These 50 Best Paparazzi Photos From the 2000s Truly Feel Vintage
Living for Matthew McConaughey's beach yoga.
While the 2020s have given us many important paparazzi photos (Ben Affleck smoking under a mask, EmRata and Harry Styles sloppily making out next to a van, Shawmila's socially distant pap walks), truly nothing beats the early aughts when it comes to celebrity candids.
For starters, celebs were out and about way more—in Fred Segal, going on Jamba Juice runs, making out at public beaches. But also, there's no denying that paps didn't exactly have good boundaries and were just kinda...lurking everywhere? Truly, the typical paparazzi schedule appears to have been one of "no sleep, bus, club, another club, another club, plane, next place." And we have some iconic moments as a result! (But! Note: This roundup is full of fun pics vs. creepy ones.)
Check out 50 of the best paparazzi photos from the 2000s, featuring couples we absolutely forgot dated, several truly harrowing outfits, and at least one picture of Matthew McConaughey doing yoga on the beach. Because it just wouldn't be right to do a pap roundup without him, ya know? Feels wrong.
Kate Bosworth (2004)
Mostly including this so that society never forgets low-rise trouser shorts were a thing we lived through.
Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore (2007)
JUST IN CASE you forgot that these two dated were married.
Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow (2005)
Truly can't believe society endured an entire year of men wearing beanies like this.
Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner (2009)
Never forget that Taylor Swift's lyrics "You gave me roses and I left them there to die" are about this man.
Drew Barrymore and Justin Long (2008)
Before he started a full-time job writing 40,000 word Instagram captions about his love for Kate Bosworth.
Julia Roberts (2002)
Oh this? Just the casual DIY shirt worn when her boyfriend Danny Moder's estranged wife Vera wouldn't grant him a divorce.
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez (2002)
If you were a celeb in the early 2000s and weren't photographed wearing a Juicy Couture velour tracksuit on some random balcony, not sure what you were doing.
Meg Ryan (2000)
Meg Ryan just out here living life like it's an actual rom-com.
Debi Mazar, Madonna, and Gwyneth Paltrow (2001)
WILL NOT REST UNTIL SOMEONE EXPLAINS THIS FRIENDSHIP GROUP TO ME.
Katie Holmes and Chris Klein (2003)
Bootcut jeans. A wrinkled single-button blazer. That backwards newsboy cap. And a scarf I can only assume was stolen from my grandma's house.
It's all just working for me.
Mariah Carey (2001)
As a card-carrying member of Mariah's Lambily, I'm going to need this belt.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Gisele Bündchen (2000)
Briefly forgot these two dated and am now deep into a relationship history.
Elijah Wood (2002)
"One does not simply walk into Mordor" *takes drag of cigarette*
Cher (2002)
Wow, so me-in-2024-coded.
Kate Bosworth and Orlando Bloom (2005)
Choosing to ignore his facial hair choices because this pap walk is everything.
Lindsay Lohan (2005)
This one really speaks for itself.
Lenny Kravitz (2005)
"I don't know a better person" — Oprah / me, looking at this photo
Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow (2002)
Urgently need to know exactly what they were talking about.
Victoria Beckham and Katie Holmes (2006)
You just don't get pics of celebs shoe shopping in public anymore, ya know?
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