ROMANCE DOESN’T COME EASY FOR THESE TWO
ton to go to therapy, but he doesn’t believe in it. Plus, he doesn’t think they have a problem, so he sees no reason for counseling.”
TOUGH LOVE
Mila doesn’t want to fight for their future alone. So Ashton’s refusal to seek professional help has “become a real problem for Mila. Her married friends and even some of her friends who aren’t married are in counseling — individual and group sessions,” says the insider. “There’s no stigma about it, but Ashton says he’s just not into it or he’s just too busy. That’s not what Mila wants to hear from her husband.”
Ashton, 41, has another, splashier idea to placate her. “Ashton’s solution to avoid a divorce is to have a vow renewal,” shares the insider. “That won’t appease Mila. She tells him that a vow renewal would just be putting a Band-aid on their problems.”
And they have plenty of those. Mila herself has admitted that she and Ashton are polar opposites in terms of their personalities. “He’s much more logical than I am. He’s also very optimistic, and I’m pessimistic,” she con-
fessed last year. “He sees all the good in the world and…in the people, and I’m Debbie Downer.” The Spy Who Dumped Me star also thinks Ashton — whom she’s known for more than 20 years — has a tendency to be too much of a jokester, can be controlling and “can get on her last nerve,” says the insider. “Bottom line, Mila wants Ashton to grow up once and for all.”
It doesn’t help that she’s also experienced “insane jealousy,” says the insider. She first endured it in 2012 after she and Ashton started a casual friendswith- benefits relation-
ship. After a few months of hooking up, the Ranch actor mentioned another woman and “I felt like I got punched in the gut,” Mila later admitted. (She and Ashton became exclusive soon after.) She has a tendency to get territorial, too. “She can’t help it,” adds the insider, pointing out that Ashton was accused of cheating on first wife Demi Moore, 56, after he spent their sixth wedding anniversary in 2011 in a San Diego Hard Rock Hotel hot tub with two other women. Ashton also sparked a scandal when, five months after marrying Mila, he
was photographed visiting a North Hollywood stripmall massage parlor with a documented reputation for giving more than massages. ( Ashton’s rep strongly denied anything inappropriate went down.) “Sometimes,” says the insider, “Mila feels like she can’t trust him.”
Now everything is coming to a head. “They’ve had fights, she’s threatened to leave him and then they take time away from each other — sometimes they don’t talk for days,” says the insider of the duo, whose combined $265M fortune would be at stake in the event of a permanent split. “They cool off and then they go back to business as usual.” In other words, nothing gets resolved. “Their issues are always bubbling under the surface,” adds the insider. “And sweeping them under a rug is not a solution for Mila. She wants results, not denial and avoidance.”
AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE
Mila and Ashton have a lot going for them. “They love one another deeply, they have amazing children, no financial worries — they’re blessed,” says the insider. “But friends still wonder if they can make it to their fifth wedding anniversary next year.” Mila is determined to make her marriage work, though. “She just needs to convince Ashton that’s there’s nothing wrong with getting help,” notes the insider. “It’s obvious that they have issues — now Ashton has to come to terms with the fact that they need a major marriage tune-up.”