Billboards Targeting Brief Hollywood Marriages Hit L.A.

Celebrity couples like Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward may have stood the test of time, but many Hollywood marriages end in divorce.

Sometimes the splits happen in embarrassingly short order. Just ask Britney Spears or Kim Kardashian.

That sorry state inspired one group to plaster billboards around L.A. asking Hollywood dwellers to reconsider the matrimonial bond. The ads are the work of J. Robert Butler and his Society for the Prevention of Celebrity Divorce project.

The billboards are up on Sunset and Hollywood boulevards, in North Hollywood and Woodland Hills, and even on the side of buses. One says, “Dear Hollywood, Please remember… marriage is a commitment, not a sponsorship opportunity.” Another plays on Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin’s splitsville talk in March: “Dear Hollywood, When you consciously uncouple, millions unconsciously uncouple too.

Butler has a personal connection to divorce.

Just last year my daughter told me that after three years of marriage, she and her husband were divorcing. This broke my heart. And I believe the high rate of celebrity divorce influenced her, just as it has influenced so many others.

Butler also suggests celebrities suffer at the box office post divorce. He cites Tom Cruise, whose films haven’t eclipsed the $100 mark since he split from wife Katie Holmes.