Married at 28, divorcing at 29 — how I learned to own the narrative

At 28, I thought I was building the life I had always dreamed of. I engaged, shared it with my audience, and then brought them along for the journey. Over 10 million people watched my “Marry Me” video across my platforms. It was the most beautiful moment of my life, enhanced by the fact that I had built that level of trust and connection with my community.

But a year later, I wasn’t preparing for another celebration. I was preparing for divorce. The man I married misrepresented that he was on almost every level. Behind the manufactured moments and public smiles was a predatory relationship.

I took what could have been my deepest humiliation and turned it into a story of resilience. I started my “Married at 28. Divorced at 29” tiktok series. I was not thrilling my heart. Instead, I was narrating and processing what happened to me in the most honest way.

Here I decided to share my experience and how that experience shaped my career as an influencer.

Table of Contents

Choosing to go public

When your life teeters on a stage that’s big, silence feels attractive. Hiding feels safe. But, silence does not set you free. The truth does.

I decided to go public about my divorce because as a creator who prides myself on honesty, I don’t believe in just sharing the good and hiding the bad. My audience saw my engagement, my wedding preparations, and even the most intimate moments leading up to the big day. It would have felt dishonest to eliminate the ending.

Authenticity is what has helped me secure brand partnerships, and I see it as my duty to show the full spectrum of my story. What I’ve found is that the best brands don’t shy away from reality. Instead, they embrace it. In fact, many of the opportunities that come my way are from brands attracted to my unsolicited story.

When I announced my divorce, I didn’t do it in a glitchy video. I did this in partnership with OSEA – a skincare brand that I genuinely love. The tagline was simple: “Shining through divorce.” In my campaign with OSEA, I was able to weave my real-life journey into promoting their products.

Source

These are the collaborations that resonate the most, because they’re not ready. They are born out of alignment. When they recognize that authenticity sells, their honesty is rewarded with audience trust.

My partnership with OSEA was not just marketing. It was a declaration.

I was showing my audience that even in the midst of betrayal, betrayal, and pain, I could choose the light. I can choose to nurture myself, take care of my body and soul, and shine from within.

And that’s what people connected with. Not the perfection of my past, but the courage to live in the truth of the present.

Courage that inspires

Since I started telling my story, tens of thousands of women have reached out to share their own. Some even admitted that my transparency gave them the courage to finally leave abusive, narcissistic, and predatory relationships. Others admitted they didn’t even realize they were in one until my videos gave them language for their experience.

Men, too, have reached out—many recognize patterns of cheating, gaslighting, and emotional sabotage in their lives.

There is a flood of messages daily. Add comments to each post. And what I’ve come to realize is this: When you speak the truth, you allow others to do the same. You connect not only through relativity, but also through independence.

This is why audiences resonate so deeply with this story. Because it doesn’t just entertain… it validates. It reminds people that they are not alone. This exposure is often the first step towards freedom.

And from a professional perspective, my experience reinforced an important lesson of my career: honesty creates community, and community creates longevity. Sharing my divorce has not hurt my reputation as a creator. In fact, it has been strengthened.

Brands have not backed down because of my weakness. They are bent. They have found that authenticity deepens trust, and trust is the currency of influence. This is why partnerships like my campaign with OSEA announce my divorce.

When content is rooted in truth, it doesn’t just sell products — it builds belief.

Lessons I have learned

This season of my life has been a personal reckoning, but it has been one of my greatest professional case studies. Here’s what I learned:

1. The truth sets you free. Being honest and owning the story puts the power in your hands. When I exposed what happened to me, I wasn’t just quietly freeing myself. I was reclaiming my reputation.
2. Exposure is a form of healing. What thrives in secrecy loses its grip when brought into the light. In both life and business, solving these problems builds more confidence than pretending they don’t exist.
3. Pain can be reversed. What was meant to break you can be transformed into something that empowers both you and others. For me, this transformation became my viral divorce series – and it deepened the audience’s loyalty.
4. Credibility flows from honesty. Audiences can tell when you’re hiding. Brands can too. The more transparent I have been, the stronger my partnership has become.
5. Protect your professional image by leaning into reality, not running away from it. When unexpected events occur, silence leaves room for speculation. By being active, I let the story control me instead of letting it control me.
6. Bring brands into the story instead of locking them out. My most successful partnerships during this season were with brands that allowed me to weave my reality into campaigns. Instead of blocking opportunities out of fear, I collaborated with partners who saw the power in authentic storytelling.
7. Crisis can strengthen communication. Feels like an occupational hazard if you navigate it honestly. My divorce could have been a liability, but it became the basis for a new topic – Shining through divorce — that resonated with millions.

From survival to strategy

I got married at 28 and divorced at 29. I was caught in a cheating marriage. But by exposing the truth, I turned my greatest shame into my greatest source of strength.

It’s not just about divorce. It’s about the freedom that comes from being authentic, speaking the unspeakable, and refusing to write someone else’s story.

There’s a lesson here that extends beyond personal life: Truth builds trust.

What I lived through was predatory and delusional, but the way I shared it became strategic. People didn’t just watch for updates. They watched because they saw themselves reflected back. They found courage in the cracks of my story.

And that bond—raw, raw, undeniable—is why my material didn’t weather the storm. It grew.

That bond is also why brands are eager to work with me. The credibility of today’s landscape does not come from presenting something. It comes from living in your truth. When people see you own that truth, they don’t just follow you—they invest in you.