Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma break-up: Three reasons why celebrity couples don't work out

Many thought that Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma would be India’s answer to David and Victoria Beckham, a proper power couple who’d last forever and make us believe in love. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be and, like most power couples, the relationship crumbled under the media’s constant glare. There’s a part of you which actually wonders if we’re actually responsible for this, are we so celebrity-crazy that we drive our heroes mad, forcing them to live up to our insane expectations? Are all celebrity relationships doomed to failure?

The M question

According to the various sources who talked to various papers (and we assume sources means real people and not figments of people’s imaginations), one of the sticking points was marriage. Apparently, Virat Kohli wanted to get married but Anushka Sharma didn’t.  Now this is understandable, because the film industry, despite the relatively enlightened times we live in, is harsher to heroines who are married. Anushka’s desire to not get married, when she’s at the peak of her career, is understandable. 

Living in a fishbowl took its toll

Another reason why celebrities fail to last is obviously the 24/7 media coverage that’s forced upon them. More often than not, Virat and Anushka have been faced with a virulent media and crazy fans and it’s understandable that they cracked. Mina Hochberg, therapist and fame expert, wrote for Cosmopolitan:

“This issue of not having any privacy in public spaces is very difficult because the famous person starts to become almost agoraphobic, where they don't want to go out in public. [Another way] it interferes in a relationship is that the famous party in the couple gets so much adulation out there in the world when you're with them that the spouse or partner of the famous person can very easily start feeling less-than and feel that they have sort of disappeared into the world because their famous partner is getting all of the attention. What makes it even worse is when the famous person doesn't have a nuanced appreciation and concern for the situation, and sort of basks in that glory without caretaking their partner.”

Mortal people like us can never imagine what it’s like to live in a glass bowl, where your every single action is magnified and millions of fans judge your every move. Most of us would probably crack, if say we were even forced to make tea in front of a stadium. Now imagine that all the time.

When Virat Kohli failed to live up to his stratospheric standards during the 2015 World Cup, Anushka was blamed for ‘distracting’ him, a preposterous suggestion but one that definitely had an impact on this relationship.

Celebrity pairings don't last

Finally, monogamy is hard enough for general people. It is, I believe, a social construct that goes against the face of evolution, and this is for both sexes. Now add to this the trappings of being a celeb and it becomes even harder to maintain a relationship. Not to mention the fact that you’re an individual who will have attractive fanboys and girls throwing themselves at you.

As Argument-Free Marriage author, Fawn Weaver told Huffington Post,

“The problem with celebrity marriages is that they're not built to last. It's very difficult to stand up against the spotlight in that manner, so we're looking at these guys -- we put them on these pedestals so they feel as though they have be fake all of the time and they have to go over the top, and that's hard to do. They're not able to really deal with their stuff.”

It's sad but true. Virushka was doomed to fail from the beginning.