Kate Winslet's Divorce: Do We Really Need to Know?

By Jo Piazza Posted Mar 18th 2010 01:15PM

Marriage is a precarious thing. For adults in their thirties, the divorce rates in both England and America hover somewhere in the 10% range. That means about one in ten marriages will dissolve each year, making them a fairly common occurrence. But when that divorce happens to someone in the public eye, to a celebrity -- like, say, Kate Winslet, who announced this week that she and her husband director Sam Mendes are ending their nearly seven year marriage -- everyone wants to know all the gory details.

"She's an Oscar winner, he's a huge director, and people are interested in their lives," explains Hollywood Life senior writer Corynne Steindler.

We're used to celebrity splits being open season for mud slinging, and sometimes they legitimately become news. If one of the individuals involved in a divorce starts slinging that mud, the celebrity press should rightfully pursue both sides of the story. But when each party is looking to dissolve a marriage amicably, we don't have any reason to become involved. Divorce attorney Sue Moss believes that it's the very mention of the amicable split that has people skeptical, and from Moss' years of experience aiding with the dissolution of marriage, she has come to believe amicability and divorce don't typically go hand in hand.

"The reason for all the speculation over the Winslet divorce is simple," Moss says. "When couples say it is 'entirely amicable and is by mutual agreement,' it usually isn't. This is sort of like saying, 'It's not you, it's me,' which virtually always means 'It's you."

Maybe it's by virtue of Kate Winslet's reserved public persona or how delightful a person she genuinely seems to be, but I personally don't feel the need to mine for details about the Winslet-Mendes split. Sometimes marriages just end, simple as that. Just because two people are famous doesn't mean that we need to know more.

"If that is the case or even if it isn't, we should leave her be because she's a real actress, not a celebutante or a silly fame chaser," says Cult of Celebrity author and radio host Cooper Lawrence. "She has earned the right for us to give her privacy. We respect her as an actress; we need to respect her as a person."

The UK's Daily Mail reported this week that Winslet's separation was caused by Mendes' close personal relationship with actress Rebecca Hall (you'll remember her as the one who wasn't Scarlett Johansson in 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona'). Numerous parties have denied these claims (including Mendes himself), but they continue to reverberate around the blogosphere, all while Winslet seems to be enjoying some much-needed time off, vacationing in Mexico with her kids and brother.

So unless Kate or Sam comes forward and decides they want to wax philosophical about their breakup, it's time to just leave the pair alone to try and move on with their lives. Even an amicable divorce isn't easy, and it can only be made more difficult by being placed under a microscope and dissected by perfect strangers.

Tags: divorce, Kate Winslet, Sam Mendes

Comments

(6)

Thursday 18 March

By lizzie

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Kind of ironic that the first story below this editorial is about Sandra Bullock and her supposed cheating husband!

By magusap

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IF NO ONE WANT'S TO KNOW ABOUT WINSLET'S DEVORCE WHY SHOW I NEED TO KNOW EVERYBOY ELSES? HELLO!

By X. Emmett

Kate Winslet is one of the greatest actors the world has ever seen. She did not "earn" her right to privacy becausse of her talent, she earned it because she is a human being. To imply that a person of lesser talent is fair game to have their life picked over by the public is one of the most moronic concepts ever; and, the fact that it was made by an "author and radio host" makes it not only stupid but also irresponsible. This Cooper Lawrence person has redefined STUPID.

By Axeman

Regardless of who did what to whom, no one outside of the 2 parties involved needs to be privy to details. "...This too shall pass..." Best wishes to Kate.

Wednesday 24 March

By a2luckygal

NO- we do not need to know about kate's personal life- unless she tells! it is none of our business!
myself growing up in a very small midwest town- was tired of- bored by- gossip by the age of 14! all this going on and on about the famous people PROBLEMS- WELL I AM TIRED OF GOSSIP!!!

Tuesday 27 April

By yaqshi

Kate and Sam issue is none of my business, They possess their own privacy. I know just one thing, it takes years to be together but a moment is enough to separate. They know each other well they both are quite sensible and both are Oscar Award winning celebrities, its better to reunite. Good luck to both of them.

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