Welcome to the latest Entertainment Rant opinion column. This week's issue is whether celebs deserve criticism for cheating. Join the debate by adding your comments.

BOYZONE love rat Ronan Keating is desperately trying to mend his broken marriage and somehow restore his squeaky clean image after admitting to having a seven-month affair with one of his backing dancers.

It's always sad when a marriage breaks down but I can't help feeling a tiny bit sorry for the 33-year-old singer.

Nobody really knows what's going on in another couple's relationship and who knows, maybe he was deeply unhappy.

I'm not condoning his behaviour in any way but I think we need to start thinking about what is fundamentally important in a relationship and is monogamy really that essential to a long-term partnership?

I have many friends who seem perfectly happy to share their partners with other people, providing neither of them develop their affairs beyond the purely physical.

Besides, monogamous relationships are actually in the minority around the world, with many cultures, for whatever reason, choosing to embrace the reality that human beings are just not wired to stay with one partner.

The institute of marriage is also an anachronism.

It has evolved from having the clear and business-like purpose of selling off a family's financially draining women to being a convention based on the decidedly flimsy ideal of a couple staying together forever because of their unbreakable love for each other.

It's a quaint idea, but not a realistic one. It's like building a castle of dreams on a foundation made of sand.

So maybe we should stop blaming celebrities for cheating and leaving their partners and give them a round of applause. After all, free love is definitely the future.

This column in no way reflects the official position of News Shopper or its parent company.

What do you think? Do you feel sorry for celebs when their affairs are exposed? Are celebs supposed to be role models and do they deserve a hard time for cheating? Add your comments below.

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