Episode 340: Feminism, Divorce, and The Legacy of Judy Blume with Rachelle Bergstein
The Divorce Survival Guide Podcast
Kate Anthony
4.4 • 573 Ratings
🗓️ 16 October 2025
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Judy Blume and feminism? Yes, please. Add in divorce… and we got ourselves a cool (albeit, a bit different) podcast episode this week!
I'm thrilled to welcome Rachelle Bergstein to the show, a lifestyle writer, bestselling author, and editor whose work explores the intersections of style, pop culture, and family. Her latest book, The Genius of Judy, takes us on an intimate and unflinching journey through Judy Blume's life and legacy, examining how her stories have shaped generations of women and girls while challenging cultural norms around gender, sexuality, and growing up.
Throughout this episode, we explore Judy's willingness to tell the truth when others wouldn't, along with her ability to normalize the experiences and emotions of childhood. We also discuss what her work continues to teach us about liberation, identity, and the messy, beautiful realities of life.
✨ If you'd like to watch the video version of this episode, you can find it here.
What you'll hear about in this episode:
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Judy's groundbreaking decision to write honestly about divorce, adolescence, and growing up (1:58)
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How It's Not the End of the World helped normalize divorce for children in the 1970s (16:10)
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The feminist brilliance of Judy Blume's book Forever (8:30)
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How the feminist movement influenced Judy's work (18:21)
Learn more about Rachelle Bergstein: Rachelle Bergstein is a lifestyle writer, bestselling author, and editor, focused on style, pop culture, and families. Her work has appeared in the New York Post, The New York Times, NPR, and more. She is the author of three books: Women from the Ankle Down, Brilliance and Fire, and The Genius of Judy. She lives with her husband and son in Brooklyn.
Resources & Links:
Focused Strategy Sessions with Kate
The Divorce Survival Guide Resource Bundle
Phoenix Rising: A Divorce Empowerment Collective
Kate on Instagram
Kate on Facebook
Kate's Substack Newsletter: Divorce Coaching Dispatch
The Divorce Survival Guide Podcast Episodes are also available YouTube!
Rachelle on Instagram
Rachelle's Substack
Rachelle's book, The Genius of Judy Blume
Judy Blume books as mentioned in this episode:
It's Not the End of the World
Forever
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
Just as Long as We're Together
Superfudge (part of the Fudge series)
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DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL OR PSYCHOLOGICAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY, COACH, OR THERAPIST IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN ADVICE WITH RESPECT TO ANY PARTICULAR ISSUE OR PROBLEM.
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Episode link: https://kateanthony.com/podcast/episode-340-feminism-divorce-and-the-legacy-of-judy-blume-with-rachelle-bergstein/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Judy just wanted to create a story to show children that if parents got divorced, it wasn't |
| 0:05.2 | the end of the world. |
| 0:06.0 | You know, the family would go on. |
| 0:08.0 | You know, what a cutting edge thing to do at that time to kind of normalize divorce for |
| 0:13.6 | children who probably felt very alone in that experience when their parents were splitting |
| 0:17.8 | up. |
| 0:21.9 | Welcome to the Divorce Survival Guide podcast, where we have open and honest conversations |
| 0:27.9 | about co-parenting, separation, divorce, and the hardest question of all, should you stay |
| 0:34.1 | or should you go? I'm Kate Anthony, your divorce survival guide, |
| 0:39.1 | and I'm here to help you navigate some of the roughest waters you've ever swum in |
| 0:43.4 | and answer some of your toughest questions. |
| 0:46.5 | I've been to hell and back, |
| 0:48.4 | and now it's my mission in life to help you get to the other side of this process |
| 0:53.2 | with your sanity and your heart intact. |
| 1:02.0 | Hey, everyone. Welcome back. I am super excited to bring you something a little bit different |
| 1:08.7 | from what we normally do. My guest today is |
| 1:12.1 | Rochelle Bergstein. She is a lifestyle writer, bestselling author, and editor. She focuses on |
| 1:17.8 | style, pop culture, and families. And she has written a book called The Genius of Judy and is out |
| 1:25.4 | in paperback right now. It is about Judy Bloom. |
| 1:29.1 | Rochelle wrote to me and said, I, you know, I'd love to be on the show to talk about |
| 1:33.8 | Judy Bloom and her work on divorce and also how she influenced the feminist movement |
| 1:42.3 | and also was influenced by it. I think there's a, |
... |
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