And another one bites the dust. Jon and Kate Gosselin, of TLC’s Jon and Kate Plus 8, announced last night that they are separated and are filing for divorce after 1o years of marriage. Jon and Kate are just the latest in the all too common trip down reality tv road straight to divorce. There was Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey after “Newlyweds”, Linda and Hulk Hogan after “Hogan Knows Best”, Shanna Moakler and Travis Barker after “Meet the Barkers”, Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro after “‘Till Death Do Us Part”..I’m starting to see a pattern here. Perhaps filming your lives for the world to see, comment on and criticize is not the way to keep a marriage happy and healthy. Haven’t you ever had a boyfriend or girlfriend that your friends didn’t necessarily like? They may have pointed out some flaws and odds are you two eventually broke up. Imagine that situation but with millions of people emailing you a day telling you what is wrong with yourself, your significant other and your relationship with each other. It takes extremely secure people in a very, very solid relationship to handle all that and still come out of it alive and in love. Jon mentioned last night that he let Kate “rule the roost” and never stood up for himself, now he’s starting to and he is proud of himself. How many emails do you think he got throughout the show’s 5 year run that said “Kate walks all over you” or something to that effect. Perhaps it’s true, and maybe it is all for the best.
photo courtesy of Brandon Todd/Splash News
Jon and Kate not only had the reality show issue against them but also the fact that parents of multiples are three times more likely to split. To be honest, that number doesn’t startle me much, the stress is multiplied and it can definitely take a toll. On top of that, they were married fairly young, Jon was only 22 at the time. Being married young and bogged down with a huge family by the age of 32 might have led Jon to this need to get out. It was fairly obvious to most who watched that Jon was the one pushing for the separation, Kate said that she “isn’t very fond of the idea”. However both Jon and Kate said that they do not hate each other and will do whatever they can to have this effect their children as little as possible, they simply believed it wasn’t fair for their kids to see them fighting.  The children will remain in their Pennsylvania home, and Jon and Kate will alternate who stays in the house with them, that way at least they won’t have to be jostled back and forth between houses. The show will continue, although very few will feature the two parents together much and their interviews will be separate from now on. Stay tuned to see how this whole situation pans out!
