Gore Daughter Karenna Separated From Husband

As Karenna Gore became the third member of the Gore family dynasty to pull back the curtain on her foundering marriage, friends of the once-golden Upper East Side-couple say they're saddened by the news, but not surprised. Wednesday, the 36-year-old Gore and her husband since 1997, Andrew Schiff, confirmed to various media outlets that they had been separated for several months and were in couples counseling. But friends wonder if they'll be able to find enough common ground to save their struggling marriage. "It's very sad," says one friend of the couple, who notes that a certain "tipping point" seems to have occurred in the Gore family when it comes to marital woes. In May 2009, Karenna's younger sister, TV writer Kristin Gore, filed for divorce from her husband; and a little over a year later, the girls' parents Al and Tipper Gore announced their separation. "I fell out of my chair" when he learned that the former Vice President and his wife were separating, says the friend, adding news of Karenna and Andrew's split was "not a surprise for me... I'm not saying they didn't love each other, but they got married so young, and I think what kept them together was their action-packed lives." Schiff is former doctor-turned-biotech venture capitalist. Gore was the Youth Outreach Chair for her father's campaign and got a $200,000 advance to write a book that grew out of her political activism called: "Lighting The Way: Nine Women Who Changed Modern America." The couple also managed to find time to raise three children. "There was always a next thing: an election, another child, a book, an Academy Award [which her father won for his documentary on global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth."]," the friend explains. "Once the music stopped, it was just them." However, another source close to the family tells Gatecrasher: "They are in marital counseling. They are working on things." The future said the source is "TBD: to be determined." Another confidant describes the couple as "lovely people, but restless souls--Karenna especially. I think she's always been looking for a place [IN THE SUN]for herself," the friend adds. "I think finding fulfillment in addition to raising a family is very difficult." In other Gore family news, Montecito Journal columnist Richard Mineards tells Gatecrasher that his lead column story today reports on the $8.75 million five-bedroom, nine-bathroom Spanish style mansion in Santa Barbara that the Gores purchased shortly before their split was made public. Mineards >sayse was told that the house, which sits on 1.5 choice acres in Montecito (home to Oprah Winfrey, Rob Lowe, John Cleese and Kirk Douglas,) was acquired "with the specific intention of giving Tipper a suitable home for herself after they announced their separation." Kalee Kreider, spokeswoman for the Gore family,tells Gatecrasher: "Neither the Gores nor the Schiffs intend to comment on reports today."