The inevitable rise of the divorce party

00:00 06:20

Mary Wakefield has narrated this article for you to listen to.

Have you been to a ‘divorce party’ yet this season? If you haven’t, not to worry, there’s still time. Divorce season lasts for the whole of January, I’m told, so there’s a couple of weeks left to celebrate. And if perhaps the details of your own nasty separation aren’t yet finalised, or if your lawyer and your ex have between them drained the champagne fund, then why not simply nip into town and crash someone else’s? You’re bound to find one.

Perhaps in the future there will be un-wedding lists, allowing guests to repurchase things the ex took

Divorce parties have become so popular here in London that several of the savvier venues have started to offer special divorce-party deals, just as they do for weddings: balloons, cakes, music. An email last week announced that a club called 100 Wardour St had joined the fun. ‘A bold new trend is emerging among young Londoners to mark the end of their marriages,’ it said. ‘100 Wardour St is embracing the trend of celebratory break-ups with a vibrant experience.’

I’m cross I didn’t see this coming. Of course divorce is now a cause for unfettered joy. Since Covid, the papers have been full of articles by married women who have ‘rediscovered themselves’ by having an affair. It’s not cheating, it’s following your desires and desires are no longer ever wrong – just so long as you’re female or female-identified.

Take the newly released film Babygirl, which stars Nicole Kidman as a married boss-lady whose affair with a hot young intern liberates her from the tedium of a pleasant marriage. There’s nothing wrong with her husband. He’s a decent, kind, handsome man. They have young children. But Nicole’s character has unfulfilled sexual fantasies, so… sod the marriage, sod the kids.