There was an article in the newspapers today about Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes re-negotiating their marriage contract, as their present contract expires this month on their 3rd wedding anniversary.
Katie Holmes is apparently demanding an extra $500,000 for supporting Scientology, Tom Cruise's adopted religion, an increase in her annual clothing allowance from $750,000 to $2 million, and a role in the next ‘Mission: Impossible’ movie.
She's believed to have received $3 million bonus from Tom Cruise when she gave birth to Suri, and he’s ready to pay her up to $5.5 million to get pregnant again, with a $2 million bonus if she conceives by 2011. However, Katie wants at least $11 million if she gives birth & $5.5 million if she tries and fails.
Is your reaction to this piece of Hollywood news the same as mine was? For all my liberal thinking & Western bent of mind, I found this extremely bizarre. Hilarious, yes, but also bizarre. For that matter, I find even pre-nuptials to be quite bizarre. How can one treat marriage as a contract?
Agreed, my attitude towards marriages is a little different from that of most Indians. For me, marriages aren’t “sacred”, a “holy” union or anything like that. Rather, I think marriage is something very intimate….something you should go in for only when you feel you’ve reached a level in your love for the other person where you can put them before yourself – though by this, I don’t mean you should be a martyr.
You should have kids when you want to & not because you’re getting paid to do it. Similarly, you should support a religion you believe in, not something you’re being paid to support. Imagine getting paid or asking for money to have a child! How ridiculous is that??
Are these people really so out of touch with reality? Or are they just being practical, making sure they have enough resources for when they find themselves single again, given the divorce rates in their country?
What's your view on this?
5 comments:
flew in here from KK's blog, interesting.
I read a while ago where Catherine Zeta Jones had a clause that said if Michael Douglas strayed she would get 500,000$ each time.
i think a) women out west tend to stand up for themselves more than women here... unfortunately
b) someone like Katie Holmes will lose more by being married and pregnant careerwise.
c) i think she just put numbers to what would have otherwise been an 'understanding' why lose out when you dont have to.
i dont think its all practicality but high profile marriages tend to have a lot of pressure, if they fall apart, i guess everyone should come off it with
Practical???? Like how???
Heartless it is.. like a transaction!!! Extremely sad.. this is what people are reduced to.. hey btw did you read about this guy.. the md of a company who flicked a blackberry!!!
Theirs is a different reality. If we earned 20 million dollars a movie perhaps that reality would not seem so bizarre.
@Gaurav - To reply to your comments pointwise...
a) I agree that Western women know how to & do stand up for themselves more than Indian women, but to me, standing up for oneself means things like remaining financially independent after marriage, not making compromises on things that are really important to you as a person (for instance, not wanting to change your last name, or again to continue working), not compromising on your self-respect etc. Pre-nups & marriage contracts hardly mean standing up for oneself. That's my personal opinion.
b) Katie Holmes has everything to gain by being married to a successful actor/producer, trust me on that. She hardly had a movie career...her only moment under the sun was playing Joey in 'Dawson's Creek'.
c) I partly agree with you in that if your marriage is an "understanding" or an "arrangement" to beging with, then might as well come out gaining from it in whichever way. But asking for money to stay married, have a kid & support some religion still sounds bizarre to me!!
BTW...you're right about the Catherine Zeta Jones bit.
@Moonshine - Sad that marriages have been reduced to mere transactions. I thought they were all about love, caring & companionship.
I don't know which MD you're talking about. Who's he? Do you have the link to the story?
@Saltwater Blues - True, different people have different perceptions of reality, depending on the situation they're in.
Yesterday's paper (TOI) - apparently that guy flicked a blackberry and it was caught on camera.. and then tried to dispose it off in the loo when caught!!!!!
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