Divorce Happens
Divorce Happens is a podcast that inspires, educates, and supports listeners through divorce and beyond, focusing on starting fresh for the next phase of life. Hosted by Olivia Dreizen Howell, co-founder and CEO of Fresh Starts Registry, the show provides practical and emotional guidance. Fresh Starts Registry is described as the only divorce registry platform offering home items, a hype team, and other essentials for beginning again. The podcast aims to be a source of support before, during, and after divorce, reminding everyone that divorce happens—and then, we start fresh.
Episodes
A Divorce Without Court? How Family Law Arbitration Works with SOLAGREE Founder Amanda Mason
After more than 20 years as a divorce attorney, Amanda Mason calls herself a "recovering divorce attorney." She spent those years watching families get "absolutely tortured by the traditional processes," whether in a courtroom or in one attorney negotiating against another. Then she went through her own divorce trial over child custody. In this episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia Howell sits down w
What Is a High Conflict Divorce, and How Do You Avoid One? With Family Law Attorney Christina White
One parent wants to keep the Social Security cards at their house. The other says no. And suddenly a question that will matter a handful of times in a child's life is a legal fight. That, says family law attorney Christina White, is what a high conflict divorce looks like from the inside: "they make mountains out of molehills for every problem." In this episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia Howell si
The Divorce Is Final, So Why Don't You Feel Better? Divorce Recovery with Leah Marie Mazur
The papers are signed. The ink is dry. And somehow you still don't feel better. Olivia Howell remembers that moment exactly: standing in her marital house, thinking she had made it through the hardest part, and then realizing she had to live the rest of her life as a divorced person and had no idea what that looked like. In this episode of Divorce Happens, she sits down with Leah Marie Mazur, a di
Will Divorce Ruin My Kids? How to Rewrite the Stories You Tell Yourself with Divorce Coach Lyerly Spongberg
"I'm not strong enough to be a single mom." That was the story Olivia Howell told herself when her marriage was ending, and it felt like a fact. Most people going through divorce carry a version of it: I can't handle the finances. I'm going to ruin my kids. I'm less of a parent if I only see them half the time. In this episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia asks what happens when we stop treating thos
How to Find Joy During Divorce (Even When You're Angry, Scared, and Exhausted) with Divorce Coach Lisa Lisser
There is a particular kind of grief that comes from sitting in a school auditorium, watching your child on stage, and realizing you are not really there. Your body is in the seat, but your mind is in the lawyer's office, in the bank account, in the question of what happens next. In this episode of Divorce Happens, host Olivia Howell opens up about the early days of her own divorce, when anger made
Hey Olivia, how do I feel the joy for my rainbow baby at the same time I'm planning to end my marriage?
This week's letter is a tender one. A listener wrote in after a pregnancy loss, holding the rainbow baby they prayed for and quietly planning to end their marriage. Everyone around them says how lucky they are. And they are grateful. They're also grieving the baby they lost and the marriage they're leaving, and feeling guilty about all of it. Their question was simple and enormous: "I don't know h
From Full-Time Mom to Co-Parent: How to Let Go Without Losing Yourself After Divorce
There is a particular kind of grief that comes with realizing you are not going to be with your children every day anymore. For so many moms going through divorce, especially women who have spent years as the primary caregiver, co-parenting isn’t simply a new schedule—it can feel like an entirely new identity. In this episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia sits down with Kristina St. Cyr, certified di
Who Files FAFSA After Divorce? What Divorced Parents Need to Know About College Financial Aid
College can feel impossibly far away when your children are young and you’re in the middle of a divorce. And then, somehow, senior year arrives—and suddenly you’re staring at FAFSA forms, financial aid applications, college lists, divorce agreements, remarriages, and the terrifying realization that some schools now cost close to six figures a year. In this episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia sits d
Divorce Is Not Failure: Why We Need to Retire the Phrase “Failed Marriage”
It’s time to retire the phrase “failed marriage.” A marriage can last twenty years, contain children and homes and illnesses and inside jokes and terrible fights and beautiful vacations, and still come to an end. None of those years disappear simply because the relationship eventually becomes something that can no longer continue. In this solo episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia Howell challenges o
You Do Not Have to Know Yet: How to Know If You Should Get Divorced
You do not have to know yet. You do not have to wake up tomorrow morning certain that you are getting divorced, certain that you are staying married, certain that the relationship can be fixed, or certain about what your life would look like on the other side. In this solo episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia Howell speaks directly to the person who has Googled some version of “How do I know if I sh
What Is a Parenting Plan? How to Build a Child-Centered Divorce Agreement with Mediator David Fein
When you’re getting divorced with children, there are some decisions that look deceptively simple on paper: Where will the kids sleep? Who takes them to soccer? What happens on Thanksgiving? Who schedules the dentist? But those seemingly small questions are actually the architecture of your family’s next chapter. In this episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia sits down with David Fein, an attorney and
Hey Olivia, how do I figure out what I actually deserve when I've spent years talking myself out of wanting anything at all?
