| ASHVILLE -- So their real-life Love Story didn't | | | | The only reason given for the split was that the |
| last forever after all. And that's an Inconvenient | | | | couple "grew apart". No affairs contributed to the |
| Truth. | | | | separation. |
| After 40 years of a seemingly model marriage, | | | | "Their lives had gotten more and more |
| United States ex-Vice President and | | | | separated," a friend of the family told AP. |
| environmental crusader Al Gore and his wife, | | | | For four decades, the Gores crafted a public |
| Tipper Gore (née Mary Elizabeth Aitcheson), | | | | image of a solid married couple. Gore told a |
| announced yesterday that they have separated. | | | | reporter in 1997 that he and Aitcheson were the |
| The former Second Couple broke the news in a | | | | inspiration for the young couple in Erich Segal's |
| mass e-mail they sent to friends; the message | | | | best-selling novel Love Story (Segal himself |
| was leaked to The Associated Press. "We are | | | | responded that the claim was only half-true -- |
| announcing today that after a great deal of | | | | Aitcheson had nothing to do with the book). |
| thought and discussion," wrote the Gores, "we | | | | Speaking at the 2000 Democratic Convention, |
| have decided to separate. This is very much a | | | | Gore praised his wife in front of his supporters |
| mutual and mutually supportive decision that we | | | | before giving her a very long kiss. |
| have made together for divorce information, | | | | Gore, 62, met Aitcheson in 1965, when she was |
| following a process of long and careful | | | | another man's date at Gore's high-school senior |
| consideration. | | | | prom. Both went to university in Boston, where |
| "We ask for respect for our privacy and that of | | | | they began dating. They married in Washington, |
| our family lawyer, and we do not intend to | | | | DC in May 1970 and have four adult children. |
| comment further," the e-mail continued. | | | | |