Jennifer Lawrence

by Nadia Cohen

  If the situation already seemed confusing to outsiders, the rumour mill went into overdrive on Valentine’s weekend in February 2015, when Chris decided to spend the romantic holiday with his ex-wife instead of Jennifer, prompting yet more speculation that a reconciliation might be on the cards. The estranged couple spent the day on the beach with Moses and Apple. They even walked arm in arm along the sands, as their Maltese dog, Daffodil, lingered behind, in what appeared to be the epitome of a happy family scene.

  The famous couple also brought along actress Kate Hudson’s young son Ryder, who is friends with Moses. Jennifer, meanwhile, was thousands of miles away in Boston, where she was seen having dinner with friends, including producer John Davis at Scampo, a restaurant in the Liberty Hotel.

  It was suggested at this point that Chris was hopeful of a reunion. According to Grazia: ‘He has been jumping through hoops to make it happen in the last year, including doing “homework” by reading stacks of self-help books suggested by Gwyneth to help him “actualise” himself. He’s written her love songs, and has put his relationship with Jen on hold more than once.’

  According to the magazine, the singer’s efforts were paying off. ‘Gwyneth has always made it clear there’s a hope that they could get back together. They even decided to postpone the official divorce indefinitely, but it’s only in the last few weeks that she’s seemed keen to become a couple again.

  ‘It was at her suggestion that they spend Valentine’s Day together.

  ‘Neither of them gave much weight to the occasion itself, but obviously she felt it would be a nice gesture for the kids, and it looks like she’s testing the waters for a full-blown reunion. They seem closer than ever right now.

  ‘Chris has made it clear to Jen that Gwyneth and his family are his priority, and they’re keeping things casual while it works itself out.’

  But then, just a couple of weeks later, Chris was back on the beach with Kate Hudson, who was laughing at his jokes and wearing a very skimpy Mara Hoffman bikini. She had been single since breaking off her engagement with Muse frontman Matt Bellamy and briefly dating Dancing With The Stars pro Derek Hough. Later that evening the pair were seen at a restaurant, with Kate’s son Bingham: ‘The children are already mates. Kate has a lot of the qualities Chris liked about Gwyneth – she’s a great cook and family is very important to her – but she is very different in a way he likes, too.

  ‘She’s very laid-back and funny, basically a combination of Jen and Gwyn,’ an insider told British magazine Heat. ‘Kate’s fancied Chris for ages. They’ve been friends for years, but she was with Matt Bellamy.

  ‘In October, Chris went to Kate’s Hallowe’en party and everyone was talking about their chemistry. Then, she broke up with Matt just before Christmas, but Chris was with Jennifer. Now, the timing is finally perfect.

  ‘It’s not like Gwyn wants him back, but she doesn’t want him dating one of their good friends.’

  In Touch also reported Chris’s shock move in their April edition: ‘Since Kate and Matt split last fall, she’s been clingy with Chris, calling him all the time to suggest get-togethers under the guise of setting up play dates for the kids – which is exactly how the beach day and dinner date came to be,’ a source told the magazine. ‘Kate knew Gwyneth and Jennifer were out of town, so she took the opportunity to make a major play for Chris.’

  Meanwhile Star magazine reported that Chris had turned to Kate after Jennifer gave him an ultimatum – divorce his wife or end their relationship. Apparently he chose his marriage over Jennifer, and then found himself another woman who appeared not to mind that he and Gwyneth were not yet divorced.

  According to the 30 March 2015 edition of Star, Chris and Kate had been dating in secret for weeks: ‘The couple, who weren’t shy about shamelessly flirting in front of the paparazzi, turned their day date into a family affair. Kate brought along sons Ryder and Bingham, while Chris brought his kids Apple and Moses. Showing up together on the beach was their way of going public with their relationship, they knew they would attract attention.’

  The suggestion of a blossoming romance between Chris and Kate apparently came as another major blow to Gwyneth, who was reportedly so devastated that she embarked on an extreme diet and exercise regime.

