Eddie Murphy and His New Year's Bride Call it Quits After Two Weeks of Marriage

Movie star Eddie Murphy and his New Year's bride, record and movie producer Tracey Edmonds, are splitsville after a fortnight of togetherness as man and wife. The two tied the knot on January 1, 2008 on the island of Bora Bora in French Polynesia. Trouble is, there was a technical glitch, and the ceremony wasn't legal. Bora Bora is an overseas territory of France, and to be legally married there, each member of the couple has to have been a resident for a minimum of thirty days. To make the marriage legal, the couple planned to marry again on U.S. territory, at a later date.

However, now that the 46-year-old Murphy and the 40-year-old Edmonds are back in the States, the couple have called it off.

Eddie Murphy's representations issued a statement for the movie star, explaining: "After much consideration and discussion, we have jointly decided that we will forego having a legal ceremony as it is not necessary to define our relationship further. While the recent symbolic union in Bora Bora was representative of our deep love, friendship and respect that we have for one another on a spiritual level, we have decided to remain friends."

Eddie Murphy already has a notch on his belt in the marriage department, having divorced Nicole Michell in April 2006. Before hooking up with Edmonds, who is a producer, he had a whirlwind romance with Spice Girls star Melanie "Sporty Spice" Brown, who gave birth to a girl whom she named Angel Iris Murphy Brown, on Murphy's 46th birthday, April 3, 2007. DNA tests concluded that Murphy was indeed the child's father.

Tracey Edmonds, the CEO & President of Edmonds Entertainment Group, Inc., is the ex-wife of Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds.

Why the marriage wasn't properly consummated legally, is an issue that likely will remain unknown to the general public. In the wake of his divorce after 13 years of marriage and the Sporty Spice affair that made him a father for the fifth time, Eddie might have been feeling vertigo.

Murphy had a battle royal with first wife Nicole, who tried to have her pre-nuptial agreement nullified. The real properties involved in the divorce were worth a minimum of $47 million. Eddie might have had flashbacks to that legal nightmare when contemplating remarrying Edmonds to make it legal.

According to the Internet Movie Database, Eddie Murphy has received salaries of at least $130 million in his movie career. This does not represent his take of the profits. For the movie Nutty Professor II, he was paid $20 million plus 20% of the gross. (The film made $124 million in the US alone.)

The Murphy-Edmonds break-up is unique in Hollywood in that there is a gentlemanly quality about it, unlike the more spectacular breakups that are common among celebrities. Britney Spears is on her way towards establishing herself as the all-time champ of troubled celebs.

The pop diva, who had first put her finger through the Big Brass Ring as a member of the Mickey Mouse Club, snatched pizza delivery boy-cum-backup dancer Kevin Federline away from his eight-months pregnant girlfriend and married him in October 2004. She reportedly had to pay for her own engagement ring. It was the second marriage that year for Britney: She had impulsively married an old friend in Vegas in January while under the influence. That sorry marriage was quickly annulled.

After having two kids with Federline, the couple's relationship imploded two months after their second son was born in September 2006. Britney filed for divorce in November, and they were divorced at the end of March 2007, after Britney gave him a cool million dollars. By the time of her second son's first birthday, the family court judge was ordering drug testing for Britney, and her public meltdown was about to begin.

The divorce and subsequent battles over child custody have permitted the public to have a peak into the penumbra of Britney Spears' fame. Her imaged has evovled in the public consciousness from that of a troubled space cadet who likes to flash the parparazzi (whose flash cameras are always at the ready) to that of a mentally deranged drug addict who recently had to be carted off to the booby hatch after a dust-up with her ex-husband and the authorities. Now, the tabloids are runing pictures of her buying pregnancy tests. What can it all mean? The newsrack at your local supermarket checkout counter will reveal all, shortly, as Britney was determined to do several months ago.

The spectacular vulgarity of the Spears-Federline contretemps is in marked contrast to the marriage and subsequent breakup of another pop diva who claimed to be a virgin on the night of her wedding, Jessica Simpson.

The 22-year-old Simpson married Nick Lachey on October 26, 2002 in what was touted as a dream marriage, chronicled on reality TV. Lachey took Jessica's maidenhead, and then the two starred on their own reality show on MTV, "Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica." The show was a hit and catapulted Jessica to superstar status. With Nick overshadowed by Jessica, the idyllic married life didn't last, and in November 2005, they called it quits.

Jessica Simpson filed for divorce on December 16, 2005, citing "irreconcilable differences." The couple's divorce was finalized on June 30, 2007.

Her ex-husband didn't take much urging to start dating again, which Simpson told the press hurt her. Simpson has lacked for male companionship, taking up with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo most recently. The relationship, which began in November 2007, has been controversial, as Simpson seemingly has hexed him and the Cowboys.

Sources:

San Francisco Chronicle, "Eddie Murphy's two-week-old marriage is over"

Bossip.com, "Behind the Suspect Marriage"

About.com (About Marriage), "Britney Spears and Kevin Federline Marriage Profile"