Celebrities Who Allegedly Had Affairs With Their Nannies

Publish date: 2024-06-21

Celebrity divorces caused by infidelity are all too common — and it’s especially scandalous when it’s with the nanny.

In the world of high-profile celebrity divorces, we’ve seen several stars allegedly caught with the household helper: Ben Affleck, Flip or Flop star Tarek El Moussa and Bush rocker Gavin Rossdale, to name a few.

This isn’t even a new trend. As far back as the ’80s, Mick Jagger was caught with with his on-the-road nanny, and SNL alum Joe Piscopo cheated on his then-wife with their nanny. Cheating is nothing new, but when it’s with someone enlisted to help around the house, to watch the kids or even to be a personal assistant — and inevitably become very close with everyone — it’s heartbreaking.

“Despite being professional, the nanny-employer relationship is very personal. It’s someone who sees the best and worst of your family and your relationship,” Dr. Jenn Mann, a licensed psychotherapist in private practice in Los Angeles and the host of VH1’s Couples Therapy, told The Daily Beast. “Sometimes, the boundaries people make with their employees aren’t clear enough and leave the door open for these problems.

“We’re talking about a high-status man who is very desirable to any woman who comes into his house, employed or not,” Mann continued. “There’s a lot more staff, a lot more chaos. A budding relationship can go under the radar more easily.”

And when the line gets crossed and word gets out, it becomes a scandal for months. Here are 14 celebrity couples whose marriages were allegedly ruined by nanny and personal assistant affairs.

A version of this article was originally published in April 2017.

Ben Affleck
Right after news of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner’s split came out in 2015, Affleck’s rumored dalliances with nanny Christine Ouzounian blew up. Sources alleged that Affleck and Ouzounian began an affair several months before Garner and Affleck’s separation was announced.
Sources close to Affleck denounced the claims as “complete garbage and full of lies.” A source told People that Affleck and Ouzounian had “a work relationship and a friendship. There has never been a romantic or sexual relationship.”
In a 2016 interview with Vanity Fair, Garner addressed the rumor saying, “We had been separated for months before I ever heard about the nanny. She had nothing to with our decision to divorce. She was not a part of the equation.”
Joe Giudice
Real Housewives of New Jersey stars Teresa and Joe Guidice have been through a lot, but one of the biggest problems in their marriage was when Joe was accused of cheating with the nanny, Nicole Cemelli.
Stephen Belafonte
When former Spice Girl Melanie Brown filed for divorce from Stephen Belafonte in 2017, she accused him of cheating on her with the family’s nanny Lorraine Gilles.
Joe Piscopo
So SNL alum Joe Piscopo left his first wife Nancy Jones for the nanny Kimberly Driscoll, whom he had three children with. But they split in 2006 when it came out that Piscopo aledgedly cheated on her with his personal assistant Jessica Nasoff.
Jude Law
Jude Law and Sienna Miller ended their engagement when nanny Daisy Wright publicly detailed her affair with Law in 2005. But that didn’t end his and Miller’s relationship for good — at least not right away. They were rumored to be engaged yet again in 2010 but split again in 2011.
Gavin Rossdale
Rumor has it that Gavin Rossdale’s alleged longtime affair with nanny Mindy Mann led to his divorce from Gwen Stefani in 2015.
Neither Rossdale nor Stefani have ever addressed the affair but sources told Us Weekly that the romance lasted three years and happened “right under Gwen’s nose.”
The alleged affair was reportedly discovered when explicit photos were found on one of the family’s iPads.
“The iPad was linked to Gavin’s phone,” a family source tells Us. “One of the other nannies discovered the exchange and told Gwen.”
The Dream
The Dream (Terius Nash) was married to Christina Milian when he was caught in the Caribbean with his personal assistant, Melissa Santiago. In 2010, Milian and Nash divored.
“I take full responsibility for misleading everyone into thinking everything was fine and OK when we knew problems existed for awhile!” Nash wrote on his website.
Ethan Hawke
Ethan Hawke married Ryan Shawhughes in 2008, who previously had been the nanny for his and Uma Thurman’s two kids.
Jon Gosselin
After the couple split, Jon and Kate Gosselins’ nanny, Stephanie Santoro, claimed she slept with Jon while he and Kate were still married during her one month employment with the family.
Tarek El Moussa
It didn’t happen during the marriage, but Tarek El Moussa reportedly waited just four months after his split from Christina Haack to date the nanny.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
The former Governor of California didn’t have an affair with the nanny, but he did have a secret love child with the housekeeper during his marriage to Maria Shriver.
Shriver confronted Schwarzenegger for the first time when his son with their housekeeper was 14 years old.
Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall’s marriage was rumored to be plagued by Jagger’s wild affairs with Claire Houseman, a nanny hired to tag along on a Rolling Stones tour.
Craig Schelske
Country music star Sara Evans accused Craig Schelske of cheating with their nanny, who denied it and bit back with a $3 million lawsuit.
Robin Williams
Robin Williams and Valerie Velardi split because of his affair with nanny Marsha Garces, who he later wed. Williams and Garces were married for 19 years.