{"id":2632521,"date":"2026-07-20T08:01:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/strangers-has-no-plot-besides-making-women-bitter-about-their-marriages\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T08:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:06:13","slug":"strangers-has-no-plot-besides-making-women-bitter-about-their-marriages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/strangers-has-no-plot-besides-making-women-bitter-about-their-marriages\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Strangers&#8217;\u00a0Has No Plot But Making Women Bitter About Marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fstrangers-has-no-plot-besides-making-women-bitter-about-their-marriages%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2632521&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Belle Burden\u2019s memoir, *Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage*, has gained popularity as a bestseller but offers a rather bleak view of marriage, emphasizing divorce over its enduring aspects. Burden recounts her experience of her husband\u2019s affair during Covid, leading to their separation after 20 years of marriage. Despite her pain, she admits she didn&#8217;t attempt to reconcile, onyl seeking reasons for his departure. The book\u2019s lack of deeper insight into marriage and its sacred nature has been critiqued, wiht some viewing it as part of a trend in media that trivializes marriage through stories of betrayal and divorce, often driven by an anti-marriage agenda.<\/p>\n<p>The memoir is seen by some critics as a vehicle to promote feminist ideas,encouraging women to be wary of trust in marriage and emphasizing independence,especially for stay-at-home moms. Burden\u2019s story also <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >highlights financial concerns post-divorce<\/a>, with her keeping substantial assets and support, which some argue underscores a focus on material security rather than the spiritual or covenantal bond of marriage. Critics suggest her account reflects privilege and may contribute to negative perceptions of marriage, framing it as a financial compromise or battlefield.<\/p>\n<p>*Strangers* is viewed as part of a broader cultural narrative that questions the value of marriage, promoting a skeptical or dismissive attitude toward enduring commitments, reinforced by media and popular culture.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage<\/em> by Vanderbilt heiress Belle Burden is a runaway bestseller. But it tells us more about what marriage has become in our culture than what it is. A more accurate subtitle would have been \u201cA Memoir of Divorce.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Admittedly, Burden\u2019s story has a twist. Most often, it\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/01\/31\/blame-women-for-high-divorce-rates-that-hurt-women-more-than-men\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">women<\/a> who abandon marriages. This time, Burden\u2019s husband of 20 years blindsides her with an affair during Covid, leaving her and the children to fend for themselves at their beach house. Both lawyers, he\u2019d become a wealthy hedge fund guy while Burden became a stay-at-home mom.<\/p>\n<p>No doubt Burden\u2019s pain was real. Her husband\u2019s actions were inexcusable. Betrayal is heinous. Divorce often follows <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/07\/23\/the-coldplay-cuddlers-arent-the-only-ones-destroying-families\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">infidelity<\/a>. Her husband apparently refused therapy, too. But Burden admits she didn\u2019t try to talk her husband out of divorce, even though his behavior was wildly out of character. Instead, she only wanted to know why he\u2019d left. The only explanation she gives for going along with the breakup is that she felt she couldn\u2019t change his mind, though she doesn\u2019t explain why.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Not Much Insight about Marriage<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It was hard to get a handle on <em>Strangers<\/em>. The book didn\u2019t seem to know what it wanted to be. I kept waiting for a phoenix to rise from the ashes, but that moment never came. <\/p>\n<p>Like many people of privilege, Burden has a family history littered with divorce. Indeed, children of divorce are more likely to <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.unews.utah.edu\/news_releases\/research-suggests-children-of-divorce-more-likely-to-end-their-own-marriages\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">divorce<\/a> themselves, and Burden worried about passing on the legacy to her children. But that only makes her quick capitulation all the more confusing. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/nasty-divorces-silver-lining\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Research<\/a> suggests too that daughters (Burden has two) might have happier marriages when a parent resists divorce.<\/p>\n<p>Burden yearned for a \u201cnormal family, a stay-at-home mother \u2026 a life with no divorces, no mean nannies, no split time, no loneliness.\u201d So she became what she\u2019d wanted and chose a husband she believed to be a grounded provider without a roving eye.<\/p>\n<p>Her desire was correct. Humans are naturally drawn to marriage. Marriage and family mirror the very trinitarian nature of God, marriage\u2019s creator. Burden noted, however, that she rejected her Catholic upbringing and all religion. By all accounts then, she knew little about marriage\u2019s sacred, covenantal nature, which joined Burden and her husband as one flesh.