LIFE IN THE TIME OF CORONAVIRUS

I’m Stuck in Isolation With the Man Who’s Divorcing Me

A 46-year-old woman is self-quarantining with her husband one month after he asked for a divorce

Jennifer Anderson
GEN
Published in
5 min readApr 6, 2020

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Photo illustration. Photo sources: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images, 4x-Images/Getty Images

Life in the Time of Coronavirus is a new GEN series where we are interviewing people across the country who have had their lives upended or are experiencing the stress of the unknown.

Jennifer Anderson-Henry, 46, is facing a divorce that she doesn’t want. Her soon-to-be-ex-husband, referred to here as X to protect his privacy, asked for a divorce just one month before Indiana implemented its shelter-in-place order. They are now living in isolation together as he works on home improvement projects so they can eventually put their house on the market.

On February 16, three days before my birthday, my husband of 13 years announced that he “didn’t want to be married anymore.” X and I have had our issues over the years, as all couples do. Our disagreements usually centered around finances — shocking, I know. Our communication styles are vastly different, and that’s always posed challenges, but we had always been able to talk through our problems, though, and ultimately would end up feeling exponentially better about our relationship.

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Jennifer Anderson
GEN
Writer for

I have thoughts about relationships, personal growth, and mental health. Sometimes I write them down.