Now here is no news. And some real wisdom along with that. The sad truth is that being successful, cute/handsome, wealthy, and young is no guarantee of a good marriage. And maybe even having a church background doesn't help as much as we might like to think.. So, if those things are not sufficient in and of themselves, what is left to cling to?

Can't anyone in Hollywood stay together?

Ok, the title of this post is exaggerating a bit -- there are some long-time marriages in Hollywood. I could probably count them on one hand. But I was really hoping Ryan Phillipe and Reese Witherspoon would last. With their backgrounds (I'm privy to personal anecdotes about Phillipe from a close friend of his who had known him in Delaware and spoke of his Christian background, and Reese's churchgoing is public knowledge), I would have hoped that would influence how they conducted their marriage. (Fine, call me an idealist.) But it's over.

In positive news about marriage, this couple is about to break a Guinness world record:

When they married on Oct. 23, 1926, Bill was 17 and Lorine just 16. Their fathers had to give their approval to make the union legal.

"I hope to tell you I can (remember the wedding)," said Bill, who's now 97. "... I borrowed a horse and buggy, and (we) went on dirt roads."

They traveled to the home of their magistrate, Green Daniels, who performed the ceremony free of charge. ...

"You'd think we'd not had sense enough to feed ourselves by marrying without a job," Bill said. "But we lived good. ... Lorine, my wife, was the workingest person you've seen. She could make a cake or pie as good as anybody." ...

There's no secret to staying happily married for so long, Bill said.

"It ought to be what everybody knows," he said. "First, you should know love. You should know you're in love. Then, you should know the Lord."

While other couples fuss, fight and divorce, they simply decided not to do that.

"We knew we would have disagreements," Bill said. "We just decided if we had disagreements, we would just drop it ... kiss and say goodnight. We still do it."

All together now: Awwww! But seriously, this isn't rocket science. Bill and Lorine get it.