Gawker: starter wife

Win a Starter Wife Gift Bag and Be The Happiest Divorcée Currently Drunk In Your Living Room

Richard Lawson — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:53:00 EDT

Ooh ooh! Check it out y'all! A sponsor, uh, sponsored contest! This one comes from the new USA series The Starter Wife. A starter marriage is defined as a first marriage that lasts less than 5 years and is over before the couple has children. After the jump are the names of 5 former celebrity couples...to win you have to identify if they qualify as "starter marriages" according to this definition. So if the couple broke up in under five years, had no kids, and it was both parties' first marriage, the answer is Yes. If they lasted longer than five years, had kids (adoption counts!), or at least one party was previously married, then the answer is No. If you get them all right and then we select your name, you get this fabulous gift bag!

1. Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman
2. Tom Green & Drew Barrymore
3. Halle Barry & David Justice
4. Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson
6. Angelina Jolie & Jonny Lee Mille

Send responses to contests@gawker.com and enter for a chance to win the Starter Wife Gift Bag (pictured below). Don't forget to check out The Starter Wife, premiering Friday night on the USA Network. Standard contest rules apply.

Hollywood Dreams Of Labor Peace, Internet Porn, And Starter Wives

Mark — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:14:23 EDT

· The trades discuss yesterday's big strike news that's allowing Hollywood its first glimmer of hope that a walkout might be avoided. (Please, no one say anything about the internet and digital downloads and ruin the town's brief buzz.) Also, THR unveils its stunning, strike-related news logo (at left). [THR, Variety]
· You know who hasn't had an unfunny family sitcom for far too long? Damon Wayans! Don't worry, ABC is busy filling this gaping hole in its primetime lineup. [THR]

· Judd Apatow officially joins pals Adam McKay and Will Ferrell as a partner at Funny Or Die, hoping that his bold idea to move the site into the porn space might help it finally generate some revenue. [Variety]
· USA promotes six-episode miniseries The Starter Wife to a full series, betting that its viewers' appetite for the lightly fictionalized tales of Gigi Levangie Grazer's time as a Hollywood war bride has not yet been sated. [THR]
· Breaking new ground in awards-season whoring, DreamWorks-Paramount is sending out screeners of Things We Lost in the Fire to Oscar voters on the same day it's released in theaters. [Variety]

The Grazers Call It Quits: June 2007 Edition

Mark — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:38:02 EDT

Sad news: The marriage of superproducer Brian Grazer and novelist/screenwriter/grudging blogger Gigi Levangie, which provided the rich source material for parallel publishing and basic cable miniseries empires, is over (again), reports today's Page Six, a seismic development that is sure to crack the foundations of even the sturdiest of industry unions in sympathy, flooding the local dating scene with newly liberated Hollywood war brides. Publicists and anonymous sources agree that the split, which comes about a year after the couple's trial Cruising of last summer, was a friendly one:

A rep for the couple said, "They remain good friends. This decision was both mutual and amicable, and they plan to share custody of their two children."

Rumors of the split surfaced two weeks ago just as Gigi's new "Starter Wife" debuted on USA. The show stars Debra Messing as a spouse whose powerful studio head husband leaves her for a younger woman, but he eventually begs for a reconciliation.
The heavily promoted miniseries had some in Hollywood wondering if the Grazers' breakup could be a case of life imitating art - but we're assured there are no third parties involved. [...]

"They have been together for a total of 16 years," a pal said. "No one can say they didn't give it their best shot." If they do follow through with a divorce, friends said there will be no hard feelings - they have an iron-clad prenup agreement and both are successful and "make their own money."

The assurance that "no third parties" were involved in the relationship's disintegration is little more than a transparent effort to keep things tidy in the press during a turbulent time, as longtime Imagine collaborator Russell Crowe has brazenly conducted a torrid, public affair with Grazer's beautiful mind for some time. And while the pair say they'll jointly care for their children, it's unclear how they will arrange for the custody of their beloved "Jesus Christ, Hunky Ikea Carpenter of Love" project; hopefully, they'll raise this product of their once-loving union without acrimony, avoiding nasty fights in which Brian threatens to put it in turnaround the first time Gigi conveniently "forgets" to bring by a new draft for his weekend visitation.

Splitsville For 'starter' Wife [Page Six]