Why do celebrities bother getting married to each other?

I was, er, watching David Arquette on Oprah today, featuring him opening up about his split from Courtney Cox, and the entire time I was, like, of course it didn't work out! Also appearing were his sisters Rosanna (divorced three times, not including separating from longtime SO - heh - Peter Gabriel) and Patricia (divorced twice, once from Nic Cage, once from Thomas Jane). Why do celebrities even bother getting married, when it seems to end badly almost every time? Why are they compelled to make it formal? Why can't they just shack up and leave it at that? Or is the celeb-to-celeb divorce rate really no different than the national average, and the splits simply more public?

I mean, Clint Eastwood has seven children from five mothers. I wonder why he felt compelled to marry the two times that he did?

when money isn't an issue, weddings are probably fun to plan

it's just PR, haven't you seen that episode of the Simpsons where Troy McClure marries Selma

gotta stay in the headlines somehow

Or is the celeb-to-celeb divorce rate really no different than the national average, and the splits simply more public?

This, particularly the last part.

u.s. divorce rate is still about 50%, you should really be asking "why does anyone bother getting married, when it seems to end badly almost every time?"

I bet Clint Eastwood loves planning weddings.

umm you can get a divorce and still not regret the marriage. maybe it was mostly good times.

lol at even odds being called "almost every time"

this coin lands on heads almost EVERY TIME!

Well, tbf those that don't end in divorce end in "til death do they part" which is also pretty bad.

It gets worse. In the U.S. 50% percent of first marriages, 67% of second and 74% of third marriages end in divorce.

so is this a bad thing?

Alternate thread: how many celebs snag a spouse and stick with them? Even Paul Newman was married twice.

sometimes i wonder how many ppl in the 50% who get divorced kinda knew it was a bad idea going in. is everyone really happy + thrilled and then just awfulness and divorce for 50% of them?

i know the numbers for divorce are lower is your parents stayed married. so there are some indicators...

if*

Well there were all those puff pieces a few years ago about "practice marriages" but I was never fully convinced that was really a "thing".

like, i guess i don't want to hijack this thread with my personal anxieties but, i don't think i will ever get divorced and never want to, but doesn't everyone feel that way? is the 50% number like literally 50% shot of it not working or are there ways to stack the deck in your favor?

also apparently that 50% number is maybe kinda bogus

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/19/health/19divo.html

Well, since both my wife and I were really concerned about this, because we both come from families of divorce. So we actually did some counseling before we got married, not to address existing issues, but to learn how to communicate and prevent future issues. Of course we still argue sometimes, but I really think that helped us out a lot. It also helped that I was 32 when we got married and my wife was 28, so we both felt a little more "settled" and knew what we were looking for.

there's a really good thing on deadspin about this pertaining to NBA players

http://deadspin.com/#!5769488/what-espn-wont-let-player-x-say-prenups-popping-asses-and-watching-your-wife-get-pounded

jon that's ace.

Celebrity marriages are not like 'normal' marriages because their lives are way too different.

1. Being a celebrity is hard work off the bat. If you're famous enough, everything you do is in the public eye unless you're very careful. So there's already that pressure.

2. If you're a successful celebrity, it's most likely because you're a very focused and hard-working person. After 20-odd years of knowing what you want and working your arse off to get it, you're not going to give all that away for a comfortable relationship. If something has to go, it's not the thing you've spent your whole life building up.

3. Because celebrity marriages are (by definition) usually between two people of that type, it's a tough call to say that either one of those people will give up their career for the other. Add to that the fact that a new contract could mean loads of regular travel, or even relocating thousands of miles away for months or years.

4. Point 3 is sort of unavoidable because chances are the only people you really meet properly are through work. If you're Courteney Cox you can't very well just pop down the local pub and get chatting with say a dishy architect or carpenter; you're only ever going to meet fellow actors, production staff, publicists etc, and the rest of the time you'll have creepy photographers in your face.

This ties in a bit with that thread about realising you're mediocre. With the odd exception, the few people who break through mediocrity are there because it's the single focus of everything they do. If you want to be in that top 0.001% of people who are are at the top of their game – especially if it means being a celebrity – you have to smash tirelessly into it and put everything else second, including family.

Observational selection; all the celebs who stay together = zzzzzz not tv worthy

5. Opportunities for random hot shagging come up far more often.

Same thing goes on wherever people 'appear' for a living: I call it 'green room dating'.

"Observational selection; all the celebs who stay together = zzzzzz not tv worthy"

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pw_b4_JUNvY/TFxlbf31axI/AAAAAAAACsg/yeurHF80Muc/s1600/amy_poehler_will_arnett1.jpg

that arnett-poehlfetus has to choose between divorce or poverty?

She sell seals, not that big of a deal.

Huh, Will Arnett used to be married to Penelope Ann Miller. Who knew?

celebrities marry celebrities for the same reason anyone does, the celebrity let them, i mean celebrities are awesome, and no one appreciates that more than celebrities

It seems to me that marriage is in the end mostly just a legal mechanism to allow couples to share things without complications. But celebrities don't need - or like! - to share, not their money, not the spotlight, so it seems weird to me that any of them would consent to such a contract. Like, if you both have a lot of money already, and, say, you both have kids already, and a life together, then what benefit does marriage have that you do not already have?

I still have a bit of faith in David Arquette. Not sure why, I just do. At least he isn't going Full Charlie.

There's no redemption in going the Full Charlie. You have to go Half Charlie to gain sympathy.

xp Pretty much all of it ties into publicity. Like I don't think Carmelo Anthony's wife would have her own TV show if she was just Carmelo's girlfriend. I remember thinking the same thing once someone mentioned something about how Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman vowed not to get married until gay people can and just thinking that marriage was almost purely a legal/social thing and doesn't really mean much to the couple if they don't let it. I got married and the only real 'changes' were on my tax return