"I started believing that the criticism, the feeling small, the walking on eggshells, was just what marriage was. I've caught myself telling friends 'it's not that bad' about things that, when I actually say them out loud, sound really bad." In this Hey Olivia listener letter episode, Olivia helps a listener recalibrate what she actually deserves after years of quietly minimizing a painful pattern
A Divorce Lawyer's 3 Unexpected Tips for Getting Through Divorce
Sometimes, when your life is falling apart, the thing that helps you hold yourself together is something as ordinary as getting dressed. Not because a great outfit can solve your problems, but because sometimes you need a physical reminder of the person you are beneath all the stress, grief, and uncertainty. In this episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia Howell sits down with Tracy D. Galloway, Esq.,
How to Survive Shared Custody: 5 Ways to Stay Connected to Your Kids After Divorce
One of the most heartbreaking parts of divorce can happen after the agreements are signed and the custody calendar becomes real: suddenly, you may no longer see your children every day. For parents adjusting to shared custody or a 50/50 parenting schedule, the empty bedrooms, missed bedtimes, and stretches of time apart can feel almost impossible to accept. In this episode of Divorce Happens, rela
Think You’re Divorcing a Narcissist? What to Do Before You Tell Them
There is a very specific kind of fear that comes with thinking about divorce when you have no idea how your spouse is going to react. Maybe every difficult conversation somehow gets turned back on you. Maybe keeping the peace has become your full-time job. Maybe you’ve spent years being the reasonable one, the accommodating one, the person who gives a little more because it feels easier than deali
Shifting Perspectives: Why Are We So Afraid of Divorce?
Sometimes the hardest part of divorce isn’t only ending the marriage. It’s realizing how many beliefs you’ve inherited about what ending a marriage is supposed to say about you. Marriage is often presented as the goal. Divorce becomes the thing nobody wants to become. Being single is treated like an unfortunate waiting room before the next relationship begins. In this episode of Divorce Happens, O
Hey Olivia, how do I let myself question the plan of staying together for the kids?
"I've said 'we're staying together for the kids' so many times it's basically become my personality. But my daughter asked me last week why I always look sad when he's talking, and I didn't have an answer for her." In this Hey Olivia listener letter episode, Olivia helps a listener sit with the question her daughter unknowingly asked her — and what it means to let a years-long belief be questioned
Hey Olivia, how do I stop building a timeline of everything I should have known?
"Everyone keeps saying 'you must have known,' and honestly? I didn't. Now I'm replaying every conversation, every weird silence, every time something felt off and I told myself I was being paranoid." In this Hey Olivia listener letter episode, Olivia helps a listener let go of the retrospective self-blame that follows discovering a betrayal she never saw coming.Olivia covers:Why you only ever know
Hey Olivia, how do I know the difference between giving up too soon and finally admitting effort isn't the problem?
"I've read the books. I've gone to therapy, solo, since he won't come. Every time something doesn't work, my first thought isn't 'this isn't working,' it's 'I must not be trying the right thing yet.'" In this Hey Olivia listener letter episode, Olivia helps a listener see the pattern hiding in plain sight after years of genuine, varied effort to save her marriage alone.Olivia covers:Why years of v
Hey Olivia, I posted something on TikTok during an angry divorce spiral and now I regret it. Do I delete it?
"I posted something on TikTok during an angry divorce spiral last night, mid-rant, feeling completely justified in the moment. This morning I woke up and read it back and felt sick." In this Hey Olivia listener letter episode, Olivia answers a question so many people have quietly lived through: what to do the morning after an emotional, regretted post during divorce.Olivia covers:Why posting in an
Hey Olivia, how do I stop sleeping with my spouse now that we're separated?
