As someone who spent nine years editing a weddings magazine and interviewing hundreds of couples in the process, I know a thing or two about what makes people get married.

And despite the fact that I have never said “I do” myself, I have been in a long-term relationship for the last 24 years so I know more than a thing or two about what makes two people stay together.

So when I hear that yet another celebrity has filed for divorce a few months after a lavish, much-publicised wedding, I really have to laugh.

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian  released a statement saying, “After careful consideration, I have decided to end my marriage. I hope everyone understands this was not an easy decision. I had hoped this marriage was forever, but sometimes things don’t work out as planned. We remain friends and wish each other the best.”

There’s so much that is absurd about her statement I don’t even know where to start. Yes, it’s true, I campaigned quite strongly for divorce, because I firmly believe that people should have a second chance when their first marriage breaks down.

But honestly, marriages which last only a few months tell me one thing, and one thing only…the woman (usually it’s the woman) simply wanted a wedding. In Malta this is happening more and more frequently as the blind following of E! celebrity culture has inevitably led to this type of over-the-top Hollywood style wedding which barely lasts past six months.  It is never a good sign, for example, when you hear a bride-to-be using the phrases “fairytale wedding” and “I wanted to look like a princess” over and over again.

This is real life, honey, marriage is no fairytale.

Frankly, if what you are looking forward to the most is your wedding day (and not the beginning of married life living with your husband-to-be) then I suggest you simply throw a party, wear a white dress if you insist, and even have a symbolic ceremony, but don’t go to the trouble of making it legal.

At least you won’t have to go to court to disentangle yourself from the contract and you won’t make a mockery out of the word ‘marriage’.