“Looking back, I realise that the hardest part of separating from my husband wasn’t the divorce itself, it was the two years that led up to it,” says Sierra F. Vallis*, a 33-year-old luxury PR professional who lives in the UAE. “I was married to someone who constantly made everything about himself, who drained more than he could give, and still I kept holding on. And I remember that before the decision, I felt like I was really trapped in this tug of war with myself, and I was clinging on to an idea of saving something that was pretty much eroding me from within.”
But when Sierra finally took the painful step to divorce her husband, she barely had time to catch her breath. Far from being a private affair, giving her the space to process and heal from the upheaval in her own time, the decision of how and when to share her news was taken completely out of her hands, without her knowledge or consent.
“I didn’t have the chance to keep it private,” says Sierra. “Almost before the ink was dry on the divorce papers, my newly ex-husband had already shared it with people in my circle, and since he had moved to Dubai for our marriage, his only friends were my friends and he was trying to control the entire narrative. He thought it gave him a bit of an upper hand.”
It’s a story that we’ve heard many times before in the digital age — as we scroll and stalk our way through our family and friendship groups, the internet detective inside often takes over and relationships become the source of gossip. However, unlike a soap opera, these are real lives — and the pressure to save face can be immense.
While Sierra was able to come through her divorce with her head held high, for many women it remains a subject of the utmost sensitivity and can have a huge effect on mental health. Even with changing times, as the historic taboo of divorce becomes demystified in the social media age, that’s not to say that the emotional toll of an official uncoupling is any less painful. In fact, the advent of constantly online lives, where the private becomes intensely public and is preserved for posterity, can propel recent divorcees to create an illusion of positivity to defuse the super-charged situation.
“Social media often showcases divorced individuals who appear happy, thriving and even quickly finding new partners after separation,” says Marisa Peer, a world-renowned therapist and best-selling author who has helped high-profile clients ranging from A-list celebrities to the British royal family. “What it doesn’t show is the darker side of divorce — the emotional distress, the tears and the turmoil. Instead, we see examples like Heidi Klum remarrying or Kim Kardashian looking happy post-divorce, which creates the illusion of disposable relationships and an easy transition to a new life.
“What’s missing is the pain and the sadness these individuals likely experienced before reaching that point. Social media also paints relationships as easily changeable, as though moving on from one partner to the next is as simple as moving house. But the reality is far more complex, and these unrealistic depictions of marital or new relationship bliss can lead people to believe that moving on is straightforward and effortless — but in most cases, it’s anything but,” adds Marisa.
Of course, the UAE’s highest-profile social media marriage split — making headlines all over the world in July 2024 and eventually resulting in a perfume launch by the name of Divorce — was that of Dubai royal HH Sheikha Mahra bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Posting a simple black and white message on Instagram, she appeared to inform her husband, as well as the rest of the world, of their marriage’s breakdown. Moving swiftly on from her split, Sheikha Mahra announced her engagement to US-based rapper French Montana just last month, with high hopes for a happy and lasting union this time around.
Another example from the UAE is that of Dubai-based Peacefull entrepreneur and YouTuber Salama Mohamed, who opened up about her February 2024 divorce from ex-husband Khalid Al Ameri on a podcast last year. However, while her outlook appeared to be overwhelmingly positive, the split was only confirmed when an engagement-style photo featuring another mystery woman was posted on Khalid’s Instagram in July 2024, suggesting at least some reticence to share the news. In July 2025 Salama announced her own engagement in an Instagram story — moving fully on from the breakdown of her previous relationship.
Dubai Bling star Ebraheem Al Samadi, another well-known UAE face to break the news of his most recent divorce, announced what’s actually his third marriage split in January 2025. Divorcing third wife Hamdah one year after marrying, the businessman cited his celeb status as having played a significant role in the couple’s parting.
So for those of us out of the public eye, do these depictions of ‘instant’ divorce hold any truth at all? The UAE’s new Personal Status Law, which came into effect in April 2025, introduced major reforms to divorce, custody and family law. The reduction of the arbitration period and the removal of mandatory mediation in many cases has made for swifter proceedings for both UAE citizens and expats, while issues around alimony and financial support have also been clarified, taking marriage duration, income and responsibilities into account. Non-Muslim expats can divorce under civil law, often aligned with their home country’s norms, including relaxed custody rules for mothers.
“Of the expatriate clients approaching us, more than 90 per cent choose to divorce through the courts of their home countries,” says Alexandra Tribe, a specialist international divorce and family lawyer and Managing Partner at international firm Expatriate Law. “But couples who wish to divorce amicably and have reached an agreement regarding their finances and children generally find divorcing in the UAE quick and easy. A financial and children agreement can be lodged alongside the divorce, and the process is often concluded within a month or two.”
Quite apart from the simplification of the divorce processes themselves, has the emotional toll of a separation abated too? All the experts agree — when it comes to ending a marriage, nothing is ever that simple. “Divorce is still considered one of the biggest stressors that a person can experience throughout the course of their lives because of the widespread changes and losses that it introduces,” says Dr Sarah Rasmi, psychologist and founder of the Thrive Wellbeing Centre. “Many people experience a dip in their social, instrumental and financial resources after divorce. And many will grieve the life that they thought they would live and will also find their social circles shrinking as people either ‘take sides’ or change towards them. Psychology research suggests that women usually experience greater social costs than men following their divorce.”
But a glance at social media gives the impression that divorce is indeed an instant cure-all for all manner of ills — and it isn’t just being talked about, it’s actively fuelling viral crazes and filling our ever-scrolling subconsciouses. So as the trends for Insta-perfect marriage proposals and dreamy destination weddings give way to TikTok blended families and post-divorce bliss, it’s important for us to remind ourselves that nothing is ever as it seems in the online world. In fact, with an increasing number of couples citing digital issues such as online infidelity, social media jealousy and digital detachment as significant reasons for their divorces, they’re provoking problems that previous generations simply didn’t have — as well as glamourising the lives of the newly single.
However, for Sierra, while her public divorce was initially a jarring experience, it resulted in her gathering the strength to emerge from this situation with grace and dignity, and finding freedom in telling her truth: “At first, that invasion felt like yet another violation of my space, but surprisingly, it eventually became liberating. It forced me to ‘own’ my own story, instead of hiding it from the world. We live in this culture where we’re obsessed with curating perfection, where the cracks in the façade feel like a scandal. And I just decided not to play that game. I wasn’t going to sit in silence and feel ashamed about something that was so, so deeply human. Instead, I spoke openly about it. I refused to let anyone pity me or treat me like divorce was a scarlet letter.”
And it wasn’t the support of an online community or her digital footprint that helped Sierra through the worst parts of her divorce — in fact, it was something far more old-fashioned: family.
“I wouldn’t have walked through any of this with grace without my family,” she says. “They were my anchor through the whole thing, constantly reminding me of my strength, even when I doubted myself. That kind of unwavering support is everything. And I flipped the script. Instead of being the subject of gossip, I became the narrator of my own experience. I think that in itself was extremely powerful. My divorce wasn’t a tragedy; it was freedom, it was clarity, and it was courage more than anything else.”
Originally Published In The November Issue of MOJEH Magazine. Subscribe here.
