As another celebrity couple announces their separation, we ask if working together is possible

Yet another celebrity couple have split, with Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet and her director husband Sam Mendes announcing plans to divorce.

And rumours emerging yesterday suggest problems started when the pair actually started working together for the first time, on acclaimed 2008 film ‘Revolutionary Road’.

That film, co-starring Winslet and Hollywood sensation Leonardo DiCaprio, depicted the end of a troubled marriage.

And like life imitating art, the celebrity pair have now called it a day despite raising two children together in a marriage generally played out of the spotlight.

Winslet shot to fame in 1997’s Titanic, and won an Oscar last year for her role in high-brow movie ‘The Reader’.

She also win a Golden Globe award for the Mendes directed Revolutionary Road.

And on collecting the award, ironically for depicting a stay-at-home housewife who becomes increasingly bored with her stay-at-home life, she lightheartedly poked fun at her husband's work ethic, thanking him for “killing us every single day and really enjoying us actually being in such horrific pain”.

She added: “But I can honestly say with my hand on my heart that I loved every second of working with you and it’s made me love you more.”

How things change. The pair recently struggled through a trial separation but have since called it a day, with a British law firm announcing the news earlier this week.

They are not the first couple to fall foul of working together either.

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman may have met and fallen for each other on ‘Days of Thunder’.

But the megastars also divorced not long after co-starring in Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Eyes Wide Shut’, a film which took almost two gruelling years to make.

The world of Hollywood may be a million miles away from most of our day to day lives. But could the pressure of working together be too much for these millionaire marriages?

For Ajay Devgan and wife Kajol there has been little problem in Bollywood. Similarly, legendary country singer Johnny Cash and wife June Carter famously enjoyed years of working together in harmony.

Dubai PR guru Eileen Wallis agrees it can work. She’s been married for 13 years and worked for five of those with husband Mike. She has no doubts now that a working partnership with a spouse is possible.

But she admits the initial success was a pleasant surprise.

She explains: “I was initially highly resistant to the idea, extremely opposed in fact, for all the reasons you may imagine. However from the first day, I must admit, I enjoyed it.

“I think if you are going to work together, the most important thing is to appreciate that in a professional context, there has to be distinction between professional and personal lives. The best advice really, is to make sure you have checks and balances. For example, your clients or demands must come first and you really should both know that.”

Eileen now works apart from her hubby. But she can recommend the experience to anyone who is wavering.

“I think one of the great benefits of working with you spouse is you get to see that professional side of them. It can be very impressive and it’s rare for spouses. To see them succeeding in that sense is fantastic and it helps you appreciate them even more.”

It’s nice to return home from a tough day to  find a loved one waiting for you. For the likes of Eileen, it may be more of a case of walking in the front door together. But whatever, the secret of a happy home life is to leave working issues in the office.

“You have to have those boundaries,” says the mother of two.

“Your home must be sacred. You have to keep the two apart. As a professional will keep their home life out of the office, so it is important to do the same thing with your work.”