Relationships

Tels are U-shaped. There’s a hyped-up romantic part at the start, and then a decline as people come to terms with the fact that life with another person is only sometimes an escalator to the

THE CONVENTIONAL VIEW OF MAR-riage holds that its satisfaction levupper reaches of happiness and often more of an Iditarod to a less hostile locale. And then, slowly, satisfaction returns, either because people have made peace with their lot or because they have negotiated their way to a more perfect union.

But if 2023’s catalog of prominent marital events suggests anything, it’s that a long marriage is not always a forever marriage. Especially if it’s between two famous, driven people. This year saw some newsworthy clear-cutting in the old-growth forest of celebrity couples, as unions oft cited as #couplesgoals crashed to earth.

In September, Hugh Jackman and Deborra-lee Furness, one of VIP coupledom’s sturdiest trees, announced they were separating after 27 years. In October, Jada Pinkett Smith revealed that she and Will Smith had been separated for sevens years, a full quarter of their marriage. Then Meryl Streep’s PR person let it drop that Streep and her husband, the scue lptor Don Gummer, married 45 yea5 rs, had been living apart for six. And let’s not forget that 2023 was when Kellyanne and George Conway called it quits after more than two decades, though what shocked most people was how long they lasted.

Leaving a spouse after a quarter-century seems like madness to some, like learning Chinese and then moving to Mexico. Other folks see the sense in it. With no kids to raise, there’s less of a joint project. Spouses find it hard to surprise each other, and their stories, habits, and chewing noises can wear thin. And what with delivery apps, Wordle, OnlyFans, long-life light bulbs, home-security systems, Medicare, Uber, and so much online content, the benefits of growing old together, in many people’s judgment, do not outweigh the drawbacks.

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