This little Piggy goes to … therapy?

We?ve had our shocking celebrity breakups this year, from Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck to Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn to Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton.But now comes the news that after nearly 40 years, the very public relationship of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy has reached a sad ending. They are splitting, and this has set the world on its ear.?This is very sad,” said Frannie Hall, a psychotherapist who has a private practice in Lynn. “They?ve been together since 1976.”And while Hall has done family counseling and drug and alcohol counseling, “I?ve never done piggy therapy, and I?ve never done frog therapy.?But,” she said, “I can only assume they have feelings too. And you have to wonder: Have they tried? Will they try?”The consensus of opinion is split on who?s to blame. Hall makes her feelings quite clear.?We all know, Miss Piggy does not have any problems with her self-esteem. She?s a diva,” Hall said. “Kermit ? he has a few more issues with that.”What shocked Hall more was the knowledge that Kermit is dating another pig, this one named Denise.?What are the implications of that?” she wanted to know.Peter Sofronas, The Item?s graphics/production coordinator and a self-styled Muppet historian, provides the other side.?This can?t be a surprise,” he said. “They?ve been on-again-and-off-again for years. Kermit hasn?t wanted to commit, and she got tired of waiting.”He holds out hope, though.?This isn?t to say that they?re done for good,” he said. “Maybe they?ll be on again, but right now, they?re focusing on their own careers, and it?ll probably be good for both in the long run.”How do two corporations unto themselves dissolve a relationship?Lynn attorney Kevin J. Calnan, despite attempts to stay out of the fray, seems to lean more in the frog?s favor.?I?d say to him that since Miss Piggy had a better career and made more money, she?s going to end up paying you alimony,” Calnan said. “And then I?d tell Miss Piggy that the courts are gender-neutral now and you make a lot more money than Kermit. You?re going to have to pay.”But wait just a minute, here. They?re not married. And Lynn attorney Judith A. Wayne said that since there was never a marriage, and there are no children to worry about, there?s nothing to mediate. They can go their own separate ways, even though, she said, if there were ever any legal proceedings that can be filed against either, “I?d advise Kermit to hire me and we?d go after the pig.”But, she said, “There is no contentious divorce,” she said, “because there is no marriage.”The Rev. Brian Flynn, pastor of St. Mary?s and Sacred Heart, went right to the spiritual heart of the matter.?I?d ask them,” he said, “if there?s prayer in their relationship. Do they go to Mass? I?d tell them I?ve seen Big Bird at Mass, but I haven?t seen them.”The rocky relationship has had its struggles going back to 1990, when People magazine was ready to report on the split between the two as part of a new campaign. But Muppets creator Jim Henson died two days after the article ran, and the campaign was dropped.The time is right now because there will be a new Muppet television show this fall, “and this is feeding into one of the basic themes of the new series,” Sofronas said. “They?re forced to work on a show together (something Hall said will be very difficult to do), but have independent lives. It?s the typical sitcom ?will-they-or-won?t-they scenario.? Eventually, you know, they?re going to get it together as much as they ever can. This gives them an ongoing storyline.”Hall, like Sofronas, is optimistic about the eventual outcome.?They will always have a relationship,” she said. “They will always be together.”