Chad Lowe and Hilary Swank, winner for Best Actress in a Leading Role for “Million Dollar Baby,” pose after she wins award (Photo by Toni Anne Barson Archive/WireImage)
This article is from “Celebritology” by Josh Lora, a content creator covering pop culture and the moments shaping today’s cultural conversation. Lora is one of The Washington Post’s Featured Voices, a co-production with independent creators.
Winning an Oscar is supposed to be the pinnacle of an actor’s career. But for some of Hollywood’s biggest actresses, professional triumph has been followed by personal heartbreak.
For decades, there’s been speculation about a so-called Best Actress curse: the idea that women who win the Academy Award for best actress are more likely to see their marriages fall apart.
And looking at the past two decades, there are some striking coincidences.
Halle Berry became the first Black woman to win best actress in 2002 and announced her separation from husband Eric Benét the following year. Hilary Swank won in 2005 and separated from Chad Lowe in 2006. Reese Witherspoon won in 2006 and announced her separation from Ryan Phillippe later that year.
Kate Winslet won in 2009 and separated from director Sam Mendes in 2010. Sandra Bullock won in 2010, and her divorce from Jesse James was finalized just months later.
Of course, there are exceptions. Natalie Portman and Meryl Streep also separated from their partners, but those splits came years after their respective Oscar wins.
So is there really a curse, or does the pattern reveal something bigger about gender, ambition and relationships?
Recently, influencer April Lockhart opened up about how her growing fame and financial success complicated her marriage. And on “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” we've watched women become their households' primary breadwinners while navigating increasingly tumultuous relationships. Earlier this month, cast member Jen Affleck filed for divorce.
These stories reflect a broader conversation about what happens when women's success challenges traditional relationship dynamics.
Research has suggested that changes in financial power and gender expectations can create tension in marriages, although there's little evidence that winning an Oscar itself causes divorce.
For actresses already at the top of their careers, an Academy Award can dramatically reshape their public identities and professional opportunities. It's reasonable to wonder whether those changes can affect their personal relationships, too.
But perhaps the more revealing question is why we frame these women's success as a curse in the first place.
As women increasingly challenge traditional expectations around money, ambition and marriage, their accomplishments shouldn't be treated as threats to their partners.
Maybe the real curse isn't winning best actress. It's the expectation that women should achieve greatness without disrupting the balance of power in their relationships.
This story is part of Featured Voices by Washington Post Creator, a team outside The Washington Post’s newsroom. Featured Voices highlights content from our network of independent creator who share their expertise, perspective and stories with The Washington Post.
