Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Marriage and Mistresses

My question is simple: Do mistresses break up marriages?

Alicia Keys was a mistress before she was a wife. Her husband, producer Swizz Beatz, was married when he and the Grammy-winning singer started dating. NBA star Dwayne Wade was still married when he and actress Gabriel Union became involved. And recently, a lot has been noted in the press about singer Fantasia Barrino's affair with a married man.


In all these cases, the jilted wives have accused these celebrities of breaking up their "happy" homes. Do you remember Mashonda's letter to Alicia Keys that was published in Vibe magazine last year? What about Wade's wife, Siohvaughn, filing suit against Ms. Gabriel for emotional distress of the couple's two sons? And it was Paula Cook's allegations of infidelity in her divorce papers against her husband Antwaun that sent Fantasia over the edge.

But Fantasia has emphatically denied being a homewrecker and has said that Antwaun was separated when they got together. In a statement to CNN, the singer's manager, Brian Dickens, said, "Fantasia is certain that she is not responsible for the deterioration of the Cook's marriage."

Earlier this year, Rielle Hunter, the infamous mistress of former presidential candidate John Edwards, told Oprah that she did not cause the demise of the Edwards' fairytale marriage. In a GQ article published earlier this year, Hunter said: "...infidelity doesn't happen in healthy marriages. The break in the marriage happens before the infidelity. And that break happened, you know, two and a half decades before I got there. So the home was wrecked already. I was not the Home Wrecker." (Can you believe I'm quoting crazy a$$ Rielle Hunter?)

So I have a few questions for you:
1) Do you believe Alicia Keys broke up Swizz Beatz' marriage? Did Gabriel Union break up Dwayne Wade's marriage? Did Fantasia break up the happy home of Antwaun Cook? Are these women home wreckers?

2) Do you believe mistresses break up marriages?

3) Do you believe SOME marriages are already in trouble before the infidelity begins?

4) Do you believe a man is available if he is separated? (For example, Fantasia keeps insisting that Antwaun was separated) Does it matter how long he's been separated and living away from his wife - 2, 3, 5, 10 years?

What are your thoughts?

Dwayne Wade photo by Keith Allison.

Swizz Beatz photo by minusbaby.

John Edwards photo by Alexdecarvalho.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

why don't we ever look at the male's behavior in these situations? why is it always the mistress swooped in and stole some virtuous husband from his family?

and if a couple has been separated for more than 4 or 5 years--but hasn't officially divorced--shame on them!