It’s been a week or so since Brangelina shocked the world with the announcement of their divorce. Celebrities were heartbroken, fans were a mess, and everyone who is anyone had an opinion of what went wrong (and who’s at fault). With gossip tabloids still spitting articles out by the minute, it’s become even more difficult to tell the facts from fiction.
While the final truth has yet to unravel, people are getting glimpses into the “fairytale marriage” of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. From the looks of it, it wasn’t as glamourous as we all assumed it to be.
But that’s not necessarily a bad thing…
Now don’t get me wrong, this article isn’t to gloat. I’m not a sadist in any shape or form, and I certainly am not happy that the marriage of two individuals has ended – but that’s exactly the point.
As a society, we have a fascination with celebrities. We read about them, follow them on social media, and fantasize about meeting them in real life. In extreme cases, some folks hunt down celebrities, find out where they live, and ultimately, harass them until authorities get involved (stalker alert).
Through this idolizing, we oftentimes forget that the celebrities we are obsessing over are actually people, just like you and me. They eat meals. They run errands. They go to sleep. They have good days and they have bad days. Most importantly, they have feelings.
Whether it’s because of their success, or their wealth, or the fact that their job requires them to put their best foot forward, we blur over the fact that celebrities experience regular emotions. They’ll get bored. They’ll get angry. They will be sad and they do feel pain.
Let’s go back to Brad Pitt. He has starred in, and produced, several movies, was voted the “Sexiest Man Alive” twice, and won more than 60 acting awards! He also happens to be the father of six beautiful children. What can be said of Angelina Jolie? Aside from her success in cinema, Jolie is a Goodwill United Nations Refugee Ambassador and speaks for those who have been silenced. She is a mother, an advocate for women’s rights, and has won several awards recognizing her humanitarian work (and, she is drop dead gorgeous!).
Together the power couple founded an organization to support humanitarian causes worldwide. While they had three beautiful children of their own, they chose to adopt three more. Brangelina was the model for a successful marriage. Strike that – Brangelina was the model for the perfect marriage.
Some people believed their personal marriages and relationships sucked because they didn’t come close to Brangelina’s. Others aspired to be just like Brangelina and waited and waited (and waited) for Mr. or Mrs. Perfect who could complete them and bring them one step closer to such a relationship. For singles idolizing Brangelina, no one was good enough… and for couples? Well believe it or not, some wanted to trade in their significant other for an Angelina or a Brad.
Now that a divorce has been announced, perhaps a truer perspective will start to form in the minds of these idolizers – one pointing out that regardless of how beautiful you are, how successful you may be, or how overflowing your bank account is, nothing is ever perfect, and searching for such a reality is nothing but foolish.
Maybe it was Jolie’s double mastectomy or the oophorectomy. Maybe it was the stress of work. Maybe it was drugs and alcohol like the tabloids are saying… but the bottom line is, it’s not our business and it shouldn’t matter. All we know is that for some reason or another, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt reached a point where they couldn’t make it work. Despite a two-year marriage and an eleven-year love story, they called it quits.
To some, a picture-perfect manifestation has been shattered. If Brangelina can’t make it work, how on earth will I?
To those people, I ask that you take a moment to realize that Brangelina, along with anyone else you admire, are people just like you. They are not the measure for success because no one is. The only measure for success is happiness. Not a person, not a thing, but a feeling. Chase that. Search for that. Find whoever or whatever it is that makes you happy and stick with it (or them) forever.
The end of Brangelina is sad, but it could be the start of your new life philosophy. Liberate yourself from your personal stigmas and the fallacy of perfection. Realize that you have one life to live. Don’t live it based on the choices of others or your perception of what success looks like, because once you open your eyes you’ll see that perception was nothing but distorted. You never see the bad aspects of celebrity lives or even your friend’s lives because the bad is usually concealed. Think about it – no one (including you) posts selfies at their lowest, and they certainly don’t showcase their sadness and pain for everyone to see. Just because something is hidden doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
You don’t need a Brad and you certainly don’t need an Angelina. What you need is to set a standard for yourself and live your life according to your rules, your goals, and your desires. Any other life is simply a waste.
Good luck!
(And Brangelina, if you’re reading this, I wish you nothing but true happiness)