This isn't Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green's first split — a look at their up and down romance
Brian Austin Green and Megan Fox are splitting after 10 years of marriage. The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum confirmed the news on Monday after Fox was pictured with rapper Machine Gun Kelly. Green wanted to clear up any speculation that Fox cheated, explaining they agreed to separate.
“Neither one of us did anything to each other,” he said on his podcast …With Brian Austin Green. “She’s always been honest with me, I’ve always been honest with her. We’ve had an amazing relationship and I will always love her and I know she will always love me. And I know as far as a family, what we have built is really cool and really special.”
This isn’t the first time Green and Fox have broken up during their 15-year romance. The couple, who share sons Noah Shannon, 7, Bodhi Ransom, 6, and Journey River, 3, have had their fair share of ups and downs over the years.
The actors first met on the set of Fox’s short-lived sitcom Hope & Faith in 2004. Green was scheduled to appear as a guest star and they had an instant connection.
“I didn’t know who he was from 90210, but I liked him right away,” Fox said in an interview with The New York Times Magazine. “Everyone was around the monitor watching a scene, and Brian accidentally touched my leg. I remember literal electricity shooting through me and out me from every direction. It was like magic.”
Green was reluctant to pursue anything given their age gap — he was 30 while she was 18 — so he tried to stay away from the actress.
“She was really young and I was like, ‘This isn't this. This can't f***ing happen. This isn't going to happen, no way,’” he recalled last year during an appearance on Barstool Sports’ KFC Radio podcast. “I left and she was just really persistent — and thank God.”
Green had also just “gotten out of a relationship” and wasn't looking for anything serious at the time. In 2003, he and his 90210 co-star, Vanessa Marcil, ended their engagement after the birth of son Kassius. However, Green said his feelings changed when Fox told him she was tired of chasing him and planned to move on.
“That's when I realized… ‘I must be really into this situation... the thought of that kills me,’” he explained. “And... we've been together now for 15 years.”
Green and Fox got engaged in 2006, right before her career blew up with 2007’s Transformers alongside Shia LaBeouf. Rumors swirled she and LaBeouf — who also starred together in the 2009 sequel — were more than co-stars. LaBeouf confirmed that in a 2011 interview with Details.
“Look, you're on the set for six months, with someone who's rooting to be attracted to you, and you're rooting to be attracted to them,” LaBeouf said, nodding “affirmatively” when asked if he and Fox hooked up. “The time I spent with Megan was our own thing, and I think you can see the chemistry onscreen.”
Fox confirmed the rumors as well years later while playing “Plead the Fifth” on Watch What Happens Live. “I mean I would confirm that it was romantic,” she said in 2018. “I love him, I have never been really quiet about that, I love him.”
In February 2009, Fox and Green called off their engagement. “The decision was mutual,” a source told People at the time. “They’re still friends.”
Neither star commented publicly on their reported split — or the LaBeouf rumors — but the actress admitted to Us Weekly four months later that “Marriage isn't a realistic goal for someone who is 23, that's all.”
“I just wanna concentrate on becoming a better person before I try to commit to being someone else's wife,” she told the magazine. That didn’t take long as Green and Fox rekindled their relationship months later. The actor didn’t hold any resentment.
“She was 18 when I met her, and she went through an enormous change in her life because of her career in general,” he told Access Hollywood. “So she went through the natural period of, ‘I’m not sure if I’m ready to be in such a settled relationship.’ I have an 8-year-old, and he was 2 at the time that Megan and I met. She helped me raise him, and that’s a huge responsibility."
In June 2010, Fox and Green confirmed they were engaged again.
“We’re just even more committed to each other than we always have been,” the actress, 24 at the time, told People. “I’m more in love with him now than I was in the beginning.”
She added, “It’s really not a re-engagement. It’s just the same engagement and for some reason now it’s a news story.”
Weeks later, the actors wed in Hawaii with only Green’s son, Kassius, in attendance. Two years later, they welcomed their first child together, son Noah.
“We are humbled to have the opportunity to call ourselves the parents of this beautiful soul and I am forever grateful to God for allowing me to know this kind of boundless, immaculate love,” Fox shared on Facebook in September 2012.
While the couple lived a quiet, private life in Los Angeles, they had no problem talking about each other in interviews. In March 2013, Fox gushed about her husband calling Green her “soulmate,” but admitted they have different personalities.
