Divorce, once rare and stigmatised, has become mainstream – 42 per cent of marriages now end this way, meaning nearly half of us who get married can expect to experience it in our lifetime. Just as every marriage is different, so is every divorce. In this column, divorcees reflect on their life-changing experience. Helped by the benefit of hindsight, they’ll share advice and reflections.
Anna*, 31, from Suffolk, who works in governance, tells how her husband used her for financial gain – and why she wishes she’d drawn up a prenup before their wedding. Interview by Lauren Crosby Medlicott
It’s been two years since I left Tom*, and I’ve lost £20,000 in savings – all the money I had been saving since childhood – to legal fees, fighting to keep the house I bought prior to meeting him.
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We started dating in 2020. I was 26, had just come out of a long-term relationship and was feeling quite vulnerable after a bad break-up. My friends set me up with Tom, someone I’d heard about through them for a while. It was supposed to be for fun and distraction, but during lockdown we agreed that he would come and live with me – in the house I owned.
