After separating from husband Roger Berman, the first person Rachel Zoe called was Jennifer Garner — she needed a good divorce lawyer.
The fashion designer revealed that no one knew she and Berman were splitting up at first, other than Garner, who has been her close friend since styling her at the 2003 Emmy Awards.
“Her reaction was so interesting and I’ll never forget it,” Zoe recalled during an appearance on Monday’s Inside Edit podcast. “She said, ‘You’re so tired,’ and I knew what she meant by that. And I was really exhausted.”
Garner ended up recommending celebrity divorce attorney Laura Wasser, whom she hired during her separation from Ben Affleck and who has also worked with Britney Spears, Kim Kardashian, and Johnny Depp.
Regarding her decision to end their 26-year marriage, the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star said, “(She) had more sad moments than happy ones, so I knew it was over.”
“I couldn’t go anywhere without this person, and I wanted to live without him,” she continued. “I started working on things alone or with friends. That was a symbol for me.”
Zoe explained that she had seen many of her friends “living separately from their husbands” and that these couples were “always going to divorce”, so when her lifestyle started to reflect that, she knew her relationship with the barman was over.
Zoe, 54, and Berman, 55, announced their separation in September 2024. The former couple have two sons, Skylar, 14, and Cassius, 10.
The Zoe Project alum said that “as soon as” she told her sons about the breakup, they told her:
The reality star also revealed on a January episode of “RHOBH” that “absolutely a million bad decisions” had led her to formally file for dissolution of their marriage in July 2025.
In a previous episode, the “Housewives” newcomer confessed that there were “a lot of reasons why[their]relationship was strained,” noting that “the biggest regret is probably working together.”
“I crossed a line. The person I was with all my adult life was, in many ways, unrecognizable,” she added. “Ultimately, I felt that this person was not appropriate to be around me or my children.”
