Why Do Famous Ladies Bother Getting Married? (Hi, Eva Longoria!)

So many famous marriages end up in divorce or deep trouble, but Hollywood types like Christina Aguilera and Couteney Cox will never stop marrying. And there's good reason

By Leslie Gornstein Nov 19, 2010 12:20 AMTags
Eva Longoria ParkerTony Barson/WireImage.com

The recent divorce announcement of Eva Longoria makes me wonder: Why do famous women even bother getting married?
—Lilcinb, via Twitter

Haven't you been reading the breathless dispatches from sources deep within Casa de Longoria?

The sources totally confirming that Eva loved Tony Parker and wanted to grow old and make the babies with him? Still, there may have been other reasons at play the marriage game as well, factors unique to the world of fame and power:

Let's look at some numbers first. Sexy numbers.

A new survey the Pew Research Center and Time magazine suggests that nearly 40 percent of Americans now find marriage obsolete. And Census data says that about 52 percent of American adults are currently married—an all-time low.

But that also means that more of half of us still like the idea of getting married. And that includes plenty of celebrities who seriously believe that they are just like everyone else only richer.

Here's a more in-depth explanation, courtesy of Harmony Walton, a celebrity wedding planner via the Bridal Bar. Walton hears about marital motives from brides all the time, including famous ones.

"It's their opportunity for a sense of normalcy," Walton explains. "As a hazard of their job, sadly, it doesn't end up that way in the long term. But they want to try."

In other words, for a celebrity bride, a wedding is a chance to feel like a real person again, not like the diva she will eventually revert back to once the honeymoon is over.

It's about sentimentality. And faith—faith that a celebrity bride can have a trusting, faithful marriage, even though her famous fiance gets hit on by strange women once every eight seconds and probably hasn't heard the word "no" in decades.

"It gets very much about that place of home, that feeling of childhood again, taking away all the celebrity and being normal and in love," Walton says.

And, of course, selling the exclusive first photos to the highest bidder.