Lunar | Why celebrity divorces, from Bill and Melinda Gates to Tong Liya, are a source of fascination
- News that billionaires Bill and Melinda Gates and actors Tong Liya and Chen Sicheng were ending their marriages has been a source of widespread attention
- Dismissing this interest in celebrities as facile fascination with the lives of the rich and famous misses the point
When news broke that Bill and Melinda Gates had filed for divorce, the global reaction was one of utter fascination. What had gone wrong in a marriage which had weathered 27 years, the raising of three children and the creation of a global empire which provided a cushion of immense wealth and privilege to buffer the couple from the stresses and strains that test the far less fortunate?
Across offices and homes, theories ranged from the couple becoming victims of “empty nest syndrome” after their youngest child had turned 18, to whether “mid-life crisis” had engulfed one of the parties.
Tong, 37, who has a huge fan base thanks to starring roles in a string of hit TV dramas, had met actor and director Chen in 2010. They married in 2014 and had their son in 2016.
