Veteran actress Jamie Lee Curtis has defied the odds in Hollywood by remaining with her husband, Christopher Guest, for more than three decades. During a recent conversation, she chalked up their success to nothing more than a shared commitment to each other. “Don’t get divorced,” she said adding, that after 31 years with the man she jokingly referred to as her “first husband,” she has realized that a successful marriage boils down to a mutual refusal to leave.
“It’s a fascinating thing,” she said. “I could write a book on marriage called Don’t Leave.”
Reports show that four in 10 celebrity couples divorce within the first decade of marriage. That percentage is roughly twice that of the general population.
Curtis and Guest’s ability to remain together three times that long might be a rarity in Hollywood, but they are not alone. Kirk Douglas and his wife, Anne, are still married more than 60 years after their wedding. Despite a failed first marriage and several major obstacles throughout his second, Douglas and his wife have been able to make their relationship work because it is based on love.
