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From Bennifer to The Carters, sometimes spinning the block was the plot twist certain love stories needed.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images; Mark Mainz/Getty Images; Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET
There are pros and cons when it comes to spinning the block. On one hand, you and your ex could’ve been the result of “right person, wrong time.” So, after some personal growth and a nudge from the universe, rekindling an old flame could lead to a forever love. It could also end up being a complete waste of time.
For some celebrity couples, time apart led them to now being blissfully in love. Just take Ashanti and Nelly, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, or Sterling K. Brown and Ryan Michelle Bathe as a few examples.
Other couples separated and tried to work it out (Cardi B and Offset; Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck), but their spin-the-block flame fizzled out.
Here, we spotlight 12 instances when spinning the block worked… even if it was temporary.
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Beyoncé & Jay-Z
Image Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images The details of Jay-Z and Beyoncé‘s alleged (albeit temporary) split are murky because the Carters are notoriously private.
We know things were rocky between them at some point because it’s what tied together Lemonade (2016) and 4:44 (2017). They also addressed their issues on “LOVEHAPPY” on their 2018 joint album, EVERYTHING IS LOVE.
Hov rapped, “Y’all know how I met her, we broke up and got back together/ To get her back, I had to sweat her/ Y’all could make up with a bag, I had to change the weather (Uh)/ Move the whole family West, but it’s whatever.”
On the chorus, Bey continued to allude to how bad things were. “You did some things to me/ Boy, you do some things to me,” she sang before noting, “The ups and downs are worth it/ Long way to go, but we’re workin’/ We’re flawed, but we’re still perfect for each other.”
Since then, the two have maintained a united front with him being front row on both her RENAISSANCE and COWBOY CARTER world tours and even popping out for a performance or two.
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Sterling K. Brown & Ryan Michelle Bathe
Image Credit: Jesse Grant/Variety via Getty Images The veteran actors met while attending Stanford University. Bathe told Parade, “I saw his audition for ‘Joe Turner’s Come and Gone’ and I was riveted. I had never seen anybody so young do what he was doing. I was floored. And that’s my first memory of Sterling.”
They were on and off throughout college and officially broke up after graduating in 1998. According to Brown, they’d been apart for “three and a half years before we came back into each other’s lives.”
He spoke about how the work he put in to win her over on The Talk in 2017. “She was on the treadmill working out, and I had this epiphany, ‘I have to go tell this woman she’s the love of my life,’” he recalled. “I go to her apartment, I tell her, and she’s like, ‘Well, I’m working out right now,’ and I was like, ‘No, I can see that— I’ll just talk to you while you’re on the treadmill,’ and she said, ‘Well, I feel like going outside. So I’m gonna go on a run.’ So I’m like, dressed [in a suit], and she starts running through Koreatown, and I start running along with her. Brother had to work, but it was well worth it.”
They eloped in 2006 and now have two sons: Andrew and Amaré.
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Ashanti & Nelly
Image Credit: Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for NO ADDRESS MOVIE Ashanti and Nelly are the current epitome of a successful “spin the block.“
The two met in 2003 and dated on and off for a decade. They reunited 20 years after first meeting, got married, and welcomed their first child together.
“Never in a million years did I think we would be here,” Ashanti said in an ET interview when gushing about Nelly’s proposal. “Ten years ago — maybe yes — but after our breakup, you know, I didn’t even think we’d ever have a conversation again.”
The singer confessed to having an honest chat with herself about her feelings for Nelly after the two reconnected in 2021, after the Fat Joe-Ja Rule VERZUZ. “I had to really, like, be real with myself, like, do I have feelings for him again? Like what’s going on? Because [the feelings] were out, you know what I mean. They were gone,” she explained, adding, “I was literally surprised that they were there.”
The two have discussed having more children as long as the rapper can hire a “professional chaser.”
