A recent article on CNN highlighted the modern day movement that it called "manimony," where a wife pays alimony to her husband. Historically, alimony derived from the principle that a husband has a duty to support his wife. The ecclesiastical courts in England only recognized judicially approved separations, and so the husband continued to have a duty to support his wife even after a physical separation. Today, that duty to provide support after a legal separation or divorce is gender-blind and the court will award alimony where appropriate, regardless of which spouse pays.