Zooey Deschanel Divorce Finalized; Did Finances Cause Split?
Zooey Deschanel's divorce from Ben Gibbard is now official, according to Los Angeles courts. The two formally separated in December 2011 but split up two months before.
Deschanel, star of the hit series "New Girl," married Gibbard in 2009 but filed divorce paperwork just two years later, citing "irreconcilable differences," according to TMZ. Court papers published by the same website show that the divorce was amicable, with both parties waiving their rights to spousal support.
Gibbard is the lead singer for the band Death Cab for Cutie. After meeting Deschanel, he gave up alcohol, which had been somewhat of a problem for the performer. He admitted to Spin magazine that he had the realization he had "lost the ability to control" his drinking.
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"Quitting had ben such a positive change in my life," he told Spin magazine. "Nothing was going to make me want to go back to that. But I want to qualify that. I'm not, like, walking around with a chip in my pocket. I don't have a sponsor. I don't go to AA. It's not like that."
Some have speculated that Deschanel's success is one of the reasons for the divorce. Earlier this year TMZ released documents showing that Deschanel made $95,000 per month but spent less than one third of that, with no credit card debt and more than $2 million in stocks, bonds and real estate.
Gibbard, however, enjoyed success with his band but nowhere near the success that Deschanel has found with "New Girl" and other projects.
According to Julie Ryan Evans of The Stir, "I have no idea if an imbalance in their relationship financially or otherwise contributed to its demise, but it certainly does seem to fit a pretty typical pattern when the scales of success are tipped heavily in one direction – especially when it's a woman in the lead."
However, Deschanel was the one to file the paperwork, which leaves more questions than answers. She told People magazine in 2011, though, that she and Gibbard were "friendly. It's all fine."
