# Hollywood's low marriage success rate... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 25, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280 "2010-04-25T04:52:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/61 "2010-04-26T21:38:00Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Your brother is Larry King? 😃 I think my brother just likes wedding cake. Oddly, all of the eight women he married and divorced were, unlike my brother, fairly intelligent, college-educated. You’d think towards the end of the line, one of them might have thought, “Hmm…six marriages and six divorces…what’s wrong with this picture…” Seriously - at what point does someone hear about prior marriages and divorces and start to see a pattern developing - and then run like hell? ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/62 "2010-04-27T00:04:45Z")
BTW: [http://www.infidelityfacts.com/infidelity-statistics.html](http://www.infidelityfacts.com/infidelity-statistics.html) > [@](#): > > Percentage of marriages that end in divorce in America: 53% > > Percentage of “arranged marriages” (where parents pick their sons or daughters spouses) that end in divorce: 3% ---
**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:** [April 27, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/63 "2010-04-27T00:08:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Courtney Cox-Arquette has been married since 1999. > [@](#): > > Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn have been married longer than that. I wasn’t using her as an example of a particularly long marriage. GreenBean had asked for examples of actresses who changed their names after getting married and did not subsequently get divorced. ---
**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:** [April 27, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/64 "2010-04-27T00:15:17Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > I heard she changed her name back to just “Cox.” It’s only been 10 years, but a good counterexample nevertheless. Yes, it appears you’re right. Checking on IMDB it seems she went back to just Cox after _Friends_ ended. Which makes it sound like she was having an affair with Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/65 "2010-04-27T00:47:45Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > BTW: > [http://www.infidelityfacts.com/infidelity-statistics.html](http://www.infidelityfacts.com/infidelity-statistics.html) The arranged marriage thing probably has to do with the fact that people that will remain faithful enough to their culture to stick with arranged marriages are also likely to continue to remain faithful to their culture after the marriage. Unlike, say, being “in love,” the reason they got married never evaporates. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/66 "2010-04-27T03:37:05Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I wasn’t using her as an example of a particularly long marriage. GreenBean had asked for examples of actresses who changed their names after getting married and did not subsequently get divorced. Yes, I was just shocked to realize that Woody and his daughter have been married so long, and your post made a useful point of comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/67 "2010-04-27T03:51:43Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > For example, my idiot younger brother has been married and divorced EIGHT times! (Really!) So just using him as an example, he has screwed up the statistics for at least 7 other couples. Sounds like hes screwed more than statistics. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/68 "2010-04-27T06:20:24Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The arranged marriage thing probably has to do with the fact that people that will remain faithful enough to their culture to stick with arranged marriages are also likely to continue to remain faithful to their culture after the marriage. Unlike, say, being “in love,” the reason they got married never evaporates. This. I am sure that it happens elsewhere, but everyone I know who is in an arranged marriage is Indian. (I want to say something about Indian arranged marriages here, which I think a lot of non-Indians may not be clear on: the bride and groom do have the final say on whether or not they get married. It’s not like they’re being forced to marry against their will. It’s more like, the parents are obligated to find their children a spouse and they go out and find their kids options and help them make a decision. My Indian friends were very surprised to find out that my parents are not taking an active role in finding me a husband.) And divorce is still quite taboo in India, even in the most forward-thinking and modern circles. ---
**Author:** ![vitalle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f05b48/32.png) [@vitalle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vitalle)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/69 "2010-04-30T15:10:33Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > BTW: > [http://www.infidelityfacts.com/infidelity-statistics.html](http://www.infidelityfacts.com/infidelity-statistics.html) Because people who have arranged marriages tend to not believe in divorce? I’m thinking of religious examples in particular. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/70 "2010-04-30T18:37:49Z")
James Cagney was married to his wife Frances Willard “Billie” Vernon from 1922 to his death in 1986. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/71 "2010-04-30T19:51:25Z")
Actor William Schallert, who has been in about 500 TV shows (“Patty Duke” as the father, “The Trouble with Tribbles” episode of Star Trek TOS) has been married to Rosemary Waggner since 1949. The former head of the Screen Actor’s Guild is still working in such shows as “Desperate Housewives” and the HBO movie “Recount”. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/72 "2010-05-01T04:00:25Z")
George Burns and Gracie Allen, married 38 years at her death. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/73 "2010-05-12T03:26:44Z")
Hopefully this doesn’t qualify as a zombie thread yet but I just read about another long lasting celebrity marriage. Michael Palin and Helen Gibbins have been married since 1966. ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/74 "2010-05-12T06:30:26Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > Henny Youngman & Sadie Cohen: 59 After 59 years, did somebody finally take her? ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/75 "2010-05-12T09:22:34Z")