"Since my husband and I separated, we keep ending up back in bed together. It's not planned. It just happens." In this Hey Olivia listener letter episode, Olivia answers one of the most common — and least talked about — parts of separation: continuing to sleep with a spouse you've split from, and why it's so much harder to stop than it sounds.Olivia covers:Why this is one of the most common things
Hey Olivia, I haven't told anyone I'm thinking about divorce. Does that mean I'm not serious about it?
"I've been thinking about divorce for months, but I haven't told a single person. Does that mean I'm not actually serious about it?" In this Hey Olivia listener letter episode, Olivia answers a question so many people carry silently — and makes the case that staying quiet doesn't mean you're not serious. If anything, it might mean the opposite.Olivia covers:Why silence is not the same thing as amb
Hey Olivia, how do I know if this is over, or just a rough patch?
"How do I actually know if what I'm feeling is 'this is over,' or just a rough patch?" In this Hey Olivia listener letter episode, Olivia answers one of the most common quiet questions in marriage — the doubt that comes and goes, with no single big reason attached. She walks through five honest, practical questions to help you tell the difference between a temporary rough season and something more
You Don't Owe Anyone a Reason For Your Decision Yet
Do you feel like you need an airtight, defensible reason before you're even allowed to think about divorce? In this solo episode, Olivia pushes back on that pressure and hands you permission you didn't know you were waiting for: "something isn't right for me" is allowed to be a complete reason, full stop. This episode is for anyone stuck in the private, early stage of questioning their marriage —
Why Your Body Shakes The First Time You Say Divorce Out Loud
Why does your heart race, your hands shake, or your throat tighten the moment you finally say "I'm getting divorced" out loud? In this solo episode, Olivia breaks down the physical, nervous-system side of disclosing a divorce — the part almost nobody talks about. This isn't about the emotional grief of divorce; it's about what's actually happening in your body in that first raw moment of telling s
You Signed Your Divorce Decree — But Do You Actually Know What's In It? Molly Rosenblum, Esq. explains!
There's a piece of paper that ends your marriage and quietly runs your life for years afterward — and almost nobody reads the whole thing. In this episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia sits down with Molly Rosenblum, Esq., founding attorney of The Rosenblum Allen Law Firm and one of the most respected family law attorneys in Las Vegas, Nevada — the self-described “divorce capital of the world.” With
Hey Olivia, why am I the villain for leaving an abusive marriage?
There's a particular kind of injustice that so many survivors know intimately: you're the one who finally said enough, and somehow you've become the villain of the story. In this week's Hey Olivia letter episode of Divorce Happens, host Olivia Howell answers a listener who is pushing for her own divorce after enduring abuse for years — abuse that is still ongoing, even now, in the middle of the pr
Hey Olivia, how do I prepare for mediation with an ex who fights me on everything?
Mediation is hard enough when both people are negotiating in good faith. It's a different animal entirely when you're walking into the room across from someone who seems to oppose almost everything on principle. In this week's Hey Olivia letter episode of Divorce Happens, host Olivia Howell answers a listener with mediation just weeks away — a mother who has held down the marital home with her kid
Hey Olivia, how do I survive watching my spouse date again while cohabitating?
There's a specific kind of heartbreak that doesn't have a name yet — the one where you're still doing his laundry in the same house while he giggles at his phone on the couch. In this week's Hey Olivia letter episode of Divorce Happens, host Olivia Howell reads a note from a listener who is separated from her husband but cohabiting with him for the summer while he searches for a new place — and wh
The Mediation Series, Part 4: Life After Divorce Mediation
You don’t walk out of a mediation session into a blank space — and yet almost nobody talks about what actually comes next. That’s the gap this episode of the divorce mediation series closes, as host Olivia Howell wraps up her four-part mediation series with Allison McFadden, a Washington D.C.-Baltimore-area family law attorney, Certified Divorce Coach®, and court-appointed mediator who founded Div
The Mediation Series, Part 3: What It’s Actually Like to Be in Divorce Mediation
For most people, the inside of a mediation session is a total mystery — a closed door they’re about to walk through with no idea what’s on the other side. That’s exactly the gap this episode of Divorce Happens closes, as host Olivia Howell continues part three of her four-part series with Allison McFadden, a Washington D.C.-Baltimore-area family law attorney, Certified Divorce Coach®, and court-ap
The Mediation Series, Part 2: How to Prepare for Divorce Mediation
A mediator is not a magician. That single line, dropped early in this episode of Divorce Happens, sets the tone for one of the most genuinely useful conversations in the show’s mediation series so far. Host Olivia Howell continues part two of her four-part collaboration with Allison McFadden, a Washington D.C.-Baltimore-area family law attorney, Certified Divorce Coach®, and court-appointed mediat
The Mediation Series, Part 1: What Is Divorce Mediation, Really?
