Belle Burden says husband abruptly left their 20-year marriage during 2020 quarantine

Belle Burden says her picture‑perfect, 20‑year marriage collapsed when her husband abruptly left their Martha’s Vineyard home during the March 2020 Covid quarantine, a story she expands on in a new memoir, Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, and in a Modern Love podcast transcript. Burden told the interviewer that the disruption began when she received a voicemail from a man saying her husband was having an affair.

Her husband initially told her it “meant nothing” and professed his love, but at six the next morning he told her, “I thought I was happy but I’m not. I’ve decided I want a divorce,” then left the island and returned to New York. She described trying to maintain calm for their daughters, ages 12 and 15 at the time, and later informing them in person; her younger daughter screamed and her older daughter sat quietly.

Burden said she published a Modern Love essay in 2023 that went viral and has since written the memoir to describe what followed. She described difficult custody negotiations — she and her lawyer proposed a 50‑50 plan that he returned with his time removed — and the social fallout in their Martha’s Vineyard community, where she feared being ostracized but ultimately remained a club member.

She also said reclaiming her maiden name after the divorce felt like a return to herself.

Key Topics

Culture, Belle Burden, Martha's Vineyard, Modern Love, Strangers Memoir, Divorce