The article on the Mail Online dated 25th March 2013, looks at a 16 year marriage and reflects on them looking like “two teenagers in love”. It asks the questions, “What’s their secret?”.
I don’t think there is any secret to longevity in a marriage, marriages work (and don’t work) for a variety of reasons. I hear a myriad of reasons for marriages failing, the top one is still adultery, but more often I’m hearing that couples just don’t love each other anymore. As for staying together, personally I put that down to finding the right person in the first place, going into marriage with your eyes open, with your head ruling your heart and not rushing into it. When couples start living together, the question we should ask isn’t “can I live with them?” but “can I live without them?”.
And since when was 16 years considered a long marriage? When I started out as a Divorce lawyer some 15 years ago, anything over 25 years was considered a long marriage. Now it would appear anything over 15 years can be considered a long time to be together. I guess in Hollywood circles it is – only time will tell if this filters through to the divorce courts in the UK. For more information please email on
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