My very first Google query, so hope I'm doing it correctly.  Talked my
boss into tapping into the talents of the mighty researchers here --
hoping this will be the start of a beautiful friendship.

I'm a TV producer, looking for info/statistics for an upcoming program
examining the stresses of keeping a relationship together in
Hollywood.  If necessary, I can break up the question into two
separate queries.  But basically, I need a specific list, with stats
if possible, on the KEY factors that either break up Hollywood
marriages/relationships or keep them together. No limit on how many,
but we'd like at least 5.

And is it possible to find out if the divorce/break up stats are
higher/lower than those for non-famous people?  The 2002 U.S. Census
reports that 8.5 couples out of a sampling of 1,000 people married in
2002.  And out of that same sampling, 4.1 couples divorced.  We'd like
to somehow compare these stats of "real people" to celebrities.

By Hollywood -- we mean movie /television people. 
Actors/writers/directors/producers, but not limited to that.  And by
couples, we mean two heterosexual people -- married, living together,
or in a "long-term" relationship.  BOTH parties must be in the
industry -- but they both don't have to be famous.

I am NOT looking for INTERVIEW BITES from famous couples on what makes
their relationship work -- or not. (Unless it's such an amazing quote
it really makes your case.)

So, to recap, what are the top factors that make the relationship fail
-- or work.  Mabye 93% of Hollywood couples break up over
"Infidelity," but we need proof.    Thanks in advance for your
efforts.

---

Request for Question Clarification by robertskelton-ga on 10 Mar 2003 14:43 PST

For statistics, how do you measure fame? 

Most writers and producers are not famous, and do not have the same
public scrutiny and associated pressures of movie stars. Do you purely
want industry figures (which will mostly include non-famous folk), or
do you just want famous folk, and if you do, how do you define famous?

---

Clarification of Question by cryptica-ga on 10 Mar 2003 15:49 PST

See, now I'm not sure how to answer because I have no idea what kinds
of info is out there.  If you have industry stats that measure "mostly
not famous folk," and they also include "famous" folk, I don't see
what's wrong with that.
I guess it all depends on WHAT the stats are measuring!  We're trying
to entertain an audience.  We're examining the pressures on CELEBRITY
relationships.  The reason I mentioned non-celebs in the mix is that
many famous people aren't married to other celebrities.  e.g.,
Christopher Walken is married to a Casting Director.  But they're both
still in the biz.  A celebrity married to a "civilian" is not of
interest to us, becuse it's totally understandable why the
relationship wouldn't survive.  If you're giving me marriage and
divorce stats from the Foley Artists Association, yeah, I guess that's
not quite sexy enough . . .but hey, I'm not ruling it out.  That's why
we went with a $50 fee, to encourage a little digging.  Ideally, we're
looking
at actors/celebs.  I don't want just the figures, though...we want the
WHY as well.

What I mean by Fame:  They don't have to be superstars, but ONE of
them should be reasonably known in the film or TV world.  What is
"reasonably?" Someone the average American would have heard of. 
(Yikes, please don't ask me to define the Average American!)

---

Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 10 Mar 2003 18:16 PST

How do you define "Average American"?

Just kidding, just kidding...

It will be difficult to examine the "why" aspect of your question
since many, as you know, cite "irreconcilable differences" in order to
maintain a certain degree of privacy over the maritial conflict and/or
personal/financial problems. Another ambiguous, but oft cited
explanation is that the couple simply "grew apart" or "had different
priorities". You see, a great deal of speculation will have to be made
in such instances.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

---

Clarification of Question by cryptica-ga on 11 Mar 2003 05:02 PST

Hi, Tutuzdad-ga.  I understand it's a tricky thing I'm asking, but
"Irreconcilable differences" or "Grew apart" as an answer will not be
acceptable.  That's simply too general and doesn't zero in on show
biz.  And "speculation" won't fly either.  We can do that ourselves. 
I interview actors/filmmakers for a living, so I COULD go into our
archives and haul out all the interview bites on marriage and
relationships -- and come to some conclusions (actually, I think MOST
people out there could probably make a pretty good educated guess
about why Hollywood relationships fail), but it was decided that
trying to get some facts 'n figures would be a lot better than an
empirical approach. At least that's our FIRST choice.  I can always
augment the research with interviews.  Thanks, hope this clarifies.

---

Clarification of Question by cryptica-ga on 11 Mar 2003 17:57 PST

Tutuzdad-ga --
I appreciate your thoughts and the info.  Who knew there was a
"Divorce Magzine?" [uh, don't answer that --it's rhetorical! We don't
want to have to
shell out more money!]  

