The Great Pretenders

Since June last year it had been obvious their marriage was on the skids, but the Material Couple went to great pains insisting otherwise. This even after the UK Mirror revealed that Madonna had hired lawyer Fiona Shackleton, who had handled Sir Paul McCartney's divorce, and that Madge was keen on shacking up with US baseball star Alex Rodriguez.

The subterfuge continued. At Madonna's 50th birthday in August Guy declared his undying love for his 'Gristle' in front of 90 of their closest friends and family, according to The Sun. Then there was the sham show of strength at Guy's RocknRolla movie premiere in September. Entertainment website http://www.tmz.com/ has accused Madge and Guy of masterminding their are-they-or-aren't-they-divorcing drama to sell tickets for her 'Sticky & Sweet' tour, which is expected to earn close to $300-million (about R3-billion) worldwide.... Well, their kids may benefit financially from their parents' PR game, but the mixed messages have probably damaged them for life.

Guy and Madge are not the only celebrity couple who have the great-pretender routine down pat. Just four days before they announced their split in 2005, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston went out of their way to stop the negative speculation surrounding their marriage by canoodling for the paparazzi who followed them on their Caribbean holiday.

Then there was Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, who also spent months denying the obvious in 2005. Maybe if these couples had spent less time trying to pull the wool over the public's eyes and more time working on their marriages, they wouldn't be in Splitsville....