Birthday Countdown

Okay, it's approximately three days until my birthday on Thursday, and Mercury is firmly entrenched in retrograde people. I just read on People.com that Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillipe have split up. What is it with women winning Oscars and then splitting with their significant others? First Julia Roberts splits up with Benjamin Bratt, and yeah, they are now happily with other people and having babies. Then Halle Berry finally kicks out her cheating hubby who then blames his cheating on her, saying that she emasculated him with her success. Next up we have Hilary Swank who not only splits with Chad Lowe but decides to tell the whole world that he had a substance abuse problem, but didn't bother to take into account that her hubby might not want the whole world knowing. But hey anything to make you look better.

Now we have America's Sweetheart, Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillipe splitting up after 7 years and two children. I'm telling you it's the Oscar curse. The only Best Actress not to split up with her significan other has been Charlize Theron who is still with Stuart Townsend, and I hope those two crazy kids can keep it together, despite the differences in their stature in LA. Oh and let's not forget that Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger didn't last too long after her Oscar win.

This is of course on the heels of Keith Urban having to check into rehab four months after marrying Nicole Kidman who has spent huge chunks of their marriage overseas working.

I was just thinking the other day about how hard it is as a female star to have a successful marriage with another actor. Julia Roberts is married to a cameraman (smart choice Julia), but it seems like woman have to sacrifice alot to be married to another actor. Let's face Nicole Kidman didn't really come into her own until she got rid of Tom Cruise (take note of just how many projects Katie Holmes ends up doing once she's the second Mrs. Tom Cruise). Goldie Hawn hasn't worked in years really, and Rita Wilson and Kate Capshaw are known more for being married to Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg than anything they might have done.

It seems if you are a successful woman, you can't have a successful relationship. I'm exaggerating, but it's not easy, particularly if you're married to a man with ambition. Don't forget that the Donald dumped Ivana soon after she started working for him. Who is he married to now? A much younger model.

Does anyone know of any extremely successful women other than Kelly Ripa and Meredith Viera (and Hilary Clinton) who have great marriages?

Thanks for reading.

EKM