Most people going through a divorce have heard the word “mediation” — and almost none of them know what it actually means. That gap is exactly where this episode of Divorce Happens begins, with host Olivia Howell kicking off a brand-new four-part series on divorce mediation alongside Allison McFadden, a Washington D.C.-Baltimore-area family law attorney, Certified Divorce Coach®, and court-appoint
Hey Olivia, I filed for divorce and now I'm drowning in grief—did I make a mistake?!
She planned it for months — saved up, found an apartment, rehearsed the speech. She was sure. And three weeks after filing, she’s crying in a Target parking lot, smelling her almost-ex-husband’s hoodie before she donates it, waking up sobbing from a dream where they were still together. In this Divorce Happens “Hey Olivia” episode, host Olivia Howell reads a listener letter word for word and answe
Hey Olivia, is it safe to talk about my divorce on social media while it's happening?
There’s a question sitting in almost every divorced person’s notes app at 1 a.m.: is it okay to post about this? For the listener who wrote in this week, the pull to share is especially strong — her marriage is ending amid infidelity and, in her words, “genuinely strange, shady stuff,” and she’s parenting three kids under ten who have no idea their world is about to be searchable. In this Divorce
She Lost Everything in Her Divorce. Now She's a State Senator Fighting to Change the Law.
There's a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from fighting a legal system that was never built to protect you — and North Carolina State Senator Woodson Bradley knows that exhaustion intimately. Long before she was sworn into the state legislature, Bradley was a young mother in Mecklenburg County watching her marriage, her savings, and her sense of safety unravel inside a divorce process she
A Divorce Coach's 5-Step Framework for Staying Grounded When Everything Feels Urgent
Divorce doesn't arrive with a checklist — it arrives like an avalanche. Your finances, your custody schedule, your identity, your future, all crashing down at once, and somehow you're still expected to answer emails before dinner. In this episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia sits down with Kristina St. Cyr, a CDC® Certified Divorce Coach and Moving On Method® Certified Coach based in Massachusetts,
You Got Out. Your Kids Didn't. How to Survive the Guilt of Co-Parenting After Divorce
You did the hardest thing you've ever done — you left. And somehow, that's not where the guilt ends; for so many divorced moms, it's where a whole new kind of guilt begins. If you've ever lain awake wondering how you can call yourself a good mother when your kids are still living, at least part-time, inside the very dynamic you found the strength to walk away from, this episode of Divorce Happens
Hey Olivia, Why Do I Keep Having Sex Dreams About the Husband I'm Divorcing?
