Betrayal Weekly - Kimberly | Betrayal Weekly

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

Her ex-husband seemed to have eyes and ears everywhere.   If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team, email us at [e-mail] and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod  To access our newsletter and additional content and to connect with the Betrayal community, join our Substack at betrayal.substack.com.     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Vodam. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot.

But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the, cat, just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Dr. Maya Shunker, a cognitive scientist and hosts of the podcast, a slight change of plans, a show about who we are and who we become when life makes other plans. I wish that I hadn't

resisted for so long the need to change. We have to be willing to live with a kind of uncertainty that none of us likes. You can have opinions. You can have like a strong stance. And then there's your body having its own program. Listen to a slight change of plans on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's Financial Literacy Month, and the podcast, Eating While Broke, is bringing real conversations about money, growth, and building your future. This month, hear from top streamer, Zoe Spencer,

and venture capitalist Lakeisha Landrum Pierre, as they share their journeys from starting out to leveling up. There's an economic component to communities thriving. If there's not enough money and entrepreneurship happening in communities, they failed. Listen to Eating While Broke from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. On a recent episode of the podcast, Money and Wealth with John Hobrient, I sit down with Tiffany the budgetista aliche to talk about what it really takes to take control of your money.

What would that look like in our families if everyone was able to pass on wealth to the people when they're no longer here? We break down budgeting, financial discipline, and how to build real wealth, starting with the mindset shifts. Too many of us were never, ever taught. If you've ever felt you didn't get the memo on money, this conversation is for you to hear more. Listen to money and wealth with John Hope. Ryan from the Black Effect Network on the I'd Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, betrayal fans, I have exciting news to share. Season 3 of betrayal is now a docu-series on Hulu. It's the gripping story of Stacey Tyler and the doctor who betrayed them. See the voices you've

come to know in betrayal under his eye, streaming now on Hulu. Before we start this episode, I want to let you know that this episode is Gus's suicide and its effects. Please take care while listening. He was just constantly chasing, chasing the next thing. No car he bought was fast enough. No house we bought was big enough. The more money and more success that he had that almost turned him into this monster. I'm Andrea Gunning and this is betrayal, a show about the people we trust the most and the deceptions that change everything. Today we are telling Kimberly's story. She grew, grew up in rural Pennsylvania where her parents owned their own hair salon.

They didn't have a lot of money, but they were determined to show Kimberly the world. My parents would save up money and take us to New York and go see Phantom of the Opera and Le Miserables. So we backpacked through Europe and we went to like every single national park in the United States. Kimberly's parents taught her that no dream was too big. I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to be a journalist. I wanted to write a book. I wanted to be a veterinarian. And I remember my father used to say, I don't ever worry about you.

I just know that you're going to always succeed and always land on your feet because you just have that determination. Nobody and her family had gone to college, but Kimberly decided she wanted to be the first. So she enrolled in a small liberal arts school for women. I was prepared academically, but I was not prepared to be moved into this group

of very affluent young women. Many of them have come from boarding schools and they brought their own horses to campus. I would go to classes and some of my classmates would be wearing pearls. That was her first exposure to the world of wealth and connections. Kimberly realized that if she wanted to make it as far as her classmates, she'd have to make her own way. She graduated with an English degree and she got hired at a publishing house in Washington, D.C.

I loved my job in publishing. I was always getting to read and read all these manuscripts and see everybody's articles. It was the 90s. D.C. was an exciting place for Kimberly to explore. A few months after she moved to the city, my friend was throwing a Halloween party, and I was actually dressed up as Carmen Miranda.

I had a fruit basket on my head and a parrot. There was a guy across the room who kept making eye contact with her. He was cute. And he came over and he was like, I like your fruit basket. And it was just endearing. It was quite the icebreaker. His name was Tim. He was blonde, blue eyes.

Just something about him. I just was like, oh, he's really, really cute. They started chatting. He'd also just graduated college and moved to D.C. He was an only child from small. rural town in Georgia. They had mutual friends. Kimberly's roommate knew Tim.

My roommate was like, he's a great guy. Everyone knows him. He's really wonderful. He asked for my number, and I gave it to him. He called me shortly after that and said, I would like to see you again. Would you have any interest in going on a date? She said yes. He had two tickets to a black tie event for the opening of the Russian embassy. The Russian embassy was just fantastic.

I was like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. You know, free drinks and free food and everyone's beautiful and dressed up in gowns and tuxedos. I remember everything being kind of dark but lit up in like a lot of crystal. And they had shots of vodka, like tables and tables of vodka. I had this handsome young man in front of me and I was really impressed. It was such a far cry from where I had come from. It was a whirlwind night.

