About this episode

Belle Burden shares her transformative journey through divorce and the truths that emerged from her experiences.

Description:There are some books you read with your whole body. Strangers by Belle Burden is one of those books. Belle was married for twenty-one years. Three kids. A life that, from the outside, looked like everything you're supposed to want. Then on the seventh day of the pandemic lockdown, a stranger left her a voicemail — and by the next morning, the man she thought she knew was gone. Belle is a former Davis Polk attorney, a descendant of John Jay, and the granddaughter of legendary socialite Babe Paley. She was raised in a world where women simply did not speak publicly about their husbands' transgressions. So she broke the chain — first in a viral New York Times Modern Love essay, then in her New York Times bestselling memoir. And now she's here with Jen. This conversation is everything. The night it all fell apart — the dinner, the mopped floor, the voicemail, the packed bag by morning. The myths we hand women about divorce and who gets to carry the shame. The money piece that nobody wants to talk about but everybody needs to hear. And the strange, hard-won truth that the most devastating thing that ever happened to you might also be the thing that finally gives you back…

People in this episode

Host: Jen Hatmaker

Guest: Belle Burden

Topics covered

• divorce
• women's experiences
• personal transformation
• truth and honesty
• family dynamics
• social expectations

Keywords

• divorce
• memoir
• women's stories
• personal growth
• truth
• shame
• family
• pandemic

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Strangers, New York Times Modern Love, New York Times bestselling memoir

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