“I just think we got lucky. I believe he’s my soulmate. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t take work, because we are very, very different. But we are tolerant of each other and we try to be patient with each other, and I don’t try to turn him into me and he knows not to try to turn me into him,” she told Marie Claire U.K. “He really is amazing. I should never, ever even think about complaining.”
In February 2014, Fox and Green welcomed their second child — which apparently hindered the couple’s private time. Fox made headlines that August for publicly declaring their sex life practically nonexistent.
“Brian doesn't get any intimacy whatsoever,” Fox told Entertainment Tonight. She emphasized that again a few days later on The View, revealing, “My [2-year-old son Noah] sleeps in bed with us, so there's really no way.”
Fox was first spotted without her wedding ring in December 2014 and in August, reports surfaced they were separating. That was confirmed when the actress filed for divorce days later, citing “irreconcilable differences.” She listed their separation date as June 15.
“Megan worked a lot last year, and she continues to work a lot. When she is away, Brian stays with the kids. Before they filed for divorce, they had disagreements about this situation,” a source told People. “Megan is a great mom but also wants to keep her great career. Brian ended up being a stay-at-home dad. He is happy to be with the kids but also wants another life than just being a dad.”
The universe had different plans. In April 2016, it was revealed Fox was pregnant with their third child. A source told E! News the pair’s divorce “will likely be put on hold for a while.”
“This pregnancy was not planned, but when they found out they were extremely happy,” an insider said, adding, “Megan and Brian love being parents.”
“They are working really hard to be together and one unit — not only for their children, but also for each other,” the source continued. “They are looking forward for the arrival of their new baby.”
Fox gave birth to their third son, Journey River, in August 2016 and the couple reconciled.
When Green was asked in May 2017 how they make their relationship work he said, “just stick it out.”
“I don’t know what the secret is. Just stick it out. Like fighting and making up, believing in each other,” he told reporters. “I’ve dated people before, and you kind of get to that point where you go, ‘You know what, I don’t feel the same way,’ and I’ve never reached that with her. … I mean, we fight, we disagree on things. But I don’t want to go anywhere, and she doesn’t, you know? So we stick it out.”
However, Green admitted marriage is “work” on a September 2017 episode of his podcast saying they take things “day by day.”
“Marriage is hard. It’s work, I think for anyone,” he said. “I think when you get to the point like we have where you have kids and you've been married for a while and we've been together for a long time…you just take it day by day.”
Green continued, “I have no problem with something not, I hold no expectations. I try to day by day… Some people look at divorce or things not working as, like, a disappointment and it’s not. The fact that it worked at all is a positive.”
Rumors swirled in early 2018 Fox and Green might be on the rocks after an emotional appearance on E!’s Hollywood Medium, but the couple squashed rumors with a PDA-filled trip to Hawaii.
In April 2019, Fox officially filed papers in Los Angeles to dismiss her divorce case against Green. But according to the actor, trouble began brewing about seven months later.
On Monday’s podcast, Green said he started to worry about their relationship when Fox was off shooting a movie for six weeks around November. When she returned, they were “distant” and things didn’t progress weeks after she got back. Unknowingly to the public, the couple decided to separate.
However, people started to catch on that something was amiss in April when Green was pictured without their wedding rings. They were also caught by paparazzi handing off their kids, with the couple seemingly living apart.
The rumor mill really heated up when Fox was photographed grabbing food with Machine Gun Kelly, real name Colson Baker, amid L.A.’s stay at home order. The actress and the rapper are working together on the upcoming film Midnight in the Switchgrass. Green said on his podcast that no one’s the villain in this situation.
“So, Megan… met this guy, Colson, on set on this film she’s working on,” he said on his podcast. “I’ve never met him, but Megan and I have talked about him.”
Green continued, “They’re just friends at this point. From what she’s expressed he’s a really just nice, genuine guy. I trust her judgment. She’s always had really good judgment. I don’t want people to think that her or he are villains or that I was a victim in any way with any of this. Because I wasn’t. This isn’t something new for us, this is something new for people to experience and hear about in the press… I don’t want anybody to be vilified in this situation.”
Fox has not publicly commented on the separation and no divorce papers have been filed.
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