Uncoupling virtually

People are now blaming everything from seasons to planetary movements as 2015 is infamously being touted as the ‘Year of Divorces’. With many favourite celebrity couples headed towards splitsville, press conferences and statements drafted by publicists are old news. They have now found a way to announce it to the world by pulling an emotional card on their “Internet buddies” (read fans) - through social media. Kiccha Sudeep may be the latest star to have bitten the proverbial dust, but a string of other celebrities are now following suit.  

The latest casualty of the Great Marriage Massacre of 2015 is Kiccha Sudeep who separated from his wife Priya after 14 years of marriage and a daughter. The star took to Twitter to tell his fans, amongst an outpouring of gratefulness for their unconditional love, support and granting him and his family space, that “things go right and wrong and that was life”. After rumours of a rift between Konkana Sen Sharma and Ranvir Shorey, the actors seemed to be on the same page as they took to their respective social media accounts to say that after five years, they had decided to mutually separate.

“Celebrities always give out information that they ‘want’ to. They can always keep things private but most of them wash their dirty linen at the family courts and hurl allegations, all for the sake of publicity or garnering support and sympathy,” says Revathi Rohira of The Matrimonial Law Chambers who has been an advocate specialising in divorce cases for over 22 years. While Sandalwood stars Duniya Vijay and Thogudeepa Darshan patched up with their wives Nagarathna and Vijaya Lakshmi respectively, there was nothing short of “planned” festivities outside the family court. The advocate who also doubles up as a marriage counselor says, “Fans live through these personalities and idol worship reaches its limits when celebrities decide to communicate with their fans through social media. It only takes the focus away from hundreds of other cases that need our attention.”

In Hollywood too, Katie Price announced on Twitter that her husband Kieran Hayler had “a full blown sexual affair with her best friend Jane Pountney”, Gwyneth Paltrow grabbed eyeballs when she announced on social media that she was “consciously uncoupling” with her then beau, Chris Martin. Heidi Klum tweeted “The End” when she called it quits with Seal while Miley Cyrus not just described her split with Liam Hemsworth but the couple even unfollowed each other on social media. So why do celebrities take to social media? “In today’s fast-paced life, the measure of happiness depends on how many likes one gets. Most people don’t want to deal with the emotional baggage. Subsequently, it comes back to haunt their other relationships,” says Kala Balasubramanian, counseling psychologist at Inner Dawn Counselling.