There are plenty of celebrities out there who have become great friends over the years – Ryan Gosling and Ryan Reynolds are firm buddies, plus Gwyneth Paltrow is now best mates with Beyoncé and Jay-Z. But there are some A-listers out there who have been pals since the very beginning – we’re talking college roommates, high school friends and even childhood bunk buddies!
In the article below, we’ve put together a list of ten surprising pairs of celebrities who used to be roommates. In some cases, these celeb friendships have stood the test of time, while others just didn’t stay in touch after their time living together. We’ve decided to ignore some of the more obvious ex-roomies (Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, we’re looking at you) and instead delved deep into Hollywood’s lesser-known history…
Scroll down the list below to find out which celebrity duo were childhood roommates on the Mickey Mouse club, plus we reveal which LA apartment once housed four Oscar winners at the same time! Enjoy…
10. Robin Williams & Christopher Reeve
These two were possibly the cutest best friends in Hollywood.
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And did you know that they first met after becoming roommates at the Juilliard School in New York City? The pair ended up rooming together when they were both unknowns in the world of entertainment, and quickly struck up a firm friendship.
Both guys were so talented that they ended up being the only two students accepted on the advanced programme in their year. This meant that in several classes they were the only two students in the room!
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Williams was the very first person that Reeve met at university, and he later recalled that the comedian was just as energetic back then as he was at the height of his fame. Reeve stated that he watched Williams “in awe as he virtually caromed off the walls of the classrooms and hallways.”
Williams was later asked about some of his favourite memories of Reeve, and of course their time sharing a room together was one of the highlights: “Him being such a great friend to me at Juillard, literally feeding me because I don’t think I literally had money for food or my student loan hadn’t come in yet, and he would share his food with me.”
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Reeve sadly passed away in 2004, and Williams died ten years later in 2014.
9. Ryan Gosling & Justin Timberlake
These two don’t seem like the most likely roommates in the world…
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…but believe it or not, Gosling and Timberlake used to be best friends when they were younger! In fact, they got on so well that the pair actually lived together for a long time. The two actors first met when they were both starring in the Mickey Mouse Club together (along with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera!).
Gosling and Timberlake became room-mates shortly after at the age of 11 years old. In fact, Timberlake’s mother Lynn became Gosling’s legal guardian for a while because Gosling’s Canadian mother couldn’t get a visa to live in the USA.
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Both of the child actors appeared on the Disney Channel between 1993 and 1995, and their troupe became one of the last to star on the Mickey Mouse Club before it was cancelled in 1996. They recently had a reunion after the Oscars and you can check out one of the photos here:
Sadly it doesn’t seem as though they really kept in touch, despite having been best friends for a good while and even living together for a year! Timberlake stated that “we aren’t the closest of friends, for whatever reason.” And Gosling pretty much confirmed that fact in 2013…
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When asked in an interview whether he still kept up with his old roommate, Gosling replied: “Not really. I see him around, but it’s like anything where you’re friends with somebody in elementary school or something. How many friends do you still have from elementary school?”
8. Adam Sandler & Judd Apatow
These two comedy legends know each other very well indeed!
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Most people know that Adam Sandler kicked off his comedy career on Saturday Night Live, the vehicle of choice for most successful comedians in America. But did you know that before moving to New York, Sandler once shared an LA apartment with Judd Apatow?!
Apatow is the writer and director responsible for a string of hilarious movies, including Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin. Plus he wrote and produced the excellent cult TV show Freaks and Geeks.
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However, before either one of these two comedy stars had made it on the big stage, they were living together in an LA apartment. In an interview with 60 Minutes they spilled some hilarious secrets about their time as roommates, including the fact that Adam used to sleep on a bed with no sheets!
Apparently Sandler refused to buy his own car: “Adam always had a rental car. He never bought a car for literally 12 years,” Apatow said. However, the two weren’t actually struggling artists, as Sandler himself pointed out.
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“It wasn’t broke. We were doing as comedians good enough to get by,” Sandler said. “We could eat at Red Lobster once every month. That was a big night out.” Apatow added: “That was like, ‘We’re fancy now.’” Amazing! Even when Sandler moved to New York, he remained a loyal roommate to Judd – apparently the comedian kept paying his LA rent for a time because he was paranoid about being fired from SNL!
7. Lindsay Lohan & Raven-Symoné
Talk about an unlikely couple…
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Lindsay Lohan and Raven-Symoné will be best known to a whole generation of kids for their work on the Disney Channel. By the 2000s, Lohan was the star of Parent Trap and an up-and-coming teen actor, while Raven was known for her hit series That’s So Raven (2003-2007).
While the pair were rarely spotted out and about together, the two actually lived together in the same apartment for over 14 months. Who knew?! We’re pretty sure things weren’t that rosey between the two though.
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Raven made some slightly resentful comments about Lohan when she was asked about the bizarre living arrangement. In fact, it looks as though Lohan was barely in the apartment at all.
Raven once stated: “She had her clothes in the apartment we were supposed to live in together.” Instead the Freaky Friday star paid Raven rent every month but only seemed to use the flat for dropping off clothes before going off to film sets again.
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The pair first met during a photo shoot and it was Raven’s idea to live together. Apparently she said to Lohan: “I know you’re not going to college right now and I’m not going to college so let’s have a roommate experience.” And that was that!
6. Robert Downey Jr. & Kiefer Sutherland
This is one cool living situation if you’re a fan of epic Hollywood acting talent.
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Apparently Robert Downey Jr. and Kiefer Sutherland used to be roomies back in the day! During a three-year period in the 1980s, Downey let his friend Sutherland move into his apartment because the 24 star was just starting out on his acting career.
