# Why do celebrity marriages never seem to last? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 27, 2002, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005 "2002-11-27T00:49:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/1 "2002-11-27T00:49:27Z")
Nicholas Cage and Lisa Marie Presly split up after 3 months! And on top of that this was Presley’s third marriage and Cage’s second. What the heck? ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/2 "2002-11-27T01:17:41Z")
Paul Neuman and Joanne Woodard have been married for nearly 50 years. Happily. ---
**Author:** ![roadrunner70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@roadrunner70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roadrunner70)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/3 "2002-11-27T01:34:41Z")
Well, it’s kinda like two mules fighting over a turnip. Who gives a sh\*t? But we can all rest assured that the J. Lo/Ben Afflicted marriage will be a winner. So there. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Conceivable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@In\_Conceivable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Conceivable)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/4 "2002-11-27T01:39:28Z")
And if J. Lo and Ben don’t make it at least we know that Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton have true love… What? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/5 "2002-11-27T02:23:30Z")
Look, MAYBE quick divorces are more common among celebs than among ordinary folks, but that’s by no means obvious. First, bear in mind that the divorce rate is mighty high among the population at large! While the oft-quoted rate of 50% is undoubtedly too high, the fact remains, divorce is extremely common in ALL walks of life, not just in show biz. Moreover, celebrity splits get a LOT more press attention than long, successful marriages. Entertainment Tonight never spends much time on Mel Gibson’s long (seemingly), successful marriage, simply because there’s nothing exciting about a normal bourgeois family. You never see A.J. Benza doing probing documentaries about Jimmy Stewart’s long, happy marriage to Gloria, simply because there’s not a lot of dirt to dig up. So, while there ARE some major flakes in show biz who marry other flakes and end up divorced in no time flat, you shouldn’t be too quick to deem them the norm, even in Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/6 "2002-11-27T02:32:54Z")
What **astorian** said. You only hear about the bad ones. When you read about celebrity divorces, you tend to forget just how many celebrities there actually are. The sample of divorcees you see is probably not as big as you think when compared to the entire number of celebrities. However, if there really are an inordinate number of divorces among celebrities, it might have to do with the fact that many of these people became famous by putting their carreers before everything else. (This is not to criticize them by any means…just to point it out.) I think it must make it difficult to maintain a working marriage if it is not your top priority. Celebrities are just as fucked up and tired as the rest of us. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/7 "2002-11-27T03:24:50Z")
In another thread, someone points out that some celebrities use brief marriages as publicity stunts. The Michael Jackson/Lisa Marie Presley “marriage” comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/8 "2002-11-27T03:50:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diceman \* > \*\*In another thread, someone points out that some celebrities use brief marriages as publicity stunts. The Michael Jackson/Lisa Marie Presley “marriage” comes to mind. \*\* Yeah, what was the deal with that, anyway? Did the whole story ever come out? Maybe it’s overly cruel of me to assume that Michael Jackson is not really capable of a healthy relationship, but I just could never imagine that that whole thing was for real. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/9 "2002-11-27T04:01:10Z")
Gregory Peck has been married to his wife, Veronique, since what-the late fifties? (and how long did his first marriage last?) Paul and Linda McCartney had a blissful union-Paul is the only Beatle who never divorced. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/10 "2002-11-27T04:34:26Z")
Mebbe this is a tad cynical: But if Party A and Party B have beaucoups de financial accoutrements, as is often the case with Celebrity employment; it ain’t so much a suffering to part ways as it might be to the lower classes. Just a thought… ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/11 "2002-11-27T04:43:04Z")
Sometimes, as the men get richer and more popular, they “trade up” for younger and prettier wives. See Jim Carrey for an easy example. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/12 "2002-11-27T05:16:27Z")
Divorces are a lot higher than 30% in the entertainment industry. But it seems like there are obvious reasons. First, celebrities spend a lot of time apart. And they are surrounded by sycophants and groupies who are also trying to get close to them. The opportunities for cheating are much higher. And, celebrities are wealthy enough to have the freedom to leave if they want to - something that keeps a lot of unhappy couples together is the financial hardship of leaving. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/13 "2002-11-27T07:40:33Z")
Not that I care about this sort of thing but it seems as though when two people who are in the same profession marry one another (especially one as competitive and highly visible as entertainment), the marriage already has a couple strikes against it. Not counting exceptions like Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, a celebrity is more likely to have a successful marriage if his or her spouse is from outside the entertainment industry. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/14 "2002-11-27T13:06:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Divorces are a lot higher than 30% in the entertainment industry. cite? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/15 "2002-11-27T14:23:47Z")
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson Martin Sheen and his wife (sorry, don’t remember her name.) Hasn’t Denzel Washington been married for a while too? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/16 "2002-11-27T15:00:51Z")
Sorry, gex gex. I don’t have a cite. The term ‘Hollywood’ is too nebulous to draw hard data from. I’m speaking of hollywood stars, the kinds of people who have huge amounts of money and the temptations I mentioned. But I’ll do some original research on this when I get home from work. There are a couple of good ways of estimating this. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/17 "2002-11-27T15:27:36Z")
One reason is that some actors have a need for attention and approval, and two people with a high need for that are going to conflict. If one actor is more successful than the other, the actor with fewer successes might be jealous and resentful of the other person. I would think another factor is that a lot of actors have intense emotional scenes with other actors in movies. That sort of thing could easily get out of hand and translate into an off-screen attraction, as is seen by the number of relationships that occur between leads after their film is done. Obviously no single reason exists for the higher rate of celebrity divorces (if it is indeed higher than the norm), but taken as a whole, it could easily cause the rate to go higher. ---
**Author:** ![Threadkiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@Threadkiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Threadkiller)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/18 "2002-11-27T16:51:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HubZilla \* > Sometimes, as the men get richer and more popular, they “trade up” for younger and prettier wives. Is the inverse also true? As has-been stars get poorer and less popular are they forced to trade-down to older and uglier wives? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/19 "2002-11-27T16:54:08Z")
I recently read an article on Westlaw that stated divorce rates in the high 80%s for both actors and lawyers. I’ll go try to find the cite. ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005/20 "2002-11-27T17:10:38Z")
Hmm. This wasn’t what I was remembering, but it’s the best I could do: Czech News Agency Friday, August 4, 2000 > [@](#): > > Divorces are also more frequent in certain professions. “Studies show > that there exist professions which are highly risky for a stable > partnership,” sociologist Ivo Mozny tells the daily. These are, for > example, actors, people who often appear in the media, doctors and > waiters. On the contrary, teachers and foresters get divorced the least > often. Also, multiple articles casually mentioned the high divorce rate in the acting profession, but don’t state whether their assertions are based on conventional wisdom or a real study of the issue. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-celebrity-marriages-never-seem-to-last/139005.md?page=2)