The granddaughter of the iconic socialite Babe Paley, Flobelle ‘Belle’ Burden, has come forward with allegations of verbal abuse from her husband following his decision to leave her for a significantly younger woman. The revelation paints a grim picture of emotional turmoil in the aftermath of marital betrayal.
At 56, Burden recounts how her now-ex-husband, 60-year-old hedge fund manager Henry Davis, reacted with hostility after Burden’s stepmother, Susan Burden, 78, reached out to him. Susan’s text message implored Davis to act honorably after his illicit relationship with a 35-year-old colleague became public knowledge.
In her candid divorce memoir, “Strangers,” Burden shares the details of Davis’s response. She writes, “He was livid. He texted me saying that Susan’s message had prompted him to continue his affair and that, because of her interference, he would leave me with nothing.”
The unraveling of Davis’s affair came to light in March 2020, a time when he and Burden were isolating at their lavish $7.5 million estate, Meadowpath, on Martha’s Vineyard. This home, purchased in 2005 with funds from one of Burden’s trust funds, was meant to be a sanctuary for the couple.
The revelation of infidelity came unexpectedly one evening when Burden missed a phone call, only to discover a voicemail from a man claiming that his wife was involved with her husband. The shocking message marked the beginning of the end for Burden’s marriage.
Faced with the truth, Davis confessed to the affair, initially downplaying its significance. However, by the next morning, he had a change of heart and chose to terminate their marriage, leaving Burden to navigate the emotional fallout alone.
He told Burden she could have custody of their three children and headed back to the couple’s $12 million 25th floor apartment in New York’s Tribeca district.
Burden is the daughter of Amanda Burden, the former director of the New York City Department of Planning, with her late father Shirley Carter Burden Jr. the great-great-great grandson of Gilded Age railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt. She is also exceptionally close her stepmother Susan, who was Shirley’s second wife.
Belle Burden (right) says ex-husband Henry Davis (center) vowed to continue her affair after her stepmother Susan Burden (left) pleaded with him to behave honorably after his cheating was exposed (pictured in 2008)
Burden has detailed the breakdown of her marriage and its aftermath in her explosive new memoir Strangers
Burden’s maternal grandparents are iconic socialite Babe Paley and Paley’s first husband Stanley G Mortimer, one of the heirs to the Standard Oil Fortune.
The heiress says she has always been keenly aware of her privilege but kept a low public profile and felt happiest while helping others.
She began dating Davis in 1998 after meeting him at white shoe law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, where the pair were both attorneys.
Burden and Davis wed at the Hamptons home of her stepmother the following year, in a ‘slinky satin’ dress personally designed for her by family friend Calvin Klein.
Their nuptials were featured in The New York Times.
Burden, who now works as a pro-bono immigration lawyer to help vulnerable families, says she was convinced her marriage to Davis was a happy one – and that its sudden implosion blindsided her.
His second outburst of callousness directly targeted Burden’s gilded upbringing, she wrote.
It happened in September 2020, six months after the split, when Davis formally filed for divorce and demanded the enforcement of a pre-nuptial agreement whose terms were very favorable to him.
Davis and Burden are pictured in 2008, a decade after they first met. Burden says the exposure of Davis’s affair and his decision to end their marriage in March 2020 caught her by surprise
The couple were sheltering at their $7.5 million Martha’s Vineyard compound called Meadowpath (pictured) in March 2020 when the husband of Davis’s mistress called Burden to tell her what was happening
Burden’s paternal grandmother is iconic socialite Babe Paley (pictured in 1948). She is also a descendant of railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt
Burden is pictured with her daughter Georgia, 21, last month. She says ex-husband Henry Davis told her that he did not want custody of their three children after their divorce
Burden says receiving the letter sent her into a tailspin and prompted her to angrily phone Davis.
She lost her temper and demanded to know why Davis had left her, prompting him to answer: ‘I didn’t leave you. I changed residences.’
Bursting into tears, Burden says she challenged Davis, telling him that he had left her to continue his affair and to care for their two daughters while dealing with COVID alone.
Writing in her book, she continued: ‘He said in a singsong voice, like a taunting child, “Boo-hoo. Poor Belle. Always the victim.
‘”You were in a nice house on Martha’s Vineyard. You had everything you needed. I paid my share of the bills. What was so hard about that?”‘
Burden is pictured opening a box containing copies of her divorce memoir Strangers in her $12 million Tribeca apartment
Much of the action in Burden’s memoir Strangers takes place in Martha’s Vineyard (pictured) where Burden’s marriage ended and where she began to come to terms with her divorce
Burden said she knew that she was indeed ‘more privileged’ than ninety-nine percent of the world’ but was stunned that her estranged husband was now wielding the privilege he had also benefitted from as a weapon against her.
The couple’s divorce was finalized in summer 2021.
Burden says she became a virtual recluse during the first few months of her life as a singleton.
She said COVID lockdowns afforded her the privacy to go for long walks on Martha’s Vineyard where she ‘screamed in the woods’ ‘cried openly’ on sidewalks and ‘lay down on the cold sand of the beach, midwalk, in anguish.’
Burden told of how many of the couple’s former friends turned away from her in the wake of her split and said she initially dreaded going back to the ritzy tennis club she and Davis had joined together.
In June 2023, Burden published a searing piece about Davis’s departure in The New York Times smash-hit Modern Love column titled Was I Married to a Stranger?, with Davis’s approval.
It caused a sensation and Burden began writing the book that would become Strangers shortly afterwards.
