The Academy Awards just happened last night. Of course, everyone who walked home with an Oscar is lucky. But are they?
Win Oscar, Get Divorce?
A new study has proven that the coveted Oscar statue might not be that lucky when it comes to marriages and divorces.
According to the study, lead by Michael Jensen, a strategy professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, male Oscar winners are three times as likely as other actors to be divorced during their first year of marriage. And male actors that are nominated for Academy Awards are twice as likely as non-nominated actors to get divorced during their first year of marriage.
“We always think about status and moving up as something good, but we also observed all the misery that comes with certain dramatic increases in status,” said Jensen.
Oscar Curse
Along with this “divorce” curse, there also seems to be a career curse, commonly referred to as the “Oscar curse,” that says after a big win an actor’s career seems to drop off. But the study also looked at this and concluded that Oscar winners and nominees appear in more films following Oscar wins than other actors. The winners also often appear in more “high-quality” films that receive prestigious awards or premiere at major film festivals.
Just Men, Not Women
Though Sandra Bullock and Kate Winslet are examples of women who have gotten divorced after Oscar wins, it seems that female winners and nominees don’t get divorced at high rates than other actresses. The discrepancy between male winners might be because men might react more strongly to the spoils of success as well as any negative emotions that might come from being nominated and then not winning.
“It kind of creates this dilemma for men. The bottom line is, if you’re thinking purely professionally, go ahead and win all you can. But if you’re thinking about your personal life, then pause for a moment,” Jensen said.
Source: The Huffington Post, Celebrities Who Have NEVER Been Divorced, February 9, 2015