Divorce, Hollywood Style: In the Chick Lit Novel IMPOSSIBLY TONGUE-TIED, Fiction Is Just as Titillating as Fact

Jen and Brad. Jessica and Nick. Reese and Ryan. And now Britney and Kevin can be added to the long list of Hollywood's famous albeit failed marriages. Why are the odds for wedded bliss so dismal in Tinseltown?

The blame begins with the fame, says Josie Brown, author of IMPOSSIBLY TONGUE-TIED (Avon Trade Paperbacks; On Sale 11/21/06; $12.95), a glam-packed novel that is a roman-a-clef of the celebrated and infamous.

"We look at these beautiful people, and we just assume that they were made for each other; that they’ll live happily ever after. But the burden of celebrity comes with an enormous amount of stress which can crack up even the strongest relationship. Add to that long stretches apart when one partner must be on location, and the romantic temptations that pop up while working with other beautiful people, well, you can just imagine how that kills the odds for a successful celebrity marriage.”

A glance at the tabloids that fill local newsstands bear this out. Bold headlines shout out the latest legal maneuvers of divorce-bound celebrities, proof positive that the public is just as curious about the break-ups of the rich and famous as the star-studded weddings that preceded them.

As an entertainment feature writer, Brown has seen such dangerous celebrity liaisons first hand. Though she changes the names to protect the infamous, the plots of her books, including the popular TRUE HOLLYWOOD LIES, revolve around such naughty antics.

In IMPOSSIBLY TONGUE-TIED, Brown’s heroine, Nina Harte, and her husband, Nathan, come to Hollywood with the hope of finding stardom. But things hardly go as planned. The best acting job Nathan lands is as a costume character at Disneyland, while Nina works at a gourmet grocery. When she discovers she is pregnant, she takes a second, somewhat more interesting phone sex operator position on the side. Embarrassing as it may be, there are bills to pay, and Nina, who is typically shy with people she doesn’t know, discovers the she may just have a hidden talent for this sort of thing, and soon her phone number is on speed dial with every industry player in Hollywood, including that of the director who has chosen Nathan to star in his next film.

Pegged by the tabloids as “the next Brad Pitt,” Nathan falls for his own hype and winds up in the arms of his co-star, leaving behind Nina and child, ala Kevin Federline, that is, until his new lady love insists they brand Nina an unfit mommy in the tabloids.

Like any plucky heroine, Nina figures out how to hold onto her child and her sanity, despite the rabid press nipping at her heels. As for finding true love in Tinseltown, Brown says: “At least in fiction you can count on a happy ending, even in Hollywood."