The Many Breakups of Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony

Today, The Wall Street Journal’s The Juggle blog discussed the business angle of Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony’s high-profile divorce:

Still, the divorce raises the question of whether it’s wise to go into an entrepreneurial business with your spouse. Sure, most of us enter marriages and business ventures with high hopes. Who wants to be a Debbie Downer on her wedding day or startup launch date?  But, of course, both marriages and startups have high failure rates, and intertwining the two may only compound the risks and complications if either were to fail. What’s more, even the most devoted couples may not want to spend all their waking and working hours together.

This is a thorny issue, of course, but I don’t see the big deal. I know couples who continue to collaborate on writing projects long after their romantic relationship dissolved; sometimes the professional partnership is strengthened once the emotional conflicts fade into the past. Financially speaking, anyone who has been through a divorce knows the complications of dividing financial assets, even if it’s just a house or car. And let us not forget their most important “joint venture”: their two children, Emme and Max.

It is a rare marriage that doesn’t involve other commitments that “intertwine” with the relationship, whether they’re professional enterprises, financial investments, or little bundles of joy. Other than the scale of their particular endeavors, I don’t think J. Lo and Marc Anthony’s case is all that different.

—Photo AP