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1. Marriage announcements are not necessarily for fans; they also serve as business communications for industry insiders.
2. Even if some fans leave after a marriage announcement, the increased trust and sense of stability can sometimes lead to more work.
3. It is not just celebrities; there is an inherent awkwardness in continuing to hide a marriage or being misunderstood as single.
Actor Haruka Fukuhara and Japan national soccer team player Takefusa Kubo have announced their surprise marriage.
Since there were no prior reports of them dating, the news has been met with great surprise and well-wishes from the public.
However, every time a celebrity announces their marriage, the same voices inevitably arise.
“Is it really necessary to report this so grandly?”
“I don’t want to see people showing off their private happiness.”
For devoted fans, a sudden report might be confusing.
They could have kept it hidden until a weekly magazine exposed it.
Alternatively, they could have chosen to report it after the fact or provide only the bare minimum of information.
Yet, why do so many celebrities announce their marriages publicly?
From a casting perspective, the answer is simple.
It is to correctly “correct” their status to the industry and the public, “I am no longer single.”.
I will explain the practical reasons for this.
1. Reasons related to casting
In casting, whether a talent is single or married is a piece of important information.
Beyond wedding-related work, whether someone is “single or married” can affect casting depending on the role or the product being advertised.
Also, in the case of female talents, the “possibility of pregnancy” is involved.
This is because there are restrictions on content and timing, such as work involving alcohol or tobacco, grueling location shoots, food reporting, or projects requiring long-term commitment over several years.
In fact, one can sometimes read the future direction of a talent from the “wording” of their marriage announcement.
For example, if the phrase “build a warm home” is used, it is taken to mean that they are conscious of having children in the future.
On the other hand, if they emphasize “the bond between the two” or “individual activities,” it is interpreted as an indication that they do not intend to cut back on work for the time being and wish to continue their activities at the same pace as before.
Furthermore, it can be read not only from the text but also from how the ‘photographs’ are presented.
If there is a two-shot photo of the couple, it serves as a basis for judging that ‘showing their faces is okay’ and ‘appearing together as a couple might also be okay’.
Conversely, if they do not release photos of the couple or wedding photos, one can infer that they do not want to bring their private life into their work.
In this way, while a marriage announcement takes the form of a report to fans, in reality, it is also a ‘business communication’ directed at industry insiders.
2. Career-related reasons
Marriage is directly linked to a talent’s career planning.
Although it is a stereotype, according to social norms, there is an image that ‘a married person = someone who has settled down, has a stable private life, and is trustworthy’.
Especially for men in their 30s and older, there is an increase in solid advertising projects that require reliability, such as banking, insurance, and real estate.
In the case of female talents, there is also strong demand for them as ‘mama-talents’.
To acquire such work, there is a merit in announcing that one is married or a parent.
However, gaining trust as a married person also means being prepared to bear corresponding risks.
This is because if an affair scandal occurs after signing a solid advertising contract, a penalty fee will be incurred.
There are often scenes where celebrities do not easily admit to an affair, but that is not merely being stubborn.
It has a strong aspect of being a severe defensive measure to prevent the occurrence of penalty fees by not confirming a breach of contract.
In fact, even in cases I have handled in the past, the talent themselves did not admit to the affair until the end.
As a result, it became a ‘contract termination due to the company’s convenience,’ and the talent side did not have to pay any penalty fees.
Furthermore, even if the marital relationship has broken down, it is not rare for cases to wait until the advertising contract period ends before announcing the divorce.
In this way, the label of being ‘married’ is vividly and directly linked to business.
3. Mental health reasons
There is also the pressing reason of reducing the mental stress of the individuals themselves.
For example, there are cases where they want to shake off fans who have a ‘serious crush’ (pseudo-romantic) on them.
Setting aside idols, some actors, athletes, and comedians find it suffocating to be the target of sexualized affection.
Announcing a marriage has the benefit of leaving behind a fan base that supports their work or athletic performance itself.
Also, from a general perspective, one can imagine the stress of being treated as ‘unmarried’ by those around them in daily conversation or at work.
‘Aren’t you married yet?’
‘What’s your type?’
‘Want to go to a mixer sometime?’
Every time they receive such innocent questions or invitations, they have to play along, and some may feel guilty as if they are deceiving others.
Some might say they don’t need to make a big announcement, but for a celebrity, letting more people know is a way to be freed from such awkwardness.
Aside: The choice to hide a marriage
I have talked about the ‘benefits of correcting’ the record, but there are also people who intentionally do not announce that they are married.
A prime example of this is comedians.
For idols and actors who sell their sincerity, hiding a marriage only to be scooped by a weekly magazine is directly linked to ‘betraying their fans,’ making it extremely high-risk.
On the other hand, in the case of comedians, there is less expectation for them to be forbidden from dating or to be morally upright, so even if they are exposed, the damage is minimal.
Furthermore, the reason they intentionally hide their marriage is that for dedicated fans, ‘whether or not they are married’ is directly linked to the intensity of their support.
During periods when they want to maintain a ‘screaming fan’ popularity or phases where they don’t want the noise of domestic life to interfere with their wild comedic style, cases of hiding a marriage are prominent.
Also, the trend of announcing a marriage after achieving results in award competitions is becoming standard practice.
There are so many comedians getting married under the radar that some even say they are careful not to accidentally let slip that their peers are married.
In this way, as long as the ‘practical benefit of appearing single’ outweighs the alternative, they choose not to announce it.
From this fact, it is clear how marriage announcements are rooted in ‘practicality’ rather than ‘displays of happiness’.
Conclusion
To put it bluntly, the structure of a marriage announcement is exactly the same as a ‘divorce announcement’.
Divorce announcements are not ‘displays of unhappiness’.
‘We are no longer a married couple’,
‘Please avoid offers that assume I am married’,
‘Please be considerate, or consideration is unnecessary’
These are requests to update or correct the underlying conditions.
The same applies to the recent public announcements (coming out) of homosexuality in the sports world and elsewhere.
Many people interpret these as ‘meaningful actions,’ such as solidarity between the parties involved or raising issues for society.
However, if you look at the practical benefits for the individual, it is also a ‘correction’ stating ‘I am not heterosexual,’ in order to graduate from the ‘stress of being treated as a heterosexual.’
In the case of marriage announcements, they can shake the hearts of the recipients precisely because they are happy news.
However, their purpose is by no means to ‘boast of happiness’ to the masses.
It is an ‘information update’ for industry insiders and society.
If you look at it that way, you won’t be disturbed by a celebrity’s marriage announcement,
‘It’s a rational decision in their own way’
and you might be able to accept it calmly.
(That said, it is still painful when your favorite celebrity announces their marriage…)
