2006: The year in love
By Nina Malkin It’s almost time to ring in the New Year and start a whole new chapter in your romantic life—but before that happens, let’s take a look back at the year that was. From cuddly couples to twisted triangles and sensible split-ups, here are the highs and lows of love in 2006.1. Coolest unconventional couple: With the May ’06 addition of Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, their biological child, Brad and Angelina’s loopy liaison seems tighter than ever. No, they don’t have the benefit of a marriage license, and, yes, they got together after some high-profile romantic messes. But with the addition of Shiloh to their multi-cultural brood (Maddox and Zahara), their untraditional union sets a new standard of what a family is—and that’s inspiring.
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3. Toughest romantic trooper: Seems like in 2006, every day was a rocky road for Sheryl Crow. The singer split with fiancé, cycling legend Lance Armstrong, following a two-year romance and five-month engagement. Then she underwent surgery for breast cancer. Yet although this survivor says she finds dating “terrifying,” she’s back up on the horse, reportedly seeing a film director, thanks to a fix-up from friend Courteney Cox. Crow told Larry King in August, “I would love to be married”—and we’re rootin’ for her!
4. Trippiest love triangle: The year’s “all’s fair in love” award goes to Denise Richards. After shaking loose hubby Charlie Sheen, she said ta-ta to her good pal Heather Locklear and glommed onto Locklear’s ex, rocker Richie Sambora, within months (or was it moments?) of the official demise of the Locklear-Sambora marriage in February. “Our friendship had to dissolve and I’m sad about that,” Richards said—but she got her man. Guess in Hollywood, that’s just the way the camaraderie crumbles.
5. Best doggone love story: With 48 weeks (at press time) atop The New York Times bestseller list, Josh Grogan’s puppy memoir Marley & Me taught tons of people about how to love the needy, the naughty, the neurotic and the just plain nuts. Now if only we could translate those lessons to dealing with a human being!
6. Most comfortable-with-coming-out story: When Lance Bass, the former member of the boy band ’N Sync, told the world he was gay, he did so with a relaxed, “what’s the big deal?” air. “I’m more liberated... than I’ve been my whole life,” Bass said in July. “I’m just happy.” And, even when his relationship with model-actor-Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl ended, Lance handled the media attention with notable aplomb.
7. Most romantic makeover: She honed her singing chops wearing a ratty weave and dominatrix duds, and pop diva Christina Aguilera does still have her dirty side. Yet much of her hit 2006 album Back to Basics sounds like an ode to old-fashioned romance. The now-married warbler’s powerhouse first single “Ain’t No Other Man,” written for her husband, music executive Jordan Bratman, reveals: “Gave me strength, boy you’re the best/You’re the only one who’s ever passed every test.” Awwww!
8. Most moving, miraculous moment: David McCourt lost his wife and daughter to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, but in September ’06 McCourt received a remarkable reminder of their love—the pearl and diamond wedding ring he’d given his wife. Ruth McCourt and the couple’s five-year-old daughter Juliana died when their flight was hijacked and used to perpetrate the attacks on the World Trade Center. But somehow, her beloved ring survived and was returned to David nearly five years to the day of the tragedy. “I consider it a miracle,” David said. “I just started crying because I felt like she was giving it back to me.”
9. Most inspiring mom-to-be: Granted, the TomKat pregnancy/progeny was perhaps the most buzzed-about baby news of 2006—but it all began to seem about as romantic as a corporate merger. Far sweeter is Desperate Housewives star Marcia Cross, who at age 44 married for the first time (it’s also the first marriage for her husband, 48-year-old stockbroker Tom Mahoney). The couple is expecting twins in April of 2007, which goes to show it’s never too late for true love.
10. Sweetest, strangest May-December romance: A 130-something-year-old giant tortoise and a baby hippopotamus may not seem to have much in common, but the best-selling 2006 children’s book Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship, taught us anything is possible when it comes to love. The on-paper impossible pair met in the aftermath of the December 2004 tsunami, when rescued orphan Owen (the hippo) came to live in Haller Park, the Kenya wildlife preserve Mzee (the tortoise) called home. To the amazement of animal behaviorists, the two began to bond in the aftermath of the tragedy—and they remain inseparable to this day.
Nina Malkin is the author of An Unlikely Cat Lady: Feral Adventures in the Backyard Jungle.