Celebrities Can Afford Divorce, But The Social Costs Hit Everyone

University of Washington researchers found the biggest spike in divorce filings occurs in January. Hence, January has become known known as “Divorce Month” in the United States.

This January promises to be no different. In late 2024, lawyers were already seeing an uptick in the number of calls for divorce consultations. Over the last 50 years, it’s been well-settled that our nation’s easy divorce laws have driven up divorce rates and harmed families. As Vice-President-elect J.D. Vance has observed, under current U.S. divorce law, people “shift spouses like they change their underwear.”

Could celebrities be throwing fuel on the crisis? Toward the end of 2024, a rash of articles rounded-up the year’s celebrity splits as if that might be holiday-worthy reading. According to a new study by the Marriage Foundation, celebrities have twice the divorce rate as non-celebrities.

The Foundation’s Research Director Harry Benson says that in the first year of marriage alone, “celebrities are almost six times more likely to divorce than non-celebs.” Rock stars have some of the highest divorce rates (60 percent), followed by screen stars (53 percent) and sports stars (42 percent). Benson says wealth can cushion celebrities from “the kind of stress and tensions that can lead to family breakdown.” Yet they divorce at a breakneck pace anyway.

For the rest of us, arguments about money are a top predictor of divorce. Yet divorce only exacerbates the financial pressures on families. Women and children suffer increased rates of poverty from divorce. The financial strain of child support payments borne mostly by fathers has led to a growing father’s rights movement calling for reform.

Divorce costs set the average couple back by an average of $20,000, rising to $27,000 for families with children. Six-figure lawyer fees are not unheard of for middle-class families, either.

Unlike the rest of us, who can ill afford the costs of two separate households on the same income, celebrities don’t have to truly worry about the financial fallout of a divorce. That doesn’t stop their often cavalier attitudes about marriage from exerting outsized influence on the rest of us.

Indeed, celebrity worship is a well-documented pathology that can result in higher rates of depression, anxiety, and certain addictions. Make that a double whammy for children of divorce, who already suffer higher rates of these disorders and so many others.

Entertainers once kept their influence mostly confined to their milieu. In the 20th century, however, stars began appointing themselves experts on everything. Angelina Jolie, who despite her denials was widely credited with breaking up Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston’s marriage, dubbed herself a worldwide humanitarian. In the new film, “Maria,” Jolie plays the legendary opera singer Maria Callas. Nominated for a Golden Globe, Jolie is expected to be an Oscar contender as well.

Gwyneth Paltrow popularized the term “conscious uncoupling” to promote the popular lie of a good divorce. Over the Christmas holidays, reports emerged about “Wicked” actress Ariana Grande’s affair with the Munchkin boy, saying his wife and high school sweetheart had been blindsided soon after the birth of their first child.

Hugh Jackman’s new movie “Deadpool & Wolverine” is the highest grossing R-rated movie in history. His wife of 27 years and the mother of his two children was apparently blindsided by the news of her husband’s betrayal with actress Sutton Foster.

A few months ago, Foster filed for divorce from her second husband. They have a 7-year-old daughter. According to celebrity gossip, the alleged affair between Jackman and Foster had been a well-known “secret” to theater colleagues, who kept it under wraps because the cheating pair “are so nice and great people.” The traitors have just gone public. 

Hollywood includes a few marriage heroes like Michael J. Fox, founder of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. He’s been married to his first and only wife, Tracy Pollan, for 35 years. Gary Sinise’s foundation supports veterans and first responders. He’s been married to his only wife since 1981. I wish they and other long-term married couples in Hollywood like Denzel Washington and his wife would stand up publicly for marriage and against divorce.

Over the years, hundreds of heartbroken divorced individuals have written to me about the break-up of their families. Many continue to be faithful to their marriages, even after divorce. The truth remains: while celebrities may be able to afford the financial costs of divorce better than the rest of us can, the emotional, psychological, and societal costs are more than anyone—even celebrities — can ever pay.

Beverly Willett is co-founder of the Coalition for Divorce Reform and a former lawyer. She is the author of “Disassembly Required: A Memoir of Midlife Resurrection.”