How to Avoid Mr. Wrong

Celebrity couples aren't always models of marital stability, but as Christie Brinkley, A-Rod, and Madonna join forces to hold the planet hostage, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd goes off in search of those telltale signs of who to avoid ending up at the altar with. She finds her answers in a 79-year-old Catholic priest, Father Pat Connor, who's been giving a "Whom Not to Marry" seminar for 40 years. Avoid swapping rings with:

• "A man who has no friends—This usually means that he will be incapable of the intimacy that marriage demands."
• "Someone whose life you can run—It's good to have a doormat in the home, but not your husband."
• A man "overly attached to his mother and her mythical apron strings."
• A man without a sense of humor—"That covers a multitude of sins."
• “Finally: Does he possess those character traits that add up to a good human being—the willingness to forgive, praise, be courteous?"

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