  ‘Gwyneth prides herself on having a better body now than when she was twenty-two, but seeing that Chris is dating someone so young has made her really want to make sure she’s in top shape,’ a source told Radar. ‘It’s not even for him. It’s for her, but she needs to feel like she is better looking than anyone else he could ever date. She’s relentless about her figure.’

  Friends feared the actress was losing touch with reality: ‘Her friends are on midlife crisis alert,’ an insider told Heat magazine. ‘No one in Hollywood is more competitive than her. She’s also taking more risks with her fashion to try and look younger,’ said the source.

  And Grazia magazine reported that it had ruined Kate and Gwyneth’s friendship – they had grown close when they both lived in London with their British rocker husbands. ‘Gwyneth feels like this is a betrayal. She and Kate used to be very close but their friendship has cooled in recent years. To see Kate and Chris getting on so well is hard for her,’ a source told the magazine. ‘Kate and Chris have always had a great relationship but there’s definitely chemistry between them now. Kate is relaxed and easy going, which Chris loves, while Kate’s really into her music – she’s a sucker for a musician. They enjoy spending time together.’

  But Chris and Kate’s public outings left things rather awkward for their mutual friendship group: ‘Gwyneth is devastated that Chris is spending so much time with someone she once considered a good friend,’ reported Grazia. ‘It’s not lost on her that they all used to hang out together, and Kate and Gwyneth have mutual friends like Stella McCartney and Liv Tyler, so there’s a lot of tension in the circle right now.

  ‘Kate and Chris wouldn’t have gone public with the children if they weren’t confident about their friendship – they’ve both been very good at keeping their families out of the spotlight in the past.’

  According to the website Design&Trend, Jennifer was determined to win Chris back, though, with an insider adding that she ‘won’t go down without a fight’.

  ‘Jen’s just not going to let this happen,’ said a source. ‘She’s invested a lot of time into making this relationship work.’

  Of course Jennifer was free to date other people as well, and around the same time it emerged that she was still in contact with her old boyfriend, Nicholas Hoult. According to a February 2015 edition of OK! magazine: ‘Jen reaches out to Nicholas Hoult all of the time for advice and emotional support.’

  A friend of Jennifer’s explained: ‘If Chris can keep in touch with Gwyneth Paltrow then why can’t she lean on Nick? She’s hedging her bets and playing a bit of a game. She realises there are no guarantees and wants to keep Nick in the picture.’

  Various sources claimed she had been growing close to her ex-boyfriend again, with another revealing: ‘Their relationship is getting closer and his family would love for them to get back together. He still adores Jennifer and so do his family.

  ‘He’s been calling her and they’ve been speaking regularly on Skype.’

  Jennifer was also being romantically linked to her co-star Josh Hutcherson. Within days of the speculation, he appeared to be dating Glee actress Dianna Agron, though. They were seen dancing together at a party held at Los Angeles pop-up club Bungalow 8, while rapper Diplo performed. ‘Diplo came out unplanned and Josh hit the dance floor with Dianna,’ reported Page Six. ‘They both love to dance and have a good time. They looked like a new couple, still flirting.’

  However, E! News reported that nothing romantic happened between them. ‘There was no PDA, flirting or kissing,’ an insider told E! And according to J-14, Josh was actually dating his co-star from Escobar: Paradise Lost (2014), Claudia Traisac.

  By a bizarre coincidence Dianna was later linked to Nicholas
Hoult, after they were spotted together in a string of low-key London pubs in April 2015. Apparently Nicholas was showing her his favourite places, and they were even seen kissing in a pub in West Hampstead over Easter. A source told The Sun: ‘No one thought much about it but recently they’ve become very close and are behaving quite couply. They’ve been friends for a long time. It’s early days but things between them are ticking along nicely.’

  And a source told People magazine: ‘They came in with each other and ordered some drinks. They sat down and had a conversation just like everyone else.

  ‘They seemed like they had a nice time, but we didn’t see them kissing. But then, we were working, so we weren’t really looking.

  ‘It was definitely them. Both of them are very beautiful, so it’s difficult to miss them,’ the source added. ‘They weren’t flirting or kissing or anything. It wasn’t like they were a couple. Maybe they were just getting to know each other.’

