Claire Macklin, 53, is a divorce coach living in Wiltshire. After 14 years together and seven years married, her first husband suddenly announced that he was leaving her and the kids. Here, she talks about how she slowly built herself back up, got remarried and divorced her second husband.
I remember every detail of my husband leaving me. It was 25 March 2008, a Tuesday night, and we were halfway through an episode of Holby City. My husband had come home from work; he’d made dinner, and we’d eaten, put the kids to bed (who were one and three at the time) and sat down on the sofa. He was really quiet, which was unusual, so I asked him if he was alright. He just said: “Not really, I’ve been seeing someone else.“
That same afternoon I’d been to the gym and was talking to a friend of mine about what a great dad he was and how happy we were. For me, it felt like it came completely out of nowhere. I remember the evening in bits after that. I don’t know how I got from seated to standing, but I remember sliding down the wall, collapsing, and thinking, “Oh my god, this doesn’t just happen in movies.” I ended up in the foetal position at the bottom thinking: “F**k, what am I going to do?”
Our children were so small, and I’d gone back to work, but only two days a week, at a law firm. I decided to get out of the house because he couldn’t leave if I wasn’t there – the children were asleep upstairs.
