The Internet is already cluttered with assumed reasons for the demise of Robin Thicke and Paula Patton’s nine-year marriage.
Precisely two people know what has led to their separation and their names are Robin and Paula. But, they are public figures and in today’s 24-hour gossip news cycle, private dealings can and do impact professional projects. This is especially true for celebrities who allow the public into their private lives.
The couple frequently brought up their private life (and even sex life) in interviews and they never said anything less than gushing things about each other. They married in 2005 and had a son in 2010, but they had been together for over 20 years, starting out as high school sweethearts. However, in the past year, Thicke caught some flack from the public for the naked women in his “Blurred Lines” video and that bizarre performance with an allegedly twerking Miley Cyrus (she tried) at the VMAs.
Thicke also got plenty of online side-eyes and finger wagging when he was caught on camera playing grab ass with a female fan. By the way, that fan is still down to “date” Thicke. Ok, girl. Through it all, the couple showed a united front– engaging in their usual amount of PDA on red carpets and speaking passionately of each other in interviews.
The news that the couple is splitting up is not exactly earth shattering, but lots of people wanted the high school sweethearts to work out, if for nothing else than the fact that it makes for a nice ending to the boy-meets-girl story. So, what will happen with Thicke and Patton’s careers in the wake of their personal troubles?
For Patton, this will likely have no impact on her acting offers or how the public views her. She will keep snagging rom-com gigs and the occasional drama or action thriller and she’ll come up with a few pr-friendly lines to say when she is inevitably asked about her split with her husband.
For Thicke, he likely won’t see much of a negative impact on his career either. As of right now, he is “the bad guy” because of the public perception that he unraveled his marriage with less than husbandly behavior. His wife is a black woman and there are lots of black women who are big fans of Thicke’s blue-eyed soul.
Could Thicke see any appreciable decline in his fan base because he allegedly didn’t do right by a sista or because of that nasty legal battle with Marvin Gaye’s estate over “Blurred Lines”? Eh.
Men like R. Kelly and Chris Brown who had scandals much larger than Thicke’s managed to weather their media storms and keep on going with their careers. Folks can see past a lot of wrongs (alleged and admitted) if there’s a nice voice, a thumping beat or good choreography involved.
If anything, Thicke’s next album might be his most popular yet because people will surely be (over) analyzing his lyrics to try to find any additional dirt on what happened with his marriage to Patton. And then of course people often say that it is in those deep, dark valleys of life when artists produce their best work. Tis the curse of creative genius, or at least talent. Toni Braxton and Babyface (both divorced) have a new album out called Love, Marriage and Divorce. Marital woes can sometimes make great source material.
Whatever the cause for the split and whatever may or may not happen professionally because of it, these are things for the actress and singer to work out for themselves. Divorce is a painful process and there is a small child involved. Hopefully everyone will come out in the end whole and eventually happy.
Do you think Thicke and Patton’s separation will alter either of their careers? Does a celebrity’s private life impact whether or not you will be a fan of that person’s work?
Follow Demetria Irwin on Twitter at @Love_Is_Dope and connect with her on Facebook.