# Celebrity divorce stories **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 13, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-divorce-stories/212987 "2003-11-13T06:32:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-divorce-stories/212987/1 "2003-11-13T06:32:05Z")
The current issue of _In Touch_ magazine has a feature about how various celebrity couples got together. The #1 way they feature is couples who met on set ("Hook up at work!). But there’s a little downside to the happiness. Of the seven couples they picture for this article, five of them involved at least one person who was already married at the time the new relationship started. The text of the article mentions another couple in the same situation. The magazine does mention these facts in passing, but the main emphasis is on the “romance” of the new relationship and “sparks” that flew between the couple. Now I’m not totally old-fashioned. I realize that marriages end and people get divorced. But I hardly think it’s the stuff of romance. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-divorce-stories/212987/2 "2003-11-13T11:25:43Z")
Especially if the ‘new couple’ crashes and burns in a few months, ala Meg Ryan and Russel Crowe. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-divorce-stories/212987/3 "2003-11-13T15:22:06Z")
Someone fight my ignorance here. Why are people interested in the love lives of these people? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-divorce-stories/212987/4 "2003-11-13T15:39:42Z")
Because we live, vicariously, through them. Duh! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-divorce-stories/212987/5 "2003-11-13T16:32:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Someone fight my ignorance here. Why are people interested in the love lives of these people? I never was. In fact, I sort of wonder why they bother marrying at all, when its perfectly obvious that most of them will be divorced 5 months from now. Hollywood: the land of true-love romance and quickie divorces. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-divorce-stories/212987/6 "2003-11-13T17:53:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Why are people interested in the love lives of these people? It’s a mystery. Like why people post in a thread on a subject they profess to have no interest in. My personal favorite was the coverage of Tom Cruise when he started dating Penelope Cruz. The usual editorial angle was handicapped by the fact that Cruise’s wife, Nicole Kidman, was a celebrity in her own right, so she couldn’t be ignored as usually happens with the discarded spouse. So one set of reporters would be gushing about Tom and his new love while another would be bemoaning Nicole’s tragedy, with both sides acting as if they were doing two unrelated stories. I do recall reading one article that was willing to acknowlege the reality of the situation. It posted a bitter quote from Kidman in which she complained about how quickly Cruise was announcing his engagement to Cruz after their seperation. The writer than went on to point out that Cruise had announced his engagement to Kidman in even less time after seperating from his first wife, Mimi Rodgers. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-divorce-stories/212987/7 "2003-11-13T18:33:30Z")
. . . I’m still all broken up about Doug and Mary . . . ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-divorce-stories/212987/8 "2003-11-13T21:09:49Z")
It is a mystery why people are facinated. But it is understandable how it happens. Go on location, away from your spouse. Spend twelve hours a day with someone. Have problems seperating yourself from your character. Your character’s romantic interest becomes your romantic interest…and of course, that scenario alone makes a poor foundation for a lasting relationship…so you go on location, away from your spouse… It is really a miracle as many celeb’s stay together for as long as they do. And love triangles are the stuff of romance. Wuthering Heights, Sense and Sensibility…come on. Without the triangle there is very little drama. (Eve, my mother still hasn’t forgiven Elizabeth Taylor for what she did to sweet Debbie Reynolds) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5ac83/32.png) [@The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mad_Hermit)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-divorce-stories/212987/9 "2003-11-13T23:33:38Z")
**Eve,** who are you referring to? I’ve always wondered how any spouse could stand a Hollywood love scene. Sometimes they have to spend all day in bed together, doing a scene over and over (for the director, of course); and there is all the time spent rehearsing, etc… It seems that some celebrities get interested in other actors working on a common project; and the interest is lost when a new project brings a new paramour. Of course, not everyone does this, but the ones who do get all the press. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-divorce-stories/212987/10 "2003-11-13T23:52:09Z")
_The_ Hollywood couple, [Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks](http://users.townsqr.com/ale/d_m&pp.htm). Can’t believe they split up . . . ---