<\/p>\n<p>The closest she gets to expounding on her understanding of marriage is describing the surface relationship between her father and his second wife, whom she dubbed the \u201cperfect couple.\u201d They danced in the kitchen, were curious, fun-loving, and perfect hosts, were genuine and relaxed, and loved dogs. But where\u2019s the transcendence that comes from the hard work and long-suffering that forges bonds and maintains commitment?<\/p>\n<p>Burden\u2019s story is not unique. There are far more heroic stories out there, especially those about reconciliation and spouses fighting for their families. As Burden noted in the<em> <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/06\/30\/style\/modern-love-married-to-a-stranger.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">essay<\/a> that became the basis for her book, the \u201crest of the story is filled with more clich\u00e9s.\u201d Her story was different, she said, because it occurred during Covid. But that\u2019s not <a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC7361516\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">unique<\/a> either.<\/p>\n<p>In short, her story needed an agenda to become a blockbuster and serve the anti-marriage propaganda favored by the media and publishing industry. The genre <a href=\"https:\/\/ifstudies.org\/blog\/elizabeth-gilberts-new-book-is-predictable-anti-marriage-propaganda\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">started<\/a> with Elizabeth Gilbert\u2019s <em>Eat, Pray, Love<\/em>, which glorified a woman ditching her husband and traveling the world to find herself. Over the years, it has spawned a spate of <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/05\/12\/no-fault-the-latest-divorce-memoir-not-worth-your-read\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">books<\/a> trivializing marriage. Now, after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-news\/gwyneth-paltrow-memoir-of-marriage-1236546451\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bidding war<\/a>, <em>Strangers <\/em>is being adapted into a movie starring Gwyneth Paltrow, who hawked the debunked myth of the <a href=\"https:\/\/ifstudies.org\/blog\/conscious-uncoupling-wont-give-you-a-good-divorce\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">good divorce<\/a> more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harpersbazaar.com\/culture\/art-books-music\/a71164867\/strangers-book-belle-burden\/?utm_source=google&#038;utm_medium=cpc&#038;utm_campaign=mgu_ga_har_md_pmx_prog_org_us_17944069560&#038;gad_source=1&#038;gad_campaignid=17944089348&#038;gbraid=0AAAAADA2MkKsBgo6xaxHWJVfQ2dzjxXZj&#038;gclid=Cj0KCQjwjIPSBhCCARIsABGyK7sQhsEglPsiTF_uyfMBPc2YBhzPCC9pGnZhgcQrTi3apP2JdohGjrkaArEzEALw_wcB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Harper\u2019s Bazaar<\/a> headline seems to nail it: \u201cBelle Burden\u2019s Memoir Is Making People Hate Their Husbands.\u201d And marriage.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>A Vehicle for Feminist Talking Points<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Actress and author Isabel Gillies, who blurbed the book, termed it \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouseretail.com\/book\/?isbn=9780593733318\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a call to feminism<\/a>,\u201d reminding women not to \u201cfall asleep at the wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marriage certainly requires trust. But <em>Strangers <\/em>undermines relationships in an era when marriage is already <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bgsu.edu\/ncfmr\/resources\/data\/family-profiles\/schweizer-marriage-century-change-1900-2018-fp-20-21.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">flailing<\/a>. Burden admits it\u2019s a \u201ccautionary tale\u201d for women not to trust husbands with the bank book, urging wives to maintain focus on what will happen \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedrewbarrymoreshow.com\/videos\/qH8oGGvx1ys\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">if the marriage ended<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0Because if an heiress follows the rules of the patriarchy and becomes a stay-at-home mom \u2014 and still can\u2019t protect herself \u2014 what hope is there for other women?<\/p>\n<p>In reality, though, most women want to <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/10\/04\/all-moms-should-be-able-to-raise-their-own-kids-not-just-elites-like-hoda-kotb\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stay at home<\/a> with their children, a trend that greatly alarms <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/more-than-womens-work\/202409\/the-tradwife-trend-is-a-risky-throwback\">feminists<\/a>. Fresh-faced Burden is the perfectly packaged vehicle for feminists to reassert their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/val-demings-announces-candidacy-for-florida-senate-race-against-marco-rubio\/\" title=\"Val Demings Announces Candidacy For Florida Senate Race Against Marco Rubio\">tired talking points<\/a> in the face of a growing interest in homemaking.<\/p>\n<p>For example, Burden writes that her pro bono work gave her a sense of accomplishment. Perhaps work \u201ccould be a way forward for me,\u201d she says. Her doctor tells her, \u201cwomen become less interesting to men when they don\u2019t work,\u201d and others promise, \u201cif you work, this won\u2019t happen to you.