People over 50 are getting divorced in record numbers. The phenomenon is called “gray divorce,” because these people are starting over while simultaneously being old as hell. Between 1990 and 2010, the divorce rate for adults aged 50 and older more than doubled. In 2022, 36 percent of all adults going through divorce were aged 50 or older.
We no longer live in a world where dysfunctional married couples feel the societal pressure to stay together, no matter how deep into their twilight years they are. Divorce rates are either steady or decreasing across all ages except among those aged 65 and older. Retirees are getting divorced in droves.
An ABC News report on the gray divorce phenomenon explains that women are the primary driving force behind the explosion in elderly divorce. Baby boomers who have been trapped in unhappy marriages for decades finally feel that societal expectations have loosened enough that they can free themselves of the inconsiderate selfish assholes they’ve been stuck with for an enormous chunk of their lives. They are breaking free to enjoy their newfound freedom, and maybe for the first time ever, play the field a little bit and see what else is out there.
These women are getting new jobs, taking up new hobbies, and figuring out who they are outside of the context of marriage. There is absolutely going to be an Eat Pray Love-style novel based on this phenomenon that will soon sweep the nation and we are powerless to stop it.
Nightline spoke with a 74-year-old gray divorcee named Edith Heyck. This woman is a piñata filled with delicious quotes on the benefits of late-in-life Boomer generation divorce. Of her newfound freedom she says, “I think that part of my story is that I’m the first generation of women who got the pill right when I was 18 or 19 years old. We discovered a sense of our own freedom so that we didn’t have to stay married in the same way as my mother did, let’s say, who wasn’t able to earn a living.”
She went on to say, “a septuagenarian looking for a sexagenarian. I’ve got a gym guy. I have a ski partner. I’m leading the most vibrant life that I could have dreamed of.”
Fuck yeah, Edith. Fuck yeah.
The post Gray Divorce Rates Rise as Older Adults Leave Bad Partners Behind appeared first on VICE.
The post Gray Divorce Rates Rise as Older Adults Leave Bad Partners Behind appeared first on VICE.