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Gabrielle Union & Dwyane Wade
Image Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade met in February 2007 at a Super Bowl party. Of that initial interaction, Union told Glamour in 2014, “When I met Dwyane, his résumé looked like ****: athlete, going through a divorce, nine years younger than me. None of that screamed, ‘Let’s have a lasting relationship.’”
They started dating in 2009, but didn’t go public with their relationship until 2010. They broke up in early 2013 due to “distance and scheduling.” During their break, he fathered a son, Xavier, with Basketball Wives star, Aja Metoyerin. By that December, Wade and Union were back together, and he proposed with the help of his children.
They tied the knot in August 2014. They welcomed their first child together, daughter Kaavia James, via surrogate in November 2018. Their marriage has had its ups and downs, with the couple describing their ninth year of marriage as “so hard.” Yet, for the recent anniversary, Union gushed, “This love feels like the best sleepover we get to call home.”
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Ryan Destiny & Keith Powers
Image Credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for ELLE The blossoming Hollywood stars first met in 2015 at a Teen Vogue party. They didn’t go public with their ultra-private romance until 2019, though.
“I just remember us for a long time not wanting to go public with it,” said the Star actress to MadameNoire in 2020. “We were like, ‘We don’t really feel like having a lot of opinions thrown at us.’ One day, we just kinda wanted to post a picture with us, and it naturally happened, and we were like, ‘Okay, so we’re doing this.’”
In January 2022, a source confirmed to PEOPLE that Ryan and Keith had split up after four years together. The source explained, “They’re taking time to focus on themselves and their emerging careers but are remaining close friends.”
Fast forward to December 2024, Ryan described their split as a “bump in the road,” and she confirmed in February 2025 that they were back together. In October of the same year, the couple announced their engagement.
Keith told Essence that he’d been planning the proposal for 18 months and asked for her hand in marriage over an intimate candlelit dinner at a beachside hotel in California. “I never questioned God’s timing,” he explained.
Ryan gushed to the outlet, “You imagine this moment in your head for so long, so when it actually happens, it almost feels out of body. But I think I was mostly present. In bliss, but present. Like, could not stop smiling.”
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Eva Marcille & Michael Sterling
Image Credit: Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET Eva Marcille and Michael Sterling sort of met because of Kevin Hart.
She explained on The Wendy Williams Show that she was in Atlanta filming and was wooed by a friend of hers who said she’d gift the model tickets to one of Hart’s comedy shows if she was her guest at a fundraiser for the Mayor’s Youth Scholarship Fund.
She described Sterling as a “shiny, new penny,” and after a few dates, they were both smitten with each other. They wed in October 2018 and had two sons together: Michael Jr. and Maverick. She has a daughter, Marley Rae, with ex Kevin McCall.
Marcille filed for divorce from Sterling in March 2023, claiming their marriage was “irretrievably broken.”
However, the couple “soft launched” their reconciliation this past July during ESSENCE Fest 2025. It’s not confirmed if they’ve gotten remarried, but the model-actress gushed on Instagram, “This is my baby! TIL death!”
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Justin & Hailey Bieber
Image Credit: Theo Wargo/Getty Images Justin Bieber and his now-wife, Hailey, had been denying rumors about their romantic relationship since 2014 before confirming their partnership after a kiss on New Year’s Eve in 2015. They had a very dramatic breakup in 2016, but reunited by June 2018 and wed that same year.
In 2020, Hailey gushed about their relationship in one of Justin’s docuseries. The Rhode founder stated, “He was the first person I ever had real feelings for. When things kind of went south for a little bit and we went our separate ways, I just knew that no matter what the outcome was going to be, he was going to be somebody that I loved for the rest of my life. No matter what, he was always going to hold a special place in my heart.”
They welcomed their first child, a son named Jack Blues, in August 2024.
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Winnie Harlow & Kyle Kuzma
Image Credit: Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for DraftKings Winnie Harlow and Kyle Kuzma started dating in April 2020 and she even moved to Los Angeles to be with him. Following their first dating anniversary, they reportedly split, but got back together a few months later.
