The Value of a Happy Marriage

Reportedly Sandra Bullock is now talking to lawyers. Her husband, Jesse James, claims on his Discovery Channel website that his great-great-grandfather was the famous gunslinger’s cousin. However, Eric James, president of the James Preservation Trust, says it can not find a record of him in the family tree, and has asked him to provide a family genealogy and DNA sampling for the Trust to review; he has not accepted the offer. Jesse, it seems, has a problem with reality.


David Brooks of the New York Times asks the question whether being an Academy Award winner, like Sandra Bullock, is an equal tradeoff to finding out your husband is a West Coast Chopper cheater. He makes the case that if you have a successful marriage, it doesn’t matter how many career setbacks you have, you will still be reasonably happy. But if your marriage is like a house of cards, no matter how many Oscars you take home, you will remain unfulfilled. Marital happiness is good for your health (although it has been reported that Oscar winners live nearly four years longer than nominees). According to one study, being happily married produces a psychic gain equivalent to more than $100,000 a year.