Belle Burden’s Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage was an immediate bestseller when it came out earlier this year. This is one of *the* books of the year, where women are recommending it to other women and everyone has a theory about Belle’s rotten ex-husband. Last month, we covered the bizarre “backlash” to Belle’s story, a backlash which amounted to “she didn’t give readers a comprehensive audit of all of her family trusts and financials.” Like, the book made it pretty clear that Belle never paid that much attention to money at all, especially her own money. It was also very clear that she was and is the beneficiary of several family trusts, but that much of that money is tied up in weird ways. Within the book, Belle never hid her privilege, nor did she sugarcoat just how boneheaded she was about her money and the prenup.
Anyway, the book was so immediately successful that there was a bidding war for the film rights. Netflix won the bidding war, and they quickly cast Gwyneth Paltrow as Belle. While I certainly have my issues with Gwyneth, I actually think she’s going to nail this role (and I’m grateful Nicole Kidman isn’t doing it). Recently, Belle chatted with E! News about the film adaptation and more. Some highlights:
Belle on meeting Gwyneth: “We met in person, and we also met over Zoom, and I just think she’s wonderful. She really understood the book, she really connected with it emotionally, and I think she’ll take great care of it….I think it’s so exciting that she’s returning to acting. I thought she was amazing in Marty Supreme, so I’m really excited about her playing the part. It’s a great honor, really. I can’t quite believe that she is playing me.”
Her 2023 Modern Love story: “After it came out, two editors contacted me and said, ‘This should be a book,’” recalled Burden, noting that, at the time, a confidante’s reaction was, “‘Well, you’re not going to do that. The Modern Love is enough, right? You’re stopping now.’ I was like, ‘No, actually, I’m going to write a book. I have so much more to say,’ and I realized in that moment that I really, really wanted to write a book—a full-length piece about this experience. I think I started writing at exactly the right point, because I had some distance from it to have some perspective, but I also was close enough that I could feel the emotions and remember the details and the sort of texture of that time.”
Her ex-husband Henry Davis leaving her so abruptly: “It was so painful, and I wanted more than anything in life to have an intact family. I was very much in love with my husband, so it feels really surprising to say this, but I am glad it happened, because I would never be in this place. I would never have discovered myself as a writer again. I would never be in charge of my life in the same way—having financial autonomy, just feeling very sure in my personality, having this strength that I really did not know was there. So, I’m grateful for it now. Sometimes everything has to fall apart in order to really create something new.”
Living well is the best revenge, and Belle got through those difficult years and came out stronger. Not only that, but she wrote a bestselling memoir and she’s raking in millions. As for the film…one of the reasons why I think Gwyneth will do a good job with this is because Gwyneth, like Belle, seemed to cling to her first marriage because she didn’t want to be divorced, and she thought being divorced was, like, shameful or something. I’ve never understood women who put up with all kinds of crap just because they’re so afraid of divorce, but Paltrow was one of those women.
Screencaps courtesy of Good Morning America and the Drew Barrymore Show. Additional photos courtesy of Backgrid and Cover Images.