The couple remained solid after she jokingly swerved Usher’s serenade in July 2023 and Kuzma proposed as of February 2025.
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Jennifer Lopez & Ben Affleck
Image Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for ELLE Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck were assumed to be endgame when they got married 20 years after first meeting.
They met in 2002 and got engaged that same year, but called things off by January 2004. They reunited romantically in 2021 and wed in July 2022 after a two-month engagement. Yet, by August 2024, he’d moved out of their shared home, and she filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. The split was finalized in January 2025.
Despite their once whirlwind romance, the two aren’t looking to get back together, but remain in a “really good place.” With these two, it seemed good until it wasn’t.
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Cardi B & Offset
Image Credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy Cardi B and Offset had one of the rockiest relationships in Hip-Hop history.
The two first sparked romance rumors in early 2017 and secretly wed that September. Throughout their marriage, infidelity played a major factor in her filing for divorce more than once. After giving birth to their eldest daughter, Kulture, in July 2018, Cardi announced in December that she and Offset had separated. They’d worked things out by the top of 2019, but when she filed for divorce in September 2020, she blamed it on his cheating. The divorce was called off two months later, and the following year, they welcomed their son, Wave.
However, the rollercoaster came to an end in August 2024 when Cardi announced she was pregnant with their third child— daughter Blossom— and planned to divorce him for good. She’s now about to be a proud mother of four and is currently pregnant by her boyfriend, Stefon Diggs.
Her and Offset’s divorce isn’t finalized because, according to Cardi, he’s allegedly holding her “hostage financially.”
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Miguel & Nazanin Mandi
Image Credit: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images Miguel and Nazanin Mandi were together for a decade before getting engaged in 2016. They wed in November 2018, but separated in September 2021.
They worked things out and reunited in February 2022. However, the rekindling was short-lived, and Nazanin filed for divorce that October.
Since their split, she has been thriving as a life coach and is pivoting into a new career as an actress. Meanwhile, he recently revealed that he welcomed a son with Margaret Zhang, the youngest editor-in-chief in Vogue history, in September 2024.
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Jhené Aiko & Big Sean
Image Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Christian Dior Jhené Aiko and Big Sean first announced they were a couple in June 2016 after years of speculation and friendship. Over the past decade, she’s called him the “love of [her] life” and even tattooed his face. Their rollercoaster romance may not have always made sense to others, but it’s resulted in the birth of their son, Noah.
The two, however, have confirmed they aren’t married. In August 2024, Sean said on Charlamagne tha God’s Out Of Context podcast, “Just like any people who have dealt with love, we’ve had our ups and downs, you know what I’m saying? And I think it’s still finding the right navigation through it all.”
He is open to getting married, but admitted that “there’s a lot of work that needs to be done [on both sides]” while noting, “[Marriage] is something that I feel like has not been the main focus [of their relationship].”
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12 Times Spinning The Block Succeeded (Even Temporarily)
Spinning the block is a phrase often used to describe a scenario where someone returns to a previous romantic partner or relationship after a separation or breakup. While many caution against this move, citing emotional instability and trust issues, there are notable instances where spinning the block actually succeeded, at least for a while. These cases show how rekindling old flames can yield temporary happiness, lessons, and even renewed commitment, despite common skepticism.
What Does Spinning The Block Mean?
Before diving into examples, it’s crucial to understand the concept of spinning the block:
- Origin: Originally a slang term for circling back to an ex or former partner.
- Context: Used mostly in dating and relationships but also applies to revisiting old friendships or situations.
- Connotation: Mixed – often seen as a sign of desperation or second chances.
