Thread by @pcd2009

this week ten years ago, kristen stewart was caught cheating on boyfriend robert pattinson with her "snow white and the huntsman" director rupert sanders:

the scandal erupted in late july when a paparazzi photographer who'd been tipped to follow stewart trailed the actress and the married father-of-two to a secret rendezvous in the hollywood hills:

according to the photog, stewart had been headed home from the gym when she got a call and changed course, arriving at a deserted building.

there, she met sanders and the two began to "paw" at each other in the actress' mini cooper.

"it seemed like they couldn't get enough."

occasionally looking out to make sure they weren't being watched, the lovers then headed to a desolate hiking trail where they continued to fool around.

when people would walk by, the two split into opposite directions before quickly reuniting.

and adding insult to injury, stewart donned pattinson's baseball cap during the hook-up:

"she was swept up in the moment," added the photog who, after realizing the goldmine he'd stumbled across, quickly called his agency for backup, and three more paparazzi crowded the scene.

later, stewart dropped off sanders a few blocks from his home and the two kissed goodbye.

within days, the snaps landed in the lap of us weekly, who reportedly secured the photos for a quarter-million dollars. notifying stewart's team of the story, the publication gave the actress a chance to come clean to pattinson before the pictures went to print:

stewart, who'd appeared happy with pattinson at the teen choice awards just a day earlier, reportedly broke the news to her boyfriend over the phone:

anticipating the looming us weekly story, the actress' team also hurriedly leaked news of the affair to people magazine in an effort to get out her side of the story first and soften the blow, minimizing the affair to a mere "fleeting moment" and "lapse in judgement":

but by the next day, the photos hit the internet and stewart apologized for her infidelity in a public statement:

"this momentary indiscretion has jeopardized the most important thing in my life, the person i love and respect the most, rob. i love him, i love him, i'm so sorry."

sanders followed suit, telling people magazine: "i am utterly distraught about the pain i have caused my family. my beautiful wife and heavenly children are all i have in this world. i love them with all my heart. i am praying that we can get through this together."

however for stewart, who for years had hedged on acknowledging her relationship with pattinson, the shockingly public declaration of love was too little too late.

by the end of the week, pattinson would ask stewart to move out of the couple's home in los feliz:

"i'm not sure they'll be able to recover from this," a source told people magazine. "[rob] is heartbroken and angry."

added us weekly, "he doesn't know if he should forgive her," the mag also claiming that he'd been "weeks" away from proposing to stewart before the scandal:

stewart's affair partner would also find a frosty reception at home, with sanders' wife, liberty ross, reportedly being blindsided by the news.

"it's really shocking," said an us weekly source. "she's been with rupert since she was 18. he's the only love she's known."

ross, a british model who'd given up her rising career to move to l.a. in support of sanders' filmmaking ambitions, had been open about the sacrifices she made in her marriage, telling a magazine just weeks before the scandal that she'd sometimes felt like a single mother:

"i would never say out loud that i'm raising my children alone," ross told a publication in june, "but a lot of the time it has felt like that."

though adding optimistically, "that's why everything feels so amazing now. we rode through the really hard times and we stuck it out."

ross had also been instrumental in stewart's casting for the role of "snow white," even playing her mother in the film.

"[kristen] was my number one choice," ross gushed at the film's london premiere. "she's got something very transfixing about her."

and just hours before the story hit the press, ross ominously shared several tweets hinting at the news, including a cryptic "WOW," and following the us weekly account.

on instagram, she made her feelings less opaque:

and in the days to follow, the model would continue to show no mercy, stepping out sans wedding ring and reportedly cutting off contact with her philandering husband.

"she's been focused just on her kids," reported people magazine. "it's what she cares about the most."

all the while sanders would continue to flash the symbol of his commitment... and attempt to dodge the paparazzi:

meanwhile, team stewart would continue its efforts to downplay the affair, with sources "close" to the actress telling outlets that she hadn't fooled around with sanders until after the movie's press tour had wrapped and that the relationship had never even been consummated:

"it's not a relationship," a source told the website gossip cop, and stewart's pal giovanni agnelli, who produced her 2010 film "welcome to the rileys," would also insist that things had stayed PG - though it's unclear how he'd know:

sanders' father michael echoed the brevity of the fling, telling a magazine: "it is all a lot of fuss about nothing ... it was just a welcome kiss."

"she is a very pretty girl and when you work that closely with someone for so long, sometimes things happen."

but subsequent reports would paint a more troubling picture, playing up the power dynamics between the lovers and alleging that sanders had been "infatuated" with his star actress and "chased" her for months.

"[stewart] never chased him, never pursued him."

ross' brother, leopold, would seemingly counter this narrative, reportedly telling a british tabloid that the affair had begun during the filming of "snow white" and lasted up until the last week, though later reports would insist ross' interview was a fake:

but soon after, stewart-friendly site gossip cop would quietly amend its initial report that the tryst was a one-time to acknowledge there'd been several hook-ups, and radar online reported that stewart had even spent time with sanders' daughter, taking her out for ice cream:

however the brazen nature and plentiful photos of the hook-up would cause others to speculate that something was amiss, and that perhaps the entire thing was a bizarre stunt orchestrated to help stewart shed her vampire-loving tween demographic:

devoted fans of stewart and pattinson's would especially cry foul, dismissing the entire story as bogus and insisting the photos were doctored, providing bizarre, arrow-ridden diagrams highlighting random body parts as proof:

unwavering in their allegiance to the on-and-off-screen couple they'd lovingly dubbed "robsten," fans retreated to a world of deluded fantasy, combatting each new tabloid story with an even more ludicrous conspiracy:

