Relationship
‘I Left My Dream Husband, House & Job To Become Gay And Now Happy On My Own’
She found her true happiness.
Lauren Burgess was 35 when she decided that her perfect life with a good husband and career wasn’t right for her. Now 37, the gay traveler works as a business coach in California and fell into depression during the lockdown.
She spoke of her identity crisis with South West News Service, “I had the dream husband, house, dog, and career, but I started to realize something wasn’t right.”
“I saw people on social media talking openly about their sexuality, and something started to twig,” she continued.
“I went traveling in my van for a couple of weeks, and it all clicked — I realized I was gay.”
As it turns out, she’s previously experimented with women but never really gave it much thought. She commented, “It was just a bit of fun back then.”
Then things really got bad when the pandemic forced the states to go on lockdown. She recalled, “I could hardly get out of bed. [My ex-husband] Matt and I started having marriage therapy, and we discussed traveling, but all of a sudden he changed his mind and had the confidence to tell me that it wasn’t what he wanted.”
But she decided to go on the trip anyway and got a van from Craiglist. A few weeks later, everything clicked.
“I’d been seeing a lot of people on social media talking about their sexuality and I began to realize that I might be bisexual. But on the trip, it all clicked and I realized I was definitely gay.”
She came home to her 40-year-old then-husband Matt and told him her decision to end the marriage. She recalled feeling selfish about herself, “Telling Matt was really hard but he was supportive. But now I’m living my dream life traveling the world.”
They finally separated in February 2021 and she began traveling with their dog, Ted. She reached the West Coast and made a stop in Joshua Tree, California. When she returned in June 2022, she decided to go even further: Europe, leaving the dog Ted in Matt’s hands.
“It’s been amazing to explore Europe,” she spoke of her most recent adventure. “I’ve been to loads of cities like Copenhagen, Amsterdam and now I am in Lisbon.”
She still care for her ex and called him an “amazing person.”
“It’s been really hard, but I had to follow my dreams. I thought I was living the life of my dreams before but now I really am.”
