Rhea Perlman and Danny DeVito Split

By Dr. Jane Greer

Celebrity stars shine so bright and we look up to them.  Yet often we are puzzled when they fall, so Shrink Wrap is here to shed light on all.

Rhea Perlman and Danny DeVito announced their divorce this week, startling even the most cynical  celebrity relationship analysts.  Perlman is 64, DeVito 67. 

Whirlwind spontaneity brought the two together in 1970. Perlman and DeVito met when she attended an off-Broadway play featuring a young Danny. Captivated by his performance, Rhea introduced herself after the show and they reportedly moved in together two weeks later. Despite the instant infatuation, the couple then waited 11 years to marry and Perlman never changed her name. 

The shock of the public seems to be rooted in the shared perception that they two were made for each other.  The quirky couple stood out in a Hollywood full of long legged starlets and chiseled poster boys as tried and true comedic geniuses from the old school.  Perlman and DeVito seemed to embody the authenticity and edge of an older, grittier New York, never shaking the accents of their native lands, (Brooklyn, New York and Asbury Park, New Jersey) or fully taking on the tans and glamour of their adoptive home in Beverly Hills.

The divorce is being reported as the end of a 30-year marriage, but their eleven years of pre-nuptial co-habitation means the total spills over to more than half a lifetime together.  Maybe we should have been suspicious when DeVito said about his relationship, “Love. I mean, really…Who knows. The secret to success is to try to never figure that out. (US).”

Neither standing taller than 5’1’’ they made names for themselves inhabiting iconic roles of snarky working class characters in the heydey of 80’s sitcom. From 1982-1993 Perlman played “Carla,” the harsh and loveable cocktail waitress on Cheers. From 1978-1983 DeVito was the domineering dispatcher “Louie” in Taxi.  Their place in TV history can’t be overstated and both had notable success before and after the series’.

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Posted October 15, 2012 in News@7