Are marriages like George and Amal Clooney’s rare?

[Lesighhh]

Saw an interview of them both released today talking about their marriage. They say they’ve never really had an argument and they’ve found marriage to be easy, in fact 'the easiest thing'. Amal says it’s 99% luck to meet the right person, and prior to meeting George at age 35 she didn’t think she’d find someone. They seem to have such love and mutual respect for each other. Is this kind of marriage the exception rather than the norm? Have they been extremely lucky or do many people have this?

Me too.
I like GC (in films, no idea what he's like as a husband) and JR.

They'll be divorced within a year.

They’ve been married almost a decade!

They've been together 10 years already, why do you think this?

I think she means that they've now jinxed themselves by talking about their ideal marriage.

I think it's a lot to do with age. If you marry in your 20s, you're not really very mature, silly arguments happen over nothing. Also, as others have said, if you've no money worries, it helps a lot.

There is just something that seems fake with George and Amal so it is hard to decide if it is a case of true love or not.
But I do admire Pierce Brosnan and Keely Shaye’s marriage. They seem very much in love and he after the death of his first wife deserved to find happiness again.

At the risk of being shot down, I think there are marriages like George and Amal describe. I’m 63 and have been married 3 times, been living with my now husband for 14-years. I am also a Psychologist and have worked with couples as part of my clinical work for over 3 decades. In my experience, there are three things that put strain on couple relationships. Firstly, probably most obviously, incompatibility, especially sexually. Secondly, financial worries. Thirdly, having children. Not just the demands of parenting, but many couples start to see each other as ‘mummy and daddy’ (it could equally be ‘mummy and mummy’ or ‘daddy and daddy’), a potential death nell for mutual attraction in an adult relationship.

Where people are okay financially (don’t have to be super well off), have good sexual chemistry and no kids, the relationship is much more likely to remain loved-up and conflict free. Other it often takes serious work.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Your DH sounds so lovely.

And me and DH too.

Nothing worse than sulkers

They could always have an intriguing one like Dan and Lucy marriage on YouTube, they prank each other a lot and e.g. Hack their alexa ect

Exactly the same for DH and I, in 11 years together we've never had an argument. I feel very lucky to have a marriage which is fundamentally based on love and respect.

I have a relationship like this. I left an emotionally volatile one. I will never take for granted how utterly wonderful it is to live in peace.

Not to be the pessimist, but most marriages would be easy if everyone had house staff which remove the majority of causes of arguments 😁

No. Took me until 33 to find my husband, but 10 years on I literally don’t know what I would do without him. He is the most supportive, compassionate, communicative man in the world and I love him beyond words. I am spoilt to have him. Pretty sure, even with all
my idiosyncrasies he would say the same in return.

we have probably had 3 disagreements in the time I have been with him (never needed to fill out argue).

@Babdoc

I realised you were only 35/36 when tragedy struck. What a heartbreaking story. I hope you have had a wonderful life since with your children.

I think I'd rather be married to a serial killer than a prankster.

With the “every marriage would be easy with limitless wealth” view I beg to differ - Charles and Diana - say no more!

My marriage is like this too. We respect one another and are quick to say sorry if we are in the wrong or unintentionally hurt the other.

We haven’t had an argument yet - almost did when we moved house but it we quickly got over that!

He is very respectful of me and a very good provider and equal domestic partner and I think this goes a long way to our easy, happy relationship. I look after him well and work hard to contribute to the household so there is no power or financial imbalance. He has way more money than me and treats me often, but I am financially independent at the same time.

We laugh a lot and have the same sense of humour and little in jokes and phrases that make us laugh.

We also don’t bottle things up so if something is a bit annoying or the other has said something we will address it calmly and move on. Only one or twice has this happened though and it was him taking the p* out of me over my horses and I got defensive and annoyed!! He apologised and said he wouldn’t do it again! Job done.

What’s all this about a sham marriage? Clooney has always been human rights driven and did loads of work in South Sudan using GPS mapping technology to uncover atrocities/mass graves. Amal is a human rights lawyer and absolute boss lady. Doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that they are kindred souls who found each other.

Dh and I never argued until after dc2&3 twins. We were tired and I probably had pnd but was masking it. I can still count on one hand the number of arguments in 21 years.

When they says that they don’t argue I took it to mean that they don’t have any major arguments.
They were both older when they got married and probably were clear about what they wanted from a marriage. Furthermore, they are loaded and will have lots of help.
Money and domestic chores are two of the things that most normal people argue about..
i don’t think that they had a surrogate because if my memory serves me well, Amal was actually pregnant. However, I do think that they used gender selection.
Beyonce, JLo, Mariah Carey et all have twins ( one of each). This is not a coincidence

Exactly
I think he was married once before for a short time and never married again until he met Amal. They have similar interest and appear to be very happy.
Too many cynical people on MN

So sorry to hear that, I hope you are having a good life anyway. Maybe you will meet someone in the future.