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. Here, 43-year-old father-of-two Sam* tells Kat Storr about his experience.
It was never part of my life plan to get divorced. My parents have just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and I’ve grown-up seeing that couples can get through the ups and downs of marriage. However, ending things after nine years was the right decision for me and my wife.
There was no big event that led to our split. My wife and I had ticked off all of the life landmarks. We lived abroad together, we bought a house and had two children but we just came to realise that we weren’t in love, or have much in common with each other anymore. Having our children put a bullet through the relationship. You go through a huge change in priorities when you become a parent and what was an intimate relationship turned into more of a functional one for us.
