Megan Fox‘s romance with rocker Machine Gun Kelly has catapulted her back into the spotlight. While the actress, 37, is no stranger to fame and flashing lights, Megan’s usually very private when it comes to her personal life — specifically her romances. Although she spent most of her career with her ex-husband, actor Brian Austin Green, Megan has dated a few notable names in Hollywood, including fiancé MGK.
Megan wrote about “complicated” relationships in her book of poems, Pretty Boys Are Poisonous. “For most of us it’s not a fairy tale. Relationships are not pretty. They are ugly. Sometimes they are a war,” she said. “But through a wound enters an opportunity to grow and become a stronger more whole version of yourself.” Keep reading to find out Megan’s dating history.
Ben Leahy (2000-2003)
Megan’s high school sweetheart, Ben Leahy, wasn’t the Hollywood-type. Then again, they were just teenagers when they dated, and Megan’s acting career hadn’t taken off at the time. However, Megan only had high praise when she spoke about Ben in a 2009 interview. “He was very sweet and wonderful, really tall and big with a perfect body, and he was a badass,” she told Rolling Stone, adding, “I was totally drawn to him.”
David Gallagher (2003-2004)
Megan’s short-lived romance with 7th Heaven actor, David Gallagher occurred right at the beginning of her acting career. She had just starred as the villain in the Lindsay Lohan-film, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, and everyone wanted to know who Hollywood’s new it-girl was. Megan even brought David along to the New York premiere of the film in February of 2004. They called it quits later that year.
Shia LaBeouf (Mid-2000s)
This one’s tricky. It’s unclear exactly when Megan and Shia LaBeouf dated. Their on-screen chemistry was undeniable in the Transformers films, which led to rumblings about a real-life romance between the two. In 2007, Megan and Shia starred as powerful couple, Sam Witwicky and Mikaela Banes, battling robots to save the world from mass destruction. They reprised their characters in the film’s 2009 follow-up, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Shia later returned for the third film in 2011, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, however, Megan did not. Instead, model, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley took over as Shia’s new love interest. Bottom line is — Megan and Shia’s romance occurred sometime in the mid-2000s.
Shia was the first one to shed light on their relationship. “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. I never understood the separation of work and life in that situation,” he told Details magazine in 2011. “But the time I spent with Megan was our own thing, and I think you can see the chemistry onscreen,” he added.
Fast-forward seven years, and Megan finally gave her take on the relationship. “Um, I mean, I would confirm it was romantic. I love him,” she said during an episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in November of 2018. “I’ve never been really private about that. I love him.” When fellow guest, Tyra Banks suggested that Megan and Shia had a “showmance,” Megan replied, “Sure.”
Either way, Megan and Shia have always been on good terms. Back in 2019, fans reminisced over their on-and-off-screen chemistry when Megan shared a throwback photo from the film to Instagram. “Once upon a time 13 summers ago,” she wrote in the caption of her post.
Brian Austin Green (2004-2020)
Megan and Brian’s tumultuous love story began in 2004. You’ll notice that there’s some overlap in her other romances, because the two had an on-and-off relationship. Things didn’t become permanent until the actor and actress married in June of 2010. They went on to welcome two sons together — Noah Shannon,(now 10) and Bodhi Ransom (now 8).
In April of 2016, Megan and Brian’s marriage went through its fair share of ups and downs, which led to a looming divorce. However, they decided to keep working at their relationship after discovering that Megan was pregnant with their third child, Journey River (now 6). They reconciled with a romantic getaway to the Hawaiian Islands, and things seemed to be just fine between Megan and Brian.
Then, things took a turn in 2020, when — just before their one-decade wedding anniversary — Megan was spotted hanging out with Machine Gun Kelly. The actress and musician were photographed together on May 14, and then two days later on May 16. Megan wasn’t wearing her wedding ring on either occasion. Not to mention, May 16 happened to be Megan’s 34th birthday. At the same time, Brian was seen with and without his ring as well.
Just days after the photos went public, Brian confirmed the split rumors to be true during an episode of his podcast, …with Brian Austin Green. “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,” Brian said of Megan, before explaining that they would remain a family. He said they’ll “still do family vacations and holidays as a family and really make that a focus for the kids.” Brian also noted that despite the breakup, he would “always love her [Megan]. 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.”