She and Tim tried new things like caviar and expensive alcohol. You could tell he was like me. He also felt a little out of his comfort zone. We fit in, but we didn't. And I think that was something that really drew us to each other. Tim was in D.C. to make a name for himself. And like Kimberly, he had gotten there on his own merits. Tim worked for a senator, and he specialized in technology and agriculture.

He also had to drive the senator regularly, so he was his personal chauffeur and had breakfast with him, things like that. They began exploring DC together, and the Black Tie events continued. For their next date, Tim took Kimberly to a party at the National Post Office. This is this amazing building. It's huge, and it has this marble entry. And you just walk in and they had live bands and all this wonderful food. And you'd be hobnobbing. with congressman. I remember meeting Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

She had just been confirmed, and they were holding a private meet and greet with her. Tim loved how ambitious Kimberly was. He was her biggest cheerleader. I never felt that he was intimidated by that or my drive for success. He was just so proud of me, and he would always say,

I'm really proud of you. You're doing so great. That admiration was mutual. Kimberly and Tim always wanted to be around each other. Their black tie dates turned to dinners and long conversations. They met each other's friends and families. Our relationship got serious pretty quickly and we dated for two and a half years. After a year together, Tim made his intentions really clear. He told me that I was the woman for him and he knew right off the bat that we were just made for each other and that I was the love of his life.

and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. He said, I really want to take you to this great restaurant. It's the Inn of Little Washington. It's right outside of D.C. And at that point, I was like, I think he's going to propose. It was just such a beautiful dinner. The whole dinner went by, and he didn't propose. I was like, well, maybe I just got it wrong.

Maybe he just really wanted to go to this place. And then he put his hand on his heart, and he said, I don't feel good. I was like, oh, are you okay? Because we ate so much rich food and, like, we're drinking. And it's like, yeah, there's something that's like poking me in my chest. And I was like, do you may call a doctor? Like, what's going?

Like, were you okay? And he's like, he pulled out a box. And he opened it up. And he said, I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me? I was like, oh. Because I already thought he was like dying. And then, you know,

That was what he proposed. And I just, I said, yes, yes. I'm glad you're okay, yes. I just remember going to sleep that night, just so happy and so excited. I remember just feeling so over the moon and just excited to start my life with this man. She and Tim saved up and paid for their own wedding. We got married in 1998. His dad officiated the wedding.

I know we had a really fun Louisiana New Orleans band. And everybody was just having the best time and everyone was dressed up and dancing. As they settled into married life, they tried to save money wherever they could. DC is so expensive. We were trying to put every single cent we could into our future. And because we worked so close together downtown, we would meet for lunch. And I would pack us a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We would split a Diet Coke and eat an orange.

And that's all we could really afford. Eventually, Kimberly got a new job in the tech industry, and she supported them financially while Tim started an MBA program. He went to graduate school full-time, so I worked full-time and paid the bills. Also put money aside to pay off his tuition. So I was supporting the two of us and working like a dog. And I never just like sleeping with my Blackberry next to my pillow and I'd hear it beep and I'd be like, oh, what's it saying? You know, I just, I never slept. My nickname was the ballbuster because I wasn't afraid of anybody.

And here I am five foot two. Sitting across the room in a board meeting with CEO of these big companies, it taught me not to be afraid of anything. Tim's first job out of grad school was at a Fortune 500 company in the healthcare industry. Now that they had two incomes again, they could finally begin to save money for their future. That's when Tim got really strategic about their savings. He studied the stock market like it was the most fascinating thing he had ever seen. He just was reading up on how to invest all the time. And he began day trading. And he was making a lot of money from this. And he

didn't spend a lot of money. And then the company that he was working for, for kept promoting him. So we were basically putting his entire salary in the bank, and we were living off of my income. By the time they were 29, their financial situation had completely changed. The days of splitting peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were far behind them. I remember seeing half a million dollars in our bank account, and just that's a lot of money. I think that for him, that was the turning point. He saw how quickly he made the money.

so much money and how that was investing and how it compounded. It was just like the dream come true. And that's when I decided I'm ready to have children. Tim was ready to grow their family too. He was so excited. He was really sweet. He took care of me. Kimberly gave birth to their first child, a baby girl.

First time mom, I was so happy and just that motherly glow. He tagged teamed with me. We worked out a system where I would breastfeed her at like 8 o'clock and then go straight to sleep. And I would sleep until about 2 or 3. He would wake me up for her next feeding. And then I would go back to sleep again. And he would go to sleep. Tim made it clear.

