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What can we learn from serial celebrity break-ups, billionaire bust-ups, misbehaving spouses, pants-on challenged politicos and the ever-shifting landscape of divorce law? Question is, "What CAN'T we learn"? With latte in hand and clicky finger at the ready, dive in for the best in divorce news, views, gossip, and buzz – assembled below for your reading pleasure.

Our current contributors are Jill Brooke, Maureen Dempsey, Naomi Dunn, and Linda Lee.

Buttafucco Wife No. 2 Withdraws Divorce Petition

Posted by Eve Miller on Fri, 06/22/2007 - 1:00pm

Some guys just can’t help but acting like noodleheads. And some women are just gluttons for punishments.

It seems Joey Buttafucco’s second wife still hasn’t cut ties with the buffoon. Apparently 45-year old Evanka Buttafucco withdrew her divorce petition against Joey, according to the New York Post. This, even after Joey was recently photographed cavorting with his old flame Amy Fisher, who shot his first wife, Mary Jo, in the head in the 1990s.

What Evanka ever saw in Joey in the first place is beyond me and, no doubt, a lot of other women who are shocked that anyone could be with him. Wouldn’t you think knowing your beau’s first wife was shot in the head by his teenage lover would have been warning enough?

Now Joey’s tom-catting around with Amy, nicknamed the “Long Island Lolita” once again. Granted, Fisher, now 32, has been out of prison for quite a while, and current photographs show her looking prettier and much more refined than she did in 1992. But sheesh, Evanka, the world is watching.

Mary Jo, for her part, somehow always seems as cool as a cucumber on TV. Recently, she was on CNN’s "Larry King Live" with her long-time fiancée. However, during their TV appearance the two began to look uncomfortable when pressed about when they’d marry. Perhaps she has doubts about this guy too.

If that’s the case, at least Mary Jo is trying to avoid making another mistake. Evanka could learn a thing or two from Mary Jo, don't you think?

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The bitter divorce saga between former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey and Dina Matos McGreevey continues. McGreevey, in 2004, publicly disclosed that he’s gay, resigned and came clean about having an affair with a male aide.

Dina McGreevey, who last month published a tell-all book, Silent Partner: A Memoir of My Marriage, blames Jim for lackluster book sales because he called her “homophobic.” Unlike what she says in her book, Dina has also taken issue with the fact that he now claims she knew he was gay while they were married.

Meanwhile Jim says her book isn’t selling because it’s “poorly written” and “dull,” and, get this, because she dressed inappropriately for an interview on “Oprah” to plug the book. In a letter to a family court judge, McGreevey cited Dina’s “awful appearance” in “an inappropriate and ill-fitting ballgown with a plunging neckline.”

Thought your divorce was bad? Boy, do these two ever hate each other. My first impression of Jim’s comments, like most everyone’s I’m sure, was just a big “Huh? How stupid is that?” But think about how deep these marital wounds must be on both their parts.

I bet those fashion comments have less to do with Jim being an idiot and more to do with a well-thought out way of publicly humiliating Dina. He wasn’t trying to trash her for her appearance. He’s trying to prove she wasn’t the “in-the-dark” wife she says she was and, that she knew he was gay by making the most stereotypically gay comment possible.

If that’s not a man giving his ex the ultimate “up yours,” I don’t what is.

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Remember when Billy Joel and supermodel Christie Brinkley were married? Well, since her separation last year from fourth husband Peter Cook—the guy who humiliated her by flinging with his teenage assistant—it looks like Brinkley is enjoying fond recollections of her days with the Piano Man.

NBC’s “Extra” caught Brinkley and Joel on camera, albeit separately, arriving at their daughter Alexa Ray’s concert. Arriving alone, serial bride Brinkley, wearing an ear-to-ear grin, told reporters that she and Joel are friends. “We had the quickest, shortest, fastest most amicable show-biz divorce,” Brinkley said. “That’s what my lawyer told me anyway.” Joel and Brinkley married in 1986 and divorced in 1994. Joel is married to Katie Lee Joel, 26, a cookbook author and food correspondent for Bravo and the Food Network.

Granted, Brinkley was mugging for the cameras, and if her divorce from Joel was tough at one time, it’s history now and she certainly wouldn’t mention it to reporters. Still, it makes you wonder why her split from the musician wasn’t bitter, while the divorce from Cook presumably is. Could it have been because Joel didn’t cheat on her (as far as we know) and Cook did?

As easy as it is to understand how people fall into adultery, it remains the hardest thing to forget. Even separation due to something like substance abuse doesn’t have such a significant long-term effect. That may be because it’s not personal. The inability to stay on the wagon has little to do with one’s spouse. So does financial irresponsibility.

But it’s near impossible not to feel the deep hurt that comes when a partner has been cheating. It’s hard to believe we’ll ever hear Brinkley singing the same tune about friendship and amicable divorce when it comes to Cook now, or 20 years from now.

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We’ve heard that when men fall in love, they fall harder than women, and that males are generally happier being married than females.

However, a new study out of Canada finds that men who had divorced or separated were six times more likely to report an episode of depression than men who remained married. Also, the rate of depression for men surpasses the rate for women. In fact, men were three and a half times more likely to have been depressed than women who were still in relationships.

Perhaps, but what the statistics don’t say is which sex initiated the breakup among these respondents. If it was split 50/50, the numbers are telling. Personally, I’ve seen both reactions, that of deep depression more devastating than the wife’s, and the reverse situation from the same man.

I was a close observer of a highly masculine, very handsome, charismatic charmer who was thrilled to finally separate from his wife to be with his longtime mistress full-time. Unfaithful, (that’s what I call him), was married to her for over a decade, had two children with her but was never “in love” with her, he said, and later grew to dislike her intensely. He couldn’t stand to be with his wife any longer, but I never knew for sure if his then-girlfriend had also pressured him to leave.

Unfaithful and mistress were married immediately. They were both deeply in love and had been for years. And truth be told, she was more suited to him than wife No. 1. Frankly, I thought his second marriage would last, but she walked out on him after 15 years.

He was angry and broken-hearted. A six-foot tall wounded bird so deeply depressed, he confessed to me he considered suicide until he started taking antidepressants and running around looking for women and sex again after a month or two.

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The Relative Cost of Freedom

Posted by Eve Miller on Mon, 05/21/2007 - 8:53am

Psychologists have long told us that some of the most traumatic and/or stress-inducing events are death of a loved one, divorce, illness, losing a job and even getting married—a happy, but nonetheless stressful life event.

It all seems to make sense, right?

Perhaps, but if you buy into some new research, it takes to task this logical information.

What ranks as more stressful than divorce? Forget death of a loved one or illness, because being promoted ranked more stressful than divorce, according to a recent online survey of business executives. According to the survey, nearly 20% of business leaders said climbing the corporate ladder not only beat out divorce in terms of stress, but also death and relocation.

Corporate life can certainly be an all-consuming hell, especially if you’re working with cut-throat colleagues but still, more stressful than divorce or death? After wondering whether these corporate bigwigs were for real, being so unable to see outside of their own life situations, it occurred to me that maybe the reason they find divorce more palatable than getting ahead is because divorce isn’t a constant condition, and is often a relief.

Surely at least a quarter of the respondents have been touched by divorce. And perhaps the end result of the hell of separation, legal fees, bitterness and even problems with children and custody arrangements, is well worth the price of freedom.

For more on this story, click here: http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/may/21/survey_promotion_more_stressf...