**Author:** ![hanza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eb8c5e/32.png) [@hanza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hanza)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-divorce-stories/212987/11 "2003-11-14T00:06:00Z")
> [@](#): > > It is a mystery why people are facinated. Mystery my arse. Human beings are just fundamentally interested in humnan beings, especially when they do things that are - to outside observers at least- so obviously going to all end in tears. Lots of people love a good gossip, either about people they know, or celebritities, who are prime targets for gossip because even if you don’t have mutual friends with a person you can gossip about celebrities, plus they are good looking, which makes speculating about their kinky sex lives more pleasent than about, say, your bosses. Plus, they have massive egos that drive them to do incredibly stupid things. Like that J-Lo Chris Judd wedding fiasco- we all knew it was gonna last less time than a snowflake in a furnace, but still there it was, all those millions of dollars, the fancy smancy dress, ring etc. What was her motive? What did he get up of it? Were they ever really in love? Interesting questions all. I for one am not ashamed to say that a bit of celebraty gossip is a good and healthy thing. Reading the occassional copy National Enquirer is right up there at the top of my list of guilty pleasures, and yes I do have an interesting life of my own (er, despite what the ridiclous amount of time I spend around here might suggest to the contrary) ---
**Author:** ![hanza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eb8c5e/32.png) [@hanza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hanza)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-divorce-stories/212987/12 "2003-11-14T00:11:18Z")
O.K, I promise I did read that through, and I really thought I’d eliminated all the typos. It was the idea of celebrity kinky sex that was making me all sweaty, making my fingers slip off the keys and clouding my brain… ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-divorce-stories/212987/13 "2003-11-14T04:28:44Z")
I love how every time they get married again, _this_ time it’s going to be The One. [smirk] Who here was surprised when Liza’s latest broke up? Sorry to be mean, but some of these marriages just seem stupid, like so stupid that supposedly talented people should see the stupidity and not step into it. And splash us with it. Lord knows I never buy the tabloids, but I have to see this crap on CNN and Google News. I wish the Stars would get a clue and stop making such spectacles of themselves. Of course, that’s probably just the point. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-divorce-stories/212987/14 "2003-11-14T05:25:09Z")
One of the best known early Hollywood romances was Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. From [The Lauren Bacall Biography](http://members.rogers.com/kburnage/laurenbacall.html): > [@](#): > > Bogart, 20 years older than Bacall, was in an unhappy marriage. Bogart met the third Mrs. Bogart, Mayo Methot, during the filming of 1937’s ‘Marked Woman’. Ignoring word of Mayo’s drinking and explosive temper, and finally giving in to her constant attempts at procuring a proposal the two were married in August of 1938 just days after his divorce from his second wife Mary Phillips. This third marriage coined the nickname 'The Battling Bogart’s. Perhaps bestowed on the ‘happy couple’ when they got into an argument the day of the wedding, and spent that night apart. > > (snip) > > When he first met Bacall on the studio lot, Bogart advised her they were “going to have a lot of fun together.” Despite the initial animosity between their characters, the sparks quickly fly, and the two fall in love. Something the two co-stars did in real life despite their age difference, Bacall was 19 and Bogart was almost 44. They were soon driving in separate cars to secluded spots to hold hands, and write love letters to each other. > > (snip) > > ‘Bogie and Baby’ (Bogart’s nickname for Bacall) were soon back at their affair, and despite Mayo’s attempts to hang on to her famous husband the two were divorced on May 10th, 1945 after Mayo had gone to Reno for six months to allow the two to obtain a quickie divorce. ‘Bogie & Baby’ were married at Malabar Farm just eleven days later, while Mayo received a large cash settlement plus a Safeway store which Bogart had bought as an investment. And they stayed together until Bogie’s death in 1957. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-divorce-stories/212987/15 "2003-11-14T22:31:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by masonite \* > \*\*I love how every time they get married again, _this_ time it’s going to be The One. [smirk] > > Who here was surprised when Liza’s latest broke up? \*\* Jesus, I was sitting in my doctor’s waiting room shortly after Liza got married to that freak. Innocently flipping through a People magazine, there’s a two-page picture of Gest, Liza, Liz Taylor, and Michael Jackson. It was like the four finalists from a “who is the creepiest freak” contest. -Joe, still has nightmares