What Is Grey Divorce? Factors Contributing To The Rising Trend Of Couples Parting Ways After 50

What is grey divorce?: Who would have thought that after meeting your person, falling in love, introducing yourself to each other's families, getting married, building lives together, and spending more than a decade in marriage, divorce could still happen?

With many high-profile celebrities such as Aamir Khan-Kiran Rao, Hrithik Roshan -Sussanne Khan, A. R. Rahman-Saira Banu, etc., ending their decade-long marriages, the question ‘What is grey divorce?’ has resurfaced.

Also read: Grey Divorce: AR Rahman Makes It To The List After Honey Singh, Jayam Ravi, Urmila Matondkar

Let’s delve deeper into what grey divorce means and the factors contributing to this rising trend in India.

What is grey divorce?

Grey divorce refers to the increasing trend of grey-haired couples who decide to divorce later in life typically after the age of 50 following a long-lasting marriage.

In a grey divorce, although some people go through legal proceedings to divorce their partners, many choose to live in separate houses and continue with their normal life activities.

What are the factors of divorce after a long-lasting relationship?

A licensed couples and sex therapist, Kate Engler tells Verywell Mind, a mental health publication, "The majority of all divorces are initiated by women, and this is true for grey divorce as well." She explains, “In the last 50 years, women have gained greater economic independence and have held and maintained their own careers. This has created more options for women on many fronts, including deciding to divorce.”

The leading mental health site also reports that, besides societal changes, factors contributing to the rise in divorce later in life include infidelity, changing expectations, growing apart from partners, mismatched financial behaviour, children leaving home (resulting in empty nest syndrome), and health problems.