Michael Buckner/Getty ImagesIsn't Miley Cyrus too young to be engaged? Does this have anything to with diamond ring she wore to the Hunger Games premiere?
—Molly F., via Twitter
There are diamond rings, and then there are small planets who dwarf half the heavenly bodies in our own solar system. Miley, 19, wore the former to the Hunger Games premiere. Now, thanks to fiancé Liam Hemsworth, she wears a 3.5-carat cushion-cut diamond ring with a centerpiece dating from the 19th century.
As for your first question, well, young love isn't always doomed love, but Hollywood isn't known for its successful kiddie marriages, either...
There are a few couples who married way young and have stood (so far, at least) the test of time. But they are exceptions to a rule that has claimed the marriages of:
- Drew Barrymore, who married Welsh-born then 31-year-old Jeremy Thomas when she was 19, at his L.A. bar, The Room. The two divorced that same year.
- Macaulay Culkin and Rachel Miner, who married each other at 17 before divorcing 2 years later.
- LeAnn Rimes and Dean Sheremet. She was 19 when she said "I do." Now she doesn't, at least, not with him. She's since moved on to Eddie Cibrian.
- Melanie Griffith, who first married Don Johnson at 18 before divorcing him, remarrying him and then finally ending it all after about 7 years.
- Milla Jovovich, who ran off to Vegas when she was 16 to marry an actor. She's now married to director Paul W.S. Anderson.
"Based on statistical information and what ‘s known about the building of relationship, it's very hard to view this new engagement with optimism," says Dr. Toni Thomas Luskin, a human development specialist, psychologist and professor at Touro University Worldwide. "Then again these people are not average."
For the typical under-25 married couple, money is the biggest stressor, Thomas tells me. But a Hollywood pair like Cyrus and Hemsworth are more likely to face tension because of the long-distance relationships that the biz so often imposes.
And science isn't on their side either; human brains don't emotionally mature until the early 20s, after all.
"They may be lovely, wonderful people with two brains that haven't finished developing yet," Thomas tells this B!tch. "Their brain development is going to be very different in a few years than it is now. A 19 and 22-year-old are immature in the sense they still can't quite be as selfless as they recognize they will need to be a few years later.
"Would we choose the same life partner at age 19 or 22 as we would at age 30?"
Of course a few teen brides have managed to go the distance; Bo Derek, the original 10, married John Derek at 18 and stayed his wife until he died. And we can't forget Courtney Stodden. She was 16 when she married Lost actor Doug Hutchison, and, as far as we know, they're still together, with her posing for as many cheesecake shots as she can manage.