It may seem as if more celebrities are divorcing than non-celebrities. Statistically speaking, that’s not the case. What’s true is that celebrities are more prone to filing for divorce than non-celebrities.
Twice divorced, Jennifer Garner blamed the media as the culprit, and she offered a keen observation as to why celebrity splits tend to happen more often.
Why celebrity couples split more often than non-celebrities
According to J-Gar, it has something to do with the fact that for some celebrities, what gets written about them in the press often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Her hypothesis is especially true for celebrities who buy into news about their lives and inadvertently follow them like a movie script. And she’s right. The media often meticulously monitor celebrity relationships, beginning from when they start dating, get married, have children, and until they file for divorce.
Weddings require a lot of time, money, and effort to organize. So if you and your fiancé find yourselves hiring three “decoy brides” to misdirect the paparazzi, you probably should anticipate more problems to come. This is exactly what exes Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez did when they got engaged. Eventually, being constantly harassed by the paparazzi led to the postponement of their wedding and ensuing split.
Hollywood actors also divorce easily because they’re rich. The Kim Kardashians and Jennifer Lopezes of the world have way more money than average people and can file for divorce without much regard for expenses. And when a celebrity couple does end up filing for divorce, they need a solid legal representation. Enter Hollywood divorce lawyers.
Although celebrities usually need a battalion of lawyers to cover multiple aspects of their prenup, wedding, and/or postnup, what Hollywood divorce lawyers do isn’t all that different from what non-Hollywood divorce lawyers do. The following tasks are all part of our job.
1. Keeping things private
Any divorce lawyer will tell you not to hide money, investments, and other assets when dividing property and debt during a divorce, more so if you’re worth millions. That advice should not be confused with the need to be open about the details of your divorce. Celebrity divorce lawyers do their best to keep the details of their clients’ divorce private to protect them from the media and the public’s scrutiny.
Non-Hollywood lawyers urge their non-Hollywood clients to keep things confidential too. At our Renton law offices, we’ve never had to worry about TMZ or the paparazzi hounding our office premises or our clients’ homes. Still, our work is predicated upon reducing the possibility of amplifying contention between parties by keeping all divorce matters under lock and key.
2. Handling bizarre prenuptial clauses
Celebrity lawyers often must push for a prenuptial agreement for their clients who are worth millions. And it’s no secret that celebrity prenups can be notoriously otherworldly. From annual bonuses to no-cheating clauses to no-weight-gain clauses, celebrities have done it all and continue to raise the bar in absurd clauses in prenups.
Related reading: Outrageous celebrity prenups that worked in favor of one of the ex-spouses
We’ve never had a client who wanted to put a clause on a prenup stating that a spouse could not gain weight over 135 pounds, like in footballer Tony Romo’s prenup while still engaged to pop star Jessica Simpson. That said, Tony and Jessica’s regular people counterparts may also want to include similar clauses in their prenups.
People who are not popular actors, athletes, or musicians may also ask their attorneys to include bizarre and awkward clauses in their prenups. These include conditions about a spouse losing baby weight within a specified period, limits on the number of hours a spouse can watch football on television, restrictions on in-laws’ visits, and other behavioral clauses. And those are the tamer ones.
3. Foreseeing a possible split
It doesn’t take a genius to spot relationships that look a lot like publicity stunts — see Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston, Drake and Jennifer Lopez, and Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. In the case of TomKat, the alleged stunt was carefully orchestrated, composed of a whirlwind romance, an iconic couch-jumping moment, an adorable child, and a controversial prenup.
Prenups are most useful when a couple splits. Signing a marriage contract is akin to signing away your life’s fortune, and with a solidly drafted prenup, you can leave a marriage with your riches mostly intact. One does not need to be a divorce lawyer for TomKat, J.Lo, or Britney Spears to know that, for many couples, having a prenup is key to making sure a client’s assets are well-protected post-split.
4. Ordering a client to suit up
Celebrity divorce lawyers may advise their clients who are popular musicians or movie stars to suit up and/or hide piercings and tattoos during a court hearing or even during divorce mediation. In these scenarios, a client must present themselves in a dignified way. That might mean asking a client to wear a tasteful attire, hide their “I love [insert name of spouse]” tattoo, and take off one’s multiple facial piercings.
5. Telling a client “no”
Celebrity divorce attorneys have clients who are used to hearing “yes” all the time. But telling them “no” is often necessary and usually for the clients’ benefit.
No, you can’t declare your secret bank account as separate property.
No, you don’t have to tell me too intimate details about your relationship that’s irrelevant to the case.
No, you are not going to get full custody of your children.
Saying “no” to people who make millions of dollars and are normally surrounded by “yes men” is a skill that every divorce lawyer should have. And one does not need to be Johnny Depp, Madonna, or Kim Kardashian’s lawyer to know that this is an essential tool of the trade.
What Hollywood divorce attorneys can do, we can do just as well. Consult family law attorneys Buckingham, LaGrandeur, & Williams about your dissolution of marriage in the Evergreen state.