Brad and Jen

I feel that I must blog about Brad and Jen’s split because, well, that’s the kind of pop culture gossip hound I really am.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Brad and Jen. Come on, Thelma and Louise? And I saw that one with the bear... [quick search on IMDB, best movie source ever]…Legends of the Fall three times the year it came out: once the normal way, once after seeing another movie when I popped into the theater next door and caught the last two hours, and once on an airplane where I even got the headphones. Let’s face it: Brad’s a babe.

As for Jen, I remember discovering Friends during its very first season. I was working in Pasadena for a month, renting a room from a rich old divorcee in Arcadia. On the weekends I would go home, or S would come down, or I would go see friends in L.A.. On weekdays I worked, ran (I was training for my first marathon), got something to eat from my one cupboard and one refrigerator shelf in the rich divorcee’s kitchen, and watched a lot of television. That first season, Friends made me laugh so hard I cried.

Years later, Jen agreed to be in Miguel’s movie, and then she was great in Miguel’s movie, and he went on and on, in interviews and in private, about how nice she was. (We actually know Miguel--he went to high school with my sister and is one of S’s sister’s best friends--so, unlike with Brad and Jen, I’m not being celebrity pretentious when I call him Miguel. Well…maybe just a little celebrity pretentious...)

So I like Brad and Jen, and I’ve always had a soft spot for their marriage. I mean, he loves modernist architecture! They seemed so happy! But the covers of the tabloids have been bad for a while, so I guess I’m not surprised.

Unfortunately, I gave up my People magazine subscription a few months ago because I was so disgusted with the constant stream of weight loss and cosmetic surgery covers and articles, and I did not want the impressionable young females in my family subjected to them. Fortunately, this frees me up to buy Star at the grocery store this week.

What strikes me about celebrity marriages--besides how brief and ridiculous they usually are--is how quickly they move, in our eyes, at least, from blissful to over. Divorce is big in my demographic these days, and when it’s not divorce, it’s often constant fighting or, even worse, barely speaking, and wondering how divorce can possibly be avoided. (I know, Brad and Jen are just separating, but when does celebrity separation not lead to celebrity divorce?)

I’m sure celebrities go through that stage too--well, not Nicky Hilton or Britney Spears, but celebrities in marriages that last more than a few minutes. But of course, because they’re celebrities, they have to do it with everyone watching, which means they have to pretend it isn’t happening, and then once everyone knows it is happening, they have to deny it and keep pretending it isn’t. Then they have to put out press releases about how they still love each other deeply and will always be friends, when maybe all they want is to kill each other.

It just seems hard. Even with all that money. Even though it’s not on the same planet, no, not even the same universe of hard as fighting in Iraq or surviving a tsunami, and really we shouldn’t even be talking about it.

Still, sometimes I’m just really glad I’m not a celebrity.