The Public Breakup Video, once mainly a celebrity and influencer format, has reached ordinary couples in Israel too, as people use Instagram and TikTok to announce separations, explain themselves, seek support and take control of the storyWhen couples decide to separate, it usually begins with a private conversation behind closed doors, continues with quiet updates to family and close friends, and only weeks later, once the wound has begun to heal, do wider circles discover that it is over.The Israeli couple Ortalia and Asaf Elyashiv, parents of three from the city of Harish, chose a different route. In one public moment, they told everyone who knew them that they were divorcing. They did so in a video posted recently on social media, showing a tearful phone call to Asaf’s mother, moments of the two embracing and crying, and a promise that they would continue to love each other, all set to somber music. Alongside the video, they published a detailed text explaining why they had decided to separate.GalleryOrtalia and Asaf Elyashiv(Photo: Keren Shalev)The video may still be unusual in Israel, but it points to a trend that has already become familiar abroad, known as the Public Breakup Video. The format turns the end of a relationship from a private update into an emotional scene staged for public viewing.Former partners usually appear together or separately, often in a quiet, intimate setting, and speak directly to the camera about why the relationship ended. For followers, it creates the feeling of being invited into one of the most delicate and painful moments between two people.The trend emerged on YouTube in the United States less than a decade ago. Its turning point came in 2018, when internet stars Liza Koshy and David Dobrik uploaded a video announcing their breakup. The six-minute clip, which mixed laughter with uncontrollable crying, has drawn more than 70 million views. It proved that heartbreak could be record-breaking content and that audiences not only want to know that it happened, but also want to see how it happened.Ortalia, 35, a sexuality facilitator and personal development consultant, owner of the Oneg Center and founder of the Geshem Institute that offers counseling, workshops, and courses on intimacy and self-fulfillment, is also a content creator who often shares posts and videos about her personal life. She says one reason she decided to upload the video was the feeling that her followers deserved to know.“There was a period when Asaf and I also worked together,” she says. “We led workshops on sexuality together, and we truly were a loving couple. It was important to us that our followers knew we were separating, but also that we had never tried to present a false version of ourselves to the world.”So why did they separate? After years of trying to hide the truth, even from herself, Ortalia decided to come out. “I am attracted to women, and I only fall in love with women,” she says. “More than anything, it was important to me that people understand the breakup was not because Asaf was somehow lacking as a man. He is every bit a man.”She met Asaf, 35, a wedding DJ, when they were both religious 17-year-olds. “We got married at 19 and very quickly had children,” she says. They have a 16-year-old daughter, a 13-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter. “I always dreamed of a relationship with a woman, but I was a religious girl who had studied in an ulpana, and back then it seemed to me like a sure recipe for a miserable life. I resisted that part of myself, and then I met Asaf and it was perfect. I felt he was my soulmate. I loved him very much and discovered that I was also attracted to him.”So where was the problem?