Trashy Divorces

In this encore mash-up, Alicia brings us the 90s-era heartbreaker split with the marriage and divorce of actors Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh. Then, Stacie continues the thread with actress Helena Bonham Carter, whose post-Branagh relationship, with director Tim Burton, began every bit as controversially as the one with Ken had. Want early, ad-free episodes, regular Dumpster Dives, bonus divor...

For a certain kind of political obsessive, the Trumpworld dispatches penned by Olivia Nuzzi in the first term were almost too on-the-nose. Still in her 20s then, her ability to paint the distorted, distorting figures that inhabited the era in prose was always interesting and often revelatory. And then, she fell in love with a subject, then-presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and her life...

When two visionaries meet, strange things can happen. So it was for Natalie Massenet, founder of upscale shopping site Net-a-Porter, and Swedish creative director and Frame founder Erik Torstensson. The high fashion power couple parlayed their early successes into venture capital projects - including Skims - and then shocked their world in August 2025 with a bombshell lawsuit from Natalie alleging...

In this April 2019 encore, we go deep into the turbulent love, life, and times of Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Theirs was a complicated love - but also somehow quite inspiring. Check out the art we mention in the episode at our website. Want early, ad-free episodes, regular Dumpster Dives, bonus divorces, limited series, Zoom hangouts, and more? Join us at patreon.com/trashydivorc...

Since crossing into stardom with 1992's Basic Instinct, actress Sharon Stone has certainly had some adventures, both in her career and her personal life. It's actually difficult to summarize today's tale, but suffice it to say, there's a lot in here for fans of some of Hollywood's most notorious lounge lizards, as well as lizards of other sorts.  Want early, ad-free episodes, regular Dumpster Dive...

Everyone knows that JFK was a man of vociferous appetites when it came to women, but the secret story of a possible love child fathered with a teenage maid in the Hyannis Port compound is not commonly known. Many questions persist, but the tale of JFK's maybe-baby-mama, Alicia Corning Clark, is such a quintessentially American one - from refugee to the Kennedy's to Hollywood and beyond - that we c...

The ACE Family channel on YouTube blew up in a big way in 2016, taking two young parents into realms of wealth and fame they couldn't possibly have planned for - and were clearly unequipped to handle. While the channel grew to some 18 million followers, brand partnerships soured into litigation and the marriage of Catherine Paiz and Austin McBroom eventually collapsed. If you've ever wondered, "Wh...

We welcome back journalist and author Andrew Morton to spill some tea, past and present, on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson. The former Duke and Duchess of York are not the only Windsor family members in the lens - also included are Prince Phillip, King Charles III, Diana, Princess of Wales, Prince William and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie too. Want early, ad-free episodes, regular...

Today, Alicia revisits a first season episode where... well, we were sweet summer children and there was much that would be revealed. This week, we revisit the "happiest divorced couple in the world", the no-longer-prince Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson. Want early, ad-free episodes, regular Dumpster Dives, bonus divorces, limited series, Zoom hangouts, and more? Join us...

On the occasion of what would have been her 111th birthday, today we revisit Alicia's 2020 story of the incredible life of Hollywood icon Hedy Lamarr. Yes, she was an outstanding and hugely popular actress, but the lesser known part of the story is that Hedy Lamarr was a passionate and gifted inventor. She and composer and pianist George Antheil developed and patented a way to encrypt messages dur...

Chris Hansen became a household name by confronting child predators who'd been lured out of hiding by undercover officers posing as children online on Dateline NBC's To Catch a Predator. But it was his choices in his personal life that sent him careening off into other directions - dumped by NBC, marriage on the rocks, and even sporting a mugshot or two to his name. Want early, ad-free episodes, r...

America's business culture in the mid-century was decidedly drab: men in dark suits with close-cropped hair ruled the day, and in many ways were perfectly primed for disruption. So it was that the youngest division head ever to grace the C-suite at General Motors built a maverick reputation and, upon leaving (or being pushed! Accounts differ) set about to start a car company from scratch. John DeL...

We don't often go to breaking news, but over the last few days, English singer and actress Lily Allen opted to nuke her ex, Stranger Things actor David Harbour, from orbit by dropping a new album all about their very messy split. To hear Lily tell it, David is a sex addict who crossed all the boundaries they ever collectively drew, and it's pretty clear that Lily is processing a lot of betrayal ou...