\u201d In other words, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/06\/08\/the-end-of-the-lean-in-era\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lean in<\/a>, remain in the workforce, and outsource the rearing of your children. <\/p>\n<p><em>Strangers<\/em> also reduces marriage to a financial transaction. Burden started her marriage on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefp.com\/p\/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-prenup-marriage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rocky ground<\/a>, with a prenup that eyed divorce. She\u2019d promised her mother she would sign one before getting married. But what about her marriage vows?  <\/p>\n<p>After Burden\u2019s husband requested a divorce, much of her attention turned to money. Under the prenup, the parties kept their separate earnings. But Burden had left work to stay home and elected to put her husband\u2019s name on mansions purchased with trust funds. She told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedrewbarrymoreshow.com\/videos\/qH8oGGvx1ys\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Drew Barrymore<\/a> she risked losing \u201cmy financial security,\u201d writing that she \u201cfell into a deep well of despair.\u201d She seemed apoplectic over losing her private club membership. Burden wrote she succumbed to her husband\u2019s settlement terms after he brought her \u201cto my knees.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But, as documented by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/books\/page-turner\/whats-missing-from-belle-burdens-strangers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New Yorker<\/a>, Burden\u2019s take after the divorce was: two homes worth about $20 million, another $3 million, $600,000 per year in child support (until age 22), and an unspecified amount in copious add-ons like private school, tutoring, health insurance, etc. She kept her club membership and private beach key worth $400,000. Plus five trusts and other accounts worth about $10 million. <\/p>\n<p>Spouses are entitled to their fair share in divorce. When I lost the fight for my marriage, I <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Disassembly-Required-Memoir-Midlife-Resurrection\/dp\/1642931500\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fought<\/a> for my home and stability too. The poverty and negative divorce consequences endured by tens of millions of voiceless spouses and children for decades under our irresponsible no-fault divorce laws have been <a href=\"https:\/\/ifstudies.org\/blog\/new-study-finds-lasting-effects-of-divorce-on-kids\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">devastating<\/a>. In contrast, Burden\u2019s book at times felt like privilege porn.<\/p>\n<p>The brave<strong> <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/08\/18\/meet-the-man-suing-to-stop-no-fault-divorce-in-texas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">men<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/05\/americans-divorced-against-their-will-seek-redress-from-states-corrupted-by-family-separation-industry\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">women<\/a> fighting for their marriages and to restore respect for marriage and family in our culture are mostly ignored. Instead of championing them, Burden has elected to use her massive pulpit to further undermine marriage and rail against the patriarchy. How unimaginative and sad.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Beverly Willett\u2019s legal thriller <i>Nobody\u2019s Fault<\/i> will be published by Old Fort Press in October 2027. A former New York City litigator and copyright attorney, Willett is also the author of <i>Disassembly Required: A Memoir of Midlife Resurrection<\/i> (Post Hill Press, 2019). She has written for The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Washington Examiner, First Things, The National Catholic Register, and more. She also co-founded the Coalition for Divorce Reform. Contact her at <a href=\"https:\/\/beverlywillett.com\/\">beverlywillett.com<\/a> and follow her on X <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BeverlyWillett\">@BeverlyWillett<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Strangers&#8221; reveals marriage&#8217;s decline, focusing on divorce<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2799,"featured_media":2632522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Book-Cover-Image-2.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[37236,82920,5406,82919,82921],"class_list":["post-2632521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-gender-roles","tag-marriage-issues","tag-relationship","tag-societal-critique","tag-womens-perspectives"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Book-Cover-Image-2.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2632521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2799"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2632521"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2632521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2632525,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2632521\/revisions\/2632525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2632522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2632521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2632521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2632521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}