After 40 Years Together, Al & Tipper Gore Still Couldn't Work It Out ...

What are your thoughts on Al and Tipper Gore?

• We’d think after 40 years couples learn how to work out their differences. Many do and others learn to tolerate each other. Sometimes though issues fester for years and a threshold is eventually reached that leads to either reconciliation of separation.
• Stress of public life, $$, and fame may have taken a toll on the couple as they possibly lost site of what’s really important – but we can only speculate.
• Often people get comfortable being uncomfortable. Change is scary and people sometimes weigh the cost of leaving against the cost of staying. I see it all the time with my clients. People stay in careers they don’t like, relationships they don’t like, etc. Five years turns to 10, 20, and so on and so forth.
• It’s normal to grow apart. Not uncommon for people to re-evaluate life as they move through the decades and change course.
• There doesn’t seem to be anything scandalous about this. They may have simply grown apart. It's actually refreshing to hear of a high-powered couple that's splitting and not rocked by scandal. Why stay together if they’re miserable? It’s better to be happily single than miserably partnered. It’s admirable that they are able to split.
• Perhaps they stayed together for decades for the sake of public life. Good for their image.
• Sometimes high profile careers and a public life can serve as a buffer or distraction from issues. Not uncommon for me to see couples who are dealing with problems they had 20 years ago after a hiatus for 18 years while their child was growing up.