Twilight: Dark Secrets Of The Movie’s Cast

The Twilight Saga was indeed quite the saga. Not only did the vampire and werewolf romance, written by author Stephenie Meyer, sell over 120 million copies, but its film adaptations made nearly $3.3 billion at the box office between its five films, according to Reuters. From 2008 — when the first film Twilight was released — to 2012 (when Breaking Dawn — Part 2 hit theaters), the world lived in Twi-mania. With her portrayal of Bella Swan, Into the Wild‘s Kristen Stewart was suddenly a household name. And who could forget the drama between Team Edward and Team Jacob, as well as the hunks behind the characters themselves, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner? Between Twi-hards and Fanpires, calling the series a global phenomenon feels like an understatement.

But of course, with that level of fame often comes scandal, and the cast of Twilight certainly wasn’t immune. From jaw-dropping affairs to nude photo leaks, let’s relive the biggest scandals that threatened to derail both the stars’ careers and the Saga altogether.

Kristen Stewart cheated on Robert Pattinson

Undoubtedly the biggest celebrity news story to come out of The Twilight Saga was the demise of the relationship between stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson.

At first, it was a Hollywood fairytale: the lion had fallen in love with his lamb co-star offscreen. Their mysterious, media-shy fling began to unravel in July 2012, after Us Weekly published photos of Stewart having an affair with her married Snow White and the Huntsman director, Rupert Sanders. The photo bombshell dominated the tabloids, forcing Stewart to issue a public apology to Pattinson for cheating. The couple tried to weather the storm, but wound up splitting for good in 2013. (Sanders’ wife, Liberty Ross, filed for divorce in January 2013.)

For what it’s worth: Stewart later called her breakup from Pattinson "incredibly painful," but described him as "the best" and her "first [love]" in a 2019 interview on The Howard Stern Show. "I was super in love with my high school boyfriend … but me and Rob were like a little older and it was just like, ‘guh-gong,’" she told Howard Stern. But, Stewart noted, "I’ve actually never been allowed to just say what happened … I was so self-conscious about seeming like an attention seeker."

Pattinson ultimately took it in stride himself. "S**t happens, you know?" he told British Esquire in 2014. "It’s just young people … it’s normal! And honestly, who gives a s**t?" Fair enough!

Was this relationship all just a Twilight PR stunt?

Throughout their relationship, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson were sometimes plagued by Internet and tabloid gossip alleging that their relationship was less authentic and more of a Hollywood publicity stunt. Whether far-fetched or not, there were a number of incidents along the way that certainly fanned those flames — like, you know, the time Stewart told The New York Times Style Magazine in 2016 that their relationship eventually became a "product."

"People wanted me and Rob to be together so badly that our relationship was made into a product," she said. "It wasn’t real life anymore." However, more than a decade after Twilight‘s premiere, it seems Stewart has changed her tune. When asked on The Howard Stern Show what she would’ve said had Pattinson proposed while they were dating, Stewart admitted that though she wasn’t "a super duper traditionalist," she likely would have said yes. "Every relationship I’ve ever been in, I thought that was it," she said in 2019.

Either way, neither star is still licking old wounds. Stewart has since come out as queer and is attached to actress Dylan Meyer, as of this writing. Meanwhile, Pattinson — who was briefly engaged to singer FKA Twigs — is "truly inseparable and in love" with his girlfriend, Suki Waterhouse, per E!.