A love affair with the dirt on divorce

Celebrity junkies indulge, prenup to breakup

By Jill Rosen | Sun reporter

July 9, 2008

Editor's note: An article in the July 9 Today section about celebrity divorce incorrectly characterized accusations made by David Gest against Liza Minnelli. Gest did not allege that Minnelli had given him a sexually transmitted disease, and he says he has never had such a disease. The Sun apologizes for the error.

There's nothing Tabloid America resents like a quiet divorce.

We want celebrity breakups public. We want them messy. We want to turn on the TV and see courthouse paparazzi scrums. We want to lean over the checkout counter for tawdry details.

Cheating accusations? Yes, please! Good names muddied? If at all possible! Compromising photos? All that you got!

So, Kevin Costner, thanks for nothing.

Paul McCartney and Heather Mills? That's what we're talking about.

And already this summer, we're talking about quite a bit.

There's Christie Brinkley vs. Peter Cook, in court now and spewing more muck than a sewage treatment plant. And, though it's merely a suggestion of future divorce, tabloid hounds are sniffing and drooling over whiffs of trouble in Madonna's marriage to filmmaker Guy Ritchie. Suggestions that Madonna has been having an affair with New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez catapults the intrigue almost off the charts.

Will these marital unravelings be enough to quench a deep summertime thirst for gossip? Only time and Access Hollywood will tell.

But history can reveal what tends to give celebrity splits cover appeal.

Dignity? That's not it.

Cheating

One of the biggest celebrity divorce stories of the decade belongs to Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston - and to cheating. The demise of the beautiful couple would have made headlines no matter what, but having Angelina Jolie hovering at the sidelines, cloaked in "other woman" status, exponentially heightened the gossip value.

Former America's sweetheart Meg Ryan's nine-year marriage to Dennis Quaid fell apart as Ryan's affair with actor Russell Crowe went public.

Princess Diana and Prince Charles' split had more than a little to do with his adultery with Camilla Parker Bowles. The princess also admitted to getting more than riding lessons from British army Maj. James Hewitt.

Alleged infidelity ratchets the Madonna/Ritchie situation notches up the gossip-o-meter, particularly this week as A-Rod's wife, Cynthia, filed for divorce, and paints the near-50-year-old Material Girl as the home-wrecker.

Brinkley's court battle, too, comes complete with lurid tales of her husband's affair with an 18-year-old who worked in his office.

All-around ugliness

When Heather Locklear's 10-year marriage to rocker Richie Sambora ended in 2006, he was quickly linked to Locklear's good friend, actress Denise Richards. The tabloids feasted as the women's friendship dissolved.

Meanwhile, in Richards' divorce from actor Charlie Sheen, nastiness hit ever-lower lows. In court documents, Richards described Sheen as violent and said he hired prostitutes and viewed both underage and gay pornography. Sheen, meanwhile, has called Richards' accusations a smear campaign against him.

When actress Renee Zellweger broke up with Kenny Chesney (also see "Quickies" below), she cited fraud as the reason. Rumors flew that Chesney was gay (as they had about Gest) and, later, that he didn't want to have children like Zellweger did.

When it comes to ugliness, the Brinkley/Cook courtroom brawl is holding its own.