They were in this together. Soon they found their groove as parents. They had a second daughter and then a third. Tim was climbing the ladder as a health care executive. 15 years into their marriage, he was making enough for Kimberly to quit her job and focus on parenting. He was making a ton of money at that point.

He was a senior vice president. Tim often traveled for work. And while it put a strain on their relationship, Kimberly still felt connected to him. Their romance was still there. We still were going on date nights, and we had this amazing babysitter. And so we would go out every other Saturday,

sometimes even every Saturday and do date night. So we were still very much getting along. Now that they had extra income, Tim wanted to spend it. He's like, we're buying a house in the mountains for vacation. It was a cabin in the mountains of Western North Carolina. It was a magical place. And the kids, we bunked them all up in one bunk room. And we would boat and paddleboard and canoe.

we hiked every single trail and saw every single waterfall and went up there for Thanksgiving and had campfires, making s'mores and going fishing. It was so peaceful and so sweet. The Mountain House became a place where Kimberly and her kids really bonded. But as time went on, Kimberly felt a distance growing between her and her husband. We stopped talking to each other at nighttime, like, bye, have a good night, you know, how are the kids today? We stopped doing that. And that's where I knew I'm like, we are growing so far apart. That's when the pandemic hit. We decided to go up to the mountains and spend it there because it was scary.

We're like, well, we might as well go where there's nobody. And we can continue doing our quiet, isolated routine up there. It was a frightening time. Like many people, Kimberly was worried about how the pandemic would affect her daughters. I was definitely stressed. But I didn't want my kids to see. see that. I was like, we're going to be fine. But Tim, on the other hand, wasn't fine. Tim was manic. It was almost as though he was jailed. He was one of those individuals that did not

handle the pandemic well. He had been flying and traveling and all of a sudden everything stops. And he didn't know what to do with himself. And he became very angry. All of a sudden, little things started to set Tim off. And it just became this daily. fight. This is the first time I'd ever seen him behave like this. I had never seen him so restless and so angry. He was never an angry person. Like, we rarely thought, you know, we were always very calm the way we communicated. And all of a sudden we saw this behavior and we're like, who is this person? I felt like he was just losing his mind. As the pandemic went on, Tim continued having angry outbursts, acting strange, and drinking excessively.

He was pouring what I would call buckets of bourbon and buckets of vodka, and then would open up a bottle of wine. One night while they were watching a movie, Kimberly noticed that Tim was engrossed in his phone. He wasn't watching the movie, and I saw him scrolling through a website, and I saw lots of pictures of women. and I said, it looks like you're really interested in what you're looking at. What are you looking at exactly? And he said, oh, I have this headhunter that keeps bugging me to take this other position. And I was like, okay, I said, well, it looks like there's a lot of women on your phone. I said, would you rather watch that and look at your phone than watch the movie we're watching?

And he was like, no, I don't know what you're talking about. You don't understand. I'm working so hard. And he got really angry with me, but he put his phone down. And that's when I started really paying attention to what was going on in my house. I was like, okay, start looking. Everyone, I'm Ego Wodom. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network, it's Will Ferrell.

My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was, like, and dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come, look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved.

And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck.

Listen to Thanks Dad on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games. You get stupid prizes. And Rule 2, never mess with her friends either. We always say that, trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends...

Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed I will be his last target.

He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. You can have opinions. You can have like a strong stance. And then there's your body having its own program. I'm Dr. Maya Shunker, a cognitive scientist and hosts of the podcast, a slight change of plans,

a show about who we are and who we become when life makes other plans. We share stories and scientific insights to help us all better navigate these periods of turbulence and transformation. There is one finding that is consistent, and that is that our resilience rests on our relationships. I wish that I hadn't resisted for so long the need to change. We have to be willing to live with a kind of uncertainty that none of us likes. Listen to a slight change of plans on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, Ernest, what's up? Look, money is something we all deal with, but financial literacy is what helps turn income into real wealth.

On each episode of the podcast, Earn Your Leisure, we break down the conversations you need to understand money, investing, and entrepreneurship. From stocks and real estate to credit, business, and generational wealth, we translate complex financial topics into real conversations everyone can understand. because the truth is, most people will never taught how money really works. But once you understand the system, you can start to build within it. That means ownership, smarter investing,

and creating opportunities not just for yourself, but for the next generation. If you want to learn how to build wealth, understand the markets, and think like an owner, earn your leisure is the podcast for you. Listen to earn your leisure on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. While Kimberly and her family, quarantined in their mountain house, she started noticing changes in her husband. He was being secretive, even aggressive. One night, she thought she saw photos of women on her husband's phone, and it kind of looked like a dating site.

