Broken Promises

Last night, Jon and Kate announced on their show, Jon & Kate + 8, that they were separating. Earlier that day, sources reported that they had filed divorce papers.

I admit, that my heart is broken. Not simply for the fact that they're divorcing, but for the fact that it seems that marriage is no longer sacred.

As you can tell from reading this blog, I'm still a newlywed. Drew and I have been married for almost 8 months. Granted, that's not the 10 years that Jon and Kate have been married. I made very clear to Drew before he proposed to me, that marriage is for a lifetime in my eyes. He better be very sure that he wanted to be with me for the rest of our lives before he proposed. Divorce is not an option to me. That's the way I was raised. On our wedding day, we stood before God and all of our family and friends and promised each other that we would stay together through good times and bad, sickness and health, for the rest of our lives.

My heart breaks for their poor children. Whose heart doesn't ache for children in a divorce? And it's such a shame that they'll have video documentation of the whole thing unfolding. Only a few months ago, Jon and Kate traveled to Hawaii and renewed their vows. The whole time, explaining to their children that they would "be together forever".

The announcement of their divorce got me thinking about reality tv and marriages. Many marriages don't last a reality television series:

Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson - The Newlyweds - MTV - Divorced
Dave Navarro and Carmen Electra - Til Death Do Us Part - MTV - Divorced
Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar - 18 Kids and Counting - TLC - Married
Matt and Amy Roloff - Little People Big World - TLC - Married
(I came up with a big list longer than this one, and I, of course, can't think of them right now.)

What is it about reality tv that makes marriages crumble to pieces? I know that making a television show requires drama. Remember when I told you about MTV contacting me for the True Life: I'm a Newlywed show they were casting for? I was hesitant to pursue the opportunity because I knew that they would be looking for some sort of drama. I know we have drama, but is it drama that Drew and I could stand seeing back? I don't think that anything like what happened to Jon & Kate would be created from a little True Life episode, but we would still have to see ourselves at a nasty point. We have heated arguments like any couple. But, we can forgive and forget and life goes on. If we did that show, an argument would be caught and we would have to relive that everytime we saw the show. Probably not a pleasant part of reality tv.

Photo courtesy of TLC.