Of course, Kiefer would go on to star in some epic 80s movies, including Stand By Me and The Lost Boys. Meanwhile, Downey was going through some personal struggles of his own with drugs and drink while in a long-term relationship with Sarah Jessica Parker.
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The pair must have made the transition from roomies to good friends, because Downey later recalled that Sutherland became ‘a shoulder to cry on’ when he was going through a rough patch with Parker.
“Better him than some stranger” Downey told Howard Stern – we couldn’t agree more! The two actors starred in the movie 1969 together in 1988 before eventually going their separate ways.
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It’s unclear whether they’re still friends but we’re hoping they managed to stay in touch.
5. Holly Hunter & Frances McDormand
This pairing really is a combination of two massive Oscar winners under one roof!
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Did you know that Academy Award Best Actress winners Holly Hunter and Frances McDormand used to live together? The pair were placed together as roommates at the Yale School of Drama, and enjoyed each other’s company so much that they decided to live together in New York City!
And that’s not the end of their roommate story…the pair were such good friends that they both lived together in Los Angeles too! The Oscar winners shared a home in the Silverlake area of LA with a couple of other talented young individuals…
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The two women lived with the Coen brothers (Fargo, Burn After Reading) and Sam Raimi (Spider-Man, The Evil Dead) which is how Frances met her future husband Joel. That house must have been bursting with ridiculous amounts of creativity…
Naturally, the two talented actresses starred together in a number of different movies, including Blood Simple and Raising Arizona.
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Frances and Joel remain good friends with their former roommate Holly to this day. Just goes to show, you should definitely take the time to get to know your college roomie – they could end up being one of your best friends and co-collaborators!
4. Connie Britton & Lauren Graham
This is another random pairing on the list that we would never have guessed…
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Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham used to room with actress Connie Britton, who has starred in a number of hugely successful programmes from Friday Night Lights to American Crime Story. Apparently the pair first met in a New York acting class.
Britton once explained in an interview: “We were in class together, became friends and then we both decided to make the big move and give Los Angles a shot.” A shared friend of theirs was going through a divorce at the time, so the pair moved into her empty house.
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The Nashville actress only has good things to say about her Canadian counterpart: “Those are actually really fond memories. You know, it’s that time when everything’s a possibility and we were just trying to live our dream.”
It seems as though the pair still remain friendly together, because a few years ago Graham took the time out to wish Britton a happy birthday with a flashback photo of the two budding actresses together.
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Aw! We can definitely see these two getting on together…also it’s a weird coincidence that they both ended up playing two of the most loveable ‘mom’ characters on television. Nice!
3. Jonah Hill & Justin Long
Here’s yet another hilarious comedy pairing on our list…
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Jonah Hill and Justin Long are a great example of two ex-roommates who still get along to this day. Nice! They’ve been pictured at plenty of red carpet events together and you can definitely tell that they used to share a living space. So how exactly did they end up sharing the same house?
At the start of their budding careers, Long and Hill lived in a California house together. The pair decided to set up a ‘bachelor pad’ scenario for themselves and quickly found a place to live.
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However, things didn’t last for the two friends as roommates after they started arguing like “an old married couple.” Long once revealed the reason for their roomie split in an interview, and it seems as though the separation was for the best.
Long stated: “We’re still great friends but it got to be like an old married couple. We fought over recycling. He would recycle everything. I would find banana peels and shards of glass in the recycling bin.
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“We started getting in little fights like that, he left the bathroom door open, didn’t clean up after himself. Little things like that. It was time for a separation.”
Aww! Thankfully it seems like one of those cases where they just couldn’t get along as roommates, because the pair remain close friends to this day.
2. Michael Douglas & Danny DeVito
This unlikely couple have had two very successful careers in the entertainment industry!
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Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito are great friends…and apparently it all started when they lived together in New York, before either one of them had become really famous. The pair were roomies while both attending acting school in the Big Apple.
The cute pair only have good things to say about their co-habitation. DeVito admitted that “Michael did the laundry” while Douglas said that his diminutive roommate was “great” and added “It was a magical time, We were getting paid to act!”
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Aww! The pair went on to collaborate several times during the 70s and 80s. Douglas produced One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, which saw DeVito star as the smiling hospital patient Martini. They also appeared in the movie Romancing The Stone together.
The roommates bonded especially well during that movie – DeVito actually saved his friend’s life during filming. Apparently Douglas was bitten by a snake, and DeVito quickly started sucking the poison out of his hand! In typical DeVito fashion, he said to his friend: “Boy, it’s a good thing this didn’t bit you on the balls man — you would be a dead man!”
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The affection between these old roomies is definitely strong – Douglas recently called DeVito his “oldest friend in the business.”
1. Jude Law & Ewan McGregor
You wouldn’t necessarily put Jude Law and Ewan McGregor together…
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But it turns out that these two actors have been quietly working with each other for several years! And the relationship first blossomed when Law and McGregor decided to live together in the 90s, before either of them found real fame. Aww!
Apparently they both lived in the same place for several years when they first moved to Hollywood. They must have bonded together because Law and McGregor even set up a production company.
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The company is called Natural Nylon and it’s a British film and theatre production corporation. The two actors set up the venture with Jude’s then-wife, Sadie Frost. The two actors also once participated in a hilarious photo shoot, which really reveals the extent of how comfortably they are together:
The presiding photographer said that at first they were a bit nervous, but “soon it was as if they were an everyday couple. For a shot in the bathroom, I couldn’t stop them laughing. Jude pulled his trousers and pants down and sat on the toilet reading the newspaper. Ewan stripped off naked and got into the bath.”
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Aww! They’re just close friends and that’s it…
