Heidi Klum, Seal Separate: 5 Other 'Alpha Wife' Couples

Heidi Klum and Seal confirmed late Sunday that they will separate after seven years of marriage. The news comes as a shock to friends and fans alike, as the couple always been considered one of the happiest in Hollywood.

But what went wrong in this seemingly-perfect relationship? Some have speculated that Seal's temper drove the pair apart, while others have said Klum's success -- the supermodel hosts "Project Runway" and recently joined the cast of "Fashion Star" -- might have something to do with the separation.

Research suggests that marriages in which a wife out-earns her husband are more likely to end in divorce -- perhaps because men feel emasculated, or women feel like their husbands are freeloading. News reports have even called this the "alpha wife" phenomenon, arguing that successful women are somehow destroying modern marriages -- though it wouldn't be noteworthy if the opposite were true.

But could this be true for Seal and Klum?

Seal's big hit, "Kiss From a Rose," was released in 1994. And though the singer is set to release a new album, "Soul 2," on Tuesday, Klum has remained in the limelight while Seal hasn't reached the same heights.

Below, five other "alpha wife" star couples who have called it quits.

Comments

[luckysantangelo10]

02:12 PM on 01/31/2012

'I have a stereotypical marriage,I just never knew what to call it before.
Now when I see people and they ask"how's everything in my family"?
I will say"Oh,stereotypical.....LOL!

[Nicolletta]

03:17 PM on 01/27/2012

In this case having four children in rapid sucession, all under the age of seven now, plus two career-driven people who travel for their job, tremendous pressure is put on them because of that. People romanticize having babies, but the fact is that is a stressor on the relationship, having so many young children close together. Seal has put his career back on the front burner again and is on the road a lot more mostly overseas. Seal may earn less, but he is a respected songwriter and singer. If when they are together they are fighting, maybe they do need a breather to figure it out.

[Wupta]

04:19 AM on 01/27/2012

I would have absolutely no problem with my wifes success.

[Lisa Earle McLeod]

12:35 AM on 01/25/2012

Hello, how many "Alpha" males wind up getting divorced?

When a male CEO, Movie Director or Athlete gets divorced (which many do) I don't seem to recall any articles about how their success caused their divorce.

Marriage is hard, and marriage with high pressure careers is even harder. High profile marriages break up all the time, it's not rocket science.

[roshni]

06:12 PM on 01/24/2012

He has a temper problem, according to TMZ and he has been considering leaving him for a while because of the children.

[jf12]

09:20 AM on 01/24/2012

She wouldn't even sew buttons on his shirt.

[Theanswer007]

11:31 AM on 01/24/2012

Now that's one selfish....if I ever saw one!

[PiperSniper]

08:45 AM on 01/24/2012

Speculation of a couple's private life is just that - speculation not actual fact. So keep on guessing. Pushing the "alpha wife" philosophy is a load of hooey. I earned more than my husband for the majority of our marriage and we just put it into our account. Along with his wages. These joint funds were used to pay bills, raise our children and other things that a marriage and family require. Stupid, stupid guesswork.

[Kingpleasure]

11:24 PM on 01/23/2012

"Research suggests that marriages in which a wife out-earns her husband are more likely to end in divorce -- perhaps because men feel emasculated, or women feel like their husbands are freeloading"

This is because the institution of marriage is 'religious based and sexist'. Men and woman are brainwashed by society that the main role of men is solely the breadwinner and the main role of women is to be wife and mother. These ideas are antiquated. In 2012, this is no longer the case. As long as folks continue to stay boxed into these gender roles, this is what is hurting marriages/relationships. Men who continue to have that traditional mindset and tie their masculinity to the size of their wallet will of course feel emasculated when they are with a financially successful independent woman with a flourishing career. But this is not the woman's problem, it's his problem with his ego and self esteem that he needs to fix. He is the one who needs to evolve and change his mindset and rid himself of society's gender roles in a marriage.
Women need men to be more than breadwinners. They need to bring more to the table to meet the woman's needs. Men seem to fail in doing that because they've never had to focus on doing that. Women will no longer remain trapped in a marriage with a man who is not meeting her other needs (not financial) and they bounce.

[ALPHATUDE]

12:42 AM on 01/24/2012

I agree to some degree with what you have written above, but I have also seen women who because of history's tradition of the man being the breadwinner, and theirs of being the caretakers; now that they have had the opportunity to reverse the role, their ego's take over and indeed do start treating their men in a subservient manner which shouldn't be regardless of who is the main breadwinner. It all boils down to either party keeping their ego's in check, plain and simple!

