When love comes with a pair of Academy Awards By Frank Paiva It's only natural to compare your romantic relationship with those of other couples who seem like they have it all. Gary and Thelma have the nicest lawn on the street, while your lawn is full of crabgrass. Pamela and Louise always find time to volunteer for the PTA, while you were so busy at work that you forgot to make cookies for the bake sale. Mike and David have well-behaved kids who don't terrorize the neighborhood, while you spent November 1 apologizing profusely for your child's Halloween shenanigans. Perceptions like these are an illusion, of course. Mike and David are secretly worried about raising boring children who never get into trouble. Pamela and Louise feel obligated to do the PTA as the only lesbian mothers in town. Gary and Thelma didn't travel to Europe because they spent too much money on their azaleas. Even couples who have done the near-impossible, like each winning an Academy Award, aren't guaranteed a happy life. A crowded mantel can complicate life. There's actually a conspiracy theory called "the Oscar curse," which claims that receiving the award ultimately leads to romantic dissolution. Bing: More about 2014 Academy Awards | More on Academy Award winners Want more Movies? Be sure to like MSN Movies on Facebook and follow MSN Movies Twitter. (AP) ||||| From Oscar to Split: 1 year 
 
 When she won Best Actress in 2009 for The Reader, Winslet thanked her “wonderful husband and two beautiful children who let me do what I love and who love me just the way that I am.” A week after the 2010 Academy Awards, the actress announced the end of her nearly seven-year marriage to the Oscar-winning filmmaker.
– Winning an Oscar is great ... but for these couples, rounded up by People, it was followed by the demise of their relationship less than a year later: George Clooney and Stacy Keibler: As a co-producer of Argo, Clooney won Best Picture last year—five months later, he and Keibler broke up after two years together. Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes: Winslet won Best Actress in 2009 for The Reader, calling Mendes "wonderful" in her acceptance speech. But a year later, their marriage was over. Hilary Swank and Chad Lowe: Swank won Best Actress in 2005 for Million Dollar Baby, and in her acceptance speech she told then-husband Lowe, "You are my everything." Eleven months later, they were separated. Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe: Witherspoon was another Best Actress winner (in 2006, for Walk the Line) who called her husband "wonderful" onstage; seven months later, she filed for divorce. Sean Penn and Robin Wright: But when Penn won Best Actor for Milk in 2009, though, he didn't thank Wright—and within six months, she had filed for divorce. Julia Roberts and Benjamin Bratt: When she won Best Actress for Erin Brockovich in 2001, she also barely mentioned Bratt onstage; three months later, they broke up. Sandra Bullock and Jesse James: She famously called him "really hot" during her acceptance speech when she won Best Actress for The Blind Side in 2010; just 47 days later, their marriage was over. Click for the complete list—or for happier news, check out nine couples in which both members have an Academy Award.