As Cornell students you may have dated Cornellians in other schools or majors, people in other Ivies, other college students, technical school/hair school/secretarial school students, college graduates, grad students, models or drop-outs/high-school graduates. Basically you may have tried (or, gasp, succeeded at) dating a wide spectrum of different people. While most of us are trying a wide variety of people based on looks, careers, life paths, religion, etc. celebrities are keeping to their own type of people, and for some it has led to zero success.
Jennifer Aniston has been dating other celebrities (and pretty much only celebrities) since 1990 when she was 21. She’s been linked to her Ferris Bueller (the TV show) co-star, Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows, Tate Donovan, Brad Pitt, Vince Vaughn and John Mayer, with less serious relationships and rumored celeb flings in between. But she has apparently sworn off of celebrities and is looking for a wealthy businessman, according to a source close to the actress. Jen’s quest to be set up with a rich older man is not all that unique (how many gold diggers out there are looking for the same thing?), but it is interesting that she is finally trying to swear off dating in ‘the business.’ How often does dating someone just like you really work out? Especially when ‘someone just like you’ is often a narcissistic celebrity (just like you!).
One particularly poignant episode of Boy Meets World seems to sum up the sentiment Jennifer Aniston is finally realizing quite well. Eric (Cory’s brother, in case you forgot) and Jack (his hot friend) are double dating with two girls when they realize they have met the female versions of themselves. The Eric-girl is on a date with Jack and the Jack-girl is on a date with Eric. So they sneakily switch, but the girls aren’t at all impressed. Jack, argues to the Jack Girl (aptly named Jill) “You and I belong together. We’re like peanut butter and jelly. We’re like jelly and jelly.”
But smart Jill snaps back: “Why would we want to be with someone exactly like ourselves? Nobody makes a sandwich out of jelly and jelly, that would be tedious and redundant.”
Clearly the former Mrs. Pitt never saw this favorite episode of mine. But what matters is that she has begun her quest to find the jelly to her peanut butter. Maybe she should take a cue from Uma Thurman who, after her divorce from Ethan Hawke, dated a European fiancier and a New York based hotelier. Perhaps she will follow in the footsteps of Marcia Cross who married Tom Mahoney, a stockbroker — the two of them had twins, just like a couple I would bet Jen is slightly envious of.
But the marrying-a-“normal”-guy plan doesn’t always work out, as no plan always works out. Just look at Christie Brinkley! After a divorce from a famous guy (Billy Joel, who called Christie his “Uptown Girl” she married a real estate developer that ended in divorce, and then an architect, Peter Cook, which ended in a really nasty divorce.
What I’m saying here is that Jen, while there is no surefire plan to finding the Brad to your Angelina (bad reference?), trying something different will definitely help (and if you break up with a normal guy, chances are it will be on slightly less magazine covers
Take note from the rest of the world and explore outside of your comfort zone. And stay away from those like John Mayer — it could have been your sex life that he told Playboy magazine all about instead of Jessica Simpson You came dangerously close. Most Wall Street types don’t blab to magazines after a break-up — yay!