He said it was something for work, but she wasn't convinced. So I went into his suitcases, and I started digging through his personal effects, his toilet tree bag. I started going through his... desk and going through his clothes, didn't find anything. Went through his golf bag, nothing.

She kept coming up empty. Kimberly started to think maybe everything was fine after all. Maybe she was just getting in her own head. But then, her eyes landed on one final bag she had missed in her search, Tim's gym bag. And I put my hands in it and I was feeling around that I didn't feel anything. And then I noticed there was a zippered compartment on the side. and I opened it up, and there was a treasure trove of Viagra, condoms, lubes, sex toys, and they were not mine.

I was like, oh, my God, what did I just see? What did I just find? Everything I had always feared, he was cheating on me. She couldn't confront Tim right away, because she had to drive her daughters to their dentist appointments. So she drove across town in a daze. And I'm sitting there in the dentist office. And then I start to cry. And the dental hygienist comes out. And she was like, I need to ask you questions about your children's teeth.

And I remember just like, teeth? What are you talking about? I couldn't make sense of anything in my world at that point. And she kept like asking me questions. Like do your kids, you know, they need to have their x-rays done. I'm like, fine. Take their x-rays. And she was like, well, and they probably need a floor.

I'm like, get to him. What are you asking? She finally, she's like, are you okay? And I'm crying, and I couldn't get the words out of my mouth. My husband's cheating on me. It just felt so impossible. Later that evening, when they were back home, Kimberly went into Tim's office where he was sitting at his desk. I said, I need to talk to you. I placed the box in front of him, and I said, I need you to explain this to me. And then I just went quiet. The blood just rushed out of his face. And he just whispered, let's take this into the bedroom so we have some privacy.

We went in there and I sat on the bed and he started pacing. I said, I need you to explain this. And he said, it's a mistake. I said, who is she? His wheels were turning. He didn't know what to say to me. At the time, what I didn't know was he was trying to find the right lies.

He finally said her name was Anna. I said, where did you meet? And he said, the Whole Foods down the street. I said, oh, I said, how old is she? And I was very calm, and so was he. But when he said she was 21, 22, I felt sick. Our oldest daughter was 18. that's not too far off in age.

And I said, you had sex with her. And he was like, yes. I was so angry because I'm like, here we are during the pandemic, holling up, wearing masks on our face, like not communicating with anybody, not seeing our friends. And you're having sex with a cashier from Whole Foods.

Somebody you don't even know. And he was like, yes. And I said, you just betrayed me in every single sense. and I need you to leave. He checked into a hotel. Kimberly was in shock. I don't remember the rest of the day. I just stared at my ceiling most of that night.

After weeks in a hotel, Tim started trying to win her back, buying her expensive gifts, apologizing profusely, and promising that he'd change. And he's just like, I love you so much. I just love you.

I want to help you with the kids and what can I do? I want to make up. Kimberly agreed to let him move back in, and they tried to make it work. But she suspected that there was more he wasn't telling her. She wanted him to fully come clean. Whenever she would bring it up,

he kept changing his story. So she decided to find the truth herself. There was one place she had it looked, his computer. And that's when I started investigating him. I started logging into his computers. And I learned that my Tim, who I thought was this stand-up amazing executive father of my children,

was a sugar daddy. He had been paying young women to have sex with him. It first started with him paying their bills. I'll give you money for rent. And then it went to him just paying them. The realization was sinking in. This was something she'd only seen on TV or in the movies. Not something that happened in real life.

But here she was. Finding out her husband was a sugar daddy. A sugar daddy that paid younger women for sex, paid for their lifestyle, financially supported their ventures, and gave them romantic gifts in return for sexual favors. He was doing it all online. There are websites for this where men can find their sugar baby.

Tim was using them. and he was using their money, money that could have gone to their kids, their education, their home, and instead he was spending it on other women. Kimberly began looking at their bank statements. I saw all these sums of money going out. I estimated he spent about $40,000 on sex workers in the course of a year and a half. He would take it out in $500 increments, sometimes $1,000. It depends on if he was having a threesome.

He would meet up with them in a hotel close to where our daughters went to school, and he would spend a few hours with them, smoke some weed, and then pick our children up in Carpool and bring them home. Tim had another life online, one where he was constantly looking for his next sexual experience or his next sugar baby. Sometimes they were one-off rendezvous, $500 in cash for a meetup. But other times, he continued the relationship and sent thousands of dollars to women, money for them to start businesses or pay their bills.