I am appreciate that you chose to post as a "Comment" rather than an
answer and would like to wait a bit to see if any other researcher
wants to jump in with facts/figures/data.  Since it's barely been 24
hours since the question was posed, we'd like to give it a fair airing
for everyone else first.  Thank you!

Dear cryptica-ga;

Thank you for selecting me as the researcher to answer your question.
Normally, in instances such as this, a researcher would simply post
the previous comment in the answer field and close the question. I
also found a couple more interesting articles for you to read so
rather than post a redundant answer merely as a means of closing the
question, I will post them in here as an answer:

LOVE IS NOT A FOUR-LETTER WORD IN HOLLYWOOD
http://www.plaintivewail.com/pw/sept00/9_1_00.html
(Not an official opinion, but an interesting opinion nevertheless)

THE CHALLENGE
http://hhd.csun.edu/williams/432/Topics/Divorce%20and%20Children%20of%20Famous%20Parents/Challenge.htm
“The occurrences of divorce among people are common, especially for
celebrities.  One of the main reasons why celebrity divorces are more
noticeable is because celebrities, in general, are constantly on
public display.  Their lives are continuously judged and scrutinized
in the television shows such as Extra, Entertainment Tonight, and
Access Hollywood.”

Again, thank you for choosing me. I do hope the answer I posted in the
comments section helps to promote your project and I wish you every
success. I look forward to our next meeting.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga

*********************************************************
REFER TO EARLIER COMMENT BELOW ACCEPTED AS AN ANSWER:
*********************************************************

2002 MAGAZINE 
http://2000magazine.com/websightsone/jessenash/pages/jessedivorce.html
This article suggests that, among other things perhaps, narcissism,
opportunity, trust (or lack thereof), insecurity and the media are all
commonly accounted for as causes or remarkably detrimental factors
which compound failed or failing celebrity marriages.
 
“Celebrity marriages are remarkable for their instability. The
much-touted 50 percent failure rate for American marriages soars as
one's star rises. Based upon his experience, Raoul Felder believes the
divorce rate among celebrities may be as high as 80 percent.”
 
The article goes on to mention an interview with four prominent
divorce lawyers, Eleanor B. Alter, William S. Beslow, Raoul Felder and
Sam Schoonmaker II in which these issues were discussed in depth.
 
THE CHALLENGE 
http://hhd.csun.edu/williams/432/Topics/Divorce%20and%20Children%20of%20Famous%20Parents/Challenge.htm
 
“The occurrences of divorce among people are common, especially for
celebrities.  One of the main reasons why celebrity divorces are more
noticeable is because celebrities, in general, are constantly on
public display.  Their lives are continuously judged and scrutinized
in the television shows such as Extra, Entertainment Tonight, and
Access Hollywood.”
 
“All of these television shows give the public important information
that could actually upset and harm celebrities and their children. 
For example, one particular situation was when a celebrity mom was
informed of her divorce over Access Hollywood.  This woman had no idea
that her husband was serving her with divorce papers until she heard
the news on the television.  This could be quite detrimental for any
person or child to discover.  Being celebrity parents means that they
must protect their children even more when dealing with a divorce. 
They want to make sure that their children won't become affected from
all the news and gossip that goes on through out their schools. 
Children can be very cruel to other kids and this is why protecting
them should be parents' number one priority.”
 
 
As you can see, this article provides a generalized example of how the
media can firestorm a relationship without regard to a couples’
feelings and how the media itself serves to “out” certain
indiscretions that, while unacceptable to be certain, would not
otherwise be known or even become an issue. This of course does not
support the notion that keeping someone’s indiscretions a secret from
his/her offended spouse is either right or wrong, but in the advent of
readily available electronic media and today’s ever increasing
talbloid-esque interest in other people’s woes, this issue clearly
becomes one motivated more inappropriately by money and greed than
morality and common decency. For some bizarre reason, society tends to
view the celebrity not as a person but as a commodity for which we are
all part owners with an equal right and equal say to treat as we wish.
We therefore rationalize that our failure to practice an arguably more
ethical ‘sympathy for your fellow man rule’ or the ‘do unto others
rule’ does not apply in the case of celebrities, where their
relationships are assumed by us to be as superficial as their persona.
As an example of the public collective’s view even you, in your
question, instinctively referred to the mainstream public as “real
people”, implying somehow that celebrities are not. Moreover, we shift
the blame for our own behavior, placing it back on the celebrity
himself, justifying our actions by asserting that, as a celebrity, he
entered the public arena prepared to assume risk of our scrutiny. To
argue that these actions would not have an impact on some failed or
failing high-profile relationships would be more irresponsible of us
(as the uninvited voyeurs that we are) than we are obviously already
being. As a means of pouring salt into the wound, when a celebrity is
not available for our entertainment pleasure, we assume their roles
ourselves in order to satiate our hunger for celebrity dirt until an
authentic opportunity comes along. An excellent example of this is the
show “Divorce Court”, where can watch proxy couples drag their nuptial
laundry through the proverbial mud until something with real
substance, like newly separated and feuding celebrities, whose
relationship has been dragged out of its backyard hole like a bone in
the mouths of newshounds in a feeding frenzy – and which we, as
viewers, are all too eager to compete for a small bite. In this way,
it would be realistic to charge not only the media with fault, but the
consuming public as well.
 
