{"id":288233,"date":"2026-01-16T22:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T22:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/288233\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T22:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T22:08:12","slug":"a-haunting-voicemail-derailed-new-york-heiress-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/288233\/","title":{"rendered":"A haunting voicemail derailed New York heiress’ marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"

COVID-19 pandemic aside, nothing could have been going better in Flobelle ‘Belle’ Fairbanks Burden’s life; but then she received an earth-shattering call that changed everything.<\/p>\n

She had her own money, that was never the problem \u2014<\/strong> Burden descended from railroad tycoon Cornelius W. Vanderbilt, and her grandmother was socialite Babe Paley, whose only fault, according to Truman Capote, was that ‘she was perfect’ \u2014<\/strong> instead, what concerned her was that the family unit she had built came crashing down around her.<\/p>\n

Burden, 56, was married to financier Henry Davis, 60, for 20 years. They share three children.<\/p>\n

\"MARTHA'SMARTHA’S VINEYARD, EDGARTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES. Pic: Getty Images<\/p>\n

The mum-of-three bore her soul for a New York Times article in which she detailed the moment her life was derailed.<\/p>\n

Burden, Davis, and their two youngest children were sheltering from the pandemic at their swanky $4.7million holiday home in Martha’s Vineyard in early 2020.<\/p>\n

Though the stability and routine was ‘delightful’ at the beginning, Burden received a jarring call from an unknown number claiming her husband was having an affair with a 35-year-old woman.<\/p>\n

\"HenryHenry Davis and Bell Davis attend NEW YORKERS FOR CHILDREN Fall 2008 Gala. Pic: Getty Images<\/p>\n

In an excerpt from her upcoming memoir, Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, which was published in\u00a0The Times<\/a>, Burden recalls the haunting interaction.<\/p>\n

‘”I’m trying to reach Belle”,’ a man said in a voicemail. ‘”I’m sorry to tell you this, but your husband is having an affair with my wife”.’<\/p>\n

Trusting this stranger and that gut of hers, Burden confronted her husband about his infidelity. He allegedly admitted to having a relationship with a much younger woman whom he met through work.<\/p>\n

\"Pic:Pic: Belle Burden\/Instagram<\/p>\n

At first, Davis claimed the affair ‘meant nothing’, and was ‘over’, but the narrative quickly shifted. <\/p>\n

The New York heiress recalls her husband’s mistress attempting suicide after their relationship was uncovered. The next morning, Davis told her he wanted a divorce, packed a bag, and left for New York without so much as a ‘goodbye’ to their daughters.<\/p>\n

During a call made from New York, Davis allegedly told Burden: ‘”‘I thought I was happy but I’m not. I thought I wanted our life but I don’t.\u00a0I feel like a switch has flipped. I’m done.”‘<\/p>\n

\"SocietyPic: Belle Burden\/Instagram<\/p>\n

What came next was even more perturbing, as Davis said he didn’t want their Massachusetts home or New York apartment, and willingly handed over sole custody of their children to Burden.<\/p>\n

Burden, who was 50 at the time of the split, claims that one of the last things her estranged husband told her before he left was, ‘”You’ll be fine. You’re still young.”‘<\/p>\n

Shortly after fleeing Martha’s Vineyard, Davis ‘bought a sleek new Manhattan apartment, [and] hired a well-known divorce lawyer’. The new home was far too small to play host to their children; this was not a family apartment.<\/p>\n

\"BurdenBurden received a phone call while she was there, revealing her husband was having an affair. Pic: Google Maps<\/p>\n

‘I still thought he would want to make a home for his children, that he wouldn’t follow through on his decision to have no custody and no overnights,’ Burden said.<\/p>\n

Alas, Davis converted his second bedroom into a home office, leaving no space for visitors, and cementing his position as final.<\/p>\n

In her upcoming memoir, Burden mentions that Davis occasionally sees their three children for dinner and tennis matches, but hasn’t been involved in co-parenting.<\/p>\n

Burden remains their sole guardian, and claims there have been ‘no handovers or holidays since the day he left’.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COVID-19 pandemic aside, nothing could have been going better in Flobelle ‘Belle’ Fairbanks Burden’s life; but then she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,117,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-288233","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115907062237936246","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}