A listener wrote to me this week with a confession she was mortified to even type out: her marriage is over, she's made her decision, she doesn't even like the man her husband has become — and she keeps having sex dreams about him that leave her waking up ashamed. In this solo episode of Divorce Happens, I tell her, and every one of you sitting with the same quiet secret, exactly what I wish someo
Managing Triggering Communications & Reclaiming Your Power During Divorce with Family Mediator & Parenting Coordinator Laura Lorber
You know the feeling before you’ve even read the words. The phone buzzes, you see who it’s from, and your whole body braces — shoulders up, stomach tight, heart already pounding. A text from your co-parent. An email from your attorney dropped into the middle of an ordinary Tuesday. And just like that, the day you were having is gone. In this episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia sits down with Fresh
Preparing Your Nervous System for Divorce: What No One Tells You Before You Walk Into That Room
Most people think divorce begins with paperwork. Leslie Mathews will tell you it actually begins in your nervous system. In this candid, deeply practical episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia sits down with Leslie Mathews, JD, MSW, a former attorney turned therapist, mindfulness coach, and founder of The LooM Life and LooM Life Therapy.Leslie brings a rare combination of expertise to the conversation
The Happenstance: The Hidden Cost of Having a Husband
In this solo episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia reads a piece from her personal writing Substack, The Happenstance, called "The Hidden Cost of Having a Husband." It's a reflection on domestic inequity — the invisible labor that piles up in a marriage even when a task only needs one person to do it.Olivia shares her own story, including the time she broke her foot and still had to keep the househol
Co-Parenting Coaching After Divorce: Building the System That Keeps Your Kids Steady
What if the single biggest predictor of how your kids come through your divorce has almost nothing to do with the divorce itself? That's the question at the heart of this episode of Divorce Happens, where Olivia sits down with Maria Natapov, a BeH2O® Certified Co-Parenting Coach, Rapid Resolution Therapy® Facilitator, and founder of Synergistic Stepparenting. Maria has spent years helping divorcin
Divorce, Co-Parenting & the Cost of College: What Every Divorced Parent Needs to Know
You survived the divorce. Then your kid turns thirteen, and a new bill you never quite planned for starts looming on the horizon: college. In this practical, reassuring episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia sits down with Vicki Vollweiler, MBA, CDC, the founder and CEO of College Financial Prep and author of College Planning for Divorced and Widowed Parents. Vicki built her practice specifically arou
Divorce Reads: Midstream: A Life Remade in 50 Swims by Kate Washington
What if the way back to yourself started with getting your head under water? That's the question at the heart of this episode of Divorce Happens, where Olivia talks with Kate Washington — a Sacramento-based writer, former dining critic, and author of two deeply personal memoirs: Already Toast: Caregiving and Burnout in America, and her brand-new release, Midstream: A Life Remade in 50 Swims. Kate'
Divorce Clarity: Why the Pause Before You React Might Be Your Most Powerful Move
Somewhere in your divorce, a well-meaning friend has probably told you to "hire a shark." Lisa Lisser wants you to pause before you do. In this grounding, clarifying episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia welcomes back one of the show's most beloved recurring experts: Lisa Lisser, a Certified Divorce Coach®, BeH2O® Child-Centered Co-Parenting Coach, and founder of LZL Coaching.A retired attorney who b
What to Do With Yourself After You've Told Your Spouse You Want a Divorce
Everybody talks about how to say the words. Almost nobody talks about the bathroom-floor hours right after. In the final episode of this Divorce Happens series, host Olivia Howell goes straight to the moment listeners rarely hear addressed anywhere else: you've just told your spouse you want a divorce, the words are out and can't be taken back, and instead of feeling free, you feel shaky, numb, an
How to Handle Your Spouse's Reaction When You Tell Them That You Want a Divorce
For so many people preparing to leave a marriage, saying the words was never the scariest part — it's everything that might happen the second after. In part three of this Divorce Happens series, host Olivia Howell goes straight at that fear: what if they rage? What if they cry and beg and I cave? What if they twist this until somehow I'm the villain? Olivia hands listeners the single reframe she w
The Exact Words to Say When You Tell Your Spouse You Want a Divorce
There's a particular kind of freeze that happens after someone finally decides to end their marriage — not doubt, just a total blank when they try to imagine the actual words. In part two of this Divorce Happens series, host Olivia Howell meets listeners exactly there, at the moment between the decision and the sentence. She opens with something disarmingly honest: there is no perfect sentence tha
What to Do Before You Tell Your Spouse You Want a Divorce
There is one conversation that so many people preparing to leave a marriage dread more than the lawyers, more than the logistics, more than dividing up a house: actually telling their spouse they want a divorce. In this episode of Divorce Happens, the first in a new four-part series, host Olivia Howell opens with a single reframe that changes the entire shape of that conversation — you are not ask
Hey Olivia, How Do I Know If It Was Emotional Abuse or Just a Bad Sense of Humor?
