A San Diego couple took the unexpected step of renewing their weddings vows last month, after filing for divorce in 2019, spending $100,000 in the process and going into debt that continues to this day.
Brittany and Wyland Szabo, both 32, met as teenagers living in a sober house, and married in 2011, eventually starting a family with three kids.
After the birth of their second and third children, twins, the pair began drinking again, and it eventually distabilised the relationship.
“We started drinking again, thinking we took a few years off and we could drink again like normal people do. And it was OK for a while and then eventually, you know, things started to get bad and worse and then we ended up separating and filing for divorce in 2019,” Brittany told Fox News.
“It wasn’t just all because of alcohol ... There were a lot of other very toxic behaviors … we were very codependent on each other and it was just not a good situation.”
Challenges persisted after the divorce began, with Brittany continuing to drink and struggling with her mental health, at one point spending a night in jail and losing custody of the children.
However, after moving back in temporarily with her parents, Ms Szabo began taking drug tests and seeing a psychiatrist and became sober once again.She and Wyland began spending more time together and decided to give it another try.
“We both apologised to each other, finally and wholeheartedly,” said Brittany. “We actually understood how we hurt each other and that was huge for us.”
Ms Szabo is now a successful TikTok-er, having amassed 2 million followers sharing videos about family, marriage, and sobriety.
