Burden, who chronicled the collapse of her marriage in her memoir Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, recently sat down with Molly Sims and co-host Emese Gormley on the podcast Lipstick on the Rim to speak candidly about what life looked like once the divorce was finalized.

A 12-Year-Old's Heartbreaking Request

Of their three children, two were somewhat shielded from the immediate fallout — their oldest was staying with friends, and their middle child was away at boarding school. But their youngest daughter, just 12 years old at the time, had one simple wish: a bedroom at her dad's new apartment.

"She was sending him links on Pottery Barn for her room," Burden recalled. The response she got back was not what any child should hear. Davis, according to Burden, made it clear that he was finished with that chapter of his life — the homework, the dinners, the daily routines of raising a child. He wanted none of it.

He moved into a two-bedroom apartment. The spare room became a home office.

"I Don't Want Any of It"

The distance Davis put between himself and his family didn't happen gradually. It happened like a light switch being flipped.

Shortly after leaving, he told Burden plainly: "You can have the house and the apartment. You can have custody of the kids. I don't want it. I don't want any of it."

Burden, still holding out hope that he would come to his senses, had her lawyer draw up a 50/50 custody agreement. When Davis sent it back, it had been stripped of nearly everything — no vacations, no holidays, no weeks during the summer. What remained was a single Thursday night dinner.

During their marriage, Davis had always kept his distance from the daily grind of parenting, often joking that he didn't "do bath, bed or homework." He had still been present in other ways — special outings, trips, moments that mattered. But after the divorce, even that version of fatherhood disappeared.

"Something Broke in Me"

When Sims pressed Burden on whether Davis had ever offered an explanation for his withdrawal, she shared the most honest answer he had ever given her.

"He said, 'I felt like a switch went off. Something broke in me. It's not your fault. I wish I had an answer for you.'"

It wasn't much. But it was all she got.

Burden described it as watching an actor walk off a stage mid-performance. "He was playing this role of husband and father, and he wanted to play it, and he was all in. And then, like an actor on a stage, he just was like, 'I'm done with this role' — takes off the costume, leaves the stage."

The Children Are Navigating It Better Than Anyone Should Have To

Despite everything, Burden says her children have handled the situation with a maturity that both impresses and breaks her heart.

"They love him, and they're protective of him," she said. They've even learned to reach out to him on his own terms — suggesting activities he's comfortable with, like going to a hockey game — rather than asking for the kind of presence he's made clear he can't offer.

But as their mother, Burden carries the weight of having to explain an unexplainable reality to her kids. She remembers telling her youngest daughter directly: "Your dad — I don't know why — but he can't create a home for you right now. And that has to do with him, and that's not you."

For bigger moments — like when their son needed surgery — Davis did show up. But for the everyday challenges of raising children, Burden said his response was typically one of irritation rather than involvement.

A Story That Struck a Nerve

After the story was covered by The New York Times — a piece Davis reportedly signed off on — Burden noted that he seemed genuinely surprised by the public reaction. As Sims put it, "the whole world, every woman in America hates you" wasn't quite the response he had anticipated.

Burden suggested he may have simply not seen anything wrong with his choices. "You're a man, you're allowed to leave in this way," she said, describing what she believed was his mindset at the time.

Her memoir, and now this podcast appearance, suggest otherwise.