Long story short: “divorce rate” is simply the number of divorces divided by the number of marriages. Currently, in the US, the average is ~48% (France is #1 with a 50% divorce rate.) My guess would be that Hollywood divorces get reported more often than other divorces, just like how famous people being pregnant seems to happen more often than to say scientists. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/76 "2010-05-12T23:18:34Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Long story short: “divorce rate” is simply the number of divorces divided by the number of marriages. Currently, in the US, the average is ~48% (France is #1 with a 50% divorce rate.) > > My guess would be that Hollywood divorces get reported more often than other divorces, just like how famous people being pregnant seems to happen more often than to say scientists. No I think Hollywood’s divorce rate is higher than average… to make it easier I think we should just look at millionaire actors/actresses… Maybe these are millionaires: > **[Patrick Swayze](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_swayze)** > > Patrick Wayne Swayze (/ˈsweɪzi/ SWAY-zee; August 18, 1952 – September 14, 2009) was an American actor, singer-songwriter and dancer. Known for his romantic, tough, and comedic roles in blockbusters and cult films, Swayze was nominated for three Golden Globes and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1997. > Swayze received recognition for acting in the drama film The Outsiders (1983), the action film Red Dawn (1984), and the miniseries North and South (1985–1986). His breakthrough cam... > **[Christopher Reeve](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_reeve)** > > Christopher D'Olier Reeve (September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American actor, activist, director, and author. He amassed several stage and screen credits in his 34-year career, including playing the title character in the Superman film series (1978–1987). He won a British Academy Film Award, an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He was also known for his activism. > Born in New York City and raised in Princeton, New Jersey, Reeve discovered a passion for actin... > **[Michael J. Fox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J_Fox)** > > Michael Andrew Fox (born June 9, 1961), known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian and American actor and activist. Beginning his career as a child actor in the 1970s, he rose to prominence portraying Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom Family Ties (1982–1989) and Marty McFly in the Back to the Future film trilogy (1985–1990). Fox went on to star in films such as Teen Wolf (1985), The Secret of My Success (1987), Casualties of War (1989), Doc Hollywood (1991) and The Frighteners (1996... > **[Adam Sandler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Sandler)** > > Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and singer-songwriter. Primarily a comedic leading actor in films, his accolades include an Independent Spirit Award, alongside nominations for three Grammy Awards, seven Primetime Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2023, Sandler was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. > Sandler was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 19... > **[Jerry Seinfeld](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Seinfeld)** > > Jerome Allen Seinfeld (/ˈsaɪnfɛld/ SYNE-feld; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, filmmaker, and television producer specializing in observational comedy. Seinfeld gained stardom playing a fictionalized version of himself in the NBC sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998), which he co-created and wrote with Larry David. Seinfeld earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy in 1995. The show is one of the most acclaimed and popular sitco... > **[Arnold Schwarzenegger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schwarzenegger)** > > Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger\[b\] (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. He served as the 38th governor of California from 2003 to 2011. > Schwarzenegger began lifting weights at age 15 and won the Mr. Universe title aged 20, and subsequently the Mr. Olympia title seven times. He is tied with Phil Heath for the joint-second number of all-time Mr. Olympia wins, be... > **[John Travolta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Travolta)** > > John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. His accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award and three Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. > Travolta came to prominence starring in the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979), followed by a supporting performance in Carrie (1976) and then leadi... > **[Russell Crowe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_crowe)** > > Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor and film director. His work on screen has earned him various accolades, including an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a British Academy Film Award. Known for his intense performances, his films have grossed over $5.3 billion worldwide. > Crowe was born in New Zealand, moving to Australia at the age of four and residing there permanently by the age of 21. He began acting in Australia and had his break-out role in Romper Stomper (1992)... Maybe a couple more… But as far as divorced millionaires(?) go, there is Jim Carrey Julia Roberts Tom Hanks Brad Pitt Angelina Jolie Sharon Stone Anthony Hopkins Jennifer Lopez Will Smith Demi Moore Bruce Willis Mel Gibson George Clooney So anyway I think the divorce rate is more than 50%… (there are more divorced actors/actresses than non-divorced…) and there are part-actors/actresses… e.g. Britney Spears, Eminem, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/77 "2010-05-13T00:05:54Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > So anyway I think the divorce rate is more than 50%… (there are more divorced actors/actresses than non-divorced…) and there are part-actors/actresses… e.g. Britney Spears, Eminem, etc. [There are 120,000 members of SAG.](http://www.sag.org/content/membership) ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/78 "2010-05-13T00:33:08Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > Some long-lasting ones: > > Larry Hagman & Maj Axelsson: 55 and counting I am glad to hear he is alive. For some reason there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that he had died from liver disease in the 90’s ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/79 "2010-05-13T02:05:09Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > [There are 120,000 members of SAG.](http://www.sag.org/content/membership) By Hollywood I meant the Hollywood royalty… the big stars… ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/80 "2010-05-13T02:59:14Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > By Hollywood I meant the Hollywood royalty… the big stars… If your definition is “actors I’ve heard of,” then yes, your thesis is definitely correct. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280.md?page=5)