Belle Burden’s “Strangers”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems he was very contemptuous of her. I wonder if it's because she sat at home all those years despite having a law degree. But he does sound like a jerk regardless, especially considering the "brushes with the law" as a teen and the way she says he said he wanted to "protect" her in the early days of their relationship--that read as weird to me and would have caused me to question this person's integrity.

Doubtful. He could have been contemptuous of her for her privilege or for any other number of reasons, but that is a typical arrangement for high-earning males. More than one rainmaker male partner in my NY law firm has married a female lawyer who then leaves her practice and becomes a SAHM.

its obvious this guy was just running a long con.

Or he escaped a boring, vapid and shallow woman. Who spent more time socializing than raising her kids. Who even in her own book talks more about private clubs and properties than anything else.

I’m not buying that she’s completely blameless. And no way she would have married him if he went to state university and had an average job.

[Anonymous]

How dare he hold her to the prenup. What a scoundrel. If she commingled her trust assets into marital property that's considered a gift and it's her choice to have done that. Same applies to anyone who commingles premarital assets or inheritance money or trust money with marital assets.

[Anonymous]

He wanted to hold her to a grossly unfair prenup that took advantage of her, didn’t want to give her half of his earnings from during their marriage which should have been equally shared assets at divorce, and let her pay for the kids schooling and clothes during and after the marriage instead of supporting his own children like a decent father, it’s sociopathic financial and emotional abuse. What a sad little man

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He wanted to hold her to a grossly unfair prenup that took advantage of her, didn’t want to give her half of his earnings from during their marriage which should have been equally shared assets at divorce, and let her pay for the kids schooling and clothes during and after the marriage instead of supporting his own children like a decent father, it’s sociopathic financial and emotional abuse. What a sad little man

The prenup they amended was insulting to him. He could have lost half (50:50 is default split) of a modest retirement nest egg to someone with $20-50MM in untouchable spendthrift trusts if she decided to file a divorce after many years of marriage. She knew she would end up with big bucks from trusts and inheritances. He was only going to get rich via hard work. It turned out he was a big success, but that was by no means a foregone conclusion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He wanted to hold her to a grossly unfair prenup that took advantage of her, didn’t want to give her half of his earnings from during their marriage which should have been equally shared assets at divorce, and let her pay for the kids schooling and clothes during and after the marriage instead of supporting his own children like a decent father, it’s sociopathic financial and emotional abuse. What a sad little man

The prenup they amended was insulting to him. He could have lost half (50:50 is default split) of a modest retirement nest egg to someone with $20-50MM in untouchable spendthrift trusts if she decided to file a divorce after many years of marriage. She knew she would end up with big bucks from trusts and inheritances. He was only going to get rich via hard work. It turned out he was a big success, but that was by no means a foregone conclusion.

She writes that she emptied her trusts to buy their marital homes which were placed in both their names so your estimate of $20-50M is a wild exaggeration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems he was very contemptuous of her. I wonder if it's because she sat at home all those years despite having a law degree. But he does sound like a jerk regardless, especially considering the "brushes with the law" as a teen and the way she says he said he wanted to "protect" her in the early days of their relationship--that read as weird to me and would have caused me to question this person's integrity.

Doubtful. He could have been contemptuous of her for her privilege or for any other number of reasons, but that is a typical arrangement for high-earning males. More than one rainmaker male partner in my NY law firm has married a female lawyer who then leaves her practice and becomes a SAHM.

its obvious this guy was just running a long con.

Or he escaped a boring, vapid and shallow woman. Who spent more time socializing than raising her kids. Who even in her own book talks more about private clubs and properties than anything else.

I’m not buying that she’s completely blameless. And no way she would have married him if he went to state university and had an average job.

A man who cut his kids loose to go f*ck his mistress is such a prize.

[Anonymous]

They’re both dull as hell. Imagine having that kind of money and living that kind of life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They’re both dull as hell. Imagine having that kind of money and living that kind of life.

She's not that dull. Gwyneth is going to play her in a movie. He on the other hand abandoned his kids and tried to screw her out of the inherited wealth she used to buy their marital homes. And now America can see that on the big screen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems he was very contemptuous of her. I wonder if it's because she sat at home all those years despite having a law degree. But he does sound like a jerk regardless, especially considering the "brushes with the law" as a teen and the way she says he said he wanted to "protect" her in the early days of their relationship--that read as weird to me and would have caused me to question this person's integrity.

Doubtful. He could have been contemptuous of her for her privilege or for any other number of reasons, but that is a typical arrangement for high-earning males. More than one rainmaker male partner in my NY law firm has married a female lawyer who then leaves her practice and becomes a SAHM.

its obvious this guy was just running a long con.