In the same episode, Brian addressed Megan’s then-recent photo ops with MGK. “She met this guy, Colson [MGK’s real name], on set…I’ve never met him…Megan and I have talked about him,” Brian revealed, but clarified “they’re just friends at this point.” He added, “I trust her judgment, she’s always had really good judgment. I don’t want people to think her or he are villains or that I was a victim in any way.”
Also in May, Brian discussed Megan’s newfound relationship with MGK even further. “She said, ‘You know, I realized while I was out of the country working alone that I feel more like myself, and I liked myself better during that experience, and I think that may be something worth trying for me,’” Brian recalled of a prior conversation with Megan during a separate episode of his podcast.
Naturally, the actor took the news pretty hard. “And, I was shocked and I was upset about it,” Brian continued, but added that he “can’t be upset at her, and I wasn’t upset at her because that’s — she didn’t ask to feel that way, it wasn’t a choice she made, that’s the way she honestly felt.” Megan filed for divorce from Brian on Nov. 25, 2020, citing “irreconcilable differences” She listed Nov. 2019 as their separation date her court papers, while Brian wrote March 5, 2020 as the day things officially ended between the two.
Machine Gun Kelly (2020-present)
As you already know, Megan moved on from Brian with MGK. Back in May of 2020, Megan and MGK added fuel to the romance rumors when she appeared as his love interest in the music video for his song “Bloody Valentine.” Not long after the video’s release, they had their first PDA outing at a Los Angeles bar on June 15. Megan and MGK were photographed kissing and holding hands outside the establishment, and they’ve been inseparable ever since.
The new couple recently traveled to Puerto Rico together on a work/vacation trip [the same one Brian references in his podcast episodes], to film the upcoming crime thriller Midnight in the Switchgrass. However, production on the film was halted in October of 2020, due to positive COVID-19 tests.
After they got together, MGK revealed that it was love at first sight when he met Megan, who’s even said that the two are “twin flames,” aka, soulmates. When you know, you know! On Nov. 22, the pair made their red carpet debut as a couple at the 2020 American Music Awards, where Megan introduced MGK’s performance by saying, “Once in a lifetime, magic can happen. But this next performer, we’ve all been under his spell since his debut in 2012.” Then, on Jan. 12, 2022, Megan and Machine Gun Kelly revealed they had gotten engaged! He even proposed with an emerald and diamond ring that he helped design.
Most recently, Megan sparked breakup rumors after the couple attended the 2023 Grammy Awards together by posting cryptic messages about “dishonesty”, via Instagram on Feb. 12, 2023. In the beauty’s photo dump, she mysteriously included a quote from Beyonce’s “Pray You Catch Me,” a song off her album Lemonade. “You can taste the dishonesty, it’s all over your breath,” Megan captioned the post, which also included a clip of a fire burning a letter and other personal items.
Later, the couple was spotted leaving an apparent couple’s counseling session on Feb. 13. And on Feb. 19, Megan denied the rumors that her man had cheated on her, via a since-deleted Instagram post. “There has been no third party interference in this relationship of any kind,” she wrote in the beginning of the post. “That includes, but is not limited to…actual humans, DMs, AI bots, or succubus demons. While I do hate to rob you of running random baseless news stories that would have been much more accurately written by ChatGPT, you need to let this story die and leave all these innocent people alone now.”
Despite a source telling US Weekly on Mar. 22, 2023, that the pair was on a “break”, it didn’t appear that way any longer when they were spotted in Hawaii on Apr. 3. Ahead of their romantic getaway, the insider told the outlet, “Megan and MGK are currently on a break but are still in contact.” They also called the couple’s situation, “very hot and cold.” Megan has since deleted all of her Instagram photos and videos, while MGK still has many of their posts up.
More recently, in May 2023, it was reported that their wedding plans are still on the back burner and that MGK is trying to reconcile with the star. “They are slowly working on reconciling but he’s totally in the dog house still,” a source told People. “He’s doing whatever he can to get her back, and she’s making him work for it. It’s still an unhealthy dynamic though, and their friends just don’t see this lasting.”
In July 2023, US Weekly reported that the couple was back to wedding planning after hitting a brief rough patch. “They’ve had so much success in therapy together,” a source said. “As they start to trust each other, they’ve been talking about getting married again.
This story originally appeared on Hollywood Life