It was a match made in... well, someone's heaven. Chad Kroger, lead singer and frontman of Nickelback, and Avril Lavigne were married in 2013 (after Lavigne's brief marriage to Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley), and were pushing along as a couple. The pair had long been rumored to be on the rocks, but until now it's been easy to just allow the existence of Chavril to seep into the background, something that exists and remains a fixture of the cultural landscape, like easily churned-out classic rock albums or Jonathan Franzen novels, both of which are relatively easy to ignore but vaguely comforting in their presence. Now, Avril has announced via Instagram that the couple is separating, because that's where these things happen now (along with shots at Taylor Swift).
They may have both been easy punchlines on some level but, as we as a society slowly admit that Nickelback maybe had some bangers back in the day ("Photograph" still goes, sorry guys), so, too, must we admit that Chavril as a celebrity couple was quietly reassuring -- a pairing of two people who had been through the cultural wringer in the tumultuous early 2000s, and maybe found each other as rocks to hold on to. Their separation can be met with nothing but anguish and a reminder of the fragility of all human connection. [via Billboard]