To head off the conversation again re: Belle being a victim of abuse:

I do not at all exclude this possibility, and in fact say throughout this and the previous video that her husband seemed like a vindictive, neglectful monster. I believe she gives him far too much credit up to the affair being revealed, which could well be the sign of someone coming out of years of emotional manipulation and/or abuse. I also believe he absolutely targeted her for her wealth, and felt so empowered to nickel and dime her in part because he likely deeply resented the financial leverage she wielded.

However, my primary interest and purpose with this channel is to talk about money, economics, and how they intersect with our lives -- especially as women. So when a massive, bestselling book is dominating our cultural conversation about money, the money (and what we can learn from it) is what I will primarily focus on. And when it turns out that the financial stakes in the book, which heavily shape the narrative and are being repeated unquestioned in the media, turn out to be full of strategic omissions and misrepresentations, I am going to highlight that as well.

My takeaway is that Belle having the vast amount of wealth she did was perceived (perhaps by her, or by the publisher) as making her overall story less compelling and less likable. I think it was a strategic choice to massively downplay it, and to portray the financial component of the divorce battle as being much more dire for her than it was. This obviously worked, in part because it feeds into a lot of narratives we expect from women when telling stories like this -- narratives I personally feel are dangerous to perpetuate, particularly when they are not true.

This does not in any way exclude abuse, but it does cast doubt on the entire story, something I also feel does not help women in the slightest.

-C

The fact that she had 7 trusts but still said her father wasted away most of the family money shows how much she doesn't understand money or what is a lot of money. She had a multi-million cushion even after all those horrendous decisions. Which goes to show why she could make those decisions without a thought.

Me with no interest reading this book and yet still invested in the discourse lmao.

We make over 200000 a year. We both grew up very, very poor. Anyone who says money doesn't solve everything has forgotten that when you are poor your housing insecurity, food insecurity, medical insecurity are EVERYTHING.

Girl, if I was quoted being that correct I'd purchase a stack and mail prints to everyone I know and hate

Her husband absolutely targeted her for her wealth. It's wild to me that she didn't see it. I know rose colored glasses and everything, but he didn't even hide it that well . . .

I saw that article and when it was behind a paywall I went "Chelsea will absolutely cover this" and clicked away lol

Women need...NEED...to understand that saying that more women need to learn precautionary measures such as how to protect your wealth within a marriage, how to spot behavioral red flags prior to marriage, etc. isn't victim blaming.  You can do everything right and something could still go wrong. If you do nothing to protect yourself though your chances of getting screwed are far higher.

It isn't about blame. It's about self-preservation. Empathize and then learn. You can only control your own actions.

I get the sense that Belle’s money blinders during marriage weren’t entirely because her husband kept her in the dark, but a continuation of how she dealt with money her whole life. I wouldn’t accuse her of Daisy Buchanan level obliviousness, but I don’t think she ever needed to worry about money. She expected to have enough and didn’t care to pay attention to it.

The disclosure listing 7, not 2 trusts, was certainly prepared by someone else. I don’t find it beyond belief that she was ignorant enough of the details to think she was telling the truth about losing “everything “.

Her husband reminds me of the old trope of the male “fortune hunter”. He presented himself as her ideal man, used her family connections to get into the hedge fund business and got out when he no longer needed her for cover.

It all makes so much more sense now. She never looked at their joint accounts because that money was irrelevant to her. She had potentially $50 million + in her back pocket the whole time. Who cares about this relatively small sum of money her husband is making. These people truly aren't living in the same world we are.

No interest in reading a book about a privileged woman handing over her power. But I am interested in your take on it.

Summary of the article: Belle Burden was uber-wealthy, before, during. and after the divorce despite the impression given in the book.  And financially she was never at the mercy of her cheating husband.

To the guillotine comment;  I work nights in healthcare and a lot of old people fall asleep to Fox News. They had Bezos on whining about how he's being persecuted for being rich. While doing what I needed to do I'm muttering under my breath "Boo hoo. Dry your eyes with your billions while your workers pee in bottles and are told to ignore the dead body while working in an Amazon warehouse." It was really infuriating. So I'm not surprised the author of this book tried to downplay her wealth.

I kind of want the book from the son on his covid year with 17 other boys.

“…they hear the, like, squeaky wheels of the guillotines being pulled out.” 🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂

I am not shocked. She acted like someone who never had to worry about running out of money. Why would she check the accounts? She didn't need to check in daily to see if she had enough to survive until the next paycheck

The fact that she went looking for the prenup to destroy it that first day after the phone call is proof that she knew. She knew that he would use it. So she knew who he is.

I went to a book event with Burden that was hosted by a close friend of hers, and I was easily the poorest in the room. The conversation and the Q&A had an air of “Oh, the poor thing.” That level of old money (hers and the audience) has no concept of being had; it’s as if their privilege and entitlement leached into every layer of their lives and the idea that something even remotely bad could happen to them is far fetched.

I dated the son of a billionaire for 1.5 years and he was the cheapest and least generous person I’ve ever been close to.

I also feel vindicated because honestly I refused to the read the book on the principle that I'm tired of hearing rich people complain about how less rich they are. They don't have any real problems and I wish they'd be quiet and leave the rest of us out of it.