WHY did I feel such a pang of regret when I heard that celebrity couple Zoe Ball and Fatboy Slim were separating?

I don't know the pair, though I feel I know a lot about them. We have all been able to follow their relationship, or at least a version of it, in the Press.

The talented multi-millionaire pop star and beautiful blonde TV presenter (pictured) appeared to meet and fall in love in front of our eyes. In interviews, they declared how much they loved each other. They married, refusing, commendably, to sell photographs to celebrity magazines. Then they had a baby boy. Fatboy himself referred to their time together as "four years of bliss".

To the rest of us, this seemed a match made in heaven. Just like Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, Kate Winslet and Jim Threapleton, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman before them.

The sudden crash-and-burn of celebrity marriages can strike a sort of terror in all our hearts. We know nothing of the reality of their relationships, nor the sort of ordinary stresses and strains they may have been suffering. It is the fairytale romance we have bought into. And it is the end of the fairytale that we mourn. After all, if these beautiful, rich, successful people who live in huge homes, enjoy luxury holidays and have all the domestic help they want, can't hack it, what hope is there for the rest of us?

The spell is broken. When the fairytale marriage disintegrates, it somehow diminishes us all.

IN the same week that Zoe and Fatboy split, I found the address policeman Stephen Oake's widow gave at his funeral particularly touching. Lesley Oake spoke of her "wonderful husband", who was stabbed to death during an anti-terrorist raid. "All I want to say on behalf of Steve is that God is real and for every husband and wife to tell each other every single day that they love each other because that is what we did." Lesley and Steve may not have been rich or famous. But they had an extraordinarily happy marriage, they were living the fairytale. It is just tragic that this one didn't have a happy ending either.

FOOTBALLER Michael Owen has reportedly lost up to £40,000 on around £2.2m of bets placed over the past few years. But, given that he is worth between £5m and £9m, these losses aren't huge. Critics say he shouldn't gamble because he is a role model to young boys. But what if he had been sensible and put his £2.2m in a pension fund? Chances are his losses would be a lot more than the two per cent taken by the bookies.

THE Pill, psychologists tell us, can make women choose a different type of partner. Those on the Pill often go for forceful, macho types, even though, when off it, they are drawn to gentle, sensitive men. We have taken health hazards associated with long-term Pill use, like thrombosis, fatigue and headaches, on board. But now this mind-altering drug has thrown up one of the worst side-effects imaginable. Expect a rush of compensation claims as women all over the world wake up the day after they have come off the Pill to discover they have married the wrong man.