As Kimberly looked through the digital trail, she realized this was almost an obsession. It had consumed his life and so much of the family's money. I confronted him with all of this. And this time I had more than a box. He just started telling me. He's like, I have a hole. that I can't fill. And he said, no matter what I do to try to fill that hole,

I cannot seem to fill it. And he said, I've tried with work. I've tried with golf. I've tried with buying the house in the mountains and hiking and doing all these things. Nothing fills that hole. And he takes his fist and starts beating himself as hard as he can in the face repeatedly,

like punching himself in the eye and in the forehead. He kept saying, I'm so fucked up. I'm so fucked up. I don't even know who I am. I'm so fucked up. And I remember just screaming. I was like, oh, my God. Like, I had never seen him violent.

I had never seen him behave like this. And I grabbed his arm. And I was like, stop. I was like screaming. I was like, just screaming. I was like, what are you doing? He's like, I don't know who. Something's wrong with me.

In that conversation, Tim told Kimberly that he wanted to end his life. She was worried. about his safety and encouraged him to get professional support. So I kept saying, I really feel like you need to get treatment. And Tim refused. He said, I can't take off a month because of work. Refused. At that point, I was like, I need to get out of this marriage.

Any hope Kimberly had for repairing their relationship was gone. And I said, I want a divorce. He kind of went from this like super-careful. caring, love bombing, husband to business executive. This is going to be a transaction. Just like the transactions he had with the young girls, it was just transactional. So I was as well.

And he said, I'll give you, and he gave me a number. You can have the kids. You can have the house. I will take care of you. I will take care of them. I will take care of all of their school bills. I need you to walk away. And I just looked at them and I said,

that number's really low. North Carolina is a 50-50 equitable state. I knew what we were worth. I had already pulled all the financials. Kimberly wanted half of everything they owned together. That was fair. But the minute she said it, his whole demeanor changed.

He was like, well, but it's my money. You haven't even worked. And I remember, just being so dumbfounded. I was like, what do you mean? I put you through business school. I worked until our second child was born. I was making more than you. The large part of why we have what we have is because we were able to invest in properties and invest in stocks. And he's like, I was the one who did that. And I said, well, that's not the way the courts are going to see it. And he's like, fine. I just want you to know, if you continue down this path, I will take every,

Every single scent I have and every single cent you have, and I will spend it burning you to the ground. Everyone, I'm Ego Wode. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent.

He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar. of, you know, the cat, just hang in there.

Yeah, it would not be... Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either.

We always say that. Trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of The Girlfriends... Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care.

So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the Girlfriends. Trust me, babe, on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. You can have opinions. You can have like a strong stance. And then there's your body having its own program. I'm Dr. Maya Shunker, a cognitive scientist and hosts of the podcast, a slight change of plans, a show about who we are and who we become when life makes other plans.

We share stories and scientific insights to help us all better. navigate these periods of turbulence and transformation. There is one finding that is consistent, and that is that our resilience rests on our relationships. I wish that I hadn't resisted for so long the need to change. We have to be willing to live with a kind of uncertainty that none of us likes. Listen to a slight change of plans on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Hey, Arniz. What's up? Money is something we all deal with, but financial literacy is what helps turn income into real wealth. On each episode of the podcast, Earn Your Leisure, we break down the conversations you need to understand money, investing, and entrepreneurship. From stocks and real estate to credit, business, and generational wealth, we translate complex financial topics into real conversations everyone can understand. Because the truth is, most people will never talk how money really works. But once you understand the system, you can start to build within it. That means ownership, smarter investing, and creating opportunities not just for yourself, but for the next generation.

If you want to learn how to build wealth, understand the markets, and think like an owner, earn your leisure is the podcast for you. Listen to Earn Your Leisure on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Kimberly found out that her husband had spent a lot of their family savings being a sugar daddy to younger women. He was paying for things like their rent and their bills. He was also paying for sex with sex workers. When Kimberly urged him to get help, he refused. So she was left with no other option but divorce.

I didn't want alimony from him because I knew it would be a way for him to control me. And I kept saying to the attorneys, I'm like, I don't want alimony. I want a clean break. I need the cash settlement. I can dig in my heels until I hit the core of this planet. And I did. Three weeks later, I think I finally warmed down, and he agreed to a cash settlement. It was a 30-70 split.

