He is a celebrated actor and director, best known for his leading role as Patrick Jane on the CBS drama series The Mentalist.

And away from the camera, Simon Baker's love life has been just as colourful as his bustling career. 

From dating a girl younger than his daughter to being linked to a Real Housewives of Sydney star his love life has been anything but straightforward.

Earlier this month, the actor, 56, sparked romance rumours with his Scarpetta co-star Nicole Kidman, 58, after they were seen holding hands at the show's New York premiere. 

It's said to have 'shocked and confused' Simon's ex-wife Rebecca Rigg, who has been close friends with Nicole for more than 40 years.

Yet while Simon's latest 'romance' might be turning heads, it is only the surface of a story filled with twists and turns. 

In 2017, The Real Housewives of Sydney star Melissa Tkautz revealed she had an on-and-off relationship with Simon in 1991.

Speaking to Nova FM's Fitzy and Wippa, the Read My Lips singer said she gave Simon his big acting break by introducing him to the creator of E Street, who later gave him a small part on the soap series.

The two met on the set of Melissa's video clip for Read My Lips in 1991, where Simon appears as a greased-up boxer.

The model and the pop singer then saw each other romantically 'on and off for a year and a half'.

'I dated Simon,' she said. 'I was infatuated with him, he was gorgeous.'

Melissa also claimed to have given the then-struggling actor a leg up in his career, telling Nova she introduced Simon to the creator of popular soap E Street, on which she also starred.

'I introduced him to Forrest Redlich, and he put him on,' she revealed to the radio hosts.

Simon went on to marry actress Rebecca in 1998 and achieve breakout international success in US TV series The Guardian and The Mentalist.

Rebecca, 58, and Simon first crossed paths on a blind date in 1991, and brought their romance to the screen as co-stars in the 90s soap E Street.

The actor previously opened up to People about his marriage, explaining why he and Rigg never celebrated their wedding anniversary.

'We've never really been big on it. Anniversaries, they're an odd thing, aren't they?' he said in 2018. 

'Most of the time, 99 per cent of the time, we're really great friends.'

After seven years together, they tied the knot and remained together for 22 years before splitting quietly in 2020.

They share three children: Stella, 32, Claude, 27, and Harry, 24. 

They publicly confirmed their divorce in January 2021, telling People: 'We remain close as friends and our three children will always be the most important focus of our lives.'

But according to Fox News, they actually separated nine months earlier.

Simon also put his family home in the leafy Californian enclave of Santa Monica on the market for for $6.3million.

Following their split, Simon quickly went on to date active-wear designer Laura Gibbs, 41.

They first sparked relationship rumours when they were spotted frolicking in the waves of Australia's Byron Bay together in March 2021.

The pair are said to have met in Byron, where Laura's sustainable fashion design studio is based near his farm in Nashua.

In November that year, Laura joined hundreds of anti-vaxxers at a rally to protest Australia's Covid-19 vaccine mandates.

The protest was part of a series of rallies across the country against mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for certain industries and occupations.

'For those that couldn't attend a gathering in your area I will share some of the speeches from people in our community standing up for everyone's freedom,' she wrote next to a video of a heaving crowd of protesters.

Following the protest, a spokesperson for The Mentalist actor told Daily Mail Australia that he and Laura quietly parted ways.

In 2022, Simon was revealed to be dating a much younger woman, girlfriend Bridgette Clark - who is 25 years his junior.

The north Bondi local is a few months younger than Simon's daughter, Stella, who turned 31 in August 2024.

She originally hails from Melbourne and is a popular fashion and lifestyle photographer.

She is also the co-founder and creative director of Terry, a resort-wear label inspired by 'European summers and 70s poolside attire'.

The pair dated on and off and were last seen together in June as they moved furniture into Simon's van at his home in Tamarama in Sydney's east.

They were thought to have been going strong until romance rumours began to swirl between Simon and Nicole.

Nicole and Simon, who play a married couple in the new Amazon Prime series Scarpetta, were seen holding hands and beaming together earlier this month at the show's New York premiere.

At the event, Nicole admitted that their chemistry 'just vibrates', while Simon, 56, cheekily added: 'I don't kiss and tell.'

On Wednesday, the pair fulled dating rumours after sharing a flirty video online.

The Aussie actors were featured in a clip, uploaded by Amazon MGM Studios, with their Scarpetta co-stars Jamie-Lee Curtis and Bobby Cannavale.

Nicole stood very close to Simon, with her hand flirtatiously resting on his shoulder.

When Jamie-Lee made the season two announcement, Nicole let out an excited 'woo' and did a little dance, turning to face Simon.

The Mentalist actor then gave Nicole a cheeky smile and a sly raised eyebrow as she continued to express her excitement.

Now, it has been reported that Simon's ex wife Rebecca, who is a childhood friend of Nicole's after growing up in the same area of Sydney, is 'shocked and confused' about the romance rumours.

'She loves Nicole like a sister, they've been through so much over the years so it's extremely shocking for her to get her head round this,' an insider told New Idea.

The source added that Rebecca was said to be unhappy that neither Nicole, nor Simon had reached out to her regarding the wild speculation after the pair held hands on the red carpet at their Scarpetta premiere.

'Rebecca is totally in the dark about Nicole and Simon's current status. A lot of their mutual friends assume their hand-holding was a cheesy stunt for the show,' they said.

'But the way they're evading questions about their status and then spending all this cosy time together is giving a lot more validity (to the rumours).

'They (Simon and Rebecca) split many years ago. They're still co-raising their kids and pride themselves on having a totally transparent relationship. For Nicole to act all coy is really breaking the girl code.'

Nicole is also the godmother of one of Rebecca and Simon's daughters, The Republic of Sarah actress, Stella.

Meanwhile, Nicole's ex-husband Keith Urban is said to be devastated by her rumoured romance, given how quickly she appears to be moving on from their separation last year.

'Seeing Nicole and Simon holding hands was the equivalent of seeing his best mate with his missus, and it did a number on him,' an insider told this week's Woman's Day magazine.

'He knew it was natural for her to lean on Simon – he was also there for Naomi Watts after her split from Liev [Schreiber].'

The source added that Keith was seriously hoping that Nicole and Simon were just having fun for the cameras, as a genuine romance between them would devastate him.

'Keith is hoping they're just hamming it up for headlines. But even then it feels to him like it's a betrayal because both Nicole and Simon know how much even the hint of a romance between them will hurt him,' they said.

'He already suspected they were getting close while filming. This has become his worst nightmare.'