This is one outlet's own report from Business Insider — the article as it was filed.
AIPROPX ReportBusiness Insider · 3h ago
Divorce is getting a lucrative rebrand. These influencers are cashing in.
Meghan McTavish is a content creator based in Australia. Natalie Grono for BI
Gabrielle Stone never imagined she'd get divorced, let alone that she'd tell the world about it.
Her first instinct after the one-two punch of ending her marriage, then enduring her first post-divorce heartbreak in 2017, was to log off entirely. She decided to embark on a monthlong trip to Europe à la Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love," and take a social media hiatus .
"I'll see you on the other side," Stone signed her farewell-for-now Instagram post, paired with a photo of herself wearing a backpack at the airport, passport in hand.
The internet had other plans.
Stone's emotional missive, which traced her path from heartache, disappointment, and betrayal to self-love, struck a chord beyond her modest following. She received hundreds of comments and DMs from people who called Stone an inspiration and urged her to keep sharing her journey. So she did.
Nine years after posting that pivotal airport photo, Stone has established herself in a fruitful niche: the divorce influencer. Her Instagram audience has grown from about 10,000 to over 112,000, plus 1.3 million TikTok followers. She self-published a viral memoir, "Eat, Pray, #FML," in 2019; hosts a podcast, "FML Talk," and arranges meet-and-greet trips across the globe where her fans, dubbed "FMLers," are encouraged to gather, commiserate, and bond. What began as a solo mission shared online almost as a lark has bloomed into a mini media empire.
"I've never regretted my divorce," said Gabrielle Stone, who is now remarried. Marissa Leshnov for BI
Stone, 37, may not have intended to become a divorce influencer, but like any savvy content creator , she saw an appetite for the kind of story she was telling and pushed through self-doubt to satisfy her audience. Knowing that she could scale and monetize that story didn't hurt, either.
"For anybody to be like, 'I don't need to support myself and make money,' they're just lying," Stone told Business Insider .
Plus, seeing a hit social media post lead to a real-time spike in book sales is part of the fun.
"Because I self-published, I can go on to the backend of my KDP Amazon site and see the correlation," Stone said, referring to Amazon's self-publishing platform , Kindle Direct Publishing. "You can't pay for marketing like this."
When 'conscious uncoupling' becomes 'celebratory uncoupling'
Stone was early to recognize the earning potential of breaking up. In the years since, divorce has gotten a rewarding rebrand in popular culture, one that emphasizes autonomy and freedom, particularly for women.
In some corners of the internet, typical connotations of divorce — namely that it's a tragedy or a failure — have been replaced with an air of liberation and merriment, epitomized by the famous paparazzi photos of Nicole Kidman whooping and basking in the sunshine. (According to meme lore, those photos were taken by paparazzi after she filed for divorce from Tom Cruise, though Kidman has denied this .) The band Haim even recreated Kidman's pose for the cover of their 2025 single, "Relationships." Sample lyric: "I think I'm in love, but I can't stand f**king relationships."
Trending phrases on TikTok, like " the divorce effect " and " the divorce glow-up ," showcase before-and-after images of singles who say they're happier, hotter, and more personally fulfilled after ditching their spouses. Earlier this year, the cool-girl brand Reformation launched a "Divorce Collection" campaign, starring celebrity divorce attorney Laura Wasser . Famous women like Emily Ratajkowski and Rachel Zoe are proudly repurposing their diamonds into " divorce rings ," or, to some, " F-you rings ." Belle Burden's hit divorce memoir, "Strangers," has sold over 220,000 copies in the US since it was published in January, holding steady on The New York Times bestseller list for over six months. It's never been more chic — or more lucrative — to flaunt your divorcée credentials.
Stone has 1.3 million TikTok followers and hosts the podcast "FML Talk." Marissa Leshnov for BI
And it largely is divorceés. A Stanford University study found that among heterosexual couples in the US, women initiate about 70% of divorces. James Sexton , a divorce attorney in New York City, said that, in his experience, the gender imbalance is largely due to women being forced to seize the bureaucratic reins and take charge as the marriage falls apart.
"I couldn't possibly count on all my fingers and toes how many times I've had a case where the guy went out for milk and never came back, or the guy came home and said, 'I'm in love with another woman, and I'm moving out,'" Sexton told Business Insider. "Then the wife comes to me and goes, 'He stopped paying the mortgage. What do I do?' And I go, 'We have to file for divorce.'"
Over her 30-plus-year career, Wasser has witnessed firsthand how clients have gone from discussing divorce in her office with hushed, conspiratorial tones to introducing her in public as "Laura Wasser — she did our prenup !"
"When I first started practicing, divorce was kind of taboo," said Wasser, who is herself divorced. Even a decade ago, she recalled, it was difficult to promote her 2013 book, "It Doesn't Have to Be That Way," because morning shows and other traditional book-tour destinations rejected divorce as "too negative" a topic to discuss.
Now, people are throwing " divorce parties " and documenting the festivities online, to the tune of millions of likes. Labor and delivery nurse Jen Hamilton, a content creator with over 7 million followers on Instagram and TikTok, recently told The Cut she threw a "Jendependence" party to commemorate her divorce with friends and coworkers; festivities included burning her bedsheets. Beauty influencer Mikayla Nogueira shared two "get ready with me" videos with her 17.4 million followers before attending divorce court, and both went viral. Although reactions were mixe...
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