I knew at that minute I'm going to be free of this man. She got the money, but she wouldn't be free from Tim. His breakdown was just beginning. In fact, Kimberly noticed an uneasy feeling creeping in. One, she couldn't shake. Sometimes I felt like I was being watched. And I felt like I was being followed. Tim moved into an apartment nearby.

Kimberly wanted space from the whole situation, so she decided to splurge on a trip to the Caribbean for her 50th birthday. It would be her, her closest friends, and her three teenage daughters. Finally, she could be far away from Tim and could let her guard down. But the first morning of the trip, something strange happened. I'm on the beach. I'm having my coffee. It's just me. I'm enjoying the morning, enjoying the view, and there's no one around except for this man. I watch and turn, he pulls out a camera and starts taking pictures of me.

It's one of those moments you're like, am I imagining this? I turn around, so I'm thinking maybe he's taking pictures of the villa. You can't see the villa from the beach. And I pretend to look down again, and here he is doing it a second time, taking more pictures. A man was on the beach, taking him. making pictures of her. She was sure of it. She just didn't know why. It was disturbing, but that wasn't the only upsetting thing that happened on their trip. Two days later, we get a basket delivered, and it's a gift basket. And I thought, oh, well, maybe it's a friend

sending me something because it is my birthday weekend and whatever. And there was a note in it. I think it said, enjoy your trip that I paid for with my hard work. I spent my 50th birthday in a bar. It was from Tim. It was a bag of cookies, I think some chocolate-covered fruit and a bag of mixed nuts. And at this point, the kids are like, oh my God, he knows we're here. He's found us. I mean, they go into full panic mode.

Something about this basket immediately raised alarm. One of their daughters had a severe nut allergy. Tim spent 18 years making sure everything his daughter ate was nut-free, making sure he packed the epipen. Kimberly and her daughters looked at each other, eyes widened. My daughter looked at the nuts and she's like, is he trying to kill me? The vacation was meant to be relaxing, but it left the family more on edge than before. At this point, Kimberly was dating other people. When she got back from vacation, she had a date planned.

We went out to this upscale restaurant. It was like 7 o'clock in a busy Saturday night, and I'm in a pretty dress, and he's in a suit. And we order a cocktail and order an appetizer. And before it even comes out, Tim comes charging towards our table from the bar. He's got a drink in his hand, and he was drunk. And I remember just being so panicked because I hadn't seen him since we had separated. And he got in our face, and he's saying, like, you're doing drugs and dealing drugs, and I know who you are.

But he's like saying it loudly, and people are like stopping what they're eating and like looking at our table. And then the maid of G came over and he left. And he's like, you're okay? And I'm like, no, no. But I was so shaken. And I remember going home, I'm like, how did he know we were there? Kimberly's head was spinning.

Somehow, Tim knew exactly where she was at all times. A few weeks later, Kimberly was at the doctor's office. Over the last year, her pap smears kept coming back abnormal. The doctors told her it was due to a past HPV infection, likely from the unprotected sex Tim was having with other women. I was sitting in the gynecologist office with a robe on. I heard my phone, and I looked at it, and it was a text from Tim. And it said, just remember why you're there getting tested for your own.

STDs with all your boyfriends, you can't use our health insurance money to pay for it. And I remember just like shaking. Like I could not even control my hands. I dropped my phone. And I was like, he knows I'm here. He physically knows I'm here. She thought maybe Tim had been following her. That was until she brought her car in to be serviced.

It was just a routine service and everything went fine. I was pulling away and I noticed there was this device sitting in my console. I picked it up and I'm like, what is this? I called the technician.

I'm like, hey, I think they left something in my car. He was like, oh, no, that's your tracking device. I was like, what? He's like, yeah, that was your tracking device. Sorry, we forgot to put it back in. He put a tracking device inside my car. Tim was tracking Kimberly everywhere,

she went, but he knew much more than just her location, whenever they had to talk to each other about their daughters or divorce proceedings. He had been referencing conversations that I was having inside my house. One time he's like, yeah, I saw you playing volleyball with our daughter in the house. When I was there, you would never let that fly. And I was like, can you look through my windows? And I went actually outside and looked into my house. I'm like, you can't. see into my house unless you're in my backyard looking into my windows. He knew about a trip that I was planning. I was taking a cruise and he knew about it. He said, I hope you have fun on your trip. I'm like, how does he know all of these things? It felt like Tim had eyes and ears everywhere.

There was no escaping. And Kimberly was struggling. I was definitely in trauma mode, wondering, when he was going to pop up again. And I turned into this paranoid mess. I was so jumpy all the time. He was so angry. I had this feeling he was going to come from me. I was always locking and unlocking the doors. I unlocked and locked my door so many times.

