Is staying friends with an ex the latest celebrity humblebrag?

It’s a universal fact that breaking up with someone, no matter how amicably, is royally sh*t.

Whether it was an inevitable split or came in like a wrecking ball, pretty much everything about that person can feel darn well painful.

Even if the breakup was completely for the best, chances are it still hurts.

Which is why we’re downright perplexed by the growing number of celebrities who stay friends with their exes like it ain’t no thang. They’re able to go further than simply amicable and actually seem to relish hanging out with their ex-lovers.

And it’s making us feel, well, slightly inferior that we’re not able to do the same.

It’s almost an extension of the humble brag that whispers “See how nice I am for managing to stay friends with my ex”.

Case in point: your favourite consciously-uncoupled, um, ex-couple, Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin. Gwyneth revealed she brought ex-husband Chris with her on her honeymoon with new husband Brad Falchuk.

Her ex-husband and her new husband. On honeymoon. Together. Same time.

Their children Apple, 14, and Moses, 12, were also there, along with Chris’ new girlfriend, Dakota Johnson.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Happy birthday my brother. Thank you for giving me these two. ????

A post shared by Gwyneth Paltrow (@gwynethpaltrow) on Mar 2, 2018 at 11:33am PST

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Sunday brunch #modernfamily

A post shared by Gwyneth Paltrow (@gwynethpaltrow) on Nov 26, 2017 at 12:59pm PST

While we applaud the fact this blended family are able to spend time together, we can’t help but think they should’ve joined another trip..?

Because it’s one thing to have a loving relationship with the father of your children – it’s another to invite him on your honeymoon.

Another ex-couple who still holiday together are Jackie ‘O’ Henderson and Lee Henderson who sadly announced their split in October last year.

But instead of being buried alive by a pile of Kleenex, Jackie spent Christmas with Lee in Fiji along with their seven-year-old daughter, Kitty.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Jackie O (@jackieo_official) on Dec 24, 2018 at 9:17pm PST

It’s certainly admirable but it would be incredibly difficult to share paradise with someone we’d just split up with.

Incidentally Andrew Garfield still names ex-girlfriend Emma Stone the person he’d want to be stranded on a desert island with. Cute? Yes. Unrelatable? Also yes.

Kaley Cuoco and her Big Bang Theory costar Johnny Galecki are another perfect example of exes who are still best of buds. The one-time couple, who dated for two years, will often post gushy statements about each other on Instagram and Galecki was even there to watch his ex-girlfriend walk down the aisle to marry Karl Cook in June 2018.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Couldn’t be happier for my fake wife @normancook and @mrtankcook whose words brought us all to tears last night. So much love for you both.

A post shared by Johnny Galecki (@sanctionedjohnnygalecki) on Jul 1, 2018 at 2:01pm PDT

Of course, we’d take this carefully constructed narrative with a pinch of salt. Behind the smiling faces on an Instagram grid, there might be a completely different reality. But even being in an Instagram picture with an ex is a push for the best of us.

So why the heck do some famous folks find it so easy to be friends? Where’s the pain? Where’s the resentment? Where’s the messiness?

One of the only truly relatable things about celebrities is when they suffer heartbreak. You know, just like us.

Being so #blessed to still have an ex in your life kind of feels like yet another unrealistic ideal that’s being thrust upon us.

In an ideal world, everyone would get on with their exes and it wouldn’t matter. But let’s not feel pressured to do so.

So if you’d rather hang out in the seventh layer of hell than with your ex - that’s totally fine too.  

Being consciously-uncoupled is overrated anyway.