Mila Kunis, Bradley Cooper and the Truth About Friends With Benefits
Apparently, when Hollywood’s hottest duos swipe right on “just friends who do it,” they’re signing up for the kind of emotional roller coaster that makes soap-operas look calm. In an industry built on punch-drunk love stories, celebs from Mila Kunis to Fran Drescher have publicly confessed to flirting with friends-with-benefits arrangements—only to discover that “no strings” often comes with a handful of explosive loose ends.
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher set the rom-com template in motion. Kunis told Howard Stern in 2016 that they watched their own films—Friends With Benefits and No Strings Attached—faithfully, then ignored every warning. “We shook hands, we said, ‘Let’s have fun,’ ” she recounted, dryly admitting that three months later she realized this “fun” carried all the emotional depth of a puddle. In an even more candid 2018 Marc Maron podcast, she confessed, “I care about you now,” at which point Kutcher politely ignored the handshake and said, “Move in with me.” By The Late Late Show with James Corden in 2016, Kunis breezily noted: “Six months later we’re married with a kid,” proving that Hollywood romance can rewrite its own clichés—and apparently its own cheat codes.
Before swiping right on casual bliss, Bradley Cooper tested the waters with his high school best friend. The future A-list heartthrob penned an op-ed for the Philadelphia Daily News during his senior year, candidly explaining they both realized college would soon “ruin” their carefree dynamic. In his words, “We might as well enjoy senior year,” which, in Cooper’s world, was less about viral parties and more about viral complications—because best friends plus bedroom privileges inevitably turn friendship into fodder for future movie roles.
At the other end of the age spectrum, Dyan Cannon is unapologetically a veteran of “several” friends-with-benefits. Speaking to People at the 2025 Hollywood Beauty Awards, the Heaven Can Wait alum shrugged, “I have friends with benefits, yes,” as though she were ordering a latte. It’s a refreshingly straightforward take from someone whose romantic résumé includes Cary Grant and Johnny Carson—a lineup that proves sometimes your stunt double for love is your friend with benefits.
Fran Drescher, still impossibly radiant decades after The Nanny, told Page Six at a March 2025 screening of The Friend that she maintains a “little rotation” of casual partners. With characteristic deadpan flair, she quipped, “I’m Fran Drescher. What do you think?!” as if she’d just announced a new skincare line instead of a schedule of adult hors d’oeuvres.
So there you have it: stars boldly going where many mortals have gone before—and occasionally getting lost in the friend zone labyrinth. Tune in next time for more Hollywood heroes who thought they could handle the “no strings” option and ended up tangled anyway. Let’s face it, emotional entanglements are the true blockbuster.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and E! News, Howard Stern interview, WTF with Marc Maron podcast, The Late Late Show with James Corden, Philadelphia Daily News, People Magazine, Page Six
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