I actually broke the doorknop. She lived in this paranoid state for a whole year. Then one weekend, when Kimberly was out of town, she got a strange notification on her heart. home security app. Somebody had gone in and changed my password to my home security system. And I'm like, oh my God. And I logged in and I saw that he had accessed my home security system, logged me out,

logged him himself in and made himself the master user. So he could see into my home. And he could hear the conversations. Suddenly, puzzle pieces started clicking. into place. It wasn't just paranoia that let Kimberly to believe. Tim could hear what she was saying inside her house. He had hacked into her home security system. From there, he would watch her in her home and listen to her private conversations. The reason he was able to do that is when they changed over the account to my name, they failed to log out all the devices. And even though

I had changed the password, he was able to access it through face ID. During the court hearings for Kimberly's protective order against him, he admitted to putting the tracking device on her car. Apparently, that was legal. Then the line of questioning shifted to the home security system. My attorney's asking him, how many times did you look into Kimberly's house and watch her? And he was like, countless. And the judge popped her head up and she said, Sir, I need you to explain that. When you say countless, that means you can't count that high?

Can you quantify that? He's like, dozens. On the stand, Tim also admitted to hiring a private investigator to follow Kimberly 24-7. I mean, it's like $100 an hour. To do what? To watch me go to the grocery store and turn my lights on and off? It was just insanity.

The judge did the wrong. right thing. She ruled in favor that I got the restraining order. Tim fought this on appeal, but ultimately Kimberly prevailed. It was a landmark case because before this, North Carolina courts required proof of physical abuse or explicit violent threats to grant a protective order. Kimberly's case created a precedent in their home state. It was a big win. But Tim was still spiraling out of control. He threatened to have my two older children arrested. He was claiming that they were part of a Bitcoin scheme to blackmail him and that he had

proof. And he sent this to my attorney. Like, this wasn't on the bingo card. Tim was spending obscene amounts of money. It seemed like any semblance of control and order in his life was slipping away. Kimberly's oldest daughter had gone off to college, but she still had two of her daughters at home, and she was trying to hold everything together for them.

A few weeks later, on November 23rd, I was out to dinner, and I get a text from one of his old girlfriends, something he dated, and I'd always liked her, and she said, I need to talk to you. I was like, that's really weird. And I call her, and I'm like, hey, you know, is everything okay? and she said, Kimberly, Tim's dead. And I was like, what?

Tim had gone into the woods and taken his own life. She's like, I'm so sorry. And I just was like calm. I was like, you know, I didn't even know what to say. And I threw up. I didn't cry. I felt sick. I felt shocked.

And then I felt. relief. And I hate that I felt that. But it's human nature. He had abused and tortured me and made my life living hell. Kimberly had to find a way to tell her daughters. I took the girls into my bedroom. I said, let's sit down and talk about this. It's okay to be upset. It's okay to be shocked. It's okay to be angry. The girls end up being named administrators to the estate. obviously they're young girls. They decided they couldn't do it. They named me and appointed me.

So now here I am with my ex-husband, managing his estate. In the weeks that followed, Kimberly went to Tim's old apartment to clean it out. When she stepped inside, she was shocked at the state he had been living in. She saw firsthand what he had been draining his accounts on. It wasn't just private investigators and legal fees. He'd been buying all kinds of things. He was a hoarder to see like the state of his stuff and it was expensive stuff. He had like chicken coat for chickens he didn't have and pool equipment for a pool he didn't have and watches and flip flops that were like from Target thrown in with a box of like a thousand dollar pair of Italian leather shoes.

There was even a box of 50 vintage pencil sharpeners that caused $2,000. And a 1940s jukebox, he had an RV that he wrecked. He had motorcycles, a jet ski, two trailers. I mean, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stuff. One of the strangest and most alarming things he'd spend his money on was a trained German Shepherd. He had it imported overseas, and it was a trained killer guard dog. He spent close to $80,000 on the dog.

He eventually bought a second guard dog. At first, Kimberly wanted to... to adopt the dogs herself. Then she had a conversation with the trainer who strongly advised her against interacting with the dogs. If I were to ever come around, I think that they were trained to attack me.

The trainer ended up taking the dogs. For Kimberly, the dogs became another what-if. Another decision Tim made that left her speechless. For 20 years, she'd known Tim to be a dependable man. She adored him and respected him. She built a family with him. And then, seemingly out of the blue, he blew up their marriage, blew their savings, and turned against his own daughters. Worst of all, he spent his final years stalking and terrorizing the family.