In this part two of our 2019 Elizabeth Taylor story, we pick up with her tumultuous two marriages to Richard Burton, her attempt to find something like a normal life with Virginia Senator John Warner, and her last marriage and divorce from Larry Fortensky, whom she remained close to for the rest of her life. It's hard to imagine a more iconic figure, or a more perfect subject for this podcast.   U...

As we proceed with this week's Elizabeth Taylor takeover, we're revisiting one of our favorite episodes ever: 2019's story of the screen legend's life and many, many loves, joined by Erica Kelley from Southern Fried True Crime. This edition takes us through her first marriage - arranged by her studio, naturally - through the tragic loss of Mike Todd, and onto the married Eddie Fisher, husband of h...

Alicia's taking over *all* the podcasts this week, with the stories and spiderwebs of screen goddess Elizabeth Taylor. In this week's musically-themed episode, Alicia breaks down some of the lyrics in Taylor Swift's new track, Elizabeth Taylor, from her album The Life of a Showgirl. From Portofino to the very best table at Musso & Frank's, certain themes resonate across these two titanic figures i...

In an exciting crossover episode today, Alicia was delighted to speak with author and biographer Andrew Morton about his new release Winston and the Windsors: How Churchill Shaped a Royal Dynasty. Our conversation explores the influence of Winston’s mother Jennie Jerome on his early days, as well as Winston’s relationship with each of the Windsor monarchs including Edward VII, George V, Edward VII...

It's been a wild few weeks for a number of TD alums. In the Dumpster this week:  Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, following the shock divorce filing in Nashville on September 30. Is Keith stepping out with a member of his touring band, and should we be concerned that he's currently on a tour he titled HIGH AND ALIVE after his well-documented troubles with substance misuse? Ariana Grande and Ethan Sl...

With the shocking news of the passing of Diane Keaton today in California at the age of 79, we wanted to share our 2022 story about her relationship and breakup with fellow actor Al Pacino: This week, Alicia catches us up on the long, but ultimately not permanent, romance between actors Diane Keaton and Al Pacino. While their love made them one of Hollywood’s 1970s and 1980s power couples, in the...

By the time Charlotte Rae earned her (second) Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Mrs. Garrett on The Facts of Life in 1982, she was already decades into a career that had yielded two Tony nominations and a 1970s-era Emmy nomination as well. But a lot of things had happened on the way to Edna Garrett, including a long marriage - and a quick divorce.  Want early, ad-free episodes, regular Dumpster...

Lest you think that America’s culture of celebrity for no reason is new, Stacie is here to assure you that isn’t remotely the case. Way, way back, asbestos heir and Manhattan bon vivant Tommy Manville made himself the talk of the times by heading down the aisle over, and over, and over again. With 13 weddings and 11 divorces under his belt, “The Marrying Manville” isn’t just a Trashy Divorces All-...

With news breaking just this week that country crooner Keith Urban has filed for divorce from his wife of 19 years, Nicole Kidman, we wanted to resurface this 2019 episode covering the travails of the women who've tried to love one Tom Cruise. On the plus side of the equation, it's unlikely that Nicole will face anything as bizarre or painful with Keith as she went through with Tom back in the day...

They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and that's certainly one way to look at the story of Mary Kay, the cosmetics company founded by a woman who'd been divorced and then widowed (and then widowed again) in an era where women weren't exactly welcome in C-suites. But Mary Kay Ash seems to have had some secrets - secret husbands, to be clear - as does the company she founded.  Want ear...

Today, Alicia has the sad tale of the King and Queen of the Jazz Age, writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald. Though they never divorced, the story is a great illustration of the reality that some marriages don’t work, and a lot of people would be better off ending a marriage rather than staying in it. That's what Alicia wishes that Zelda had decided, dancing away from thei...

The promise of ABC's The Bachelor is the dream of happily ever after, but as we all know, well-lit reality TV filmed in romantic locations doesn't reflect the reality most of us live in. And so it was for Rachel Lindsay, lawyer and the season 13 lead of The Bachelorette, who chose chiropractor Bryan Abasolo for her final rose, and married him a couple of years later. Unsurprisingly, it didn't last...