"I have a sad personal announcement to make. After seventeen years of marriage, my wife Fran and I are divorcing. This is sad first and foremost for Fran and for me. We've known each other nineteen years, have raised three children, and assumed we would be together forever. It was not only our hope. This is a value that we shared.

But despite our values and despite years of work on our marriage, not to mention prayer over it, we could not sustain it. There are no villains here, just two decent people who have endured a lot of heartache and pain. It is also sad, of course, for our three beloved children, two of whom are in their twenties and living on their own, and the youngest who is 13. All five of us are very close to one another. While unhappy about it, our children do understand why this divorce is happening. And all of our closest friends likewise understand why it is necessary and in fact, none of our closest friends were surprised.

I am sure, however, that many of you are surprised, if not actually shocked. After all, for many years I would talk about Fran on the show, and knowing how much I make the case for marriage and family, you had every reason to believe my marriage was sound and even wonderful. When you add that to my happy demeanor, and to my dispensing of advice on happiness and male-female relations, you surely had no reason to assume otherwise.

So you, my dear listener are the third reason for my sadness, right behind us and our children. I know that many of you hold me and the values and the ideas I express in high regard. I pray that my divorce does nothing to diminish that respect. While I have always argued for divorce when truly necessary, some of you I know regard a divorce as a moral failure. For you I hope that what I call my moral bank account is large enough to withstand this withdrawal.

For the rest of you who do not necessarily morally judge those who divorce, my divorcing can still be shocking. As one prominent individual said to me, “My God, if Dennis Prager is divorcing, it can happen to any of us.” Well, the truth is it can happen to almost anybody, and that is why I work so hard on my radio show to help men and women better understand each other, and to never take a spouse for granted.

From your many calls and e-mails on this subject of marriage, I know that I have, in fact, helped many marriages. Tragically, this advice could not save my own. As my father, married to my mother for 65 years, said to me recently, “The longer we’re married the more I realize how rare it is, and how lucky, to get along with someone for so long.”

As you would well understand, this is all so private within my family that I cannot speak of any particulars. But I do believe if the particulars were known, no one would judge either of us harshly."