OK, so we all know that no matter where you are there are double standards. I mean even in your kid's kindergarten class there’s a double standard of some sort happening. So it should come as no surprise that the double standard is alive and well in Hollywood, especially when it comes to vilifying those who break up marriages.
For years we’ve called out Angelina Jolie for being a home wrecker (mostly while Brad Pitt walked away unscathed) for hooking up with Brad on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith while he was still happily married to Jennifer Aniston. Of course we know how that turned out – with Brad leaving Jen to go off and have a sporting team’s worth of kids with Angelina while Jen held a pity party for herself. And even though they divorced in 2005 we are still talking about that breakup and there is still a very clear line that people stand on – Team Aniston or Team Jolie. Still. Even after Brangelina had 6 kids. Still.
So now Jennifer Aniston seems to have moved on once again and found love with actor Justin Theroux. We talk about how great they look together and how handsome he is now that she must have convinced him to shave that beard and how in love they seem to be as they hold hands all over New York City and even pose for photographers together. But here’s the thing, and I never really thought about it until I read this over at Lainey Gossip, but Justin was in a relationship for 14 years with Heidi Bivens before he and Jennifer started dating. Celebitchy gives an interesting timeline of their relationship basically making it seem like Justin and Jennifer started their relationship while Justin and Heidi were still living together and Heidi still thought she had a faithful boyfriend. Yeah, in other words, Jennifer did to Heidi what Angelina did to Jennifer. Hmmmm.
So why are we all ‘Yay Jen found a new man’ while we were all ‘Boo Angelina is a home wrecking whore!’ Is it because Justin and Heidi weren’t actually married? Is it because Heidi never gave an interview and proclaimed that she was ready to have a good old pity party for herself? Is it because Justin isn’t as high profile as Brad was? Because really, it looks like Jen hooked up with a man while he was in a long term relationship – the exact same thing that Angelina did, yet we’re all so happy for Jen and we still call Angelina a home wrecker. Double standard? I think so.
So what do you think – why do we have such a double standard between how we are treating Jennifer Aniston and how we treated Angelina Jolie? But better yet, why are we talking so much about the women in these situations while the men, who really are the offenders, walk away scot free? Now that is really a double standard.
Scene and Heard
Confessions of a Pop Culture Mummy
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