Brangelina split: Don't play blame game

Time and again, this is how we treat the news of other people's failed marriages -- we assign blame in order to support the notion that marriages fail because of some specific wrongdoing (and often specifically because of some temptress), and not just because of irreconcilable differences or simply because two people have grown apart in a natural way.

Most married people know that marriage is hard. So why do we want to infuse every last celebrity breakup with some drama? Why must one party or the other be the jilted one?

After all, most "regular" people's divorce proceedings don't come with major, headline-worthy drama. And according to a 2014 study conducted by the Austin Institute for the Study of Family & Culture, what we know of the Jolie-Pitt split so far follows American convention. Women are more prone to be discontent in marriage than men and are more consistently likely to file for divorce, although infidelity isn't top of the list of marital complaints.

Instead, among the reasons women cite most often for wanting divorce are emotional abuse, a partner who's unresponsive to her needs, and a spouse's immaturity.

It's worth noting that Page Six also reported tensions between the pair because Jolie had become more interested in humanitarian work and wanted to quit Hollywood, while Pitt was enjoying celebrity life as much as ever. Herein lies a totally reasonable, and entirely common, cause for a marriage ending: two people whose life goals have moved in different directions. Yet it's a story that's all but buried under the flashier headlines touting sex, drugs, and uncontrollable rage.

Their divorce would represent Jolie's third and Pitt's second. It's tempting to want to comment on that fact, too; to question whether celebrities take marriage less seriously than the rest of us. Maybe they do. What's more likely at play, though, is a tabloid-obsessed public looking to make a much bigger deal of celebrity divorce than we do our own.