In today’s post we discuss the celebrity couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner’s divorce announcement and explain how to build a business partnership that lasts.
On June 30, 2015, actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner issued a joint statement the day after their ten-year wedding anniversary announcing their plans to divorce. The news didn’t come as much of a surprise as rumors had been rife for several months that the two were leading separate lives. They made the announcement while vacationing in the Bahamas with their three children. It was revealed that they had been in therapy for two years trying to make it work but in the end they decided that the best thing to do was to part ways. Their statement showed how their decision was mutual: “We go forward with love and friendship for one another and a commitment to co-parenting our children whose privacy we ask to be respected during this difficult time.”
While it is often the case for men to leave the family home upon divorce, Affleck has decided to remain at the family’s Pacific Palisades, California mansion and is building an extension onto it for him to live in away from Garner. The couple doesn’t have much time to grieve their impending divorce, as they are busy filming at the moment. Affleck, 42, will star as Batman in ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ and Garner, 43 is in Atlanta working on ‘Miracles From Heaven.’ They are no strangers to heartbreak as they have both suffered highly publicized breakups before. Garner divorced actor Scott Foley in 2004 after four years of marriage and Affleck called off his two-year engagement to singer Jennifer Lopez the same year.
Ten years of marriage is more than most people achieve in Celebsville, especially when they have the paparazzi monitoring their every move. Most celebrity marriages last two years. There have been very few couples that have been able to make it work in the long term but they have shown that a successful partnership is possible in Hollywood. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have been married for 27 years, John Travolta and Kelly Preston for 24 years but the longest marriage has undoubtedly been Meryl Streep’s marriage to Don Gummer. When asked about the secret to their 36-year marriage, Streep put it down to good communication.
The same advice applies to making business partnerships work. Communication is key to success as well as trust and mutual respect. Warren Buffett and his vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Charlie Munger have a billion-dollar partnership that has lasted 56 years. Their personalities are polar opposites but they have illustrated that this doesn’t matter when it comes to making a partnership work. John Biasiello and I have been working together for many years and we believe that the secret to our success has been our commitment to combining our skills and knowledge for the benefit of our clients. We love what we do and are 100% committed to our partnership, friendship and to our clients. Our personalities and interests are quite different but we enjoy and respect those differences.
