GIGI LEVANGIE GRAZER HOLLYWOOD TREATMENT FOR STARTER WIFE

The Starter Wife author observes Hollywood marriages on USA Network miniseries.

Gigi Levangie Grazer wrote the novel The Starter Wife based on her observations in Hollywood where the first wife usually gets dumped by their honcho husbands for a much younger model. The series has received the Hollywood treatment albeit on the small screen for a six-hour miniseries.

Debra Messing stars as the starter wife who must start over when her studio executive hubby wants a divorce. Gigi says she was inspired to reveal what really goes on in Hollywood marriages.

“I coined the term ‘Cruised’ in my book meaning getting divorced before the 10 year anniversary. In California law that’s when basically alimony can go on for the rest of your life so basically a lot of divorces happen right before the 10 year mark in Hollywood. It’s kind of shocking for reasons where the divorce may not have taken place otherwise. In Hollywood if you think of marriages in dog years, there’s seven years per each year of marriage so I think it’s actually OK.”

Gigi says the good news is that Hollywood wives are empowering themselves without waiting for the man to pop the question.

“The characters in The Starter Wife are reinventing and empowering themselves whether or not they have a man. A bring trend right now is the right hand diamond ring. If you go to Ponds.com we’re giving away five dazzling right hand diamond rings as a part of the sweepstakes in connection with The Starter Wife. That’s something that women are doing. I see my divorced friends, my single friends all buying these right hand diamond rings. It’s all the rage. It’s sort of not waiting for the guy whether he exists or not, not waiting for him to give you that diamond ring, doing it for yourself.”

The Starter Wife which also stars Dreamgirls’ Anika Noni Rose, Joe Mantegna and Judy Davis premieres tonight at 9PM on the USA Network.