Oscar is a man

Is there some sort of Academy Award marriage curse? Most of the women who've won the Best Actress statue lately have headed to divorce court right after Oscar was placed on the mantle. Reece Witherspoon, Julia Roberts, Halle Berry, Hillary Swank, and Kate Winslet all found themselves single after winning as a wife. And now, just days after Sandra Bullock won the (well deserved) Best Actress trophy, rumors of her husband's infedelity have the gossip sites buzzing with marital discord.

In addition to Oscar recognition, the other common thread among these women is that they have seemingly overshadowed their husbands, and most men can't deal with that. Ryan Phillippe may have some killer abs, but he's never won an Oscar. Sam Mendes directed Winslet in "Revolutionary Road," but she got the glory. At least when Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke divorced, he was man enough to say, "It's tough when your spouse is more successful than you." And then he traded her in for the nanny.

Perhaps it's more prominent in a town where the spotlight shines brightly on a few and thousands of others clamor around it, but when your wife is famous and you are less so, I guess it can be tough to take. Unless you're cameraman Danny Moder.

But I know there are men out there who happily allow their wives to shine. There are women out there who don't dream smaller dreams to accommodate their husbands' egos. Wives shouldn't have to be less just so their husbands feel like more.

Just the other day a guy I know called to tell me how amazing his wife was. And he wasn't talking about in the kitchen or in the bedroom, but at her job. You could tell how proud he was. More men should be like that. (I won't reveal who it was, but I will tell you he's related to me.)

Consider this: when Jack fell down and broke his crown, maybe Jill shouldn't have come tumbling after. Perhaps she should have helped him up, fixed his crown, and made the kids dinner, with no apologies for her success.