I'm not sure which category Larson falls into, but the girl who eventually wins the hand of the diehard bachelor should not, ideally, be in any of them.

There were other clues too: she was apparently a stripper for a time. And she finally came into Clooney's orbit while serving him drinks at a Las Vegas cocktail bar. Seriously, George. Sure, she's a stunner, but was this the girl you wanted to take home to meet dad?

The whole series of events got me wondering what it is about girls serving things to Hollywood's single men that seem to have them all agog. Matt Damon met - and eventually married - Luciana Barroso as she was slinging drinks for him in a bar in Miami. Nicolas Cage stopped in for a spot of sushi and met Korean waitress Alice Kim.

Does anyone spot a pattern here?

Of course, some of these stories have happy endings (well, so far, anyway). Damon and Barroso have a daughter together and are expecting their second child. Kim and Cage have a son.

So I think it's not so much that A-listers pluck women out of obscurity, but that the women in question are not all about the glitz to begin with. Barroso stays out of the limelight as much as possible, and was never interested in becoming famous. Ditto Kim. The thing that did for Larson was that her desire to be a big name preceded her meeting with Clooney. After that, all bets were off.

It follows, therefore, that while men need to think wisely about the women they marry, men in Hollywood need to be even more savvy.

Charlie Sheen committed perhaps the biggest faux pas of his life when he walked down the aisle with Denise Richards, who, her current reality show proves, is just a shameless fame-seeker. (Sheen has obviously learned from his mistakes; a few weeks ago he remarried, this time to a property investor who's smart and successful in her own right.)

That seems to have a lot to do with how long a Hollywood marriage can last. Dennis Quaid, who remarried after an acrimonious divorce from former American sweetheart Meg Ryan, wed Kimberly Buffington, a real estate agent (another pattern here?). They're the happy parents of new twins.

This is how all A-list hot Hollywood bachelors should do it. Mario Lopez (okay, he's not quite A-list, but he's a hottie nonetheless) said this week he would never go for a Paris Hilton type because he wants someone who's down to earth and comes from humble origins similar to his own. Just stay out of the bars, then, Mario.

The bottom line is that Hollywood men don't want to be married to a woman whose fame will outshine their own (except in the case of Mr and Mrs Jennifer Lopez). Ryan Philippe apparently couldn't handle ex-wife Reese Witherspoon's growing success, so that ended badly. Nobody wants to be with someone clawing and clamouring for glory and Oscars and private jets. It gets a little tiresome after a while.

In any event, Larson's relationship with Clooney did her no harm. She burst onto the scene as a result of him, and even though they're no more, she's still on it. Last week, Larson signed on to be the face and body of Los Angeles-based French designer Christian Audigier, something she almost certainly never would have nabbed as a Fear Factor contestant and cocktail waitress. And Clooney, apparently, wanted to wait until she landed on her feet before announcing their split to the world. See? I told you he was a paragon of manhood.