Does a Best Actress Oscar Lead to Divorce?
Though we don't tend to pry too much into actors' personal lives at Movieline, we couldn't help but notice a striking trend in the wake of Kate Winslet's divorce from Sam Mendes and the recent infidelity rumors that have rocked Sandra Bullock's marriage to Jesse James. Namely, why have so many Best Actress winners from the last decade seen their relationships implode shortly after?
Kate Torgovnick at The Frisky advanced the idea of a Best Actress relationship curse earlier this month -- and that's before the news about Winslet and Bullock. Consider the evidence:
· In 2000, Hilary Swank won the award for the previous year's Boys Don't Cry, and forgot to thank husband Chad Lowe in her acceptance speech. Though she corrected the error when her 2005 Million Dollar Baby win added a second Oscar to her mantle, the couple divorced a year later.
· In 2001, Julia Roberts took home the Oscar for Erin Brockovich and thanked boyfriend Benjamin Bratt in her speech, who got his very own reaction shot out of it. Three months later, they were over.
· 2002 winner Halle Berry had it worse: Husband Eric Benet went to sex addiction rehab to cope with his cheating in the wake of Berry's win. They divorced the next year.
· In 2004, Oscar-winning Charlize Theron promised that she and actor boyfriend Stuart Townsend would never wed until gay marriage was legal. Helping matters: their break-up in January.
· Ryan Philippe certainly looked excited when Reese Witherspon won her Oscar in 2006, but the couple divorced eight months later as Philippe took up with the lesser-known Abbie Cornish.
There are a scant few exceptions to the rule over the past decade. Nicole Kidman was already a single woman when she won the Oscar for her 2002 film The Hours since she and Tom Cruise had divorced in 2001, shortly before the release of Moulin Rouge (which earned Kidman her first Oscar nomination). Additonally, Helen Mirren (this past decade's oldest winner) is still married to director Taylor Hackford, and Marion Cotillard is still in a relationship with actor-director Guillaume Canet.
Still, in light of the recent domestic strife affecting Winslet and Bullock, it's a striking trend -- all the more so when you compare the actresses to their Best Actor counterparts over the last decade. Only one of those winners -- Sean Penn -- has divorced, and six of them are married or in longtime relationships. Also, unlike many of the Best Actress winners, not a single one of those Best Actor winners is married to a currently working actor, which may negate any potential competitive aspect to the relationship.
Certainly, there are other factors at play, too: Those Best Actor winners tend to be older than the Best Actresses (and perhaps more settled), and the break-up of a marriage or relationship is hardly uncommon these days. Still, it's hard not to draw unsettling conclusions about the power dynamics between the women who win the industry's highest accolade and the men who don't. Even the two women whose relationships have survived Oscar are married to or dating a director, the one person who gets to tell an actress what to do. It's often said that Hollywood can be hard on women. Is the so-called Best Actress curse living proof?
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Still, it is not always for the worse: Julia Roberts is now a happy wife and mother, so is Nicole Kidman; Charlize Theron ended her relationship years after the win and she does not seem to be devastated by the change either; Ryan and Reese's relationship must have started deteriorating long before the Oscar and sometimes certain relationships are just not meant to be forever.
However, I guess an Oscar may have a great impact on the life of a young actress, resulting in the transformation of their personal relationships. (Helen Mirren, for instance, was already very grounded in the profession, so the Oscar didn't alter her life much and Marion Cotillard is - sorry, but it makes a difference - European.)
Though, if I were a member, I would have picked other nominees at least half the time in the last decade as best actress, so then the statistics would look significantly different:P.
I would imagine it's because the best actresses were geniunely in love and their careers just interfered, while the wives of the best actors are still chained to their beard contracts.
It is an interesting look at past winners, but I wonder if perhaps it's just a small snapshot from an expansive album.
In other words, is it endemic to Best Actress winners, or does the larger pool of nominees also have a similar track record?
Hollywood couples don't have the best historical staying power, so it could be entirely coincidental/par for the course.
However, it is intriguing to consider the idea that, once an actor wins and new doors open for her, does that perhaps initiate (or speed up) the closing of other doors?
All of these women chose high profile men who would likely be getting many offers from beautiful women. That is no excuse but Sandra Bullock's husband was married to 1 of the top porn stars, so I have to say "you gets what you paid for".
I'd have no problem at all having my wife be an Oscar winner. Kate, Sandra: call me.
Maybe those actresses need husbands whose career isn't completely crap. Seriously, Benjamin Bratt? The best thing he ever did was Demolition Man. Stuart Townsend? Queen of the Damned sucked. And if it weren't for Sean Connery, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen wouldv'e been a complete flop. Sandra Bullock married a "biker." Maybe Hollywood's leading actresses need to learn how to pick their men.
My own opinion on this would be that the best actress winners put all their time and energy into making their CAREER what they dreamed them to be and let their PERSONAL LIVES pay the price. Their husbands were probably playing around so they could feel like a "man" and the actress was too preoccupied to notice until after her win!