Or he escaped a boring, vapid and shallow woman. Who spent more time socializing than raising her kids. Who even in her own book talks more about private clubs and properties than anything else.

I’m not buying that she’s completely blameless. And no way she would have married him if he went to state university and had an average job.

That’s not true and it’s unfair to her. She did pro bone immigration cases and talks a lot about those.

[Anonymous]

I had a friend who this happened to, and basically enjoyed the book to the extent possible by being able to relate to that story. Unfortunately, she came off as pretentious, obsessed with everyone knowing about her status and doing all of the things rich people do (like there was even a Doodle involved it was so cliche), and was utterly humorless. So, not the best memoir I have ever read...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems he was very contemptuous of her. I wonder if it's because she sat at home all those years despite having a law degree. But he does sound like a jerk regardless, especially considering the "brushes with the law" as a teen and the way she says he said he wanted to "protect" her in the early days of their relationship--that read as weird to me and would have caused me to question this person's integrity.

Doubtful. He could have been contemptuous of her for her privilege or for any other number of reasons, but that is a typical arrangement for high-earning males. More than one rainmaker male partner in my NY law firm has married a female lawyer who then leaves her practice and becomes a SAHM.

its obvious this guy was just running a long con.

Or he escaped a boring, vapid and shallow woman. Who spent more time socializing than raising her kids. Who even in her own book talks more about private clubs and properties than anything else.

I’m not buying that she’s completely blameless. And no way she would have married him if he went to state university and had an average job.

That’s not true and it’s unfair to her. She did pro bone immigration cases and talks a lot about those.

Lots of pro bono work is meaningful to both the client and lawyer. But there was nothing in the description that suggested it took much time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems he was very contemptuous of her. I wonder if it's because she sat at home all those years despite having a law degree. But he does sound like a jerk regardless, especially considering the "brushes with the law" as a teen and the way she says he said he wanted to "protect" her in the early days of their relationship--that read as weird to me and would have caused me to question this person's integrity.

Doubtful. He could have been contemptuous of her for her privilege or for any other number of reasons, but that is a typical arrangement for high-earning males. More than one rainmaker male partner in my NY law firm has married a female lawyer who then leaves her practice and becomes a SAHM.

its obvious this guy was just running a long con.

Or he escaped a boring, vapid and shallow woman. Who spent more time socializing than raising her kids. Who even in her own book talks more about private clubs and properties than anything else.

I’m not buying that she’s completely blameless. And no way she would have married him if he went to state university and had an average job.

That’s not true and it’s unfair to her. She did pro bone immigration cases and talks a lot about those.

Lots of pro bono work is meaningful to both the client and lawyer. But there was nothing in the description that suggested it took much time.

I know several people who work in immigration law. Some do pro bono work in addition to their regular work. They all say the pro bono is just as time consuming as the paid work. It's not a two hour a week type deal if that's what you assume.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems he was very contemptuous of her. I wonder if it's because she sat at home all those years despite having a law degree. But he does sound like a jerk regardless, especially considering the "brushes with the law" as a teen and the way she says he said he wanted to "protect" her in the early days of their relationship--that read as weird to me and would have caused me to question this person's integrity.

Doubtful. He could have been contemptuous of her for her privilege or for any other number of reasons, but that is a typical arrangement for high-earning males. More than one rainmaker male partner in my NY law firm has married a female lawyer who then leaves her practice and becomes a SAHM.

its obvious this guy was just running a long con.

Or he escaped a boring, vapid and shallow woman. Who spent more time socializing than raising her kids. Who even in her own book talks more about private clubs and properties than anything else.

I’m not buying that she’s completely blameless. And no way she would have married him if he went to state university and had an average job.

That’s not true and it’s unfair to her. She did pro bone immigration cases and talks a lot about those.

Lots of pro bono work is meaningful to both the client and lawyer. But there was nothing in the description that suggested it took much time.

I know several people who work in immigration law. Some do pro bono work in addition to their regular work. They all say the pro bono is just as time consuming as the paid work. It's not a two hour a week type deal if that's what you assume.

I’m the person you are responding to, and I’m a lawyer who has done pro bono immigration work. No, the pro bono she described in her book is not as time consuming as paid work. Unless your paid work is very part time too.

[Anonymous]

I don't have to think she's an awesome person and great company and the perfect mother to think that leaving her and their kids like that was awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They’re both dull as hell. Imagine having that kind of money and living that kind of life.

She's not that dull. Gwyneth is going to play her in a movie. He on the other hand abandoned his kids and tried to screw her out of the inherited wealth she used to buy their marital homes. And now America can see that on the big screen.

She is absolutely dull. Her writing was juvenile and shows no personality at all. She’s a milquetoast whose inheritance was the only interesting thing about her.