PERFECT STRANGERS

Her viral New York Times column "Was I Married to Stranger?" devastated readers in 2023. Now, in her memoir, Strangers, BELLE BURDEN offers a deeper personal history, from a glimpse of her childhood at her grandmother Babe Paley's estate, Kiluna Farm, through the unraveling of a marriage that reshaped her understanding of family

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MARRIAGE STORY Belle Burden, photographed at home in New York City on November 14.

Fashion Editor: Nicole Chapoteau. Shirt by Gabriela Hearst; jeans by Agolde; watch by Omega.

James landed on Martha's Vineyard just before 2 p.m. He drove down our driveway in a Jeep our caretaker had left for him at the airport, a model similar to the one he'd driven onto the ferry a month earlier. He walked up the brick path to our door. He wore a mask, so I couldn't see his whole face, but my first thought was that he seemed happy, his step brisk and optimistic. He was carrying an empty duffel bag over his shoulder.

He said he had only 90 minutes until he had to return to the airport. We gathered in the living room, on the side we rarely used, where two white couches flanked a large coffee table. I sat between the girls on one of the couches, my arms around both of their small shoulders. James paced back and forth in front of us, still masked, the glass doors of our living room and the expanse of the lake behind him. He said, “Mom and I are separated and we’re going to divorce. I haven’t been happy.”

He continued to pace while he spoke, not looking at either of the girls, not looking at me. I watched him, thinking, The way he is moving and talking is so different. I don’t recognize his body, his voice. Is he having a breakdown? Is he in love? Is he just delighted to be free of me, of us?

I thought I had ended this legacy by marrying someone so steady, so unassuming, someone who didn't have a public presence, someone who didn't flirt with other women, at least not in front of me. But I had repeated it in a spectacular fashion.