Why is it that most celebrities succeed at everything else except love and marriage? They work their head off to build a career or name for themselves yet they fail at keeping their relationship working.
When news broke of the split between Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth, fans of the couple were heartbroken and mourned the end of the love affair that seemed like love story from a Disney movie. A few days, later news broke that Jamie Foxx and Katie Holmes had separated.
A double heartbreak in just one week.
On the 8th of August, Sonia Morales announced the official separation between her and Ik Ogbonna – this was after rumours and speculations that lasted for about a year. The marriage only lasted about four years.
According to a study by the Marriage Foundation UK, celebrity marriages crash at a rate twice that of regular marriages. So why is it that celebrities fail at love and marriage?
It’s okay to admire celebrity couples, the glitz, the glamour, the fun – many of which are a veneer for the ugly scenes that the camera doesn’t show us. But more importantly, we should realise that they are human too. They are fallible.
Hence we should learn from their mistakes:
Infidelity
Infidelity is one of the top reasons why many marriages (celebrity or regular) fail.
It’s almost difficult to stay faithful when you have an endless number of admirers dying to be with you. There is always an opportunity to cheat. Celebrities are under intense pressure, they are surrounded by fame and money and some of the most beautiful people – not many can resist that.
Time Apart
Celebrity couples often spend lots of time apart from each other; at project locations, events. They are engrossed in different projects that make them spend less time with each other. It’s quite hard staying in love with someone who is unavailable, physically and emotionally.
Emotion can be feeble. It’s easy for them to slip out of feeling for their partner and develop affection for someone else – especially some new attention.
You know what they say about “out of sight, is out of mind”?
Ego / Jealousy
Celebrities are used to being the centre of attention. Some prioritize their importance or need above that of their partner.
Jealousy can also creep in when one partner is more successful than the other (especially if they are on the same career path). One is getting all the love and endorsement, while the other is barely scratching the surface.
Burned Out Attraction
Like we regular folks, celebs are humans too. We are susceptible to strong emotions and dive headfirst, we go deep before we realize what we are doing.
Many dive into marriage after a few good moments together thinking it’s till death do us part. They are so deep in love without checking to see if they are compatible. They think the initial rush is all it takes to stay in love – they burn out quickly. Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson got engaged almost immediately after their first date – they broke up in less than five months.
We must admit that celebs have a lot of people around and in their lives – mostly mere fans or workers – who don’t know them beyond their status. They are humans too and crave real human interaction beyond the screen, the glitz and glamour.
And when they meet with someone who connects with them on that level, the attraction is instant. But does it last? Linda Ikeji fell for Jeremi who didn’t know who she was – and that was a turn on for her.
We all admire couples like Will and Jada Smith; Olu Jacobs and Joke Silva… but do we know what goes on behind the scenes?
This goes to show that every relationship, celebrities or not, needs effort from both parties to make it work.
