Woman’s shock to discover ‘divorce party’ stripper is a familiar face

It’s a widely understood statistic that one in three marriages end in divorce. Here in Australia, there were 40,032 divorces in 2017 alone – that’s definitely not a small number.

But along with divorces come a whole bunch of other things, including the rise of the ‘divorce party.’ It’s a party where you get together with your best mates, and celebrate the end of a relationship – usually in the same manner you celebrated going into it.

I like to think of divorce parties as anti-bachelor/ette parties. Friends, drinks... Strippers?

Perth mum-of-two, Rachael, 38, decided that she was going to throw herself and her friends such a party after her lengthy separation battle from her partner of eight years.

“It wasn’t negative there was no name bashing, it was really not focussing on him at all,” Rachael told 9Honey.

“When I looked into divorce parties there was a lot of that, there was a lot of games that involved burning of photos or, playing games that involved bagging the ex.

“Mine wasn’t about that, mine was about me moving forward with my life in a positive way.”

Although the pair were never actually married, they were together eight years and had two children together.

“Separation party just didn’t sound as good so I called it divorce party, we may as well have been married!” joked the now-single mum.

With the help of her sister and cousin, Rachael planned the ultimate girls night with 25 of her closest friends at her place, complete with a cake that donned a “thankyou, next” topper, cupcakes that said “just divorced” and even a male entertainer.

However, in a strange twist of fate the male entertainer turned out to be somebody that Rachael knew.

“I went on [the entertainer website] and said, you can’t pick this guy because he looks like the guy who’s trained me at the gym previously, anyone but him,” Rachael recounted.

On the night, the entertainer they chose pulled out half an hour before he was meant to come, so the company organised to send a replacement.

“I thought, ‘Could it be my trainer? Ah no, it wouldn’t be. What are the chances?’

“He walked in and it was him.”

Rachael says that the main reason for her party was to thank all of her wonderful friends for their support and help during the separation.

“I got a chance to say a speech in front of my friends, to say thank you because for the past two years they were there for me consistently, always,” Rachael said.

“Helping me with my kids, helping me get them to dancing to school and looking after them for me.”

Rachael shared her party in a single mums support group and was overwhelmed by the response, with many women congratulating her and labelling her an inspiration for celebrating the momentous occasion in a positive life.

The single mum says the party was an awesome way to mark the end of a chapter in her life, and she feels finally at peace with the end of her relationship.

“I feel good about my separation, it’s been a positive for me,” Rachael said.

“I’m happy it’s all over and I’m happy with my life now.”