What Ended Diane Lane And Josh Brolin's Marriage? Their Painful Divorce And A Domestic Abuse Arrest

Diane Lane has returned to the headlines after her recent reflections about working in the cult classic, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains. Released in 1982, the film broke out to be one of the most successful entries into the punk music scene, often seen as a touchstone to the ‘riot grrrl’ movement of the 1990s.

With Lane’s recent reflection on her punk role as ‘Corinne Burns’, fans are once again digging up the past to learn about the woman behind the punk mask and the complicated chapters of her offscreen life, especially her turbulent marriage and eventual divorce from actor Josh Brolin, which occurred within a year of welcoming their daughter, Elenor.

Inside Diane Lane and Josh Brolin’s Hollywood love story

Diane Lane and Josh Brolin’s love story began in a typical Hollywood fashion. They first met in the early '90s, when Diane was married to her first husband, French actor Christopher Lambert, during the premiere of The Road Killers. A decade later, the pair reconnected at a Hollywood restaurant, and their spark was instant and hard to miss. 

Back then, the actress was pregnant with her and Christopher’s daughter, Eleanor Lambert. The two reconnected at a restaurant, this time, after a film had premiered. They immediately connected after they started discussing their kids. Speaking about the instant sparks, the actress told PEOPLE in a 2003 interview: 

“We met when I was pregnant with my daughter. He had made a film (The Road Killers) with my then-husband. It was like ‘Hello’ at the craft-service table. Flash forward nine years, and we met at this restaurant after a premiere. He was like, ‘Hi. Remember me?’ We started talking about our kids, because it turned out that he had a daughter who was the same age as my daughter. Now they go to school together.”

Both came from broken marriages- Lane to Christopher Lambert, with whom she shared daughter Eleanor, and Brolin to Alice Adair, with whom he shared two children. A year into the relationship, they exchanged vows in an intimate ceremony held in the Weapons star’s California Ranch. Diane and Josh seemed the perfect couple- grounded, private, and extremely family-oriented. Lane, who was a single mom by then, said she finally felt ‘secure’ in a relationship, while Brolin praised their relationship as ‘easy’.

Trouble behind closed doors

Though it didn’t take them long to be one of Hollywood’s glamorous couples who led a family-oriented life, things were not so glorious behind the scenes. In 2004, only four months into their newly married life, Brolin was arrested for domestic battery after Diane called the police, claiming he had struck her during the argument. However, the actress didn’t press charges, and the case was dropped.

After the incident, the couple’s reps described it as a ‘misunderstanding’, but it cast a shadow on their marriage. Years after their divorce, Brolin admitted to struggling with his behaviour throughout the marriage, growing more reactive and ‘chaotic’. Speaking to the New York Times in 2018, Brolin shared:

“I was more reactive, I was more, ‘People need to know the truth.’ Whatever I say is going to sound like compensation for a perpetrator. I’ve gotten to a place where all that matters is that I have control over my behavior, and at that time, it was a little more chaotic.”

Despite a rocky start, Diane and Josh tried to put their differences behind them and move forward, often appearing hand in hand at red carpet events. Though they had their occasional ups and downs, the pair spoke fondly of each other in interviews. However, somewhere down the line, the cracks never truly healed.

A love marriage that ended on a Valentine’s Eve

Diane and Josh spent nearly a decade together, but in 2013, they quietly separated. The Unfaithful star reportedly filed for divorce on Valentine’s Day 2013, listing February 13, 2013, as their official separation date. Regarding the reason for the separation, PEOPLE reported that the relationship 'ran its course.' The divorce filing came just months after Brolin was arrested for ‘public intoxication’ on New Year’s Eve 2013. The actor was released the next day, but he was reportedly spotted without his wedding ring. Friends close to the couple described the split as 'amicable but inevitable.'

Life after divorce

Despite the painful end to their marriage, both have found peace in their respective lives. Lane never remarried and instead focused on critically acclaimed roles in films such as Trumbo (2015), Inside Out (2015), and Let Him Go (2020). Meanwhile, Brolin found love again and married his former assistant, Kathryn Boyd, in 2016, with whom he shares two daughters. Now sober at 57 and with renewed control over his life, Brolin received praise for his recent role as ‘Archer’ in the 2025 film Weapons.

Diane Lane reflects on her punk legacy

Now 60, Diane Lane likes to keep her personal life mostly out of the media glare, which makes her recent reflections all the more refreshing. In an interview with Deadline, the three-time Golden Globe nominee remembered her punk legacy with Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (1982). Reflecting on her role in such a pivotal era of punk culture at just age 15, the actress shared:

“It was February of 1980 when we filmed that. So, just put that in your pipe and smoke it. I mean, it was very real to the times, just coming out of the 70s. So, punk was already there and getting only more so. But as a point in history, it’s lovely to say I was a part of it in whatever little way that I could be as a 15-year-old girl in the film industry.”

She may have played ‘Corinne Burns’, the rebellious teen who dared to stand out in a world of conformity, but in real life, Diane Lane has proven that strength, self-respect, and reinvention never go out of style.

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