If Loving Them Is Wrong, Why Do So Many Women Go for Bad Boys?

Jan. 2, 2007 — -- "If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don't Wanna Be Right."

That tune must be among the most-played songs on Kate Moss' iPod.

That's because the supermodel joins Whitney Houston, Kate Hudson, Pamela Anderson, Britney Spears and other high-profile female stars who just can't seem to resist the lure of the bad boy, whether he's a drug-addled mess or a libidinous horn dog.

Despite the pleas from dozens of friends and her own attempts to jettison the relationship, Moss jumped back on the bandwagon last week, vacationing with heroin-addicted rocker Pete Doherty and reportedly marrying him in a secret ceremony on a beach in Thailand.

The 32-year-old supermodel, wearing flowers in her hair, apparently exchanged vows with 27-year-old Doherty, who had to get permission from his probation officer to make the trip, since he is under a two-year court supervision for drug offenses.

For Moss, who is reportedly worth at least $25 million and graces the covers of glamorous magazines around the world, it seems like a match made in hell. Doherty, who has a son from a previous relationship, has a lengthy rap sheet for crimes that range from possession of heroin and crack cocaine to stealing cars to assaulting and punching bandmates and paparazzi.

So, what's the appeal of this bad boy? What drives successful independent women into the arms of degenerate losers?

"It's very sexy," said relationship counselor Marilyn Graman. "Some women thrive on that tension, that continuing pump up of adrenaline that comes from being with a bad boy. It gets to be very boring when someone does what you like all the time."

Sometimes the women start to emulate their beau's bad behavior. Last year Moss was caught on tape apparently snorting cocaine with Doherty. After the photos hit the front pages, several high-profile retailers dropped her. (She eventually rebounded and is now earning the most money she's ever made in her career.)

Whitney Houston had a reputation as a churchgoing good girl when she married Bobby Brown, the anger-prone singer, in 1992. In subsequent years, Brown was arrested for drug violations, raping an underage prostitute, driving while intoxicated, sexual battery and urinating on a car.

Houston herself started on a downward spiral -- cops found traces of marijuana in her luggage at a Hawaii airport, and she entered drug rehabilitation centers in 2004 and 2005.

"We are crazy for one another," Houston once said in describing their tumultuous relationship. "I mean crazy in love, love, love, love, love. When we're fighting, it's like that's love for us. We're fighting for our love."

And that attraction can turn into an addiction. "Some people have to go and do cold turkey, similar to dropping a drug," said Graman, who has treated many such cases. "It can be difficult and people slip. The only cure is that they have to decide whether the pain and anxiety is worth it -- you have to start hating the drama."

In recent years, plenty of starlets have grown tired of the drama. Last year Houston, Spears and Hudson all filed for divorce from their bad-boy beaus.

Others have had a harder time calling it quits: Moss often splits with Doherty but ends up reuniting with him. Pam Anderson divorced Tommy Lee but then briefly married rap rocker Kid Rock last year.

"The only person you want to be admired by really is the person that you're in love with," Anderson told CNN as she described the difficulty of extricating herself from a bad boy. "I mean, you want admiration from other people, but … it is so important and so destructive when you lose your self-esteem."