Living apart together latest couple trend

Leeds, England -- A new British report finds the latest growing trend in relationships appears to be couples who are committed to each other but can't live with each other.

Sasha Roseneil, a professor at Leeds University and author of "On Not Living With a Partner," estimates there are 2 million couples in the LAT (living apart together) category. She said there appear to be more couples who choose this lifestyle than are forced into it by work or family responsibilities.

Shirley Denny and Peter Lawrence, who married last year, are a prime example. They tried living together years ago and lasted just three months but have been a couple for 23 years.

In Britain, a number of celebrities also have chosen to maintain separate homes -- something that may be easier with a celebrity income. The novelist Margaret Drabble and her husband of 24 years, the biographer Michael Holroyd, have separate quarters in London, while actress Helena Bonham Carter and director Tim Burton, who have a son together, are next-door neighbors in Hampstead.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.