 
Briefly, I’d also like to draw your attention to this article, which
seems to state the obvious:
 
“CELEBRITY RELATIONSHIPS -- HIGH-PROFILE AND SHORT-LIVED” 
http://trw.umbc.edu/articles/2317?Newspaper_Session=98a1d8e0bd767fbe54da82f49de6c8ff
 
“It seems like the stars least likely to stay together are the most
successful.”
 
This statement alone seems to imply that there is only so much room
for unbridled success in one’s life. That perhaps one Camelot-like
fortune must somehow give way to another in order to balance the
prosperity that a relationship is capable of enjoying. When in
reality, it is the priorities that must ultimately balance in order to
insure matrimonial success; the fame, achievement and wealth are only
consequential.
 
Beyond these offerings, I found very little in the way of statistics
and nothing in the way of official statistics, white papers or
demographics with regard specifically to this topic. I might suggest,
as we have learned, that by contacting “the four prominent divorce
lawyers” mentioned above, namely Eleanor B. Alter, William S. Beslow,
Raoul Felder and Sam Schoonmaker II, you might have better results.
 
Unfortunately, after a great deal of searching, I have concluded that
this is probably the best result I can come up with. If this has
served in any way to provide you with what you are looking for, please
let me know.
 
Best regards; 
Tutuzdad-ga 
 
 
 
ADDITIONAL SOURCE(S) 
 
DIVORCE MAGAZINE 
“Celebrity Divorce News” 
http://www.divorcemagazine.com/celebritydivorce.html

---

Clarification of Answer by tutuzdad-ga on 14 Mar 2003 19:08 PST

I'm sorry about the duplicate link. I failed to notice that it had
already been included in my working research notes. I appreciate your
offer to credit my research but if a credit does become possible I'd
much rather see a simple reference to our forum in general. I think
that would be a very nice gesture indeed. Thank you for offering.

tutuzdad-ga

Thank you Tutuzdad-ga for the hard work.  If we end up producing
something using this info and we have time for "credits," you'll get
one.  FYI, glancing quickly, the new link you provided called "The
Challenge" seems to be the exact same page as the previous one called
"The Challenge."  But that's OK, there's plenty here.  Thank you
again.

Dear cryptica-ga;

I am posting this as a comment for the time being because the
statistics you are looking for have not been (and may not be) found in
the form of a hard study or compilation of official percentages,
comparisons, numbers, etc.

2002 MAGAZINE
http://2000magazine.com/websightsone/jessenash/pages/jessedivorce.html
This article suggests that, among other things perhaps, narcissism,
opportunity, trust (or lack thereof), insecurity and the media are all
commonly accounted for as causes or remarkably detrimental factors
which compound failed or failing celebrity marriages.

“Celebrity marriages are remarkable for their instability. The
much-touted 50 percent failure rate for American marriages soars as
one's star rises. Based upon his experience, Raoul Felder believes the
divorce rate among celebrities may be as high as 80 percent.”

The article goes on to mention an interview with four prominent
divorce lawyers, Eleanor B. Alter, William S. Beslow, Raoul Felder and
Sam Schoonmaker II in which these issues were discussed in depth.

THE CHALLENGE
http://hhd.csun.edu/williams/432/Topics/Divorce%20and%20Children%20of%20Famous%20Parents/Challenge.htm

“The occurrences of divorce among people are common, especially for
celebrities.  One of the main reasons why celebrity divorces are more
noticeable is because celebrities, in general, are constantly on
public display.  Their lives are continuously judged and scrutinized
in the television shows such as Extra, Entertainment Tonight, and
Access Hollywood.”

