'Strangers' author Belle Burden says her divorce left her feeling financially powerless. Here are the habits she's changed after being a 'cautionary tale.'

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'Strangers' author Belle Burden says her divorce left her feeling financially powerless. Here are the habits she's changed after being a 'cautionary tale.'

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Belle Burden and Emma Grede

Belle Burden (left) now manages her own finances. The Washington Post

Belle Burden 2.0

The first cheating controversy of 2026 didn't affect a leather coat and imaginable espionage. It was Belle Burden, in her now-viral book, "Strangers," who revealed that her hubby of 20 years remaining her for another female without any explanation.

In the book, Burden — who calls herself a "cautionary tale" — additionally stated that in her marriage, she trusted her hubby alongside the family's financial decision-making, equal signing their shared tax returns without study them.

Slowly and gradually, the erstwhile company attorney writes that she didn't acknowledge that her hubby was putting his investments and bonuses in his name alone, during using her formerly sizable rely to buy homes for their family — an crucial item if you cognize how their pre-nup was set up.

Entrepreneur Emma Grede, who encourages women to not be fearful to conversation concerning prosperity in her publish "Start With Yourself," sat downward alongside Burden at the Washington Post's Global Women's Summit, held in New York City, before this week.

Burden explained that she took her hands off of managing her finances since there was a sound in her caput telling her that equal although she was astute adequate to continue the bar, she "couldn't comprehend the complexities of my financial life, investments and assets, and I think that is traditional conditioning."

Grede asked the New York Times bestseller what she's doing alternatively now that she's begun the next phase of her life, which includes her publish being adapted by Netflix. Burden stated she's now "fully in authority and understanding all of my investments and assets. And I peruse my tax returns."

"I'm completely capable of understanding it … and that the cognition is so much improved than the not knowing, equal although that was extremely comfortable," Burden continued, "it's really fairly joyful to comprehend and assertion your financial life."

Even although she knows group cringe whenever they peruse concerning the financial mistakes she made in her marriage, Burden stated hearing and study how women have smartened up following study her publish makes it value it.

"I did not anticipate that it would be prescriptive in this way or motivate women to alter their behavior on money," Burden stated at the Summit. "But … if that's my intent on the planet, I'm really fine alongside that."

Joi-Marie McKenzie is the publishing company in chief of the Life squad at Business Insider, overseeing entertainment, genuine estate, lifestyle, health, parenting, and our Style & Success coverage.Previously, she worked for nearly a decade in network news at NBC and ABC, alongside alongside Good Morning America, anywhere she earned an Emmy Award. McKenzie was additionally a elder amusement publishing company at Essence mag and delegate publishing company of amusement at Insider, now known as Business Insider.While serving as delegate publishing company of amusement at Insider, McKenzie earned multiple reporting awards and recognition. She was additionally nominated for the publishing company administrator of the twelvemonth in 2022 by the Drum Awards.The fifth-generation author and publishing company has moderated conversations for The Paley Center for Media, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, and Barnes and Noble in New York City.McKenzie has written two books, the two released by Hachette. Her archetypal was a critically-acclaimed memoir titled "The Engagement Game," and she additionally wrote "The Pursuit of Porsha," the memoir of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" celebrity Porsha Williams.McKenzie additionally sits on the commission of Color Vision, an institution that helps, educates, and informs women of color in imaginative fields. She's additionally a commission associate of The Afro American Newspaper, which serves the Baltimore-Washington area and was founded by her great-great-grandfather, John H. Murphy Sr., a formerly bond Civil War veteran.

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