Get your "Star Wars" fix at BARNES & NOBLE

Upon their arrival, Michael, in a state of euphoria, took a photo of the ranch's front gate. Then, like an astronaut collecting precious moon rocks, he picked up a few stones from the driveway. "He even placed his business card in George Lucas' mailbox," Jennifer said. "Maybe he hoped that George would call and say, 'Hey, Michael, we saw you on the security camera and you look like a cool guy. Why don't you come up for some ribs and brewskies?'"

In the afterglow of an amorous evening, Heidi Kobara, 27, first noticed that her then-boyfriend, Drew Campbell, might be taking his love of "Star Wars" just a bit too seriously. "I was naked, and he began to chase me around the apartment with a Tie Fighter replica I had given him for his birthday," she said. "It was funny, but at the same time, I was thinking, What the hell am I doing?"

Jennifer and Heidi aren't the only women to suffer the indignities of a mate's "Star Wars" obsession. From big cities to farm towns, loving relationships have exploded like the Death Star due to one partner's fanatical devotion to the "Star Wars" trilogy. Since the release of the first "Star Wars" movie more than 20 years ago, Han Solo's cocky bravery and Luke Skywalker's quest against evil have inspired boys to raid toy stores for the latest figurines, swap "Star Wars" trivia and camp out in ticket lines. Sixteen years after the release of the third "Star Wars" film, "Return of the Jedi," men who grew up on the films find themselves engulfed in the same fanatic passion. Their girlfriends and wives have had a mild reprieve, but that ends Wednesday as "The Phantom Menace" opens in movie theaters across America.

Meet the "Star Wars" Widows -- women whose marriages and relationships have crumbled under the weight of the Force. As the extent of their obsession emerges, the men these women have adored become as lovable as Darth Vader. Women find themselves cast aside like rusted droids. When a man goes completely over to the dark side, these couples end up in a galaxy far, far away: divorce court.

In varying degrees, everyone loves "Star Wars," including the SWW. It's a definitive part of our cultural landscape. But it's the degree of devotion that separates the person who has seen the films a few times from the guy who's a prime candidate for "Star Wars" Anonymous. Take, for instance, the guys who traveled to Tunisia just to see props from old sets, or camped outside theaters for the past month or work at Toys R Us just for the discount on "Star Wars" toys.

Every man I interviewed for this piece insisted, "I'm not weird." That said, most have seen the films so many times that they're beyond memorizing the plot and dialogue. These men even know the background noises.

"Star Wars" fanatics usually seem like the guys next door. Despite their unusual attachment to Luke and Princess Leia, they consider themselves more socially acceptable than, say, "Star Trek" fans. "We shower. We have good careers. Many of us are in shape and attractive to the opposite sex," says Campbell, 26. "Most of us do not snort when we laugh or tape our broken glasses together."

Yet Campbell, a computer technician and author of a book about "Star Wars" droids, admits being appalled that one of his ex-girlfriends has never seen the "Star Wars" films. In Campbell's eyes, this was an abomination before George Lucas. After he guilt-tripped her into watching them with him, she said they were just "OK." His current girlfriend is more bemused. Upon hearing how much money he recently spent on toys, she replied, "Cool."

"I think I'll marry this one," Campbell says in jest. Would Campbell ever date a woman who had no interest whatsoever in "Star Wars"? After a lengthy, measured pause, he said, "It would depend on if she could deal with my addiction." This is a man whose love runs deep. His first vivid memory is of seeing "Star Wars" at age 4. By the time he was 16, Campbell calculated that he had spent the equivalent of three months of his life in theaters watching "Star Wars."

Next page | The children of divorce culture look to Obi-Wan Kenobi for answers