'Strangers' author Belle Burden says her divorce left her feeling financially powerless. Here are the habits she's changed after being a 'cautionary tale.'

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Belle Burden 2.0

The original cheating scandal of 2026 didn't involve a leather jacket and possible espionage. It was Belle Burden, in her now-viral book, "Strangers," who revealed that her husband of 20 years left her for another woman without any explanation.

In the book, Burden — who calls herself a "cautionary tale" — also said that in her marriage, she trusted her husband with the family's financial decision-making, even signing their joint tax returns without reading them.

Slowly and gradually, the former corporate lawyer writes that she didn't realize that her husband was putting his investments and bonuses in his name alone, while using her once sizable trust to buy homes for their family — an important point if you know how their pre-nup was set up.

Entrepreneur Emma Grede, who encourages women to not be afraid to talk about money in her book "Start With Yourself," sat down with Burden at the Washington Post's Global Women's Summit, held in New York City, earlier this week.

Burden explained that she took her hands off of managing her finances because there was a voice in her head telling her that even though she was smart enough to pass the bar, she "couldn't understand the complexities of my financial life, investments and assets, and I think that is cultural conditioning."

Grede asked the New York Times bestseller what she's doing differently now that she's begun the next phase of her life, which includes her book being adapted by Netflix. Burden said she's now "fully in control and understanding all of my investments and assets. And I read my tax returns."

"I'm fully capable of understanding it … and that the knowledge is so much better than the not knowing, even though that was very comfortable," Burden continued, "it's actually quite joyful to understand and claim your financial life."

Even though she knows people cringe when they read about the financial mistakes she made in her marriage, Burden said hearing and reading how women have smartened up after reading her book makes it worth it.

"I did not expect that it would be prescriptive in this way or inspire women to change their behavior on money," Burden said at the Summit. "But … if that's my purpose on the planet, I'm really good with that."