Home » Research Papers » Celebrity Divorce: First and Second Marriages

Celebrity Divorce: First and Second Marriages

Celebrities, their relationships and extravagant Hello magazine weddings attract huge public and media interest. But in terms of stability, celebrities are poor role models.

I have updated and expanded our database of 484 A-list couples who married between 2001 and 2010 to calculate divorce rates overall, among first and subsequent marriages, and among celebrities by category, whether stars of screen, music, or sports/other.

I find that the overall divorce rate for celebrities during their first 16 years of marriage is 52%, compared to 31% for the UK population as a whole.

Celebrity first marriages fare worse than subsequent marriages with 57% versus 47% ending in divorce within 16 years, compared to 35% and 28% respectively for UK

The highest divorce rates of all are found among musicians with an overall divorce rate of 60%, ranging from 69% for first marriages to 51% for second marriages. Screen stars fare marginally better, divorcing at an overall rate of 52%. Sporting and other celebrity marriages fare best at 39%, though this is still substantially worse than the rest of us.

Downloads

Here you can download the Research Briefing Paper as a PDF and the Press Release where it is available.

Media Links

Sunday Express – The price you pay for fame could be divorce

The Sun – Celebrities have much higher divorce rates than the rest of us, study finds

The Scottish Sun – Celebrities have much higher divorce rates than the rest of us, study finds

Daily Mail – That was shortlived

And in Slovak news site Novy Cas !!

Sunday Times – page 3, not online – Pop star couples split the quickest

Family breakdown costs £50bn a year

When couples split up, families move from one to two households. Poverty is a common outcome that affects children. Six out of ten lone parents are supported by the state compared to one out of ten couple parents. That's where most of the £50bn is spent.

UK Among highest family breakdown in Europe

Five years ago, the UK had the highest rate of family breakdown in Europe. We're not doing as badly today, but only because of big falls in divorce rates. Alas there's no sign of a similar improvement among cohabitees

Lower Divorce Rates – Higher Lone Parents

Divorce rates have plummeted over the past 3 decades, but the number of lone parents has doubled in the same period. Why?... Because unmarried parents make up only one in five cohabiting parents but are responsible for one half of all family breakdown.

Stability is found in Marriage

Whereas stability is the norm if parents are married (75% stay together), it is the exception if they are not (30% stay together). As a result, among parents of teens who are still together as a couple, nine out of ten are married

Single Most Important Factor

The single most important factor in a child’s healthy development is the stable relationship of the parents. Our groundbreaking research shows that family breakdown is the #1 predictor of teenage mental health problems.

The Marriage Foundation is registered as a charity in England and Wales.

Registered charity number: 1150453

© Copyright Marriage Foundation. All rights reserved.

Site by Orange and Blue