NY Times columnist's equation allegedly predicts celebrity marriage odds

theGRIO REPORT - A New York Times science columnist says that he and a statistician have created a statistical model that accurately predicts whether a celebrity couple will stay together, and for how long...

TheGrio Staff

Mar 15, 2012

A New York Times science columnist says that he and a statistician have created a statistical model that accurately predicts whether a celebrity couple will stay together, and for how long.

The model, first published in the Times science section in 2006, has gotten an upgrade, and reporter John Tierney says a number of factors really can influence whether a celebrity duo can go the distance. Among the factors in the Sundem/Tierney Unified Celebrity Theory: the length of the couple’s courtship, their relative ages, each party’s marital history, and the woman’s “sex symbol factor” (too many sexy pictures of her online indicates narcissism, apparently.) And it also turns out that it’s the fame level of the wife that matters most.

Tierney says the equation, which he and statistician Garth Sundem have updated with brand new variables (such as the number of mentions in the New York Times divided by the number of items on the celeb couple in the National Enquirer,) successfully predicted that Britney Spears and K-Fed wouldn’t last (say it isn’t so!)…and that Will and Jada were in for trouble (the jury’s still out on that one.)

So how did some of the hottest black celeb couples fare? Tierney and Sundem applied their theory to several famous couples, and found the following odds of them making it to the five-year mark:

Read the full NYT celeb list here

What couples would you like to see put to the statistical test?