by Marilyn and Stacy Jenel Smith A star is born, a marriage ends -- a story as old as Hollywood adds a new chapter with the breakup of Jennifer Garner and Scott Foley. It's hard, in the best of conditions, for a marriage to survive amidst the pressures and temptations of Hollywood. When it involves a situation like the Foleys -- the wife becoming a super star while the husband's acting career falters -- the odds are against longevity of the union.

Scott has told this column, "The most important thing to me is being with my wife; career comes second." Yet he would have to be a saint if the dizzying rise of her career-- going from a supporting part on his "Felicity" series to big time fame via "Alias" and "Daredevil" -- did not generate mixed emotions within him.

If misery loves company, he need only look around -- and behind -- to see how many others have been in his shoes.

The list includes: Drew Barrymore and Tom Green, Helen Hunt and Hank Azaria, Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid, Connie Stevens and James Stacy and... Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe admit they've undergone marital counseling, while rumors waft about the marriage of Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar and Courteney Cox and David Arquette.

It always seems difficult in an actors' union for one career to eclipse the other, but somehow it seems hardest when it's the wife who runs away with success.