Rachel Bilson Steps Out After Hayden Christensen Breakup

After 10 years of dating, Looper co-stars Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen break up for good

By Zach Johnson Sep 21, 2017 1:20 PMTags

There's no sense in hiding. Hours after E! News confirmed that Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen had recently called it quits after 10 years together, the 36-year-old Nashville star stepped out solo in L.A. Wednesday to go shopping at Sweet Williams children's clothing store.

The actress is living in L.A. full-time while her ex is now living in Toronto.

"Yes, they are officially done—within the last few weeks," one of Bilson's high school friends told E! News exclusively Wednesday. "It was a gradual buildup of issues and problems. They were in agreement it was time to move on as a couple. They have very different lifestyles and interests. Rachel is very social and likes to hang out with friends; Hayden is reclusive and off the grid. She accepted that for a long time, but sometimes it was a lot to handle. Hayden can get depressed and is extremely neurotic and it was bringing her down. She felt like she wanted something different and easier. She tried to make it work for years but just got tired of this being her life."

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Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen's Romance Rewind Reminds Us How Private (and in Love) They Once Were
Miguel Aguilar / JS / PacificCoastNews

The actors, who met on the set of the 2008 movie Jumper, got engaged in 2009. They briefly ended their romance in August 2010, only to reconcile three months later. Fiercely private, Bilson rarely wore her engagement ring in public after she reconciled with the Star Wars actor.

Bilson and Christensen welcomed a daughter in 2014. A year later, the 36-year-old dad raved about her in an E! News interview. "I have this little angel in my life now, and Rachel and I are so thrilled," Christensen gushed. "We don't sleep as much as we used to, but it's all so worth it."

It was so worth it, in fact, that the former couple was considering giving their daughter a sibling. But over the summer, Bilson told Lapalme nothing was set in stone. "I may have another child. That's still up in the air. I'm having so much fun with the one right now. I want to be happy and content. All the life B.S. that happens doesn't matter," the actress said. "You want to be happy, you want your kid to be happy and you want everyone in your life to be healthy and happy."

Part of being "happy and healthy" meant keeping their romance out of the public eye. And after her high-profile split with The O.C.'s Adam Brody, who could blame Bilson for wanting some privacy? "I'm a really good girlfriend—I always put all that first in my life. I'm definitely the person who would make [Christensen] his favorite dinner to come home to," Bilson told Cosmopolitan in 2013. "I love to cook, so we make dinner at home a lot and watch movies."