Everyone—god love ya if you haven't—has a tale of dating gone wrong. Whether it happens on a blind date or three months into a blooming relationship, these disasters usually strike out of the blue and leave you stunned, slack-jawed and, often, downright offended. And that's exactly why they make for such good stories. Hopefully, too, they teach us a thing or two about the pursuit of love. Here's my tale.

I had known Billy* for five years through mutual friends, and at some point we started hanging out independently. I was still sailing on the friend boat when Billy indicated … Read More

Jon Gosselin, after abandoning his family for a series of douchey parties on yachts and in Vegas, is now saying his estranged wife, Kate, is keeping him from seeing twins Mady and Cara on their birthday, today. "She's trying to prevent me from seeing my kids on their birthday because she doesn't want to see me," Jon moaned to Entertainment Tonight Wednesday.

Kate and Jon are currently taking turns spending time at the family's Pennsylvania home with their eight kids, but when Kate e-mailed Jon to suggest that they split the girls' birthday so their daughters could … Read More

Will Ferrell and his wife of nine years, Viveca Paulin, are adding a third child to their family in January, the actor's reps tell People. Will and Viveca, who works as an art auctioneer but made appearances in a few of her husband's films, already have two boys, five-year-old Magnus and two-year-old Matthias.

Viveca, like fellow comedy wives Nancy Walls (married to The Office's Steve Carell) and Evelyn McGee (married to Stephen Colbert), keeps a pretty low profile, living outside of L.A. and raising her kids. (She's so good at staying off the paparazzi radar that many news outlets … Read More

Ever since Mackenzie Phillips dropped the bombshell on Oprah Winfrey last week about her decade-long "consensual" sexual relationship with her late father, the world has been asking: Why would anyone consent to having sex with one's dad, and for ten whole years?

Our answer: Despite Mackenzie's choice to use the word "consensual" in describing her relationship with her father, it never really was. Here's why:

1. If the the first sexual encounter with one's partner is a rape, then the subsequent sex with said partner is not consensual. Mackenzie says that the first time she and her father had sex, it was … Read More

Grey's Anatomy's Eric Dane and his wife, Rebecca Gayheart, are suing the snarky website empire Gawker Media over a video that showed them cavorting naked and intoxicated with a female friend. The video leaked online last month, and the two are seeking more than $1 million in damages for copyright infringement as well as an injunction that would prevent the video from being distributed further.

The video clip, which the lawsuit says was filmed last year, shows Dane, Gayheart, and former beauty queen Kari Ann Peniche spending some quality naked time together, having a totally boring conversation and … Read More

As we've said before: it doesn't just take a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to raise a couple. Our relationships don't exist in vacuums, they can be strengthened or challenged based on the friends, family and advisers we keep.

Who's in your village? Are you making the most of what they have to offer? Or are you forgetting one of the best resources your relationship has? Below, some tips on how to help your village help you.

1. Have separate friends. Sometimes, when you're in love (or suffering from the effects of inertia), it's easy to forget that anyone … Read More

Since their wedding in 1991, John Travolta and Kelly Preston have long been seen as one of the few Hollywood couples who stay together in good times and in bad.

But in times that are really bad, Celebitchy reports via Star magazine that the pair is struggling. Since the death of their 16-year-old son Jett on January 2 of this year the pair have been said to be coping very differently with their mourning. YourTango: How To Help A Partner Grieve

John is said to be resting in seclusion at their Florida estate—in … Read More

If divorce is in the future of duplicitous two-timers Gov. Mark Sanford to reality TV's Jon Gosselin, these men will have to navigate co-parenting. However, a growing trend shows that many men become better parents post-divorce, to the surprise of ex-wives who find it difficult to grasp that a man who wasn't a good husband can indeed be a good father. Read: How To Say "Kids, We're Getting Back Together"

Take the example of Peter Giles.

When Peter Giles' three daughters were toddlers, work consumed him at the expense of family life. The New York businessman … Read More

Just when we thought there wasn't a reality show star more despicable than Jon Gosselin...

Our third day of reporting on the murder of Playboy model Jasmine Fiore presents explosive new details that may not be suitable for all readers.

According to TMZ, there is finally a warrant for the arrest of Ryan Alexander Jenkins, a finalist in Megan Wants A Millionaire (which VH1 has pulled from the air in light of the murder case involving Jenkins). After the show wrapped last March, Jenkins married Jasmine Fiore in a speedy Las Vegas ceremony. By … Read More

Those who read this column know that I’ve been writing very personally about how the downturn has affected my relationship. In all honesty, I'm starting to fear that by focusing on what’s happening inside relationships, we may be losing sight of larger contexts—what could and should be happening in the structures that govern our lives.Read: Is The Recession Changing Men's Values?

Whoever invented the notion that a wife who earns less than her husband has a career that is, by definition, "expendable"? The ubiquity of this sentence—"she has an expendable career"—was brought home to me once again when … Read More