2011 was the year of divorce in the celebrity world and 2012 seems to be following suit. Some of the most shocking break ups occurred, some in a matter of days. This is nothing new, of course. Celebrities have been divorcing since celebrities existed. But what is different about them compared to “regular ol’ marriages”? Why are there so many divorces? And are there REALLY that many?? Is it more than the average rate of divorces?

 

This topic honestly intrigues me and I had to look further into it. Not because I love celebrity gossip or even care what the famous are doing, but because millions and even billions of people in the world are looking to celebrities as role models. I have seen so many comments of “If THEY can’t make it who can?!” and this simply breaks my heart. So while there is very little research on the topic of celebrity divorces, I’m going to do my best to dive into the issue and at least give my opinion.

 

International Business times did an article on this in late 2010. They quoted some research saying:
“A recent study done on Golden Globe award winners revealed that of the celebrities who had been married, the average number of marriages was 1.4, while the average number of divorces was 0.65. The probability of a famous union surviving is only 35 percent, so the odds are 1.9 to 1 against the marriage.”
I was interested to read that this has been studied (at least a little bit). While most American marriages may have half a chance to divorce, celebrities have closer to a 2/3 of a chance. I wonder if that 2/3 of a chance has grown even greater with all the recent divorces in the last year.

But WHY? WHY are all of these celebrities splitting? What makes them different? I have 3 theories…

• Who’s number one? While there are the few celebrity Christians, there are few that truly live out their faith. They are most certainly not putting the Lord first, and their spouse is often an afterthought as well. No matter how down-to-earth the man or woman may have been before fame, the idol that they are made into would quickly change most minds to be focused on themselves. This doesn’t work too well in a marriage. Check out an earlier blog post on priorities for more info on why.
  

  Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian - 72 days

• Being in the public eye. Don’t confuse my last post on community for publicity. Community is doing life with others that you are close to, that you can share with, and where mutual respect can occur. Sharing one’s marriage with all who breath puts not only you, but your marriage at an extreme disadvantage. You are open to any and all criticism. Privacy is non-existant. It seems that the celebrities that do make it in their marriages are the ones that keep their marriages sacred and private. Those such as the Kardashian’s lay their lives and their marriages out in the open for all the world to see and for any editor to manipulate. Ruining a marriage is not worth it.
  

  Seal Samuel and Heidi Klum- 7 years

• Money.
  Matthew 19:23-24: Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
  1 Timothy 6:10: For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
  Money makes everything harder. The more you have, the harder it is to live a noble life.  The love of money will take over all parts of your life if you let it. Including your marriage. This is obviously a major factor in celebrity marriages.

Every marriage has it’s struggles. The divorce rate of normal Americans is by far way too high. But please…. PLEASE do not compare your marriage with that of a celebrity. PLEASE do not idolize the seemingly fairy tale couples and their billion dollar weddings. PLEASE don’t ever see their marriages as “normal”. PLEASE look at what God says about marriage opposed to those in the media:

Genesis 2:18 (NIV)- The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Proverbs 18:22 (NIV)- He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor
from the LORD.

Ephesians 5:29-33 (MESSAGE)- No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds and pampers it. That’s how Christ treats us, the church, since we are part of his body. And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become “one flesh.” This is a huge mystery, and I don’t pretend to understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church. And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband.