In our age of social media, celebrities have to deal with having both their personal and career lives picked apart. As most recently demonstrated by reality TV star Bethenny Frankel’s filing for divorce, celebrity divorces are fodder for the tabloids. Unfortunately, the level of negative attention received from leaked details of a celebrity’s personal life can actually adversely affect their future earning potential and career. For this reason, the kind of divorce that a celebrity chooses is a critical decision with long-term effects.
In a litigated divorce, your finances and other personal information become public record. With the click of a button, TMZ and anyone else who is interested can access your private information. To make matters worse, if the filed declarations include false accusations (for example, that you were a jealous, abusive, gambling, swinging, alcoholic parent) from your contentious spouse, rumors will begin to fly that can affect not only your reputation and career, but your children as well. Once the tabloids pick up on the rumor, the contention between you and your divorcing spouse will only increase and make your divorce more lengthy and difficult.
So what’s a celebrity to do? What celebrities are doing (and not discussing) is using divorce mediation. Tom Cruise understands the benefits of divorce mediation. Ever wonder why you never heard anything negative about Tom Cruise’s marriage to Nicole Kidman? The details of their marriage stayed private because they mediated their divorce. They protected their kids and maintained their privacy. Years later when getting divorced from Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise again chose mediation and they reached a confidential divorce settlement – no mud-slinging, no filed declarations, no public accusations – and all within a matter of days. There is value to respecting the end of marriage. Whether it was 72 days or 37 years, ending a marriage is never an easy thing. You deserve to end it as amicably, maturely, and efficiently as possible and divorce mediation enables you to maintain your privacy – and your reputation.
