

What can we learn from celebrity break-ups, billionaire settlements, straying husbands, downright daunting divorce laws, or scandalous politicians? PLENTY! Meet our contributing writers and professional advisors who are tickled pink to ponder all of the news, views, gossip and buzz that we love to hear!

Now here's something smart: If a man keeps on having sex with his wife, he can't get a divorce.
So says Additional District Judge (ADJ) Atul Kumar Garg of New Delhi, India, in a recent ruling after a man sought separation from his wife for cruelty (she refused to carry out household chores) and misdemeanor.
I'm right behind the judge on this one.
We often hear of a man or woman complaining about their spouse, yet the fun in the bedroom still seems to be going on. If two people truly can't get along in a relationship, one would assume that there's no need to continue the affairs between the sheets.
Garg agrees. "Continuous cohabitation with the wife shall amount to condonation of the act of cruelty complained of and condonation in matrimonial cases means complete forgiveness of the act,"stated ADJ Garg when he laid down his ruling.
The act of divorce should be representative about two people who have no love or desire to live with each other. They shouldn't get along. They shouldn't be sharing intimate moments. It just doesn't make sense.
Jasbir Singh is the plaintiff requesting the divorce, and this is his second attempt to have the divorce approved by a court of law. He'd requested a divorce previously in 2003 — that didn't work, but obviously the relations between Singh and his spouse still did.
Now, five years later, Singh has had his divorce petition turned down again. Shall we all stay tuned for round three?
Perhaps the next time he seeks official separation, Singh will put chances on his side and stay away from temptation. It might help his credibility a touch.
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Marsha Garces Williams has filed for divorce from her husband of 18 years, citing irreconcilable differences.
The two met while Marsha nannied Robin's son with his first wife, Valerie. She then served as his personal assistant...then, uh, wife. Seriously, though, Marsha partnered with her husband professionally on several projects, producing Mrs. Doubtfire, Patch Adams, and Jakob the Liar.
The two also forged a nonprofit arts foundation alongside individual philanthropic endeavors.
Just watching this guy makes me tired. Imagine trying to keep up with him? I wouldn't have made it 18 days, let alone 18 years.
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Researchers say that the divorce rate for people in their 50's, 60's, and even 70's are increasing at an almost rapid rate and are dubbing these divorces, the "gray divorce" — as opposed to the silver anniversary.
And just when you thought that once you got over that 30-years-of-marriage hurdle you were in the clear. I don't know, I'd still be pretty hard pressed to imagine my grandmother and grandfather calling it quits after so many years of putting up with each other. Why would they?
One researcher suggests that as our life expectancy increases, there are more years to think of "putting up" in an unhappy marriage.
Divorce and family law attorney Carol Lindsay suggests that as a person ages there is a "vague longing." "Mortality is calling," she says, and sometimes people will feel a sense that they've missed out on something and try to make it up.
She does note that these "gray divorces" are sometimes nicer, as older couples will sometimes show "more maturity" and be "graceful" in the way they handle their divorce. Also, rarely are there the gut-wrenching, bitter, custody battles that are so common when younger couples divorce.
So, it seems that we can say again, divorce can effect everyone, divorce doesn't discriminate. Click here for more.