Kimberly was trying to make sense of this as she sorted through Tim's belongings. That's how she learned that a few days before he took his own life, Tim had checked himself into a rehab facility. Tim had a lot of demons that he did not share with me. And one of the things that I learned, after he passed away, he had admitted himself into rehab. He went to a place in Kentucky and willingly checked himself in and checked himself out a few days later. Kimberly called the rehab, hoping to learn more about his state of mind while he was there, and any more information about those final days leading up to his death. I felt like I had this puzzle, but I didn't know what the picture was, and places were missing.

So I called them and I said, I'm assuming he was in here for substance abuse. And they're like, no, that's not what we do. And I was like, well, why was he in here? And they were like, he was in here for childhood sexual abuse. I was just shocked. Kimberly knew that Tim had been a victim of childhood sexual abuse, but she had no idea how significant the trauma continued to be for him in adulthood. As she worked to put together a painful puzzle of loss,

she also did everything she could to help her daughters through their grief. I still have his ashes here in my home, and I talked to my daughters about what they wanted to do, and we're going to take him up to the mountains, where we had so many happy times. and have a ceremony and service there and just remember the good times. I feel like that's going to be a final thing for us

to, like, end this chapter. Kimberly is still in the process of finding her way back to herself. I have trouble finding joy like I used to. This did such a number on me for so long. Now I'm trying to find out who I am and what do I really like to do. Through everything, her relationship,

I think they see the strength that I've shown and the strength that's taken for them to overcome it. As much as I hate that they went through it, I tell them all the time, you're going to use these skills that you've learned for the rest of your life. And you will help other women and you will be a source of support for other people going through the same thing. every weekly episode with the same question. Why do you want to share your story? I think it's important for people to know when they do hit that rock bottom moment. And again, I've hit it.

I hit it hard. You can get through these horrible, horrible times. Somebody can betray you. And you might just want to be like, I can't do this anymore. I can't think of this anymore. How am I going to get myself out of this? Just keep.

putting one foot in front of the other. And you're going to get to the other side of the dark forest and see the light if you just keep moving. Don't be embarrassed. Don't be ashamed. Don't be afraid to tell your story because the more times you talk about it, the more you can make sense of it and process it. And that's been very helpful for me. On the next episode of Betrayal Weekly, This was my best friend. This was somebody who was in my house every single day. This is somebody who I told all my secrets to. She did this because she wanted to.

She did this because she likes to manipulate. She did this because she likes the control. If you would like to reach out to the betrayal team or want to tell us your betrayal story, email us at Betrayalpod at gmail.com. That's Betrayal P-O-D at Gmail.com. Or follow us on Instagram. at Betrayal Pod.

You can also connect with me on Instagram at It's Andre Gunning. To access our newsletter, view additional content, and connect with the Betrayal community, join our Substack at Betrayal.substack.com. We're grateful for your support. One way to show support

is by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts. And don't forget to rate and review Betrayal. Five-star reviews go a long way. A big thank you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group and partnership with IHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fasin. Hosted and produced by me, Andrea Gunning.

This episode was written and produced by Olivia Hewitt and Monique Laborde with additional production from Ben Federman. Casting support from Curry Richmond. Our IHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Kreincheck. Audio editing and mixing by Matt Dalvecchio. Additional audio editing by Tanner Robin. Betrayals theme composed by Oliver Baines. Music library provided by Mib Music.

And for more podcasts from IHeart, visit the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Everyone, I'm Ago Vodom. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall

and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Yeah. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Dr. Maya Shunker, a cognitive scientist and hosts of the podcast, a slight change of plans, a show about who we are and who we become when life makes other plans. I wish that I hadn't resisted for so long the need to change. We have to be willing to live with a kind of uncertainty that none of us likes.

You can have opinions, you can have like a strong stance, and then there's your body having its own program. Listen to a slight change of plans on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts. or wherever you get your podcasts. It's Financial Literacy Month, and the podcast, Eating While Broke, is bringing real conversations about money, growth, and building your future.

This month, hear from top streamer, Zoe Spencer, and venture capitalist Lakeisha Landrum-Pierre, as they share their journeys from starting out to leveling up. There's an economic component to communities thriving. If there's not enough money

and entrepreneurship happening in communities, they failed. Listen to Eating While Broke, from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta,

you already know there's a lot to break down. Gorsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real House Wise Friends.

The drama, the alliances, and the T everybody's talking about. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.