Philip Roth & Claire Bloom — Literature's Most Vindictive Divorce

What Happened

Philip Roth, one of America's greatest novelists, and Claire Bloom, the acclaimed British actress, began their relationship in 1975 and lived together for 15 years before marrying in April 1990. By all accounts, the marriage was troubled from the start — not least because of the prenuptial agreement Roth insisted Bloom sign.

Bloom's lawyer described the prenup as 'unconscionable, the most brutal document of its kind he had ever encountered.' The agreement essentially allowed Roth to terminate the marriage at will without leaving Bloom anything. When Roth filed for divorce in 1995, citing 'cruel and inhuman treatment' by Bloom, he enforced the prenup ruthlessly — demanding back jewelry he had given her, billing her for scripts he had read at $150 an hour, and bombarding her with faxes demanding repayment of every penny he had spent on her.

Bloom's revenge came in literary form. Her 1996 memoir, Leaving a Doll's House, painted a devastating portrait of life with Roth. She described his mental breakdown in the early 1990s, his institutionalization, his paranoid accusations that she was trying to poison him, and the psychological torture he inflicted as the marriage deteriorated. The book became a bestseller and permanently shaped public perception of Roth's character.

Roth countered through his novels, widely believed to have incorporated unflattering versions of Bloom as characters. The literary battle continued for years, with each ex-spouse weaponizing their creative talents against the other. The Roth-Bloom divorce stands as a warning about the intersection of punitive prenups, creative vindication, and the permanent public record that published memoirs create.

Legal Breakdown: How punitive prenuptial agreements and literary revenge shape divorce outcomes

What This Means for Your Divorce