Original Article from here.
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Beneath the Rumors, a Question Mark on ayu’s Divorce. Doomed From the Start…?
19 January 2012. 15:30
On 16 Jan, Hamasaki Ayumi’s sudden divorce announcement shook the world of entertainment.
Her announcement to marry Austrian actor Manuel Schwarz, who acted with her in her own PV, came on New Year’s Day last year. With consideration to his career, her initial plan was to migrate to the US, but her need to prepare for her concert tour, starting in May, required her to stay in Japan, and then the Tohoku Earthquake Disaster struck in March, causing a strong “feeling of reluctance to leave Japan” to grow within Hamasaki. In the end, her wish to stay together with her husband was hindered by “physical distance”, which soon became “emotional distance”, and she explained that she could not “see a future in the US with my husband” anymore.
On 17 Jan, the Nevada public office in the US announced that the divorce was successful. Regarding why she announced her decision before the divorce could even be finalized, Hamasaki explained that she “had to travel overseas for work, and wished to report to the fans as early as possible”. Now, some reports are claiming that she has denied the existence of a new lover.
However, looking at all the divorce reports, it seems like most of the inside sources are calm and composed about the whole incident. One source claimed that “actually, stories about discord and disagreements between the two have already been floating around since middle of last year”.
“There were many who doubted the existence of the marriage itself. That is because she has never registered the marriage in Japan”.
Furthermore, the two met on the PV set for the song “Virgin Road”. When the marriage announcement closely followed the release of this song as a single, there were rumors of the marriage being “a publicity stunt”. The same source claimed that “ayu’s CD sales has been falling over the years, and the marriage was actually to generate publicity for that marriage-themed song. When the sales did not improve, the divorce happened”.
As ayu has never registered her marriage in Japan, she has no record of divorce as well. There is talk of how “ayu actually has someone she loves in Japan, and he is the reason why she did not register this marriage”. There are many rumors as to the identity of this lover, some claiming him to be the rumored favorite, others naming him as an ordinary man who works in another industry altogether.
“In any case, with this story of divorce now, her next song should be dealing with broken hearts and separation,” a journalist commented. Just what will Hamasaki do from now on?
