Celebrity marriages serve as a study in contrasts. Show business acts as a fish bowl and a magnifying glass, with the trials and triumphs of couples in the spotlight reported and discussed before an audience that constantly wants to know more.
The quiet heroes are those couples who have carried the vital elements of intellectual, emotional and physical compatibility through years of fulfilling relationships. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Jay and Mavis Leno, Regis and Joy Philbin, Mike Nichols and Diane Sawyer, Ray Romano, his "Everyone Loves Raymond " co-star Patricia Heaton ( each enjoying long-term marriages / each with 4 children ) count among the most successful modern couples. The phenomenon of relationships that lasted under the gaze of the public eye runs back years - George Burns and Gracie Allen, Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone, Bob and Dolores Hope, Jimmy and Gloria Stewart, Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester ( a 31 year marriage, made all the more amazing because Laughton was homosexual ), Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy and Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were all couples whose personal and professional lives thrived in the spotlight.
In counterpoint, the list of failed marriages and tumultuous celebrity crackups is seemingly endless. The most recent disasters include Sandra Bullock and Jesse James ( He left her, right after she won an Academy Award for Best Actress, for a woman who - like him - is covered in tattoos, including fascist markings. He is now reported to have sent out messages to connect with over a dozen other women), Tiger Woods and his wife Elin ( 2 children did not slow down his dozens of episodes of sexual adventures and lascivious messages ), and John and Elizabeth Edwards ( He has a child with another woman at the same time that she is diagnosed with terminal cancer. ) .
All - time notables for breakups include Elizabeth Taylor ( 8 marriages / including twice to Richard Burton, who dumped his then - wife Cybill for her, and also to Eddie Fisher, who dumped Debbie Reynolds for her ), Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt ( He leaves her - after a 7 year marriage - for Angelina Jolie ), Barbra Streisand and Elliot Gould ( son Jason Gould did go on to enjoy moderate success as an actor ), Marilyn Monroe ( breakups with both Hall of Fame New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio and noted playwright Arthur Miller ), Paul Simon and Carrie Fisher, Woody Allen and Mia Farrow ( Woody has an affair with - and goes on to marry - Mia's adopted daughter ), Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth, Carl Bernstein and Nora Ephron, plus all 4 of the Beatles, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, members of the Monkees, and Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain.
Human nature prevails over fame and fortune. The public sees its own victories and vices, triumphs and tragedies, best and worst choices and decisions magnified and reflected in what they absorb about the lives of those they see and wish that they could truly come to know and understand. The stream of interest in celebrity experiences rolls ever onward.