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| Demi Moore |
According to Moore's rep in a statement earlier: "Because of the stresses in her life right now, Demi has chosen to seek professional assistance to treat her exhaustion and improve her overall health."
A flurry of unconfirmed reports suggest her exhaustion is code for substance abuse and malnourishment. An eating disorder, a late-night 911 call, a seizure, a nitrous oxide binge, are some of the whispers you could hear around the web.
Ashton was said to had been involved on another woman, the main reason why Demi decided to file a divorce.
"As a woman, a mother and a wife, there are certain values and vows that I hold sacred, and it is in this spirit that I have chosen to move forward with my life," said Moore in a statement to press on Thursday.
In addition to making it clear that she was the one ending her "six-year marriage to Ashton," she also set the record straight: it's not that she's too old, it's that he's too young.
Her follow-up (on Twitter no less), she said: "Marriage is one of the most difficult things in the world."
Moore was a veteran of high-profile marriages and weathered her divorce from Bruce Willis, the father of her three daughters, better than any other in the business. They're friends, supporters, and have managed to put their family before their romantic drama.
Moore's brief statement on Ashton's cheating scandal proved she's still putting family before "keeping her man." And her address belongs in a hall of fame of strong women who've publicly handled their misbehaving husbands with aplomb.
That's why there's less talk about how the very public breakup of her marriage could be at the heart of her health problems. However, the effects of a broken heart take a physical toll. In a review released this month by University of Arizona, researchers found that divorced adults are at a higher risk of an early death than married adults. The effects of a split can be as harmful to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, being overweight or drinking heavily, according to the report.
One 2006 study found that middle-aged women, in particular, are at a greater risk of cardiovascular disease than married women of the same age. Cancer and mobility issues have also been linked to the after-effects of a long-term romantic separation.
But in the initial days and months after a divorce, the mental health risks are most threatening.
"When you are processing the ending of a marriage, you are overcome with a variety of complex emotions - sorrow, anger, shame, fear," explains Rachel Sussman, a licensed psychotherapist and author of The Breakup Bible. "Sleep and one's ability to eat may be impacted by the sorrow and stress, [which in turn] may effect your overall health and cause you to get very run down."
A painful split is also grounds for a relapse of bad habits. Eating disorders, long-under control, may resurface in times of stress. Most notable, substance abuse is found in higher rates for women during a divorce than men, according to a WHO World Mental Health study.
Moore has touted her clean living lifestyle in the years after her early '80s rehab stint but anyone who has suffered from drug addiction knows the threat of relapse hovers in times of transition.
"Demi Moore is a recovering addict so for someone like her, a divorce may indeed produce a relapse," Sussman tells Shine. "Addicts turn to substances for a variety of reasons including the need to modify pain. It's a poor coping mechanism and will often produce the opposite effect than the one you are looking for."
While the WHO study found more women using substances as band-aids during divorce, men were more likely to become isolated and depressed. Kutcher might not be the shining example of that statistic. While Moore battles her demons, Kutcher's been parading around Brazil's fashion week and sucking on coconuts for his twitter followers.
To be clear, just because there are risk factors to divorce, staying in a troubled marriage isn't the healthy choice either. One University of Iowa study found that couples who weren't happy together had lower immune systems and took longer to heal than happily married spouses.
Sometimes, divorce is the only option. But setting a self-preservation game plan doesn't end with finding an attorney. In searching online for the terms "divorce" and "health risks," you have to plow through alarmist warnings about the health risks for children of divorce before you can find anything about surviving as a parent.
To protect the mind and body during divorce, experts suggests: Exercise to prevent depression and keep your appetite and sleep patterns in check. Commandeer your support system: family, friends, even therapists, and sponsors depending on your needs. "Deal with your grief head on," advises Sussman. "It hurts but better now than later."
I suppose that's the same advise she's (Demi Moore) been receiving by now.