while some theorized the photos were part of a joaquin phoenix-style experiment to fool the media, others wondered whether stewart was even in her right mind during the tryst, suggesting (hoping) that she might've been drugged, or perhaps suffered from an undiagnosed brain tumor:

and hordes more would take to twitter, tumblr, and instagram with trending hashtags, including #WeHateUsWeekly, "We Believe in Robsten," "Robsten is Unbroken," and "Rupert's Fault":

and away from their computer screens, others permeated the real world with their fanaticism by initiating a ground offense, codename: "operation us weekly," to hide any and all copies of stewart's photographed infidelity from the public:

but perhaps no "twihard" would be more devastated over l'affaire stewart than one "nuttymadam," a prominent "twilight" fan and youtuber who would quickly eclipse the actress as the face of the scandal with a tear-ridden video similar in nature to 2007's "leave britney alone!":

and fans weren't alone in their fascination with the uncoupling - hollywood was quick to weigh in as well.

on twitter, lady gaga expressed her sympathy:

lisa ling took team rob:

kevin hart cut stewart some slack:

and "twilight" super-fan stevie nicks said been there, done that... "two or three times":

meanwhile, will ferrell did his best nuttymadam impression:

rupaul hopped on the conspiracy train:

madame tussauds adorned pattinson with a broken-hearted backdrop:

howard stern gave stewart his approval:

"she's 22 years old ... don't take her out in public and flog her; [sanders] is the guy in the marriage!"

brandi glanville saw shades of leann rimes:

stewart's "panic room" co-star jodie foster wrote an essay in her defense:

and d.b. sweeney, stewart's on-screen dad in 2004's "speak," called pattinson a "douche":

habitual 'other woman' lindsay lohan snuck in a diss:

emma watson wrote off the anti-stewart fury as pure jealousy:

"for these people, kristen deserves all the bad things that have been thrown at her because she had an amazing life and she ruined it."

and stewart and pattinson's los feliz neighbor, michelle branch, unexpectedly found herself in the center of a paparazzi war zone:

but as the world sifted through the wreckage of "robsten," the whereabouts of the power couple's principal players would remain a mystery.

in the days to follow us weekly's bombshell report, pattinson would be spotted everywhere from montreal to london:

but as it turned out, the actor had only barely strayed from l.a., seeking refuge at the ojai, california home of his pal and "water for elephants" co-star reese witherspoon:

heartbroken and humiliated, pattinson would become a recluse, per us weekly, ignoring calls from friends and colleagues and lurking celebrity gossip blogs as he tried to think back to what signs he might've missed:

"he's been questioning everything," said the magazine's source, adding that stewart's public apology had been an additional embarrassment for the private actor. "he's shocked she could hurt him and humiliate him this way."

but by mid-august pattinson would finally emerge to promote his latest film, david cronenberg's "cosmopolis," kicking off his press blitz with an awkward appearance on "the daily show."

"kick her to the curb," advised host jon stewart, who also offered pattinson some ice cream.

and the actor remained evasive in an appearance on "good morning america" the next day, dodging any questions about the scandal.

"i've never been interested in trying to sell my personal life."

stewart, however, would have even greater trouble moving on from the affair. splitting time between her parents' and her close pal scout taylor-compton's, the actress would find herself on the edge of a "total meltdown," according to us weekly.

"she knows she messed up big time," said an e! news source. added us weekly, "she isn't sleeping and she stays up all night crying."

subsisting on junk food, cigarettes, and red bull, stewart would reportedly spend her days pestering pattinson with apologetic texts and calls.

and as her estranged boyfriend began his own comeback tour, the actress would also reemerge, stepping out for the first time in late august in pattinson's hat and jewelry:

and soon returning to the red carpet as well, turning up at TIFF in early september to promote her flick "on the road":

asked about her inevitable reunion with pattinson to promote the fifth and final twilight film, "breaking dawn - part 2," stewart shut down any concerns.

"we're going to be fine."

and by october the two would seemingly move past the events of the summer, reuniting for quiet dates at the chateau marmont and kissing poolside at stewart's home:

"they have a very deep connection," reported us weekly, adding the two would keep things on the "down-low" for fear of backlash.

"they'll wait a few months, then announce they're getting back together."

but the reunion would be short-lived, and the following may the two split for good, with multiple reports alleging pattinson hadn't been able to get past stewart's infidelity.

"ultimately, it was like, 'either we move past this or we don't,'" said an us mag source.

meanwhile stewart's ex-lover sanders and wife liberty ross would find themselves in a similar position, despite months of couple's counseling, and the model would file for divorce that same year.

"they gave it a shot for the kids," said a source, "[but] she was just so angry."

in an interview with vanity fair later that year, ross, who'd rebound with music mogul jimmy iovine, would describe the ordeal as "horrible," though would later tell harper's bazaar that she'd moved on.

"i have no problem with anyone involved," she said in 2014.

for his part, pattinson would downplay the whole debacle, telling esquire in 2014, "shit happens."

"it's just young people… it's normal! and honestly, who gives a shit?"

but for stewart, the ramifications would be more serious, revealing to howard stern in 2019 that she'd been let go from the sequel to "snow white" over the scandal, and still maintaining years later that she and sanders never had sex:

and, perhaps, the scandal would have political ramifications as well:

i'll leave you all with a taiwanese animated retelling of events.

if you made it this far, thanks for accompanying me on this journey! i'd hoped to get this thread up a week ago but didn't have time until now.