Pat Summitt, the winningest coach in NCAA history, has filed for divorce after 27 years of marriage to her banker husband R.B. Summitt. The well-respected coach of the University of Tennessee women's basketball team has been a wonderful role model not only for women athletes, but all women.

Pat and her husband have a son, Tyler, who turns 17 next month. The divorce filing indicates there are no custody issues and that Tyler lives with Pat.

Again, we wonder what went south here after so many years of marriage.

Click here for more.

 

Actress Kate Hudson tells Harper's Bazaar that dating since her divorce from rocker Chris Robinson is "very different" since she has a three-year-old son. Dating as a single mom is, "like growing up. It's adult," she says.

Come on...! Doesn't Goldie Hawn's daughter have anything more insightful to say? Of course dating after divorce when you have a child, or two, or three, is challenging. For a high-profile actress, navigating the obstacles isn't necessarily harder, it's just different. Think of cameras trailing your every move and the fodder for supermarket tabloids. Who's Kate's guy of the week? Most divorced moms don't have to contend with that kind of attention.

As for another marriage, Hudson says she's checked it off her "list of to-dos." She does leave us with one key insight: "The idea of marriage, I realize now, no longer holds the answer to anything."

Click here for more.

An interesting tale from Eastern Europe: Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek announced he will divorce his wife after his partner, Lucie Talmanova, who is deputy speaker of the parliament, gave birth to their son a few days ago.

The 51-year-old Topolanek and his wife married in 1979. He told Prague Radio that if his wife consents to the divorce, he would be willing to give her their apartment in Prague's Hradcany Castle and continue to pay the mortgage. So far, Pavla, his estranged wife with whom he has three kids, hasn't agreed to the deal.

Seems like extramarital affairs among political figures are popular in Praha: Topolanek's rival and predecessor Jiri Paroubek, 54, also left his wife and began dating a woman 20 years his junior. He only fessed up after being caught by tabloids cavorting with interpreter Petra Kovacova.

So far, Topolanek's affair hasn't hurt his standing among citizens of the Czech Republic. He cancelled a state visit to Africa to attend the birth of his son. He told Prague Radio he may have not been a good husband, but said he wanted to remain a good father. "Leaving the family is nothing I am quite proud of," Topolanek said.

Click here for more.

First Wives World has a terrific column featured on About.com's Guide to Divorce Support. The Guide's coordinator, Cathy Meyer, graciously asked our own Debbie Nigro to write a guest column for a series she's running this week on "Moving On."

Well, guess what? No one has more experience with movin' on and movin' up than Debbie, who has successfully reinvented her personal and professional life, post-divorce, with incredible energy and verve. She's resilient, and so are you!

In fact, that's the message of her piece on About called "A Formula For Getting Back to Great." It's all about women being in control of their destiny and plodding ahead, putting one foot in front of the other to embrace the present and, of course, the future.

Cathy and her team of experts are providing valuable information and resources that can help get you through. In fact, About has everything from chat rooms where you can swap ideas and information, to advice columns on dating, legal and financial issues and tips on how to deal with your kids in a divorce. They've got everything!

So check it out...but stay tuned to FirstWivesWorld.com because we're on the cusp of some exciting plans that will help you navigate divorce no matter what stage you're in--in fact, we're going to get you through each phase not only with useful resources and support from other women, but you'll be there with a smile on your face because we've got some fun, new shows that will entertain and tickle you as you discover that your best self lies ahead...

Yes, stay tuned. We can't wait...! And, check out Debbie's column here.

Shakira, the sultry Columbian singer with the smooth hip moves, is reportedly making her fiancé Antonio de la Rua sign an agreement stating that he will give up his right to any of her money in the event of a divorce.

Shakira, 30, is set to marry de la Rua, an Argentine lawyer, in September in the Dominican Republic. The couple has been engaged for six years.

Well, maybe that's what Sir Paul McCartney should have done at the beginning of his marriage to Heather Mills; the marriage lasted just four years. McCartney and Mills reached a settlement last week after several months of talks. He must pay her $140 million with an initial payment of $30 million and $7 million each year until their 3-year-old daughter turns 18.

Shakira's music career is worth millions too, certainly not as many millions as Sir Paul's is worth, but she is wise to protect her precious "ass"-ets. Oh my, yes.

Click here for more.

You gotta love Fergie. No, not the “Dutchess” who performs as Fergie on a solo basis and in the band Black Eyed Peas, though she’s really great too, but Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York who was married to Britain’s Prince Andrew, the sea-faring chap.

In a new TV interview airing tonight in the U.K., Fergie blames the royal family for her split with Andrew. She says that Andrew shipped out with the Royal Navy just days after their wedding in 1986—and stayed there for five years. She assumed she’d go live with him at the naval port but that didn’t happen. Fergie says she lost the only source of support she had with Andrew being absent.

