My Millennial Divorce: A Week of Stories That Explore Uncoupling in a Modern World

For the last half-century, conventional wisdom has claimed that half of all marriages end in divorce, meaning that tying the knot is a little like flipping a coin and hoping it lands heads up. That’s a pretty depressing outlook as far as matrimony is concerned. Luckily, it’s not exactly true anymore. Social scientists have long been trying to correct this particular record to little avail since divorce rates—which peaked in the 1970s and ‘80s—have been steadily on the decline for decades. And for people getting married right now—many of whom are millennials—the likelihood of splitting up may be lower than their parents’ generation, aka baby boomers, known for marrying young, getting divorced, then often remarrying.

Today's young couples are, essentially, doing the exact opposite: we're being more selective about who we settle down with, we're making it official at older ages, often into our thirties when we have a decent handle on our careers, our finances, and what we generally want out of life. It's because of these reasons that we're also driving the divorce rate down.

A September 2018 analysis by University of Maryland sociology professor Philip Cohen found that the the U.S. divorce rate decreased by 18 percent from 2008 to 2016, thanks to millennials. "The overall drop has been driven entirely by younger women," Cohen writes. The study points out that just-married women are now "more likely to be in their first marriages, more likely to have BA degrees or higher education, less likely to be under age 25, and less likely to have own children in the household," all factors Cohen suggests might affect the risk of divorce.

Another potential reason that millennial marriages might ultimately be better built to last? Simply the fact that this generation doesn’t appear to feel as pressured to put a ring on it as the ones that came before—which translates to more time spent really figuring out if a relationship feels right. Yes, millennials might have pioneered the wild world of hookup apps, but a recent eHarmony report found that American couples between the ages of 25 and 34 knew each other an average of six and a half years before jumping the broom, compared to an average of five years in all other age groups. Time will tell how their nuptials play out. But, at least in theory, the future of their marriages look bright.

Still, if you’re thinking about splitting with your spouse, or you’re someone who has already been through a divorce, sunny statistics aren’t exactly useful. The reasons why a marriage ends, and the way that it happens, are as unique as the people and circumstances involved. When divorce is your reality, it’s the real talk that gets you through. Which is exactly why set out to create this package on Glamour.com we're calling My Millennial Divorce.

Across this series of stories—conceived by our own editors who, during the course of casual conversation, realized we all had friends who are getting or have gotten divorced, many of whom at surprisingly young ages—we explored the parts of splitting up that are practical and relevant to the brass tacks processes. Like, for example, what you should quietly do if you suspect separation papers are on the horizon, and the key legal terms it's imperative for you to memorize.

You'll also find intel on Americans who love their pets so much they’re hammering out custody agreements over them in court, how divorce party planning services are alive and well, what it’s like to have sex for the first time after being in a committed marriage for years, and what it feels like to gain 60 pounds after splitting with your husband, and turn it into a business opportunity.

That’s not all. We also asked women about what they would ideally put on their divorce registry—a.k.a. the time in a person’s life when they actually need someone to, say, buy them a blender—and talked to a new bride who insisted on a postnuptial agreement to protect her emotions, not just her finances.

Then there are the celebrity divorces that stand out in our minds as moments of #peakliberation (the literal confetti-filled moment when Britney Spears and Kevin Federline officially uncoupled made the cut, as did a list of stars you forgot split from one another, the divorce movies that might provide the kind of solidarity your friends just can’t during this trying time, and words of wisdom about splitting up and the joys of being single from the stars. Or, as Whoopi Goldberg once put it: “I don’t want somebody in my house.”

Whether you're on the precipice of a divorce yourself, or just curious about what uncoupling looks like right now, check back all week long for the above and much more.