There's a sentence I hear from listeners more than almost any other, and it usually starts the same way: “I don't know if this even counts as a big deal.” In this solo episode of Divorce Happens, I read one of those letters on air — from a listener whose ex spent years making jokes about her weight, her job, the way she loaded the dishwasher, then dismissed every objection with the same four words
Nobody Tells You How Awkward Divorce Is with Olivia Howell
There's a version of divorce we talk about a lot — the heartbreak, the grief, the legal logistics — and then there's the version almost nobody prepares you for: the sheer, relentless awkwardness of it. In this solo episode of Divorce Happens, host Olivia Howell turns her attention to the strange, small, almost comedic moments that fill the space between the big milestones of divorce. The Target ru
Weaponized Incompetence Is a Form of Control — Let's Talk About It with Olivia Howell
There's a specific kind of relief that comes from finally having a name for something you've lived inside for years without being able to explain it. In this solo episode of Divorce Happens, host Olivia Howell gives that name to a dynamic so many listeners will recognize instantly: weaponized incompetence. Not a partner who's simply bad at laundry or forgetful about pediatrician appointments — but
The 5 Toxic Things You've Quietly Normalized in Your Marriage (That You'd Never Tell a Friend to Accept) with Olivia Howell
There's a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from living inside a marriage you've stopped questioning — not because it's fine, but because you've explained it to yourself so many times that the explanations have started to feel like truth. In this solo episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia Howell turns her attention to one of the quietest forces behind unhappy marriages and delayed divorces: no
The Quiet Divorce Plan Every Woman Needs Before She Says a Word with Amy Polacko
Most women don’t wake up one morning and announce a divorce. They spend months — often years — in the quiet space of knowing, where a gut feeling won’t go away but guilt over the kids and fear about money keep the words stuck in their throat. In this candid, galvanizing episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia Howell sits down with divorce coach and award-winning journalist Amy Polacko to talk about wha
Still Living Together During Your Divorce? Here Are the 4 Boundaries That Will Help You Survive It with Lisa Lisser
Nobody hands you a map for the in-between. You have decided to divorce — or you are circling the decision — and yet you are still sharing a kitchen, a hallway, maybe even a bedroom with the person you are in the biggest conflict of your life with. It is one of the most common and least talked-about chapters of the divorce journey, and in this grounding episode of Divorce Happens, host Olivia Howel
The Slow Erosion: How Long-Term Marriages Can Make You Forget Who You Are with Olivia Howell
You look up one day and realize you have no idea who you are anymore. Not because of one dramatic event. Not because of obvious abuse or a single catastrophic betrayal. Just because of time — accumulated compromise, the slow drift of putting someone else's needs, preferences, and comfort at the center of your life for so long that your own self quietly went missing. In this solo episode of Divorce
What to Say to a Friend Going Through Divorce (When You Don't Know What to Say) with Olivia Howell
Someone you love is going through a divorce, and you want to show up for them — you just have no idea how. This episode of Divorce Happens is for you: the friends, the sisters, the coworkers, and the neighbors who found out and froze, terrified of saying the wrong thing. Olivia Howell flips the usual script and talks not to the person in the divorce, but to the people who love them — and she opens
Divorce Grief Doesn't Follow the Rules — And That Doesn't Mean Something's Wrong With You with Olivia Howell
Divorce grief might be the most misunderstood, most minimized, and most complicated grief there is — and the thing almost no one warns you about is that it doesn't follow the rules. In this solo episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia Howell takes on the quiet, disorienting experience of grieving a divorce: why it refuses to behave the way we expect grief to behave, and why that can make you feel like
Before You File for Divorce, Do These 5 Things — A Divorce Expert's Guide to Starting on Solid Ground with Ron Platt, founder of the National Association for Single & Divorced Families
No one hands you a roadmap when your marriage ends. You're expected to make some of the biggest legal, financial, and emotional decisions of your life at the exact moment you have the least capacity to make them — and most of us walk in completely unprepared. That's the gap Ron Platt set out to close. In this practical, reassuring episode of Divorce Happens, we hear from Ron Platt, co-founder and
Crying in the Car, Then Making Dinner: The Quiet Place Before Divorce No One Warns You About with Olivia Howell
