Leave Kim Kardashian alone!

Celebrities make strange bedfellows, and rising starlet Olivia Wilde may be one of the few souls rushing to defend Kim Kardashian after the reality star’s blink-and-you-missed-it marriage.

Wilde, recently divorced herself, tried to shush the commoners from being too critical of Kardashian’s 72-day marriage.

The “Butter” star, who finalized her own high-profile divorce from Italian aristo Tao Ruspoli last month, told us at a Standard Hotel after-party for “Another Happy Day,” “I empathize. It’s not easy. It’s the hardest thing in the world. People judge you because divorce is seen as failure. [Kim] took a risk. No one should be attacking her. Our attention should be focused on things that are truly scandalous.”

Hmmm. Wilde’s marriage, while not the “Happily Ever After” variety, did last for eight years. That’s an eternity in Hollywood. The bigger question is, why can’t we judge a woman who treats the institution of marriage like another insipid reality show plot?

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LOS ANGELES (AP) – Six weeks after Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed he had fathered a child out of wedlock, his wife Maria Shriver filed divorce papers Friday to end their marriage of 25 years.

The former television journalist and Kennedy family heir cited irreconcilable differences but offered no additional details about the breakup.

She also did not list a date when the couple separated, although they announced they had done so on May 9.

A week later, the former action star and former governor admitted he fathered a child with a member of his household staff years ago.

Shriver’s filing does not indicate the couple has a prenuptial agreement, which likely means Schwarzenegger’s earnings from his career as a Hollywood megastar will be evenly divided with his estranged wife.

She is seeking spousal support but any amount would be determined later, either through a settlement agreement or by a judge. The former couple’s breakup is expected to be handled mostly behind closed doors.

Several of Schwarzenegger’s biggest hits, including “Predator,” “True Lies” and the blockbuster sequel “Terminator 2″ were made during his marriage to Shriver. (more…)

From The Associated Press:

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife of 25 years, Maria Shriver, announced Monday that they are separating.

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So according to new research, today’s college students are 40 percent less empathetic than kids their age thirty years ago.

The students are now less likely to agree with statements like, “I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective,” “I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me,” and “Greg Gutfeld’s new book, ‘The Bible of Unspeakable Truths,’ is supersexyawesome.”

But look, the study is half right. Empathy has taken a hit, but it hasn’t evaporated – it’s just been misplaced. Empathy has shifted from people who matter, to abstractions that don’t.

I blame parents and teachers who let toxic strains of feel-good self-esteem and phony sentimentality invade their homes and classrooms. The end result: people thinking it’s cooler to care for strangers than their own families. It’s okay to divorce your wife of twenty years, as long as you volunteer at the homeless shelter. You owe thousands in rent to your roommate, but no worries: you helped build a latrine in Peru. This new self-love created a driving hunger for recognition – and your caring soul lets you be a jerk to the people who matter. (more…)

It’s clear: Jon and Kate shouldn’t procreate. The “grocery-aisle-reading” public know Jon and Kate Gosselin from the tabloid tsunami over the reality TV couple’s impending divorce and apparent infidelity. For the rest of the fortuitous one percent who don’t know who I’m talking about — “Jon and Kate Plus 8” is a program in its fifth season on cable channel TLC.  he show was originally intended to chronicle two stressed-out, but steadfast, parents who attempt to raise a pair adorable twins and a set of sextuplets in the ‘burbs. ”It might be a crazy life,” mommy Kate says in the opening credits, “but it’s our life” adds daddy Jon. But lately, ‘crazy’ means Kate discovering Jon sleeping with babysitters, tabloid reporters and a bevy of bar room broads. Meantime, Jon calls the cops on Kate to throw her off the property during daddy’s visiting hours. Yep — it’s just good ol’ American family fun on TLC — “The Learning Channel.”

Thankfully, these gory details aren’t directly addressed on the program – at least, not yet. Instead, the show attempts to behave as if viewers are still interested in mommy’s camping trip, or her recipe for Moose Munch, or dad’s go-kart race. Hard to believe just a year ago, Jon and Kate were featured giving marital tips, writing a book about touching family moments — even renewing wedding vows in Hawaii. This was actually when everyone might have become suspicious — since when did renewing vows half way around the world become so important to a family of eight kids? Since Mom caught Dad bedding the chick from the biker bar down the street.  (more…)

I suppose after 15 years of marriage I should stop wondering aloud how on earth I ended up with this woman. Least ways I should stop wondering aloud when my lovely wife is within earshot. Not that after so many years it matters much, but the truth is that I don’t know how we ended up together.

