Belle Burden

him and myself on a stage, and the spotlight's on him, and I have to move it in my brain from him to me.

Yes, I think it's hard for me to say that because I watched her lose my father and how horrible that was to be a widow.

But she's a therapist.

Yes.

She told me.

And she believes that it's worse because he is out there living a different life.

And I had to really look back at our love story and reevaluate it and feel that rejection, which is so painful.

But my children still have a father, and a lot of, you know, when there's death, people lose important people to them.

Yes, and your narrative can stay the same.

And a lot of shame, too.

A lot of shame.

I felt it so intensely.

I really felt so much shame as I reentered the community that I'm a part of there.

I felt like I had failed in keeping my husband interested in me, loving me.

I had failed in keeping my family intact.

I felt like I was less than all these other women who had stayed married.

And I think for me, there are so many people who have been through this, but when you're going through it, you're not aware of that.

You feel like you are the only person this has happened to, and you feel so isolated in that.

Mm-hmm.

Yes.