Why Celebrity Marriages Don’t Last!

It seems like a new celebrity divorce hits the headlines every day! It’s not really surprising when you learn that celebrity marriages have double the divorce rate of everyday people. One of the main reasons for this is that fame makes everything bigger! Sure, celebrities get to enjoy bigger houses, bigger cars, bigger paychecks and bigger weddings! However, that also means their breakdowns and breakups are bigger too!

We have become accustomed to seeing extravagant and lavish celebrity weddings. Money is no object and each celebrity couple is striving to outdo the one before. It’s a lot like weddings in real life’ – just on a grander scale! However, as we’ve learned – big weddings are statistically more likely to fail. If the wedding budget is multiplied by ten times that of a normal couple, then so are their chances of it ending in divorce. In fact, one in ten celebrity marriages ends after just 2 years!  To me, celebrity marriages seem to be more about the show than the love!

Celebrity Marriages That Buck the Trend!

Of course, there are always a few exceptions to every rule and there are a handful of celebrity marriages that lasted longer than most. So what made them different? The answer might surprise you. It certainly wasn’t that they got to know each other for several years or that they were particularly great together. What links them together is actually the fact that they did not indulge in an overly extravagant wedding!

Here are some celebrity marriages that started with an elopement and retained a happy ending!

Kelly Clarkson & Brandon Blackstock

In 2013, Kelly Clarkson shocked fans when she canceled her lavish wedding! However, it wasn’t because the relationship was on the rocks. Just like so many ‘ordinary’ brides, the pop idol was overwhelmed by the planning and opted to call it off in favor of an intimate elopement in Tennessee attended by only the minister and Brandon’s children. The couple is still happily married and has gone on to add two more children to the family.

Bette Middler & Martin Von Haselberg

We have blogged about Bette Middler’s Las Vegas elopement in the past and she is very much the face of successful celebrity marriages. In 1984, after knowing each other for just a couple of weeks, the pair exchanged their vows in true Vegas style – in front of an Elvis impersonator! Nobody thought it would last, but 34 years later they are still together!

Kelly Ripa & Mark Consuelos

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos met on the set of All My Children and had been dating barely a year when Mark popped the question over a pizza at his apartment. A surprised Kelly laughed and said ‘ask me when you’re serious’! It turned out Mark was deadly serious and challenged Kelly to go to Las Vegas the very next day to exchange vows! That’s exactly what they did and 22 years later they are still every bit as in love as they were when they eloped!

Elopement hasn’t been lucky for every celebrity couple though! Who could forget Britney’s sensational 2004 wedding to childhood friend Jason Alexander? The ill-fated union was annulled just 55 hours later!

Now, we cannot say we have any definitive proof that eloping makes for a more successful celebrity wedding, but we know that just like ordinary couples our favorite stars can get overwhelmed by the stress and the expense of a big wedding!

By Dave Westfall