marriage
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...
that lasts five years or less and ends without the couple having any children together.
The concept of starter marriages was first discussed in a 1994 ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' article by Deborah Schupack. Then, in a 2002 book, ''The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony'',
Pamela Paul
Pamela Paul (born 1970/1971) is an American columnist, journalist, editor, and author. Since 2022, she has been an op-ed writer for ''The New York Times''. From 2013 to 2022, she was the editor of ''The New York Times Book Review'',Generation X
Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western world, Western demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years a ...
are getting married at a rate closer to that of their grandparents than of their
Baby Boomer
Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boom. T ...
parents.) She also claimed that some young couples get married for reasons not strong enough to support a long relationship, and that an increasing number of them end their marriages quickly. Paul's book caused controversy for suggesting that these
divorce
Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
s are a good thing, if the couple have not had children.
Numerous celebrities cited as having starter marriages include
Drew Barrymore
Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, director, producer, talk show host and author. A member of the Barrymore family of actors, she is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a ...
,
Uma Thurman
Uma Karuna Thurman (born April 29, 1970) is an American actress and former model. She has performed in a variety of films, from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action films. Following her appearances on the December 1985 an ...
,
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie (; born Angelina Jolie Voight; June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, humanitarian and former Special Envoy to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award ...
, and
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...
."Q: What Do These Women Have in Common? A: They all had starter marriages", Michelle Ingrassia, '' Daily News'' (New York), January 24, 2002.
Etymology of starter marriage
The term, a play on the expression "
starter home A starter home or starter house is a house that is usually the first which a person or family can afford to purchase, often using a combination of savings and mortgage financing. In the real estate industry the term commonly denotes small one- or tw ...
", appears as one of the footnotes in
Douglas Coupland
Douglas Coupland (born 30 December 1961) is a Canadian novelist, designer, and visual artist. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller '' Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture'', popularized the terms ''Generation X'' and ''McJ ...
's 1991 novel ''
Generation X
Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western world, Western demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years a ...
''. Published usage of the term grew significantly after Starter Marriages': So Early, So Brief", a ''New York Times'' article by Deborah Schupack, as well as the subsequent publication of
Pamela Paul
Pamela Paul (born 1970/1971) is an American columnist, journalist, editor, and author. Since 2022, she has been an op-ed writer for ''The New York Times''. From 2013 to 2022, she was the editor of ''The New York Times Book Review'',Kate Harrison's ''The Starter Marriage: A Novel'' and
Gigi Levangie Grazer
Gigi Levangie (born Georgianne Levangie; January 2, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, and television producer. She has written numerous screenplays but is most widely known for the film '' Stepmom'', starring Julia Roberts and Susan ...
's '' The Starter Wife'' referenced Paul's use of the term. The latter became the basis for a
USA Network
USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
miniseries of the same name in 2007, and a
television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
that ran from 2008 to 2009, though it expanded the use of the term since the starter marriage in question had produced a daughter.