  To add to the web of confusion, Jennifer, Josh and Liam were spotted out for dinner together in early March. The three Hunger Games co-stars met up at Italian restaurant Locanda Verde in New York.

  Jennifer was also linked to Luke Hemmings, of the band 5 Seconds of Summer, after he admitted that he admired her. He told Top of the Pops magazine: ‘If I could spread a rumour about myself, it would be that Jennifer Lawrence and I are dating. Even though that’s never going to happen.’

  At this stage, despite all the confusion and conflicting rumours, slowly the gossip began to die down and it gradually became clear that Chris and Kate Hudson were just friends; he was in fact still dating Jennifer, and would soon be divorcing Gwyneth.

  In an interview with Marie Claire Australia in February 2015, Gwyneth had shed more light on her split from Chris, confirming that the marriage was very much over: ‘There was nothing dramatic or anything,’ she said. ‘I had built my life on trying to be all things to all people, and I just couldn’t do it anymore, and I really had the sense that I wasn’t allowed to have needs, and I had to prove my specialness or self-worth by doing all this stuff and taking care of everybody else, and I just sort of hit a wall.

  ‘We’ve worked really fucking hard to get to [this] point. But we’re very, very close, and it’s so nice.

  ‘I feel like it’s, in a way, the relationship we were meant to have.’

  Meanwhile Chris and Jennifer still managed to snatch occasional dates together, which was easier said than done, given that their work commitments often kept them on opposite sides of the country.

  While Jennifer was filming in Boston in the spring of 2015 they had just enough time to squeeze in a romantic weekend in New York, where they shared brunch at the exclusive Tavern on The Green restaurant. While bodyguards kept over-zealous photographers at bay, Jennifer tucked into a roast beef sandwich and Chris enjoyed eggs Benedict, before they strolled together through Central Park: ‘It was an affectionate and romantic date for Chris and Jen,’ reported OK! magazine. ‘They were whispering to each other and giggling.

  ‘They see each other when they can, yet each continues to do their own thing. Both have full plates, and they like it that way.’

  And it seemed Jennifer was so determined to impress Chris that she even began to tone down her goofy persona. A source told Celeb Dirty Laundry: ‘Chris is conservative, especially in social settings and it has rubbed off on Jen, who is learning to keep some things private.’

  But they only had a day together in New York before he flew off to Puerto Vallarta in Mexico with Gwyneth and their children to celebrate their son Moses’ ninth birthday. They were seen on the beach, looking like any normal happy family, although Gwyneth had been pictured days earlier attending Robert Downey Junior’s 50th birthday party with her boyfriend, Brad Falchuk.

  However, it appeared Chris and Gwyneth were at last heading towards finalising their divorce, a year after announcing their split. TMZ reported their ‘divorce mediator is working towards a property and custody settlement, and once it’s a done deal, the petition for divorce will be filed.’

  And an insider confirmed to the Daily Mail: ‘A divorce is definitely 100 per cent on. They are working out a deal privately and there will be no leaks. This is a very amicable break-up and the resolution is near.

  ‘Papers will be filed soon and the divorce will be dealt with quickly. They both love their children and they still have the utmost respect for each other. But they are not getting back together.’

  Insiders suggested that Jennifer had been putting pressure on Chris to push ahead with his divorce, and that had been discussed at their surprisingly public brunch date in New York: ‘Chris and Jennifer had been struggling to move forward with their relationship because she couldn’t handle always coming second to Gwyneth,’ reported Grazia magazine in April. ‘She put a huge amount of pressure on Chris to make a statement to show his commitment to her, which he wasn’t prepared to do until now.

  ‘They [Chris and Gwyneth] decided to finally bite the bullet, with the support of their conscious uncoupling guru. They both felt the time had come to move forward with their new relationships.’

  However, although the papers were ready to be signed, divorce would not signal the end of their close relationship, as the pair were determined to continue to spend time together with their children. ‘They have been using their business managers to work out a settlement agreement involving both property and custody,’ reported the Daily Mail. ‘The settlement is confidential but insiders claim there were no big problems with money or custody of their two children.’

