If you're a fan of the HBO show The Gilded Age, or if you're just fascinated about how

differently people lived their lives a mere 125 years ago, the story is for you. The dream of marriage

is that it's forever, but that's not always the case. Now, the thing is, today, if all goes well,

we dry our tears, sign some papers, and move on to a hopefully better life.

But that's actually a recent development.

In the real world of the 1800s, divorce was basically social suicide.

One very famous woman attempted to change that.

I'm Patty Steele.

Divorce Vanderbilt style. That's next on the backstory.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The backstory is back. It's always interesting to take a peek

inside the drama of other people's lives.

Makes us feel better about our own troubles, right? Part of the fun of watching the HBO show,

The Gilded Age, is the feeling that you're going back in time behind closed doors and getting a

sense of what that upper echelon lifestyle was like. The thing is, it wasn't without its downside.

Perfect example. The life of Alva Vanderbilt. She, of course, was the domineering mother of

Consuelo Vanderbilt, the young woman who was forced to marry an English duke, despite being

in love with another man. How does that happen?

Well, once again, it was a very different time. But putting Consuelo aside for one hot minute,

let's take a look at what was happening in Alva's life at the exact same time. In order to do that,

we have to go back to the beginning of the relationship between Alva

and her husband, William K. Vanderbilt. Alva married Willie in 1875. They had met just a few

months earlier at a Vanderbilt family party. Alva's best friend, Consuelo Yuznaga, introduced the

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