Oh, and I'm not placing the blame solely on the actress or her hubby as it takes two for a relationship to work!
I guess the men's egos can't take it. They are not the center of her attention because she loves her job. They are not the center of the public's attention either.
Sandra Bullock should dump the cheap guy. Consider his past and I guess his preference for sleaze. Sandra is CLASS from staart to finish. She deserves better. Sorry she waited so long for the right guy who turned out sooooooo wrong.
Tracy you are awesome. I'm happy a woman said it first so that I don't have to deal with all the " your sexist" bs that comes with any comments on a womans life choices. These women clearly value their carrer over their relationships. I knew right after Bullock gave that fake "Ive never known what its like to have someone have my back" that it was probably the first time she had talked to her husband in six months. I like to call it the Jennifer Aniston syndrome.
You forget Angie Jolie, who split with Billy Bob shortly after her oscar win
Best actress? Hardly! How can Bullock get best AND worst(Razzie) actress awards the same week? It was all about the story line in "The Blind Side," not Bullock's acting skills.
Perhaps her husband did not care for her inappropriate, tacky comments made about Merrill Streep. I did not (and still do not know much about any of these people), but watching that Oscar show, I thought Bullock and Streep were lovers. Honestly, after those kissing comments. And she went on and on. Who knows if that's relavent. I just could have done without the remarks. Maybe her husband could have, as well.
angelina's win is best supporting actress not best actress. the topic under discussion is best actress category.
As a Candidate for the U.S. Senate...And a Biker as well...I'm willing to step forward and "STOMP A MUDHOLE" in Jesse James' Ass...I personally think he was a "PUNK" That she never should have Married.
Stephan "Troublemaker" Hercher,
(I)"Write In" candidate for U.S. Senate
for the state of Arkansas
Really? How did you know it was the first time she'd talked to her husband in months?
Also, would you say the same thing of a highly successful man? That he was neglecting his personal life? Why is that the assumption when a woman does well?
Nicole Kidman had a curse before she won her Oscar. Tom held her back.
After they split her career took off. No man wants to be Mr. Best Actress.
It is a sad state of "affairs."
Until today, I did not know this is Jesse James' third marriage, also that he has three children, not one as I first thought.
I feel badly for Sandra Bullock, I sincerely do.
A while ago, I overheard a man give the reason why some men cheat, which I never forgot. He said, it is because there is always a WOMAN who is willing to cheat with him.
IMO, there is ring of truth to the above statement.
ahhh
if sandy never won the oscar
we would all be talking about something else
i love the girl
her and hubby are just fine
she is no idiot
she wouldn't be with a loser
"A while ago, I overheard a man give the reason why some men cheat, which I never forgot. He said, it is because there is always a WOMAN who is willing to cheat with him" - Cornelia
B.S. It is the responsibility of the married party or the party in the relationship to keep themselves from cheating, not whoever they are cheating with. 100%
Also, as for "clearly they value their careers over their relationships." Why? Because they are winning accolades? Women can't have promotions or awards if they're part of a relationship because "clearly" they aren't paying attention to their relationship or family? Once again, B.S. Nobody says that kind of crap about men. The excuse of a man needing to feel like "a man" is suggesting that men cannot control themselves, which is an excuse heard the world over in regards to things like, why women have to wear burkas in the mid-east, or blaming victims of sexual violence. If a woman cheated on her "man" because he was focusing entirely on his career people would say "he was making money for the family" and if someone said "the woman cheated because she needed to 'feel like a woman'" she would be called a slut.
These types of comments are full of male privilege.
I TOTALLY AGREE. THANK YOU.---> Also, as for "clearly they value their careers over their relationships." Why? Because they are winning accolades? Women can't have promotions or awards if they're part of a relationship because "clearly" they aren't paying attention to their relationship or family? Once again, B.S. Nobody says that kind of crap about men. The excuse of a man needing to feel like "a man" is suggesting that men cannot control themselves, which is an excuse heard the world over in regards to things like, why women have to wear burkas in the mid-east, or blaming victims of sexual violence. If a woman cheated on her "man" because he was focusing entirely on his career people would say "he was making money for the family" and if someone said "the woman cheated because she needed to 'feel like a woman'" she would be called a slut.
There may be some connection to the "power" an oscar represents, versus the insecurity it may bring to a man. I didn't think, though, that some of these men were working "actors", as was stated in the article. I wasn't aware that Sandra's husband, Jesse, Charlize's boyfriend, Halle's boyfriend, and Kate's husband were actors. Maybe I am living under a rock. It could also just all be coincidence. These relationships had to have been in trouble before and during this point, for a break-up to occur. I don't believe it can all be blamed on the oscar.
Over time guys can't take the women getting that much recognition and sitting back in the wings. It takes it toll eventually. Look at Demi Moore. She basically quit, and lets Aston do his thing. Beyonce & Jay-Z on equal ground but she is sliding back this year and last year. I honestly don't ever see Sandra Bullock getting married again. She seems phony and bitchy which is why her man strayed when said no so many times.
No it doesn't.
Oh no! or Oh Ya! who knows?
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