A curse, a spell, a hex….it's all hocus-pocus to me!

Dictionary Definition: “A curse is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to some other entity -- one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, "curse" may refer to a wish that harm or hurt will be inflicted by any supernatural power.”

My definition: “A curse is a twenty seven year old women, living back at home under the supervision of her mother, working five nights a week serving food to anal, unappreciative and cheap bastards, attending therapy once a week, working as a struggling actress by day, or shall I say not working as a struggling actress by day and….oh wait….I should really stop talking about my friend.  Let’s get back to the crux of this article before I give away the main points of her future biography, in which I plan on making millions.  

The question here, is do you believe in curses?  Since 1997 is it said that seven leading actresses have been hit by the Oscar curse, but quite frankly that statement sounds like an oxymoron to me.  In all cases the women’s lives fell apart shortly after winning the Oscar for best actress. 

It all started in 1997 when Helen Hunt won for “As Good as it Gets” and just three years after, she split from her long-time love Hank Azaria.  They may have dated for a long time, but they were only married for one year. 

In 2001 Halle Berry won for “Monster’s Ball” while married to musician Eric Benét. They separated in 2003 and later divorced in 2004. 

Our third victim Charlize Theron won in 2003 for the film “Monster”.  She was dating actor Stuart Townsend for nine years, but recently broke it off claiming that she never planned on marrying him (she was hotter then him anyway). 

Just two years later in 2005 Reese Witherspoon won for her role in “Walk the Line”.  Her seven-year marriage to Ryan Phillipe ended abruptly in 2006. 

In 2008 Kate Winslet took home the Oscar for her performance in “The Reader”.  She was the youngest actress in history to have a total of six nominations.  Shortly thereafter the curse swept her off her feet and took her husband, director Sam Mendes with it. 

Now the most recent and probably most famous case was the 2010 Oscar ceremony where Sandra Bullock took home the golden prize for “Blind Side”.  Just a few days after, it was announced to the public that her husband Jesse James was not only cheating on her with one tattooed skank, but several tattooed skanks (pardon my French).   It seems as though Sandra Bullock’s tragedy got way more attention from the press then in past years.  Maybe it’s because Sandra was always America’s sweetheart, the actress who entertained us with light-hearted comedies.  She was never taken seriously as an actress until she took on this challenging role and the world was right there with her, rooting her on.  The press has a special talent for knocking people down when they are at their best, strongest and most successful and Sandra Bullock was no exception.

Okay, It feels like this article is going the mushy route, but I actually don’t think the Oscar curse is all that bad.  First of all, I personally don’t believe in curses and would I sacrifice a marriage to be rich and famous worldwide, and have an Oscar sitting in the front entrance of my million square foot home, absolutely! 

Here’s the reality of it.  Fifty-five percent of all marriages fail, so your chances of marrying twice in your lifetime are already pretty good.  Both my grandmother and my aunt are working on their fourth marriage each, so they fulfill the statistics on behalf of our entire family.  So, here’s my question for you…yes you the one reading this article right now.  Do you believe that these seven, beautiful women are truly cursed, do you believe that the timing of these divorces was merely a fluke, or do you believe that the huge success and responsibility that comes along with winning an Oscar was too much for the male ego to handle and therefore caused the demise of the relationship? 

Written by: Shantelle Canzanese.

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