Brangelina split: why it’s just the same as anyone else’s D.I.V.O.R.C.E.

WHAT’S the difference between a celebrity divorce and an ordinary one? When divorce lawyer Laura Wasser was asked that question she replied: “Very little”. Wasser is currently divorce lawyer for Angelina Jolie, who is separating from Brad Pitt. And while everything about that couple’s situation may look extraordinary, from their gargantuan complex family of three adopted and biological children through to past relationship histories, divorce is quite an ordinary act.

Strip away the rumours, the speculation, and all you’re left with is two people, at least one of whom finds the other unlivable-with any more, and who are initiating a process that is likely to bring grief and pain, not just to them, but to their children. No talk of multi-million divorce settlements, future film projects or political ambitions, is going to make that situation seem glamorous.

“Divorce is the great equaliser,” Wasser says. “You can hack off or add on several zeros to the income or the size of the estate but in the end everybody has the same anxiety, sadness and anger when a marriage ends. Everybody is just as worried about his or her children.”

When it was revealed that Jolie was filing for a divorce from Pitt, and that the Brangelina alliance was about to be surgically severed, unsurprisingly there was a frenzy of gossip. People were talking as if a momentous event had occurred.

But though it looked extraordinary, really this was just one of the many break-ups that takes place on an average day in the United States, where one divorce occurs every 36 seconds.

So much about the way the story of this divorce has come out and the reactions to it has seemed familiar. Pitt and Jolie may be two megastars three their their