Belle Burden accused of exaggerating hardship as divorce documents reportedly show heiress was far from broke
Belle Burden is being called out for claims she made in her bestselling book, "Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage."
The Vanderbilt heiress entered the literary world when she released her memoir in January, telling the story of the breakdown of her marriage to hedge fund executive Henry Davis. In the book, she wrote in painful detail about how she nearly lost everything after signing a prenup she said her lawyer had advised against, how she was almost left with nothing in the aftermath of the divorce — but according to The New Yorker, she may have exaggerated things.
The publication was able to access the former couple's prenup, which was a focal point of the book.
In "Strangers," Burden wrote that Davis had insisted their suggested prenup be changed so that, in case of divorce, anything in both of their names would be split equally, but everything they had separately would be kept separate. This seemingly put Burden at a massive disadvantage when time went on and she quit her job as a corporate lawyer to raise their three children and Davis' career in finance took off.
When they were married in 1999, The New Yorker reported, Davis was earning just over $200,000 a year and was "entitled to profits" in a large investment fund. Meanwhile, the documents reportedly showed that Burden's "total financial assets and interests in trusts" were approximately $63 million.
A large portion of that money, $45 million, belonged to a trust created by the estate of her father, Carter Burden. Burden has never been able to access the money in that particular trust — her late father ordered that the trust be used to care for his wife, Burden's stepmother, until her death, when whatever remaining funds would be split between Burden and her brother.
It's not clear how much remains of that trust, though Burden did write in "Strangers" that her stepmother, Susan, had been paying her children's tuition, but in 2019 her lawyer told her that Susan could no longer make the payments because "her assets were too depleted."
Although Burden has never had access to that particular trust, the prenup reportedly showed that Burden also has "an $8 million share in a charitable trust and a $4 million interest in WAMBCO, her family's limited partnership," as well as a $300,000 commission "for serving as a trustee of his estate," and "an 11-room co-op at 1020 Fifth Avenue, across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, that sold for $22 million, in 2012." The prenup also stated that she "has additional potential, contingent, remote or minor interests in a number of other trusts."
Fox News Digital has not been able to independently verify the former couple's prenup.
"The overall picture is of a person whose long-term financial security appeared guaranteed," The New Yorker noted.
"Strangers" saw Burden repeatedly mentioning that she'd given up her career in law to raise their children — something she seemed happy to do. She wrote that when the children were older, she'd brought up the idea of returning to work, but Davis told her, "You can't do that. You need to be here for the kids."
While she did pro bono work from time to time, she said she "never went back to paid work" during the marriage.
Davis, meanwhile, amassed a fortune — during a March appearance on the "Financial Tea with Mrs. Dow Jones" podcast, she claimed that he had earned "at least eight figures of wealth," all in his name only, and that she'd only become aware of just how successful he'd been during the divorce proceedings. While they were together, she said that he'd had a bookkeeper keep track of her spending, and that he was "controlling" of their finances.
While the narrative has been, both in the book and in interviews, that she gave up her trusts and her career for Davis, both of her own volition, The New Yorker claims that she maintained her independent wealth throughout the marriage.
Divorce documents viewed by the outlet showed that in 2019, Burden's income was over $800,000 — she said in response that her income was "atypically high" that year, though the reason why wasn't shared.
In her memoir, as well as in subsequent interviews promoting the book's release, Burden explained that she'd used the entirety of her two trust funds to purchase homes for the family — an apartment in Manhattan and a summer home in Martha's Vineyard. Although Davis allegedly contributed none of his own money to the purchase of the homes, she put his name on both, believing that's what one does in a marriage. In doing so, according to their prenup, Davis was entitled to half of each when they divorced.
"Over the years, we had discussed getting rid of the prenup, agreeing that it was no longer fair to me, given [Davis'] career success, given the fact that I had emptied my trusts to purchase our homes," she wrote. They'd planned to meet with their lawyer in 2019 to change the prenup, but Davis suggested they put it off. Less than a year later, in March 2020, Burden discovered he'd been having an affair, and he told her he wanted the divorce.
But according to The New Yorker, which viewed public records of the sales of the homes, Burden bought the couple's Tribeca apartment for "just under $4 million, with a million-dollar mortgage." For the house in Martha's Vineyard, "she paid $5.4 million for the house," with a $3 million mortgage.
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So much of "Strangers" is about Burden's fear of losing her family's homes because of the prenup. She's admitted time and again, in the book as well as in interviews, that she recognizes her situation is so much better than many women in similar positions, and that she's made a point to acknowledge her privilege. She also wrote that, when Davis' lawyer suggested she either buy him out of his interests in the homes or else sell one or both of them, she "could not afford to buy [Davis] out of either home. I would have to sell both."
"My children were going to lose the house they loved, the center of our life as a family, and the apartment where they lived, in addition to managing the emotional toll of their father leaving," Burden wrote. "I was going to lose what my grandparents and my father had given me, betraying them too. I was going to lose my financial security."
In the divorce settlement, also obtained by The New Yorker, Burden was reportedly the beneficiary of five trusts. Additionally, she "had her own Vanguard account and a 6% stake in WAMBCO; the combined value of the two exceeded $10 million. All of these resources would remain Burden’s alone in the divorce."
Margaret Ryznar, a professor at Brooklyn Law School knowledgeable in trusts and estates, told the outlet that Burden may not have truly had to worry about losing the homes — according to her, homes will often go to the custodial parent, which was Burden, as Davis opted to give up custody completely. Even so, in cases where that's not possible, the sale of that home "is typically deferred until the youngest child turns 18."
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Burden did say in a statement that it would have been "neither feasible nor financially responsible" to keep both homes had Davis pushed for his share of them. She did list the apartment last year for just under $12 million, while the Martha's Vineyard home, which she still owns, "was recently assessed by the town for about $7.7 million, well over $2 million more than what Burden paid for it."
Another point of contention the outlet raised was about the divorce proceedings. Burden wrote in her book that she and Davis "reached a settlement an hour before our trial was set to begin," but according to court records viewed by the outlet, a trial was never on the docket. Instead, the former couple had a status conference, meant to map out the logistics of the ongoing divorce.
In the settlement, viewed by the outlet, Davis gave up his half of the two homes, $3 million from an investment he'd made in WAMBCO, as well as ownership of a private beach on Martha's Vineyard he'd once purchased for her birthday, valued at the time at over $400,000.
Davis also agreed to pay $50,000 a month in child support, cover school tuition and costs for extracurriculars, and provide health and dental insurance for the children.
In her statement to The New Yorker, Burden said, "When I wrote 'Strangers,' I shared my heartache, my mistakes, and my shame. I owned my privilege as plainly as I could, and I respected the privacy of sealed court records. I stand by everything I wrote, including the fear I felt from my ex-husband’s threats, the contributions I made and could make to my family, and what happened to me financially and emotionally in my marriage and divorce. While I didn’t intend it, I am glad that women have taken my story as motivation for insisting on financial transparency in their marriages."