Who needs a boyfriend? Celebrity couple culture seems to have reached its end of the line, and more and more stars are choosing to walk red carpets alone

The appearance of Elizabeth Hurley and Hugh Grant at the premiere of Four Weddings and a Funeral in 1994 is etched into the collective memory. She wore the iconic Safety Pin Dress designed by Gianni Versace, destined to become one of the most memorable outfits in pop culture history, while he stood beside her in the perfect role of the charming British boyfriend. We all know how it ended; yet that public coronation - and the media frenzy that followed - perfectly captures an era when celebrity couples were still a central storytelling device in the pop culture imagination. The Brangelinas, Bennifer, Kate Moss and Pete Doherty, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake: for years, celebrity relationships were not just gossip fodder, but genuine cultural products. They created aesthetics, generated trends, sold magazines and, above all, fueled a collective fantasy built on glamour, desire, and the illusion of access to other people’s lives.

The decline of celebrity couples

Today, very little seems to remain of that well-oiled machine. In recent years, celebrity couples have become increasingly invisible: fewer shared red carpet appearances, fewer official debuts, fewer romantic social media posts. Even events traditionally built around the spectacle of couples - such as the Met Gala - are seeing more and more celebrities arrive solo, while the internet speculates about the absence of their significant others. This doesn’t mean famous couples no longer exist; if anything, the opposite is true. They continue to attract almost obsessive attention, but according to completely different rules. More controlled and, above all, more private.

To understand what changed, we need to go back to the moment when the internet began turning intimacy into content. At first, social media seemed to amplify the appeal of celebrity couple culture even further. Relationships became more accessible, almost documented in real time. This gave rise to relationship goals, Instagram hard launches, carefully orchestrated soft launches, couple TikToks and elaborate engagement announcement videos. Intimacy stopped being reported by tabloids and became content produced directly by celebrities themselves. The more visible a relationship was, the more authentic it appeared. Yet it was precisely this hyper-visibility that gradually eroded part of the appeal of couple culture. In an ecosystem where everything is constantly shared and commented on, any relationship that is too exposed inevitably starts to feel performative, manufactured, almost strategic.

Flying solo at the Met Gala

In recent years, the internet seems to have developed a kind of fatigue toward romantic oversharing. Every public debut is interpreted as a potential PR move, every couple post as an engagement strategy. As a result, paradoxically, mystery has regained its value. It’s no coincidence that more and more celebrities appear to be carefully choosing when - and especially whether - to appear together in public. At this year’s Met Gala, Zoë Kravitz walked the red carpet without Harry Styles, whom she is rumored to be close to marrying. She also kept her left hand hidden in her dress pocket throughout the entire red carpet, fueling online speculation even further. Gracie Abrams, who is dating Paul Mescal, also chose to walk the carpet alone. Even Lauren Sánchez Bezos appeared without her husband Jeff by her side, despite him being one of the event’s main financial backers. More than a declaration of independence, these appearances seem to reflect a new way of managing romantic visibility.

Even the Kardashians

Zendaya and Tom Holland are rarely seen together, despite being one of the internet’s most beloved couples. They don’t constantly feed their online narrative, they’ve never turned their relationship into content, and that is exactly why every public appearance still feels like an event. The same can be said for Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling, who have spent years building a relationship that is almost impermeable to the endless social media cycle. Even the Kardashian-Jenners seem to have realized that romantic oversharing is not always worth it: Kim took her time before being photographed with Lewis, Kylie waited a couple of years before making her official debut with Timothée, and Kendall remains extremely private about her rumored flirtation with Jacob Elordi. It seems that privacy has become the new relationship luxury. And fans will simply have to accept it.