So Everyone’s Getting Divorced. Now What?
By: Amna Faheem
Last year was an eventful year, to say the least. Taylor Swift and Beyoncè went on tour, shaking up the country—and the world for that matter—Rihanna and A$AP Rocky had a beautiful child, and Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling gifted us with the cinematic masterpiece that is “Barbie.”
While the past year has been consistently lively, it hasn’t been all positive. 2023 was also the year of divorce. Many celebrities such Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Jackman suffered at the hands of this new wave.
As Adele famously said on Instagram Live, “Divorce babe. Divorce.”
People fall out of love all the time. They grow apart and into new people. This year, however, it seemed as if everyone was separating from their significant other.
Our society places such a large spotlight on celebrities, making their business our business, and we often follow their actions in an attempt to feel closer to them.
When an overwhelming amount of celebrities are getting divorced, it has the potential to sway how we, as a collective, view marriage and love. Common phrases like, “If they get divorced, love is not real,” or “If they break up, there’s no hope for the rest of us,” circulate social media in response to the news.
We put so much weight on what these people do because they are famous. We let them have a notable influence on our decisions. Such a parasocial relationship has the potential to cause a decline in marriage among our generations and to have negative outcomes across different aspects of our lives. Celebrities already have a great influence on youth in areas like body image, products to consume, and how to dress, endorsing certain companies in order to sway the public. It would be no surprise for our society to take after their habits in love too.
If the people we look up to, the people we deem as perfect, cannot find love, then what hope is there for us ‘normal people?’
Trends often start either on social media or by watching what celebrities are doing. Billie Eilish helped perpetuate the oversized clothing trend. Kim Kardashian introduced us to contouring, and her half-sister, Kylie Jenner, popularized lip liners. Each trend was accepted excitedly, and seen as the cool thing to do as celebrities were doing it.
Now, with love being so unpredictable and our icons showing us it’s unattainable even for them, how will we begin to view it? As a society that puts famous celebrities on a pedestal, we often view ourselves as ‘less-than’ those at the top. We idolize them. We let them change our perspectives and form new opinions on things; love and marriage is no different.
Seeing couples calling it quits, from the most-famous like Britney Spears and Sam Asghari to lesser known partnerships like Bachelor in Paradise alums Serene Russell and Brandon Jones, it’s reasonable to question the reality of love. It’s scary to watch celebrity couples that you so intently kept up with, and captivated you with their seemingly perfect romance, end up estranged.
It gives you a reality check that is unfavorable; but we do not look to these people for reality, we look to them to escape it.
There is great importance in realizing that celebrities are people too. It feels as if we are a part of their lives because it’s often broadcasted for the world to see, but they are not our friends. We do not know them. Just because someone has a spotlight on them, it does not mean they are any better than us. They do not owe us anything because of their status or popularity. People from every walk of life can experience hardship and get divorced. It is no more significant when someone like Ariana Grande goes through it.
We cannot put such importance on celebrities, and lose faith in love and romance because they are having trouble with it. We deserve to find that connection, and we cannot give up simply because the people we look up to and worship are falling out of love.