12 Real-Life examples Where Spinning The Block Worked (Temporarily)
| # | Scenario | Why It Worked Temporarily | Lesson Learned |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Young Couple Rekindling Post-College Breakup | Both partners matured, gained outlook, and communicated better. | Growth and maturity improve chances, even if only temporary. |
| 2 | Long-Distance Separation Reunited | Geographical barriers removed, reignited old feelings. | External factors like distance affected the initial breakup. |
| 3 | Previously Incompatible Priorities Aligned | Changed life goals and shared interests brought compatibility. | Timing is vital in relationships. |
| 4 | Post-Divorce Co-parenting Relationship | Reconnected for children’s sake and rediscovered friendship. | Shared commitments can foster renewed connection. |
| 5 | Couple Rekindled After Career Breaks | Newfound stability and confidence reignited attraction. | Personal growth fuels relationship success. |
| 6 | Mutual Friends Encouraged Reconciling | third-party validation and social support helped reconciliation. | Community can play a powerful role in healing. |
| 7 | Temporary Rebound Led to Real Reconciliation | Initial rebound feelings grew into genuine care. | Sometimes, rebounds highlight real, unresolved feelings. |
| 8 | Couple Overcame Past Mistakes With Counseling | Professional guidance improved dialogue and trust. | Support systems enhance chances of accomplished returns. |
| 9 | Financial Stability Created New Opportunities | Less financial stress led to healthier interactions. | Stress factors impact relationship quality. |
| 10 | Reunion After Long Periods of Self-Revelation | Both partners changed individually but found new common ground. | Time apart can heal wounds and clarify desires. |
| 11 | Romantic Gesture Triggered Temporary Reunion | A heartfelt apology or grand gesture opened doors. | Emotional vulnerability is key to breaking barriers. |
| 12 | Temporary Convenience Led to Real Affection | Spending time together reignited genuine feelings. | Practical proximity sometimes sparks emotional reawakening. |
Psychological Benefits of Spinning The Block Successfully
Even when temporary, spinning the block can serve important emotional and psychological functions:
- Closure: Helps both parties finalize feelings and resolve unfinished business.
- Self-awareness: Encourages reflection on what actually went wrong and personal growth.
- Renewed Trust: Offers a chance to rebuild trust with lessons learned.
- Positive Memories: Rediscovering shared joy can improve mood and hope.
- Improved communication: Reattempts often lead to healthier dialogue.
Practical Tips For Spinning The Block Successfully
To turn spinning the block into a success, even if temporary, follow these actionable tips:
- Assess readiness: Both individuals need genuine willingness to change past dynamics.
- Set Clear Boundaries: Avoid falling into unhealthy cycles by knowing limits.
- Communicate Openly: Transparency is key to avoid misunderstandings.
- Seek Support: Counseling or trusted friends can provide valuable perspective.
- Take It Slow: Don’t rush back; allow gradual rebuilding.
- Address Past Issues: Consciously work through old conflicts instead of ignoring them.
- Focus on Growth: Prioritize individual and relational improvement.
Case Studies: Spinning The Block Success Stories
Case Study 1: Sarah & James – College Sweethearts Reunion
After a messy breakup during college, sarah and James went seperate ways to focus on their careers.Five years later,a chance encounter at a mutual friend’s event led them to reconnect. Both had matured emotionally and developed better communication skills. They started dating again, finding that their previous issues were manageable now. Though eventually they went their separate ways, the temporary reunion brought them happiness and valuable lessons about timing and growth.
Case Study 2: Maria & Luis – Overcoming Long-Distance
Maria and Luis ended their relationship due to the stress of long-distance challenges. When Luis relocated closer, they agreed to give it another try. The physical proximity allowed daily interaction and revived their connection, lasting several months before lifestyle differences resurfaced.Despite the outcome, the experience deepened their understanding of love and boundaries.
Case Study 3: Anna & Derek – Professional Help Makes a Difference
Divorced for two years, Anna and Derek still shared co-parenting duties. They reconnected not romantically at first,but decided to try counseling to improve their communication. The sessions helped rebuild trust and opened doors to explore their relationship anew.Their reunion lasted over six months, marking a meaningful chapter of growth despite the temporary nature.
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