Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson's Relationship Timeline — What Went Wrong
Feb. 6 2024, Published 4:44 p.m. ET
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes. Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively. Hollywood has no shortage of couples who met and fell in love on film sets — and Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen are no exception.
Teen drama fans may know Rachel from The O.C. or Hart of Dixie, while Hayden is renowned for his lightsaber-wielding abilities in the Star Wars movies.
So, how did this private, low-key couple come to be? And what caused them to end their engagement twice?
Read on for their relationship timeline that spans 10 years.
2008: Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen meet on the 2008 film, ‘Jumper.'
The pair began their star-studded romance after meeting on the set of the sci-fi film, Jumper, where they played love interests.
This happened not too long after Rachel’s split from her O.C. co-star, Adam Brody, whom she dated for three years.
2009: Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen get engaged.
Hayden is undoubtedly one of Rachel’s most serious relationships. But since the couple kept their relationship private, it was sources close to the couple who broke the news that they got engaged over the holidays.
Sadly, their engagement didn’t stick, as the pair called off their upcoming nuptials in 2010 reportedly due to long distance. Hayden spends a lot of his time in his native Canada, while Rachel is based in Los Angeles. They rekindled their romance three months later.
2014: Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen welcome their daughter, Briar Rose.
The couple became first-time parents to their daughter, Briar Rose, on Oct. 29, 2014. If the name sounds fit for a princess, that’s because it is. According to People, Hayden confessed that the name was inspired by Disney.
“We both love all things Disney — but Rachel especially was very keen on the name,” the actor said. “We have Disney songs playing around the house 24/7 right now.”
2017: Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen split up.
After 10 years together, the couple called it quits again — this time for good. There have been several rumors as to why they went their separate ways.
A source close to the actress told People that their personalities clashed. “Rachel is very outgoing and her friends are very important to her,” said the source. “Hayden is the opposite. He can be very antisocial.”
Another rumor was much more dramatic. According to Us Weekly, a source claimed that Hayden’s Little Italy co-star, Emma Roberts, contributed to their split. The source said that Rachel found incriminating text messages that caused her to believe that they were having an “inappropriate relationship."
2021: Rachel Bilson opens up about co-parenting with Hayden Christensen.
On an episode of the Betches Moms podcast, Rachel opened up about how she and Hayden found their co-parenting groove during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Luckily [my daughter's] dad is pretty hardcore with [the COVID restrictions]," she said.
"But you have to trust each other, and you are bubbled up. It's also nice because she's had the opportunity to have another house to go and not be stuck in our house the entire time, so I'm grateful for that, and we've just handled it. Survival mode."
