May 7, 2007: Marie Osmond Split Explodes Myths About Divorce

Marie Osmond and husband Brian Blosil's recent announcement that they are ending their 21-year marriage explodes two powerful myths concerning divorce.   

The first myth is that religious couples (Osmond and Blosil are Mormons), are immune from divorce.  The truth is that the divorce rates among the religious and non-religious are fairly close. (The last survey that I read stated that the divorce rate between religious couples is just 2% lower than the divorce rate for religious couples.)  

The second myth is that longevity immunizes couples from divorce. While it is true that the greatest chance of divorce is during the first 7 years of a couple's marriage, divorce lawyers are seeing an increase in divorce among couples who have been married for a great deal longer.  In fact, i recently learned of a couple who have been married for 51 years and are just NOW seeking a divorce!  

So what happened between Osmond and her husband?   Both have denied infidelity as the cause and have refused to elaborate.  Which leaves enquiring minds to speculate.  My bet is that the couple, over time, just simply grew apart.  The culprit could be anything from trying to find time to parent their eight children and still maintain a close connection with each other, to issues related to workaholism, to simply just finding themselves with different goals and priorities as they face mid-life.  Whatever the cause, hopefully they will make good on their public promise -- to do their best to minimize the hurt that their divorce may cause their children.

WENDY JAFFE, Esq. is the author of "The Divorce Lawyers' Guide to Staying Married."  You can get more of Jaffe's advice and hear a podcast interview at AOL.com, and you may also visit her website at divorcelawyersguide.com.

• Divorce Recovery
• Say Goodbye with Love
• Learning to Live Apart