What celebrities know that you do not . . . How to divorce like a Hollywood celebrity.
Celebrity divorces get a lot of headlines. They are juicy and salacious and maybe the divorcing celebrity likes that sort of attention. Isn’t vying for attention what they do for a living? Why should their divorce be any different?
However, the newer trend seems to be celebrity mediations. From Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth to Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen to Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner, celebrities are more often hiring experienced attorneys and former judges to mediate their divorces. It is clear, that while celebrities like attention, they don’t like THAT kind of attention. So, why are they doing divorce mediation, and more importantly, why aren’t you?
For celebrities, their public persona is very important. Slinging mud like they are part of a Jerry Springer episode generally doesn’t help their careers. Therefore, the privacy aspect of mediation is very attractive to the celebrity. The idea of “I will hide your dirt, if you hide mine” works really well. And this philosophy works for the private individual as well. Because anyone can acquire copies of your divorce filings, there are many reasons to keep those allegations private, allegations that may include drug or alcohol abuse, physical or sexual abuse allegations or even financial statements. Keep your business private.
Mediation is also attractive to celebrities because they can control the outcome. Take for instance, the Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner divorce. They are dealing with one of the most difficult issues in custody cases, relocation to another country. Mr. Jonus wants the children to reside in the US and Ms. Turner wants them to reside in the UK. Both cannot occur. If these parties had not agreed to mediation, a judge or child psychologist who would decide the outcome. Often these cases are appealed. However, in mediation, these parties can negotiate a means for the children to reside in one place or the other, offering the other party generous concessions in order to get an amendable agreement. Controlling the outcome of your case is a huge benefit to mediation.
Mediation is more beneficial to your children than litigation. Imagine being the children of Amber Heard and Johnny Depp (who fortunately had no children together) or Kristine Baumgartner and Kevin Costner (who do have children together). All of the world is hearing about their ugly secrets, their spending habits, their addictions, their abusive behaviors. If the world is hearing, then the children are hearing it also. Children do not need to hear any of the details of the divorce. As an experienced divorce attorney, I can always tell how acrimonious the divorce was by how long the children have been in therapy.
Finally, mediation is less expensive than litigation. Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas’s mediation is slated for four days. That is not an inexpensive mediation but I guarantee their entire divorce will be significantly cheaper than only the first round of hearings in Kevin Costner’s divorce which only resolved interim child support. In a non-celebrity divorce, you can expect one day of mediation to finalize everything, a cost substantially less than two retainers and months of billing statements.