She tells the interviewer: "I fulfilled every girl's dream, getting married in a glass coach with six white horses. …But two weeks after we got married, they said, 'No you can go to Buckingham Palace and Andrew you go to sea for the next five years.'”

The couple, who have two daughters, split in 1992 and divorced four years later.

Fergie also said she suffered from being compared to Diana, Princess of Wales. “Instead of being myself I tried too hard to compare myself with Diana. "The more I tried, the worse it got.”

Sarah sure seems to have recovered her dignity and strength of character. She’s been a TV interviewer/host, aggressive fundraiser for various charities and causes, is a single mother to two young adult daughters, an author and a spokeswoman for Weight Watchers.

Go Fergie go!

Click here for more.

So you already know “Curb Your Enthusiasm” creator and star Larry David and environmental activist Laurie David called it quits a few weeks ago after 14 years of marriage. All anyone wanted to know? Will America’s resident curmudgeon use events in his real life in the upcoming season of his hit series on HBO.

David’s a genius at mining his real life for juicy and hysterical nuggets for "Curb" and “Seinfeld,” which he co-created.

Now, asked at this week’s Television Critics Association press tour about what he'd joke about if he ever returned to standup, David said, "It would probably be about the divorce. If I was going onstage, of course I would talk about it. How could I not?"

He managed to throw in a one-liner too. When asked about his own environmental efforts, David quipped: "Well, after the divorce I went home and turned all the lights on!"

David said Laurie’s high-profile role in Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” and other public activities didn’t cause their split: "No, no, no, she's been that way throughout. That's nothing new."

Phew…I’m just glad Larry doesn’t have a double-standard. I mean if he can use bits from his marriage and life on “Curb,” Laurie most certainly had the right to go out and use her profile to raise awareness for global warming.

This couple is life imitating art, imitating life, and back again. It’s too bad they’re breaking up. That's no joke.

Click here for more.

So just a day after tabloid speculation that her marriage is on the skids, talkshow host/chef Rachael Ray says the rumors aren't true. She told "Entertainment Tonight" the situation is "ridiculous."

The reports of a potential split surfaced early this spring but receded fairly quickly. Ray married lawyer/musician John Cusimano nearly two years ago.

Ray says she and John are happy and that she's more amused than annoyed by the gossip. Here, here. Now get back in the kitchen Rach and do your thing girl...

Click here for more.

Telemundo anchor Mirthala Salinas was placed on unpaid leave while the network conducts an internal review into the events leading up to her affair with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Under pressure, the mayor disclosed his relationship with Salinas last week; he’s divorcing his wife Corina after more than 20 years of marriage. Salinas had moved off the city hall beat several months ago.

It's not being a prude to think it's dishonorable (for a politician in the public eye) to carry on an illicit affair with anyone, let alone a journalist who covers you, said Michael Josephson, president of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Josephson Institute of Ethics in Los Angeles, in the Los Angeles Daily News.

Salinas reported the news of Villaraigosa's divorce on June 8 on Telemundo, saying: "The rumors are true . . . Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa confirmed today that he is separating from this wife, Corina, after more than 20 years of marriage." However, Salinas didn't disclose her own involvement in the matter. Now, experts are questioning the ethics of the situation.

Stay tuned and click here for more.

Britney and Kevin. Heather and Richie. Denise and Charlie. Brad and Jennifer. Nick and Jessica. David “The Hoff” Hasselhoff and Pamela Bach. Reese and Ryan. Ah, the list of celebrity breakups goes on and on and on…

Being married to a celebrity or person in the public eye is fraught with more landmines than most of us can imagine. Of course that’s even more the case when both spouses are celebs or high-profile individuals in the public eye.

In taking up the latest high-profile split in India, The Times of India used the recent announcement about the breakup of author Salman Rushdie and TV host/model Padma Lakshmi’s marriage to examine the fact that most of us “normal” folks simply have no clue as to the price celebs pay for their fame. The idea that in exchange for fame, glamour and money, these individuals often put their most important human connection at risk.

Our culture of hype, entertainment, celebrity-driven gossip, chatter and self-promotion feeds on the steady stream of high-profile breakups like harpies in heat.

When it comes to celebrities, Hansal Bhachech, a psychiatrist, quoted in the piece, quite rightly points out: "Celebrities are very 'self-centred' and are in love with themselves.” So the upshot is when a celebrity couple join forces, neither party wants to compromise their career for the other. They’re probably financially independent, so a divorce isn’t a horrific condition of life unless one partner is way more successful than the other, and then the battle begins.

Fundamentally, are these wealthy and powerful people really any different than the rest of us? Don't we all just want a healthy, human and intimate connection with another person?

read more »