[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
After losing a loved one, you sometimes find out shocking information that makes you question whether you really know them at all. And that’s exactly what happened to the husband of Molly Brodak.
The 39-year-old, who was an award-winning poet and a former competitor of The Great American Baking Show, died by suicide three years ago following a battle with a brain tumor. In a new book from her husband, Blake Butler, called Molly, he opened up about the tragedy — and what he found out about the writer in the days afterward.
Related: This Woman Discovered Her BF Was Cheating — Seconds Before He Proposed!
On March 8, 2020, Blake recalled he planned to go for a jog as he did every morning. Molly decided to stay home by herself to read as she had been struggling with her mental health for some time. When the author went to cheer her up before he left, showing one of their pet chickens through the window, he said the reality star gave him a blank stare instead, noting that “her eyes like dents obscured against the glare across the dimness of the room.” So Blake went about his usual morning routine and continued with his run.
What he didn’t know at the time was that Molly had planned to leave him a suicide note at the front door for him to find later on. When Blake returned home, he did, in fact, find the letter. He revealed in the book the opening lines:
“Blake. I have decided to leave this world.”
Molly then wrote that she had gone to a forested area where they used to take walks together. Upon reading the note, Blake frantically started to look for his wife — a moment he described as “moving through somewhere so far beyond adrenaline it felt like the world had finally actually gone flat, my blood replaced with poison, being dragged.” And unfortunately, it was too late. She had already died.
So, so sad. We cannot imagine how hard that day must have been for him. And things were about to get worse…
Not only was Blake dealing with the devastation of losing the woman he loved after the tragedy, he would soon experience the heartbreak of learning there was a lot he didn’t know about her.
Shortly after her death, Blake had been in search of photos to use for a slideshow tribute at her funeral. He remembered he began to look through her phone for some pictures – and came across some shocking content. Blake found lewd images of Molly posing in lingerie with sex toys and videos of her moaning the names of other men. OMG! He wrote:
“This couldn’t really be what I imagined, I kept thinking, despite the evidence before my eyes.”
Unable to look away as he was “somehow compelled instead to hurt myself by looking longer,” he dove deeper to find more evidence of the secret life she led. Blake then learned her infidelity extended beyond photos and videos! He saw receipts for trips Molly secretly went on with these guys. Blake even found evidence of her having an affair with a student — just five days after their wedding. Oof. He said:
“The secrecy only redoubled the lacing shame and sickly pain wracking my guts, scraping its claws across my shattered plates of memory in their becoming redefined.”
Talk about a painful discovery. Wow. Blake not only had to grieve Molly’s death but the life they had together as well. Reactions to the book revelation, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below.
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, help is available. Consider contacting the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, by calling, texting, or chatting, or go to 988lifeline.org.
[Image via Molly Brodak/Instagram]
