kicking back, spending her Twilight money.

  16. People irk me... says:

    My husband and I married on our nine month nine day anniversary on the ninth, and celebrating our ninth year together this year. We just dated never moving in together till we were married. I usually want to murder him daily, but never divorce.

  17. Tig says:

    Well, glad no children are involved. Hopefully, both will go on w/o too much drama. I do think she is an attractive young woman.

  18. TG says:

    She probably finally figured out that she is way hotter than him and can do better. At least I hope so. What a waste of hotness.

  19. jess says:

    I read a story about her in lainey gossip how she will cling to every new actor/ actress to get her name out there. She was clinging to robert pattinson and kristen stewart until they realized what she was doing. She was also giving info to gossip sites about the twilight cast ( cdan admitted it). The paps also said she was the one who always called them. She married Paul right before breaking dawn came out so she would get some spotlight. I think Paul got with her so he could get a record deal.

    • Abbott says:

      I’ve read Lainey for years, and I don’t remember her saying anything remotely close to that. She seems to like Reed and said she made Rob more interesting. You may be thinking of Ashley Green.

      • mimi says:

        Lainey played “nice” with Nikki on her blog in exchange for gossip during Twi filming. It was no secret that Nikki and Robert were FWB back then. Most people in the Twi fandom knew Nikki was the source for all the insider on/off set Twilight gossip Lainey was serving up on a daily basis during the filming of the first and second Twi films.

  20. maddycharlie says:

    I have to say, I’m disappointed! The video where they meet is so cute. I’m in two minds about whirlwind romances. My parents moved in together after two weeks, married in six months, and have been together 26 years. I think the problem is, a lot of couples who do the whirlwind romance thing are the people who get bored easily and give up easily – that’s when the marriages fail, when the couple stops trying.

  21. eliza says:

    He looks like a less cyclops-ish, budget Bradley Cooper.

  22. FingerBinger says:

    This guy has a lot of teeth. Holy cow.

  23. Lucky says:

    Not surprised, never thought it would last. I do like Nikki though, I think she is beautiful. She also talks a lot about autism awareness, as her younger brother is autistic. A good person in my book 😄

  24. Dreamyk says:

    I called this one last year. Their body language was screaming “divorce”. I’m surprised they lasted this long. It’s sad, but not surprising. http://imgur.com/HIXIFKr

  25. Jules says:

    Never marry someone you know less than a year.

    Chris Kattan??? He wishes he looked that good.

  26. Mel M says:

    I may be the only one but I totally see the Chris Kattan resemblance, it’s the smile. I thought this was weird from the beginning and never thought it would last.

  27. Mitch Buchanan Rocks! says:

    He looks like Bradley Cooper.

  28. Just Me says:

    Awww. 🙁 I liked these too together. Poor girl was ripped to shreds by that fanbase. I’d hoped she’d found happiness.

  29. LAK says:

    She may be a famewhore – sort of, but to me she’s forgiven because of THIRTEEN.