J.Lo and Disastrous Celebrity Couples
Sept. 18, 2003 — -- Dear Ms. Lopez,
If I played the smallest role in the cancellation of your wedding, I'm sorry. I never meant to do you wrong. Let me apologize and explain …
It all started when the mother of a bride who was getting married Sept. 14 in Santa Barbara called ABC to complain that your wedding was going to ruin her daughter's wedding because both events were going to take place at the same hotel.
Speculation about your secret wedding plans had been running wild. Even your fiancé — if he's still your fiancé — had been kidding reporters recently, throwing out various dates and locations, then saying he was just goofing around.
The woman who called us — Vivian Terhark of Spooner, Wis. — had heard all those "Bennifer" reports (apologies again if you find that term offensive), and she was burning mad. She told my colleague David Blaustein, an entertainment reporter for ABC Radio, she was worried that the hotel caterers would be so busy handling your wedding that her daughter would be shortchanged.
I hope you can understand this woman's concern. Of course, after all the publicity that ensued when Dave and I reported the story, your wedding was called off, so Mrs. Terhark's daughter needn't have worried. Pardon me for feeling self-conscious, but did my buddy Dave and I have something to do with it? I'm very, very sorry.
I'm sorry if it complicated your life. But don't things like this happen to you every day? Isn't it just a small part of being a wildly successful singer-celebrity-movie star with an assortment of products bearing your name?
Besides, even in the best of circumstances, you know weddings are never easy. You starred in The Wedding Planner and you've been married twice before. Something always comes up.
Ms. Lopez, I just want to wish you the best of luck. Relationships are never easy, and maybe this one was never meant to be. Perhaps it's too soon to tell.
Most of all, you shouldn't feel the slightest bit ashamed over the last-minute cancellation. Far worse has happened — especially in Hollywood.
As you know, most celebrity marriages don't last. The worst that can be said of your marriage is that it never began.
Just in case you're feeling bad, take a look at these crash-and-burn relationships. Perhaps it's wrong to rehash other people's mistakes. But as they say, that's show business.
Sincerely,Buck
P.S. Forget Gigli. You and Ben are going to do great in Jersey Girl.
DISASTROUS CELEBRITY MARRIAGES
Charlie Sheen and Donna Peele
Their Story: Just weeks after Sheen testified that he spent more than $50,000 in a year on Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss' call girls, the Wall Street star married Peele, whom he had met six weeks earlier, while filming a commercial.
The Heartbreak: Sheen found religion and dumped his wife after six months of marriage, in spring 1996. "There was a voice. Not like drug-induced voices, but there was a voice that kept telling me this will not work," Sheen told Us magazine.