The Star Ledger is reporting that a former aide to ex-governor says he repeatedly had sex with the McGreeveys.
Yes, that's plural "McGreeveys," as in a little three-way action with Jim and Dina. Whoops!
Twenty nine-year-old Theodore Pedersen says Mrs. McGreevey was more than aware of her husband's homosexuality and was in "complete control" of their three-way relationship.
Pedersen says the trysts started in 1999 but stopped when McGreevey was elected governor in 2001.
Three ways? Hmmmm...Would a governor-in-training and his wife be careless enough to engage in such come-back-to-haunt-you behavior?
Then again, we know another gov who (foolishly) thought his skeletons would remain safely locked in the closet.
If the McGreeveys did partake in a menage a trois with young Theodore, they had to have seen this coming.
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The Huffington Post explores the pros and cons of "standing by your man" (I have a feeling we're going to see this phrase quite a bit in the coming weeks...) and attempts to determine whether infidelity is grounds for divorce.
Turns out, 35 percent of marriages survive a cheating spouse. Actually, the direct quote is, "only 35 percent of marriages survive..." Really? HuffPo believes this to be a small percentage? That sounds like far too many women who forgive and forget.
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I opened my front door this morning and was immediately confronted by the newspaper with a headline that screamed "Eliot Mess — Spitzer liaison with prostitute caught on wiretap" with this picture below it.
I can think of quite a few things to say about my feelings on his affair, but for now, I think the papers are covering that quite well. What nobody seems to focus on is his poor wife, Silda. I looked at that photo of her today, and my heart broke. She looks so sad.
Can you imagine for a second how humiliating it must be to be the wife of the Governor that just got busted for prostitution? Talk about no privacy.
I suppose that if she wants someone to talk to, someone who could truly understand her position, she has several options. Starting with Hilliary Clinton. We all remember what she went through with Bill, Monica, and the infamous blue dress.
Then there's Wendy Vitter, wife of David Vitter, a senator in Louisiana, who interestingly enough, had this to say when asked if she would be as forgiving as Hillary were her husband caught having an affair: "I'm a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary, if he does something like that, I'm walking away with one thing, and it's not alimony, trust me." Lucky for David, it seems she changed her mind.
And let's not forget Dina McGreevy, wife of New Jersey Governor James McGreevy, who resigned from his position after announcing that he is gay and was having an affair. They are getting divorced.
It seems that these type of affairs have happened all throughout history, but it also seems that things aren't quite what they used to be, in that people are not as forgiving or as quick to turn their heads.
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Chances are even greater that you have at least one tragic dating story. I think on average we each have about a dozen. A friend of mine joked the other day that it would be nice if all men had a computer chip inserted in their wrists that stored all of their relevant dating information, like how many kids he has, whether he pays his child support, whether he's ever been married, whether he's still married, whether he's a cheater, liar, alcoholic ... you get the idea. We would all be armed with scanners and when a man approached for a date — or vice versa — we could give them a quick scan, read their stats, and make an informed decision. Ahh, if only it were that easy, huh?
Well, it just might be. Enter Don't Date Him Girl, a social network consisting mostly of women, where you can find advice on all things regarding sex, love, relationships, dating, marriage, etc. But that's not all. Perhaps the best part of this site is their "search" feature. It's kind of like Google, but better. You can search for men by name, location or keyword and see if another woman has had an experience with him and posted a reason, or in some cases numerous reasons, why you shouldn't date him. The profiles range from sad, like this one to hysterically sad, like this one and there are even a few celebrities in the mix. Click here for Jude Law.
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Forget about those Santa Ana winds. Oscar's embers blew directly into Ann Blanchard's house Tuesday night as Hollywood honchos, TV execs, first and second wives, along with various and sundry well-wishers gathered for a reading of Mimi Schmir's fictional and hilarious "Hot Flashes" blog...
The confab, masterminded by the former William Morris überagent who's now with Mosaic Media, drew Hollywood's finest TV and film actresses who read selections from the blog which chronicles the rollercoaster antics of Schmir's heroine, Esme, a late 40s-ish divorced mother of two. While I wasn't in Ann's parlor experiencing the "Hot Flashes," faux and for-real, firstwivesworld.com's intrepid correspondent reports the evening was a scorcher. Yes, HOT or you know, HOT!
Actresses Amy Brenneman ("Private Practice" and "Judging Amy"); Dana Delany ("Desperate Housewives"); Kathyrn Morris ("Cold Case"); and Natasha Henstridge ("Commander-in-Chief") each morphed into Esme as they read portions of the edgy blog that began on firstwivesworld.com. And they say there aren't any good parts for women?? Huh?!
Schmir, a writer for TV hits "Grey's Anatomy" and "Shark," was feted for her fiesty and comedic portrayal of the daily exploits of a pre-menopausal late 40s mom who's trying to move on with her life after a divorce in which her husband leaves her for a younger model (surprise, surprise). "Hot Flashes" just may be the next "Starter Wife" but there's a difference: "Hot Flashes" started on firstwivesworld.com, yes, the Web baby, and is destined for episodic television.
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Oscar's afterglow may be fading but man-oh-man is it gettin' hot in here or what? Nah... it's just those damn "Hot Flashes"! Yeah, baby...
What, you say, am I talking about? Well, it's a reading of Mimi Schmir's fictional blog "Hot Flashes" that's getting firstwivesworld.com all hot and bothered. Mimi (pictured here) and a whole bunch of first, and most likely second wives will gather Tuesday night in Los Angeles to hear actresses Dana Delaney (ABC's "Desperate Housewives"), Amy Brenneman (ABC's "Private Practice"), Natasha Henstridge ("Dirty, Sexy Money") and Kathryn Morris (CBS' "Cold Case") read selections from the blog.
The reading, presented by First Wives World Productions along with the fabulous, Ann Blanchard, will feature the renowned actresses channeling the adventures of "Esme," Mimi's alter-ego, as she goes through a variety of pitfalls, hilarious escapades and twisted sexcapades. "Hot Flashes" appears once a week on firstwivesworld.com. Mimi also wrote for ABC's hit series "Grey's Anatomy".
There are more fictional series and episodic Webisodes planned on firstwivesworld.com. Now how's that for hot...?

What constitutes a "rebound relationship"? The Canadian Press, a news Web site, ran an article examining Hollywood relationships, and the propensity some stars seem to have of leaping from one relationship right into another.
The article sites a few examples: Chris Evert and Greg Norman have announced that they will marry, less than a year after their respective divorces. J. Lo ended her engagement to Ben Affleck, and six months later was walking down the aisle with Marc Anthony, whose own divorce was finalized just four days earlier.
I think we all understand that Hollywood is a different kind of place — and that's being kind — yet it seems that we do have a tendency to judge anyone who enters into a new romantic relationship shortly after leaving their last one as "on the rebound". But is it really just a rebound? A friend of mine recently left a four-year relationship, and less than six months later started a new relationship with someone he'd previously been just friends with. I admit that I was surprised to say the least, and I asked him how he could do it.
I thought his response was really interesting. He told me that although they didn't officially "break up" until after four years, their relationship really should have ended after two years — they just didn't know how to do it. This article quoted a counsellor at Dalhousie University as saying "People can be married for 25, 30, 40, 50 years; they may not necessarily be in a partnership for 25, 30, 40, 50 years,"
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