You already know. You just aren't ready to say it out loud yet. If you're living in that quiet, heavy, terrifying place — the one where the knowledge sits in your chest and doesn't go away — this solo episode of Divorce Happens was made for you. Olivia Howell names one of the most common and least talked-about experiences in the entire divorce process: the in-between space before anything is offic
Rebuilding Your Identity (and Your Finances) After Divorce With Bridget Borel, CFP®, CDFA®
There’s a strange, in-between place that almost no one warns you about when your marriage ends. You’re no longer who you were — but you’re not yet who you’re becoming. As one therapist put it to this week’s guest during her own divorce, you’re “somewhere in between.” In this episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia Howell sits down with Fresh Starts expert Bridget Borel, CFP®, CDFA® — a Certified Financ
How to Use AI to Prepare for Divorce: Smarter Prep, Lower Costs & Walking In Ready with Ryan Carson
The divorce process is one of the most life-changing things a person can go through — and somehow it’s still one of the most chaotic, confusing, and expensive. That’s exactly the problem that pulled tech founder Ryan Carson off the sidelines. A serial entrepreneur with 25 years in the tech world and three companies behind him, Ryan watched two of his three sisters — the people he calls his best fr
Divorce as a Portal to Joy: Rebuilding Life, Sisterhood & Home After Divorce with author Betsy Cornwell
If you’re standing at the edge of a divorce right now, convinced the life waiting on the other side looks bleak and empty — this is the episode that turns the lights back on. Olivia Howell welcomes back author Betsy Cornwell, a New York Times bestselling novelist, memoirist, and divorced single mom who left an abusive marriage and rebuilt her entire life on the wild western coast of Ireland. Betsy
The Codependency Reframe That Will Change How You Think About Your Next Relationship — With Author Kelly Sundberg
There is a particular kind of gaslighting that is almost impossible to name while you’re inside it — the kind where someone spends years convincing you that you can’t survive without them, and you believe it so completely that leaving feels less like freedom and more like stepping off a ledge. That was Kelly Sundberg’s reality before her divorce. Her ex-husband had her convinced she was incompeten
Hey Olivia, What Questions Should I Ask at My First Divorce Attorney Consult?
What questions should you actually ask at your first divorce attorney consultation? In this solo episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia answers a listener letter from someone terrified she'll sit through her first consult, nod along, and walk out without asking a single thing that mattered — then spend three days replaying everything she wishes she'd said.If that fear sounds familiar, you're not faili
Hey Olivia, My Husband Just Said He's Leaving — What Do I Do First?
What do you do in the first 24 hours after your spouse says they're leaving? In this solo "Hey Olivia" episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia Howell answers a letter from a woman who was standing at the stove making dinner when her husband walked in, told her he wants "a new life," and said she could keep the kids and the house. She hasn't cried yet. She thinks she's in shock. And she just needs someo
Hey Olivia, There's No Villain in Our Divorce — So Why Does It Hurt This Much?
How do you heal from a divorce when there's no villain — when you both still love each other and simply grew apart? In this solo "Hey Olivia" episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia Howell answers a letter from a listener ending a marriage with no betrayal, no blowup, and real care still between them. They share a child, they can still show up for each other, and she wants to know: how do you stay conn
She Turned Her High-Conflict Divorce Into a Movement. Here’s What Courtney Gilmartin Learned About Surviving, Documenting & Fighting Back
Nobody warns you that the divorce itself might be the easy part. For Courtney Gilmartin, a New Jersey mom who started her divorce journey nearly a decade ago, the 13-month dissolution of her marriage was just the opening chapter of a much longer, harder story — one that wound through post-judgment litigation, forensic custody evaluations, parenting coordinators, and years of fighting a family cour
Hey Olivia, We Told the Kids About the Divorce — Now the Questions Won't Stop. What Do I Say?
How do you answer your kids' questions about divorce when you're barely holding yourself together? In this solo "Hey Olivia" episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia Howell answers a letter from a parent whose kids seemed "fine" when they first heard about the divorce — and are now flooding her with questions. Where will I sleep? Will I still see my friends? Do you still love each other? Is it my fault?
Hey Olivia, My Ex Wants to Tell the Kids the Divorce Is My Fault. How Do I Stop Him?
