Hollywood couples stand re-united

Hollywood’s pretty open about it. Stories of celeb couples who have dated long, split and re-patched abound.

Take one: Hotties Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel, who called it quits in March last year, got back together when Justin proposed to his ladylove in December. The two are happily ‘engaged’ now.

Take two: Pop star Miley Cyrus has always been on and off with her hunky beau Liam Hemsworth, who started dating after meeting on the sets of The Last Song. The two got back together after numerous break-ups.

Then of course there are the other on-off couples like Jude Law and Sienna Miller, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Kim Porter, Paris Hilton and Doug Reinhardt...the list is endless. But really, what makes them break up and get together again, only to split and continue the cycle?

Behavioural expert Hemant Mittal says, “When the couple concerned is a public figure, they have to take into account the repercussions of their high-profile break-up. The adverse effect is that every action of theirs will be scrutinised. They know they belong to the same industry, therefore in a way, they are in the same boat.” He explains  that as the glamour industry is like a close-knit family, the connect or the bond is better. Hemant gives an example: “Actor Brad Pitt apparently split with Jennifer Aniston because they didn’t share the desire to have babies, which is perhaps the common connecting factor between him and Angelina Jolie now. But because of the high-pressured lives they lead, they also believe in giving a second chance.”

Jayanta Das, a 27-year-old corporate professional, agrees with that theorem. “I and my wife broke up after six years of dating. We started seeing different people immediately after, only to realise that rebounds never work out for the best. The problem was we didn’t have time for each other, so we decided to give it another go. And today we’re happily married,” he smiles sheepishly.

But not everyone has a similar story to tell. For Gunjan Arora, a 28-year-old software engineer, her first love story didn’t have a happily-ever-after ending. “We were so much in love. But he was scarily possessive. He’d dictate my whole life. My friends would ask me to call it quits; I wouldn’t listen. I gave him several chances. But one day, he raised his hand on me…and I walked out of his life,” she shudders, as she adds as an afterthought, “I really loved him a lot.”

Hemant explains that because of the socio-cultural changes in the urban society, the mindset of young people are more individualised today. “If you’re in a relationship purely for reasons of self-satisfaction, it’s bound to break. Often one moves on only to realise the deeper meaning of a deeper bond. They want to come back then. I think ‘first love’, despite being a much-hyped concept, is given a lot of psychological priority, as one usually invests maximum emotions the first time.”