Beautiful Women, Supportive Partners
Attractive Men = Bad Husbands
By Caroline Howard
Here's why hot women go for less attractive men
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who makes the best husband of them all? New research suggests it may be the toad, not the prince, after all.
Scientists and matchmakers have long known that physical attraction cannot be underestimated in early romance. But now researchers are trying to figure out the role looks play in long-term relationships. A new study, published in the Journal of Family Psychology, reveals that how hot-or-not you are, particularly as compared to your mate, matters well beyond initial attraction into married life, although what that means changes over time.
Read on below.
Beautiful Women, Supportive Men
Food Network star Sandra Lee raved about her politico beau, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in the January 2009 issue of Redbook: "He is the most amazing person I've ever met in every way. He is the most selfless, good-hearted, thoughtful person, engaged on every level with everyone," she said. That's quite a declaration, but she seems to feel the love for Cuomo's daughters as well telling Redbook, "We decorate, we do hair, we talk about clothes and watch movies. I have three kids that are my sweetie daughters -- and we don't say 'stepmom', we say 'weekend daughter.'"
Evan Agostini, Getty Images
Marc Anthony loves his wife's arroz con habichuelas and breaded steak. And the twins. Max and Emme, of course.
Evan Agostini, Getty Images
Jordan Bratman spilled the beans himself at his wedding rehearsal dinner, when, according to the Daily News, he told guests that his parents blessed him with "good looks and large p***s." And now, Christina Aguilera.
Michael Buckner, Getty Images
Sandra Bullock was raised by an opera-singer mom and a voice-coach father. Husband Jesse James must have some kinda aria.
Eric Charbonneau, WireImage.com
Many celebs keep their weddings under wraps, but why are Jay-Z And Beyonce keeping quiet? Suppose with her beauty, talent and cash, and his, well, talent and cash, they're the last ones who need the press.
Bill Baptist, NBAE/Getty Images
Cute quote from Courteney Cox about daughter Coco, almost 4: "At such a young age, she's such a little clown. And then I looked at Dave (Arquette) and I'm like, Oh yeah, not so surprising!"
Mark Mainz, Getty Images
This year 'American Idol' runner-up Katharine McPhee married Nick Cokas, a little known actor with two appearances on 'Invasion' to his credit. He's 19 years her senior. Is that the relationship equivalent of a consolation prize?
Jeffrey Mayer, WireImage.com
Last year Justin Long explained his blossoming relationship with Drew Barrymore. "I've been very fortunate," he told US Weekly. "I just feel very blessed and very happy!" Duh.
Kevin Mazur, WireImage.com
After hanging on to jailbird Pete Doherty for so long, suppose Kate Moss' new music man, Jamie Hince, doesn't look so bad.
KCSPresse, Splash News
Stephen Colbert has dubbed this Hollywood power couple as Filliam H. Muffman. Enough said.
Frazer Harrison, Getty Images
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Research of newly married couples led by James McNulty, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Tennessee, hypothesizes that couples in which the man is more attractive than the woman are generally less happy than pairs where the wife is better looking -- or the two have matching good looks. "The relative attractiveness in a couple matters more than the absolute attractiveness of each partner," according to one researcher in the study, UCLA's Benjamin Karney, PhD.
Confused? Think Brad and Jennifer. Both knockouts, but he, arguably, more so. Now, look at Brad and Angelina. See?
Attraction is, of course, subjective, but the published study used universal standards such as large eyes, facial symmetry and waist-hip ratios.
Satoshi Kanazawa, PhD, an evolutionary psychologist at the London School of Economics and coauthor of 'Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters', offers his own explanation as to why this may be true: Handsome men make bad husbands.
"Men can maximize their reproductive success by pursuing one of two different strategies: Seek a long-term mate, stay with her, and invest in their joint offspring (the “dad” strategy); or seek a large number of short-term mates without investing in any of the resulting offspring (the “cad” strategy)," writes Kanazawa.
Intelligence, money and power can blind even the most beautiful women to a man's craggy physical attractiveness -- how else to explain the candy on the arms of Salman Rushdie, Howard Stern and Donald Trump? But generally, it's the Jude Laws of the world who have more opportunities to pursue the "cad" strategy. Less attractive guys become, well, the "dads."
And the better husbands. McNulty’s study confirms that men who were less physically attractive than their wives were more "supportive" of their partners than their hotter counterparts. The less good-looking guys also invest more in their exclusive relationships, not to mention less chance of infidelity. "He's getting something better than he's providing on that level," said McNulty in an interview with LiveScience. "So he's going to work hard to maintain that relationship."
Recent Comments
Fataeditor 02:12:00 PM Dec 29 2008
I just can't wait to see what Anthony Bourdain does with this one!
BRaines000 02:05:25 PM Dec 29 2008
SLop is a moron. She's not their step-mother -- that would require her to be married to him.
Awr730 01:53:49 PM Dec 29 2008
"New research suggests it may be the toad, not the prince, after all."......More like the RICH toad. I guarantee you if that guy was poor she'd have nothing to do with him.
User174305 01:37:12 PM Dec 29 2008
I wonder if he needs to have that alcohol at every meal like she does.
Befilga 01:35:59 PM Dec 29 2008
HEY VESSELASSISTIt used to be charm and honesty- but in todays society- it's all about money and looks- hence- the reason you see SO MANY single mothers and dead beat dads. The integrity of society and women has degraded to a new low. This era is about sex, lust and money - not to mention corruption and embezzlement
Erlybird54 01:10:05 PM Dec 29 2008
I have always had a soft spot for Andrew Cuomo. I think he is smart, I think he is handsome. I think he is hot. I was never a Sandra Lee fan. (She uses "into" too much... and I think she is ditzy. She does seem to be nice, and I love when she works in stories about her Grandma...) Everyone deserves to be happy, so I am glad they found each other and like each other.As if any of this will have an effect on my life.
Luci Lioness 12:55:13 PM Dec 29 2008
HE'S OKAY. SHE NEEDS TO GET A BREAST LIFT, OR STOP GOING BRALESS. NOTE TO SANDRA: STOP SHOWING OFF YOUR BREASTS SO MUCH ON THE FOOD NETWORK, AND MAYBE SOMEBODY MIGHT ACTUALLY START PAYING ATTENTION TO THAT FAKE FOOD THAT YOU "COOK"?
VesselAssistFL 12:52:24 PM Dec 29 2008
Hey ugly guys you know how you get the hot chics??? CHARM. Plain and simple, CHARM.
Jjocarolata 12:01:22 PM Dec 29 2008
Andrew Cuomo is a very handsome man (imho). His powerful position as AG also makes him attractive. In addition Cuomo has let it be known that he is interested in filling Hillary's senate seat. Sandra got a very good deal!