We had our first date 20 years ago and if anyone at the time had told me that the silly girl with the wild red hair would be the mother of my children and my life’s partner I would have laughed out loud. Bachelorhood was too much fun. Besides I had a very definite mental picture of what my wife would look like – what her personality would be – and frankly she just didn’t match it. The workings of the heart continue to amaze me. The brain plans and strategizes and works overtime attempting to get the loins and heart on the same page. The loins are always eager to cooperate; the heart, however, is not a team player. The heart is constantly going off on its own mucking up the works. Such was the case for me. In time I found myself longing for the silly redhead. All my intellectualizing failed to win my hearts cooperation. I realized I couldn’t live without her.

She of course tells a different story. According to her she knew after our first date that I was her one and only; that no other man would do. Honestly, who can blame her? (more…)

If you’ve been taking notes from such brilliant minds as Bill Maher, Cameron Diaz or ever taken a moment to observe Hollywood in the past few decades, you’d know that marriage is a dead institution. I mean, who gets married anymore (unless you’re gay)?! It’s like, “Hellooooooooooo”!

I happened to catch Cameron “My Career is Over Thanks to HD” Diaz discussing the intricacies of marriage on “Real Time with Bill Maher” this week. A lot of tinseltown jibber jabber ensued but you needn’t be bored with the self-indulgent details. Cameron basically proclaimed that she’s glad that she’d never gotten married because she “definitely would have been divorced (multiple times).”  She just needed to do what was right for her and that that was constantly changing. Maher, of course, agreed and praised Cameron in her wisdom for having learned to put herself first and foremost, before all others in her life. Marriage can’t work because you have to look out for “Numero Uno”… That’s the Hollywood way! (more…)

Now imagine you were somebody who only got your news from USA Today. What a weird worldview you’d have.

For one, you’d think colorful pie charts solve every problem, and you’d also think our military consists of nothing but troubled head cases. In the past year or so, USA Today has done little more than paint our military as rife with suicide, mental health problems, divorce, troubled kids and of course – alcohol and drug abuse.

Let’s look at the most recent USA Today piece on alcohol abuse. The paper reported that “Soldiers…with alcoholism or alcohol abuse, such as binge drinking, increased from 6.1 per 1,000 soldiers in 2003 to an estimated 11.4 as of March 31.”

That is disturbing, no doubt – and it’s all from military data. But what happens if you compare that figure to our general population? Well, according to the National Institutes of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 15.5 percent of the general population report episodes of binge drinking in 2006 – and for males alone – the number jumps over 20 percent. (more…)

I’m far from a perfect father. For example, just the other day, on my watch, my one-year old, Ben, who is now rumblin’, bumblin’ and stumblin’ all over the house, took a dive on the corner of our entertainment center and gave himself a nice shiner.  Within a few minutes, he’d forgotten about it and was wobbling around on two legs again, proud of his newly acquired mobility.  But I felt bad for not catching him. I suppose the President, who made it a point on Saturday to pontificate to us dads about what kind of fathers we should be just ahead of Father’s Day, has never missed either of his daughters just before they got an “ouchie.” If neither Sasha nor Malia have ever scraped a knee, had a black eye, or even fractured a bone, then I guess he can pretend to be the perfect daddy. But then, you could also argue that without said minor injuries, the First Kids probably haven’t lived much of a life.

President Obama’s righteousness about fatherhood comes from the recognition that his own dad was, indeed, a douchebag. He knocked up Obama’s mom and quickly fled the country, only meeting his son once, and bringing him a basketball. There are fathers like that out there, but they’re few and far between. And they deserve our scorn. And I understand the President’s desire to talk about his own experience as a fatherless child. I get it. It must have been terrible and I’d probably talk about it too if my dad Bruce Wilson hadn’t been the incredible dad he is to this day (see my movie “Michael Moore Hates America” for an interview with Pops). (more…)

My first thought when I saw Dr. Stacy Spencer’s new book “Naked and Unashamed” was, “wait a minute. A Christian minister preaching about sex?” My second thought was, “why not?” Heathens aren’t the only ones that like to swing from the chandeliers; quiet as its kept Christians enjoy sex just like everyone else. Moreover, good sex is a natural and important part of a good marriage and good marriages are one of the foundations of Christian life.

The book grew out of a “40 Nights of Great Sex” bible study program begun by Spencer, Senior Pastor of the New Direction Christian Church in Memphis Tennessee, and his wife of 16 years, Rhonda. The couple looked into the Christian community and saw marriage – God’s first church – in trouble. The high divorce rate in our country is a well publicized statistic. What is less well known is that, depending on the poll, the divorce rate among practicing Christians is as high as that of non Christians. Christians are also seeing rising rates of adultery and indulgences in pornography. Spencer felt a calling to restore the sheen to Christian marriage and started the workshop as a way to begin healing relationships by providing couples a safe place to talk honestly about intimacy within the covenant of marriage. (more…)