  The official documents were expected to cite irreconcilable differences between the pair, who married on 5 December 2003. ‘They’ve decided to draw up a “family schedule”, which they will both have to adhere to once the divorce is finalised,’ added the Daily Mail’s insider. ‘It will include at least three family holidays a year, designated joint days out with the kids and even “date nights” to discuss the children and remain on good terms.’

  And People magazine reported that the couple would continue to focus on ensuring their children were as happy as possible: ‘This is a natural evolution for Gwyneth and Chris as friends and as a couple,’ a source told the magazine. ‘They remain close, and they remain totally committed to Apple and Moses – as they find their way forward as individuals, they will naturally be more public about seeing other people, if not showy about it.’

  Whoever Jennifer eventually ends up with, it seems likely that having children will be high on her list of priorities. She remains as close as ever to her tight-knit family and, after playing bridesmaid when her brother Blaine married his girlfriend Carson Massier in October 2013, she went on to be a very doting aunt when their son Theodore was born in September 2014. Perhaps playing ‘mother’ might prove to be her most challenging role to date?

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  THE FUTURE’S BRIGHT

  As one of the most popular, not to mention bankable, stars in Hollywood, Jennifer now finds herself in the luxurious position of being able to cherry-pick from the finest roles that come her way. While other actresses her age fight to get themselves noticed by casting directors, she is inundated with acting offers and product endorsement contracts on a daily basis, but she is just as happy to turn many of them down. Unconcerned by money, she takes great care to make considered choices that are good for her long-term career.

  Deep down, she is not truly interested in raising her profile by attending parties, or even key industry events, preferring to focus on her work. At the start of 2015 Jennifer even ducked out of the high-profile Golden Globes and Academy Awards, instead choosing to spend the awards season filming on the East Coast.

  Some commentators suggested at the time that she was avoiding Gwyneth Paltrow, who made a glamorous appearance at the Golden Globes, presenting the Best Actor Award to Eddie Redmayne for his role as Professor Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.

  The same night as the Golden Globes took place, Jennifer was focusing very
much on her career – she was spotted dining with crew from her film Joy, released December 2015, at the popular Bricco North End restaurant in Boston. According to Bricco’s PR rep, Nicole Russo, the star ordered the branzino fish and was ‘down to earth and nice to the staff’.

  She was in the city for much of the spring of 2015, working on her third project led by Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle director David O. Russell. It seems hard to imagine now that have such a successful working partnership that the director has since confessed he was not at all impressed by Jennifer on first meeting her at an American Film Institute lunch several years earlier.

  ‘She looked kind of like an Orange County girl,’ he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2014. ‘All dressed up in a white dress with big hair, with high heels. And I was like, “Who is that? That’s the girl from Winter’s Bone?” I said, “Wow, she doesn’t look anything like that.” Then [later in 2011], she did a Skype audition that blew me away.’

  That audition would win the actress the role of Tiffany in Silver Linings Playbook – and ultimately an Oscar. Reunited once again in 2015, Jennifer and Russell were working together on Joy, a film which tells the true story of Joy Mangano, a struggling single mother living on Long Island, who found great success as an unlikely businesswoman when she created the Miracle Mop.

  A statement released by 20th Century Fox regarding the upcoming film, read: ‘Written and directed by acclaimed filmmaker, David O. Russell, Joy is the emotionally compelling and often comedic journey of a woman who triumphed over personal and financial challenges by inventing the Miracle Mop, which she sold on QVC and went on to become a hugely successful entrepreneur.’

  The movie also saw Jennifer reunited with her former co-stars Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro. But she was forced to publicly deny allegations that she and her director got embroiled in a huge argument on set. She took the highly unusual step of using her official Facebook page – which she hardly ever updates personally – to address reports that they had been heard shouting at each other, writing: ‘Hey guys! It’s Jen! I know I don’t go on here a lot because I can barely work email but there’s been a terrible rumour going around the last twenty-four hours so I wanted to clear it up.