How do you tell your kids you're getting divorced when your co-parent wants to blame you for it? In this solo "Hey Olivia" episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia Howell answers a letter from a mom whose ex plans to tell their five- and seven-year-old that Mommy broke up the family — and who yells every time she tries to talk about doing it differently. If you're terrified of how the other parent might
Divorce Books: Soft Launch: A Coming-of-Adulthood Novel by Sarah Vacchiano
What happens when you get married at 22, divorced by 27, and have to figure out who you actually are for the very first time — as a fully formed adult? That’s the question at the heart of this week’s episode of Divorce Happens, and it’s one that Sarah Vacchiano has spent the last decade not just living, but writing. Sarah is a Los Angeles-based entertainment lawyer, a first-time author, and the mo
Everything You Need to Know About College Planning and Divorce with Vicki Vollweiler
Nobody warns you, when you're in the thick of a divorce, that the financial fallout doesn't end with the settlement. There are tuition bills on the horizon, FAFSA forms with your ex's name on them, and a whole new layer of negotiation you never saw coming. In this episode of Divorce Happens, host Olivia Howell sits down with Vicki Vollweiler — founder of College Financial Prep, divorced mom, and f
50 Challenges. 6 Continents. One Divorce: How Lisa Niver Found Herself — and Fearlessness — After 50 with Lisa Niver
She was lying on the ground in Thailand, her husband having just shoved her in public, not knowing if her neck was broken, her arm was broken — knowing only that her heart was. In that moment, journalist, traveler, and diver Lisa Niver could not have imagined that the next chapter of her life would take her skydiving, mountain biking down a ski run in Lake Tahoe, and scuba diving with bull sharks
Should You Stay or Should You Go? Author D’Ionna Washington on Breaking Up Now, Releasing the Shame of Divorce & Building a Life You Actually Love
There is a moment — quiet, uncomfortable, impossible to unhear — when you realize the marriage you’re in isn’t the marriage you thought you were building. For D’Ionna Washington, that moment came just one year into her first marriage. Instead of suppressing it, she eventually did what so few women feel permitted to do: she left. And then she wrote the book about it. In this candid, fire-lit conver
Hey Olivia, Why Do I Feel So Much Guilt When I Think About Leaving My Emotionally Abusive Husband?
If you’ve ever sat with the thought of leaving an emotionally abusive relationship and felt, instead of relief, a wave of guilt — this episode is for you. Not the guilt of someone who is doing something wrong. The guilt of someone who has been so thoroughly conditioned to put themselves last that the simple act of imagining their own freedom feels like a betrayal. In this deeply compassionate and
Hey Olivia, What Are Your Feelings on Divorce Parties? (My Honest Answer!)
What if the end of your marriage deserved a party? Not in spite of how hard it was — but because of it. In this joyful, irreverent, and unexpectedly moving solo episode of Divorce Happens, host Olivia Howell makes the full-throated, unapologetic case for divorce parties — and why throwing one might be one of the most psychologically meaningful things you can do for yourself after divorce. This is
Hey Olivia, How Do I Start Talking About Possibly Separating When Communication Is Gone?
There is a particular kind of loneliness that lives inside a marriage that has gone quiet — where you’ve been having the conversation about separating entirely in your own head for weeks or months, but haven’t said a single word of it out loud. Not because you don’t know what you feel. But because you genuinely don’t know how to start — especially when real communication between you and your spous
Hey Olivia, How Do I Tell My Husband That I Want a Divorce?
There is a question that lives in the bodies of thousands of people right now — not just in their minds, but in the tightness of their chests and the sleepless hours of 3 a.m. It’s not “should I get divorced.” It’s the harder, more specific thing: how do I actually say the words? In this intimate solo episode of Divorce Happens, host Olivia Howell steps into that question with the steady, grounded
Hey Olivia, How Do I Push Past the Fear and File Against My Narcissistic Ex?
There’s a question that sits quietly in the minds of thousands of people every single day — and this week, one woman had the courage to send it to Olivia’s Instagram DMs: “How do I push past the fear and file against my narcissistic ex? We have a two-year-old.” In this intimate solo episode of Divorce Happens, host Olivia Howell speaks directly to that listener — and to every person navigating the
Recommended
Effective Weight Loss for Moms | High protein, Strength Training, Lose Weight, Meal Planning, Fat Loss, Healthy Habits
The Human-Animal Connection - Pet Life Radio Original
Infinite Health with Dr. Arasi Maran
The Daily
World News Tonight with David Muir
The Joe Rogan Experience
English Vocabulary Help
TED Talks Daily
Learn English B1 with Daily News | English Listening Practice
Talk About Talk - Executive & Leadership Communication Skills
English with Olivia | Slow Conversations & Vocabulary
Stand In The Circle
