There was a time when divorce was something people tried very hard not to talk about. Now, it can become a TikTok series.

From tearful storytimes and lawyer appointments to co-parenting struggles, dating again and post-divorce glow-ups, people are documenting what happens when a marriage ends. The trend has picked up enough momentum to earn its own name: “divorce-tok”.

And millions of people are watching.

Why are we so interested in the end of somebody else’s marriage?

It is not just about the divorce. Scroll through divorce-related TikTok content and you will find that the actual separation is often only the beginning.

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Creators talk about moving into a new home, learning to manage money alone, navigating co-parenting, rediscovering old hobbies and working out who they are outside a marriage. Some share the painful bits. Others turn to humour. Some seem to be documenting their lives simply because they are trying to make sense of what happened themselves.

Monette Wagner, a mother of three, has shared parts of her life after divorce, including co-parenting and rebuilding her independence. She has also spoken about returning to interests she had before marriage, including skateboarding and learning to DJ.

“I wanted to show my kids that you can still be strong even through these hard days. I wanted to show them how strong hope is,” she said.

“I feel more confident. I feel resilient. I feel like I faced my fears of showing up scared, of putting myself out there as my authentic self,” she added.

Then there are creators such as Jen Hamilton, who has spoken publicly about discovering her husband's alleged double life and the aftermath of their marriage ending. Her videos have attracted a huge audience.

In a more celebratory post, Hamilton shared photos and videos from what would have been her 14th wedding anniversary, recognising the occasion with what she called a “Jendependence Day” party. More than a dozen friends and co-workers joined her at her North Carolina home as she burned her bedsheets and toasted to her future beyond her marriage.

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“I feel like if I share my pain with you, I don’t feel so alone, because there’s so many other people going through the exact same thing,” she said in a video in July. She added that her followers then, in turn, feel less alone too.

So perhaps people are not really watching divorce. They are watching what happens to a person when the life they thought they were going to have suddenly changes.

There is something comforting about seeing someone else go through it

Anyone who has been through a breakup knows that heartbreak can make you feel slightly ridiculous.

You can have a perfectly sensible conversation with a friend at 2pm and then spend the next three hours wondering whether your ex has seen your Instagram story.

Divorce can bring that feeling on a much larger scale. There may be children involved, financial decisions, family relationships and an entire shared life to untangle.

That is where divorce-tok seems to find its audience. Some viewers see pieces of their own experiences in these stories. Others are simply curious. And for people going through a divorce themselves, watching someone else navigate the same mess can make them feel less alone.

Alex Daly, a creator who shares her own divorce experience, has said followers have told her that her videos made them feel “normal”.

Researchers have also pointed to social media as a place where people can find communities around experiences that may be difficult to discuss in their offline lives. 

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Although a few men have posted similar content, women make up the vast majority of creators posting about divorce.

But when does sharing become oversharing?

This is where divorce-tok gets complicated. A breakup between two people can suddenly become content involving thousands or even millions of strangers. And unlike a bad date story told to your best friend, a TikTok can stick around.

Family-law experts have warned that public posts can potentially become relevant in divorce proceedings. There is also the question of children, who may eventually see their parents' most private moments online. 

Then there are the viewers who start choosing sides. The internet rarely has the full story. We get one person's version, usually condensed into a few minutes, and suddenly thousands of strangers are deciding who was the villain, who was the victim and whether someone should have left sooner. Real relationships are rarely that tidy.

Maybe divorce-tok is making an old subject easier to talk about

For years, divorce has carried plenty of stigma, particularly for women. Seeing people talk openly about leaving unhappy marriages, rebuilding their lives and finding happiness afterwards may make the subject less frightening.

It can also challenge the idea that the end of a marriage automatically means the end of someone's happiness.

But there is a line between making divorce less taboo and turning someone else's pain into entertainment. That line can be surprisingly easy to cross when the story comes with dramatic reveals, comment-section debates and a new episode every few days.

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Perhaps that is why divorce-tok has become so compelling. We are not just watching marriages end. We are watching people figure out what comes after. And maybe that is the part everyone secretly wants to know about and not why did they get divorced.