[Kingpleasure]

01:01 AM on 01/24/2012

"now that they have had the opportunit­y to reverse the role, their ego's take over and indeed do start treating their men in a subservien­t manner which shouldn't be regardless of who is the main breadwinne­r. "

Women have always dealt with being treated in subservient ways by their husbands. Society expected it. After all he was a man, and the breadwinner and head of his household, so he didn't have to check his ego. He was free to show it. Traditionally,women are taught to smile and cater to her husband's needs and put his needs before her own. Men are used to receiving this type of treatment. Now women are not behaving that way anymore and they are asserting themselves with confidence. Suddenly men say she has an 'ego'. I don't think it's her ego necessarily, it's just her assertiveness which has been repressed all these years because women are socialized to be quiet and submissive and men are allowed to show his ego in the household. You'd be surprised at how deeply ingrained gender roles and sexist attitudes are in how men and women relate to each other. Plenty of TV comedy shows depict the egotistical dynamics of how men treat and communicate with their wives. I love Lucy, The Honeymooners, etc.

[ALPHATUDE]

02:21 PM on 01/24/2012

Did not mean to generalize on the ego thing, and as far as assertiveness that is correct, but as we all know, power has the ability to seduce and corrupt the senses including the ego no matter whose hands it is in. Not all men abuse power, and not all women abuse power, but my comments were based on comments made by women who are in the power seat at the moment. Their husbands were in the lesser role if we chose to call it that, and the general attitude was one of superiority exhibitted by these women. In reality I think that the very same stereotypes enforced by society regarding gender roles, these women were somewhat resentful for having being put in that position.

A team is a team and you will always have one player who excels over the other, but as long as they play as a team, the team wins. And in some cases the only way to keep the team winning is to keep ego's in check, be it male or female. Ego's on either side will destroy the team. He or she who is not used to being in power is more likely to get a swollen head, and that is more of an idividual sort of thing, there will be exceptions to every group, male o female.

[Theanswer007]

08:37 AM on 01/24/2012

I agree with you partially but you make things seem so cut and dry. I have seen women at their worst with these ego trips they go on and they can be quite rude and obnoxious. The irony is that most of these women are terribly unhappy that they cannot keep a man in their lives for over longer than a couple of months. Many of these women try to put on a facade as if to show society they are so carefree. This is BS. Women are not fooling anybody.

Go into your local book store and see how many women books are trying to teach them how to snag/keep a man. You can even see this on magazines as you pick up your groceries. Many older women are starting to freeze their eggs. Men are just fine functioning alone as they get older. We become even sexier to younger women because we are financially well off and more mature. I don't care how much money a woman makes, if she can't hold it together as she gets old a man will not be interested period. Looks aren't everything but they do matter. As these women get older and remain obnoxious they actually believe there is some George Clooney out there waiting to marry them. I feel sorry for the women who are not like this who truly want to leave in peace with their man.

[Kingpleasure]

12:56 PM on 01/24/2012

"Men are just fine functionin­g alone as they get older. "
Men tend to die sooner than women and single older men have a higher rate of suicide than women. Widowers don't do well by themselves like widows. Without a woman seeing to their needs, making sure they eat right, having meals prepared for them, taking care of their laundry, providing companionship and (all the myriad of benefits men enjoy with a woman/wife), men don't seem to function that well by themselves. This is why you see divorced men often re-marry at a higher rate than you see divorced women who often don't re-marry because they don't want the life of wifework' all over again. I believe Margaret Mead said it best. "Men's biggest fear is that women don't need them'. But men like to project that fear that women are nothing without them because it serves the purpose of keeping a woman's value tied to a man.

[Joseph Watters]

10:12 PM on 01/23/2012

It seems to me that there might be a more direct reason for these particular couples: long periods of time apart combined with changing life interests or goals. While it's possible that a woman significantly out earning her husband creates a desire to "trade up" in her, simple distance (touring or show production schedules) or changing interests (singing to acting, modeling to show hosting, acting to producing) seems much more plausible. Wandering eyes or outright infidelity then precipitate the end in some cases. I also find questionable the premise that two people who have essentially the same careers would somehow be more compatible or long-lasting than those who don't. Shop talk isn't really a good long-term basis for a marriage.