- - Rachel Zoe Breaks Down Decision to End 26-Year Marriage to Rodger Berman: 'I 100% Should Have Left Sooner' (Exclusive)

Brianne TracyNovember 26, 2025 at 6:28 PM

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Rachel Zoe and Rodger Berman -

Rachel Zoe is opening up to PEOPLE about her split from her husband of 26 years Rodger Berman

She says she and her ex had become different people in the time leading up to their separation in September 2024

She admits that "in hindsight" she "100%" should have "left sooner"

Rachel Zoe is getting candid about her split from her husband of 26 years Rodger Berman.

The celebrity stylist-turned-fashion mogul, 54, tells PEOPLE that she and her ex had become different people in the time leading up to their separation in September 2024.

"I was done. I was really done," says Zoe, who filed for divorce in July. "I don't suffer from guilt of not having given it everything I could have. I don't suffer from that, and I don't suffer from feeling like it was a failed marriage. Having been married for 26 years, I would say that three-quarters of that was amazing."

Zoe and Berman, 57, first met in 1991, while they were both students at George Washington University. They got married in 1998 and share two sons: Skyler, 14, and Kaius, 11.

Zoe says she realized the relationship had become fractured when she started "to question decisions" and realized that she and Berman didn't agree "on what certain outcomes should be."

"I started to feel like this may not be the most advantageous situation for our children," she says. "For me for the last 14 years, literally every breath I take is for my kids. So every decision I make, every lens that I look through is through a lens of my children, of what are they going to think? What are they going to say? How will this affect them? I have never felt that people should live together and stay together unhappy."

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Rachel Zoe and Rodger Berman with sons Kaius and Skyler

Zoe admits that "in hindsight" she "100%" should have "left sooner."

"I think if you ask any woman who has left a situation, they would probably say that they probably should have done it sooner," she says. "But it is what it is. At the end of the day, I ultimately did what's best for the kids. I think that having two parents that love them is more important than having two parents together that maybe shouldn't be together anymore."

The newest cast member of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Zoe opens up about her divorce on the upcoming season 15 of the show premiering Dec. 4. By sharing her story, she hopes "to help as many women as possible."

"I mean, probably at least 30% of the women in my life are going through a separation or a divorce," she says. "The question I kept getting asked and still get asked is: ‘Why am I so okay coming out of a relationship that really transcended my entire adult life?’ It's because I'm independent — financially, professionally and socially. I think that there isn't enough emphasis put on the importance of that.”

“Ironically, something came across my feed this morning with Reese Witherspoon doing an interview talking about just that: how critical it is for women to be independent,” she continues. “You have to have your own things to wake up for every day. I think because of that, when I made the decision to leave my marriage, it was like, okay, next. No matter what life throws at you, you have to be able to stand up on your own. You just have to.”

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Rachel Zoe

If there's one thing Zoe is measured about, it's questions about the timeline of Berman's relationship with girlfriend Bree Jacoby, whom he was first photographed with four months after he and Zoe split, and whether there was any crossover in the relationships.

"I don't know that I can answer that really," Zoe says. "Listen, the timeline's the timeline. And again, everything I answer is through a lens of what my children will see and hear. It is what it is. Whether or not they're together now, I don't really know. Life is wild, and I can say it takes a whole lot to really shock me."

Right now, Zoe says her relationship with Berman "depends on the day."

"I think I need time, and I need space," she says. "At this point in my life, I'm doing anything to protect my peace and happiness. I can say that it's been certainly the most freeing, transformative time in my life. Of course, there's brutal days. Don't get me wrong. There's hard days. But those days are usually because I'm very overwhelmed. I mom so hard, and I work so hard, and there's always been a lack of self-care and me time."

In this next chapter, Zoe says she's "absolutely dating" and considering what she wants for her next relationship.

"It's incredibly fun," she says. "To be honest, that wasn't hard for me to get into. It really wasn't. I think this era for me is just freedom. Anyone who comes into my life or our lives is only going to be someone that adds value in terms of making me laugh, making me smile and really just making sense. It'll have to feel organic and natural to who I am now."

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 15 will premiere Dec. 4 on Bravo, with episodes available to stream the next day on Peacock.

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”