In 2004, the comedian Cameron Esposito sat on the steps of Boston City Hall and watched as some of the first legally married same-sex couples in the United States emerged victoriously as newlyweds. Thirteen years, three boyfriends and 10 girlfriends later, Cameron was ready to marry the woman she assumed she would be with forever. “I expected to perfectly navigate marriage like some sort of lesbian phoenix that never stops rising,” Cameron wrote in her 2019 Modern Love essay. But when she found herself alone and knocked down, failing at marriage, she developed a new understanding of the privileges she had long been fighting for.
[theme music]
Miya Lee: From The New York Times, I'm Miya Lee.
Dan Jones: And I'm Dan Jones.
This is the Modern Love podcast.
Miya Lee: Today's episode is about divorce
and about how things can break,
even if you have the best intentions
and make the best effort.
Dan Jones: Yeah, it's about the equality of love,
but also the equality of heartbreak.
Miya Lee: The essay is called,
'New Hope, New Pain, Same Old Divorce.'
Dan Jones: And it's both written and read by Cameron Esposito.
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Cameron Esposito: One of the last things I did before leaving the home
we had made together
was pull the 5–foot portrait of our faces
out of the closet.
What is one supposed to do
with oversized portraiture