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There are just some things Howard Stern won't talk about on his radio show. While this would be a perfectly acceptable thing for virtually any other host of an entertainment program, it's a tad odd for Howard Stern. At least, some of his fans think so. This is because Howard prides himself on being extremely honest. In fact, Howard's level of honesty is what has both gotten him into trouble and made him the most successful radio entertainer of all time. Whether on his long-running SiriusXM radio show or in any of his three best-selling books, Howard just won't go into detail about what really went down between him and his first wife, Allison Berns.
There was a lot of speculation that a cheating scandal ended their 23-year-long relationship but there doesn't seem to be any evidence to support this. In fact, the reasons for Howard and Allison's divorce remain a bit of a mystery to the self-proclaimed King of All Media, according to a fascinating 2011 interview with Rolling Stone. But he does know that his obsession with his career drove a massive wedge between him and Allison. He's said that much on his radio show. But why won't he say anything more?
Why Howard Doesn't Talk About Allison Berns And Their Divorce On The Stern Show
Listeners of the satellite radio show know that Howard speaks at length about his marriage with his second and current wife Beth. The man is absolutely infatuated with his much younger bride who he has been with for over 20 years. In fact, their life is nothing short of romantic. While Beth cringes at some of the things her famous husband shares with his radio audience, she appears far more comfortable with the spotlight than Howard's first wife. Even though Howard was in the 'shock jock' phase of his career when he was with Allison, he didn't talk too much about their relationship. This is with the exception of a few notorious bits, some of which caused a lot of problems for him at home. He was open about that... but he never really shared the details of their eventual divorce nor rant about his ex-wife in the way he's ranted about other people he's been in conflict with.
"I try to be really open and honest about the things I’m comfortable with. But some things, I’m not comfortable with. I was never really that comfortable discussing my divorce with the audience," Howard explained to Rolling Stone in 2011. "My ex-wife isn’t a bad person. She’s a really good person and we have three great children, and that is such a private matter for me. If it was my matter alone, I would discuss it, but there are other people involved."
Howard is clearly considerate of his daughters and his ex-wife by deciding not to talk about the destruction of his first marriage with his millions of fans. While he's been open about what he did after his marriage and before the start of his second one, his divorce would be just too much for everyone involved.
"Divorce was so theoretical to me because no one in my family had really been divorced. My parents have been together for a million years. So this was all new to me. I was with my ex-wife since college, so it felt like such a failure. My children took it so hard. It’s so complicated, and it’s hard for me even to figure out at this point what went wrong and how things that were so good could go so bad. It’s tough. I think I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to analyze that."
The Reason Howard Stern And Allison Berns Got Divorced
As mentioned above, Howard isn't exactly sure about the exact reason why he and his psychologist wife, Allison, got a divorce. While he understands parts of it, there's clearly a lot of messy details involved.
"It fell apart for a lot of different reasons. It’s just too f***ing complicated. It’s so raw and so personal. I’m so f***ing honest that I’d rather just say to you, 'I can’t talk about it because I don’t feel comfortable being this honest.' I don’t want to give you some bulls***," Howard said. "It just sucks. I’ve had friends say it’s as simplistic as 'You were together too long.' And I go, 'No, I don’t think that’s accurate.' I think there were a lot of stressors, especially with what I did for a living. And, man, you can really lose your mind. I’m pretty sure I was very confused."
Howard went on to say that his current marriage with Beth is far easier. But he's also at a different stage in his life. He's calmed down substantially and isn't looking to stir the pot and be the 'King of All Media' like he did in the 1980s, 90s, and early 2000s. His creative and emotional evolution has allowed him to focus on making his current marriage work and generally calm down. Even though he still gets into trouble (which his fans love) he's respected the boundaries of his loved ones. It's one of the reasons he also never discusses the lives of his adult daughters on air. But a lot of that has to do with wanting to avoid causing them any more pain. According to Howard, they suffered enough during the collapse of his divorce.