“All of these television shows give the public important information
that could actually upset and harm celebrities and their children. 
For example, one particular situation was when a celebrity mom was
informed of her divorce over Access Hollywood.  This woman had no idea
that her husband was serving her with divorce papers until she heard
the news on the television.  This could be quite detrimental for any
person or child to discover.  Being celebrity parents means that they
must protect their children even more when dealing with a divorce. 
They want to make sure that their children won't become affected from
all the news and gossip that goes on through out their schools. 
Children can be very cruel to other kids and this is why protecting
them should be parents' number one priority.”


As you can see, this article provides a generalized example of how the
media can firestorm a relationship without regard to a couples’
feelings and how the media itself serves to “out” certain
indiscretions that, while unacceptable to be certain, would not
otherwise be known or even become an issue. This of course does not
support the notion that keeping someone’s indiscretions a secret from
his/her offended spouse is either right or wrong, but in the advent of
readily available electronic media and today’s ever increasing
talbloid-esque interest in other people’s woes, this issue clearly
becomes one motivated more inappropriately by money and greed than
morality and common decency. For some bizarre reason, society tends to
view the celebrity not as a person but as a commodity for which we are
all part owners with an equal right and equal say to treat as we wish.
We therefore rationalize that our failure to practice an arguably more
ethical ‘sympathy for your fellow man rule’ or the ‘do unto others
rule’ does not apply in the case of celebrities, where their
relationships are assumed by us to be as superficial as their persona.
As an example of the public collective’s view even you, in your
question, instinctively referred to the mainstream public as “real
people”, implying somehow that celebrities are not. Moreover, we shift
the blame for our own behavior, placing it back on the celebrity
himself, justifying our actions by asserting that, as a celebrity, he
entered the public arena prepared to assume risk of our scrutiny. To
argue that these actions would not have an impact on some failed or
failing high-profile relationships would be more irresponsible of us
(as the uninvited voyeurs that we are) than we are obviously already
being. As a means of pouring salt into the wound, when a celebrity is
not available for our entertainment pleasure, we assume their roles
ourselves in order to satiate our hunger for celebrity dirt until an
authentic opportunity comes along. An excellent example of this is the
show “Divorce Court”, where can watch proxy couples drag their nuptial
laundry through the proverbial mud until something with real
substance, like newly separated and feuding celebrities, whose
relationship has been dragged out of its backyard hole like a bone in
the mouths of newshounds in a feeding frenzy – and which we, as
viewers, are all too eager to compete for a small bite. In this way,
it would be realistic to charge not only the media with fault, but the
consuming public as well.


Briefly, I’d also like to draw your attention to this article, which
seems to state the obvious:

“CELEBRITY RELATIONSHIPS -- HIGH-PROFILE AND SHORT-LIVED”
http://trw.umbc.edu/articles/2317?Newspaper_Session=98a1d8e0bd767fbe54da82f49de6c8ff

“It seems like the stars least likely to stay together are the most
successful.”

This statement alone seems to imply that there is only so much room
for unbridled success in one’s life. That perhaps one Camelot-like
fortune must somehow give way to another in order to balance the
prosperity that a relationship is capable of enjoying. When in
reality, it is the priorities that must ultimately balance in order to
insure matrimonial success; the fame, achievement and wealth are only
consequential.

Beyond these offerings, I found very little in the way of statistics
and nothing in the way of official statistics, white papers or
demographics with regard specifically to this topic. I might suggest,
as we have learned, that by contacting “the four prominent divorce
lawyers” mentioned above, namely Eleanor B. Alter, William S. Beslow,
Raoul Felder and Sam Schoonmaker II, you might have better results.

Unfortunately, after a great deal of searching, I have concluded that
this is probably the best result I can come up with. If this has
served in any way to provide you with what you are looking for, please
let me know.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga



ADDITIONAL SOURCE(S)

DIVORCE MAGAZINE
“Celebrity Divorce News”
http://www.divorcemagazine.com/celebritydivorce.html

oops, Tutuzdad, i wrote a "clarification" to you ...i didn't realize I
could comment.  Scroll up.

I understand your desire to wait. No problem. I'll be checking in from
time to time to see how it progresses and I will continue to look. If
you'd like to reach me again just post.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

Tutuzdad-ga --
It's been 4 days and it doesn't look like anybody else is attempting
to tackle this question.  I presented your comments to the gang at the
office and we all agreed they were worthy -- so let's declare you the
winner!  I'm not sure of how to proceed, though -- this is my first
Google transcation.  Do you post your comment as an answer?  Then what
do I do?  I guess we'll find out. . .
(and who knows, your answer may be the winner of my OTHER question on
the "Nuance of Hello."  We have to stop meeting like this!

Hi Cryptica,

Tutuzdad is busy at the moment. He will attend to you as soon as
possible. Thanks for giving this question a "fair airing".