This American Life host Ira Glass filed for divorce from his wife of 16 years, Anaheed Alani, on Monday, April 17, according to court documents obtained by New York Daily News.
The radio and podcast personality, 58, shared that the couple had “separated a few years ago” in a March 17 broadcast of This American Life. Glass and Alani tied the knot in 2005, and lived in Chicago before moving to Manhattan. They don’t share any children.
Glass hinted that it was tough to balance their relationship and two successful careers in a May 2016 interview. ”I think it’s hard to figure out, on a week to week way, how to spend time,” he told The Guardian. “How to divide it up between the people you like, and the people you love, and the things you want to do — and the things you said ‘yes’ to but now you can’t get out of, but they seemed like a good idea at the time.”
He continued, “The honest answer to your question is that I think Anaheed and I could do this whole thing better, and that we’re a terrible role model for anyone. We muddle our way through, for sure. And we’ve been together for 20 years — but it’s hard on us. I feel like I know other people who manage it way, way better.”
The broadcaster added that they’ve been getting marriage counseling for years. “We’ve been going to marriage counseling every week since before we were married,” he said. “It helps to have a neutral party to just stand back and say, ‘OK, you shut up — what are you saying?’ ‘OK, listen, when she says this, she means this, and when he says this, what he means is this.’ And we’re both like, ‘Oh! Right!’”
