Ep346 – Relapse and Divorce with Kim AugustusEp346 – Relapse and Divorce with Kim Augustus
Untoxicated Podcast
Kim Augustus reflects on her husband’s relapse after hopeful recovery and explains how repeated chaos, emotional abuse and concern for her children led her toward divorce. She shares how boundaries, detachment and support have shaped a new path for herself and her family.
1:08:15•4 May 2026
Relapse, Boundaries and Letting Go: Kim Augustus on Choosing Divorce After Addiction
Episode Overview
- Relapse after a year and a half of sobriety led Kim to accept that no partner can create conditions that guarantee another person’s sobriety.
- Emotional abuse, disappearances and escalating behaviour pushed Kim to set firm boundaries, including separation and legal protections.
- Kim describes moving from chasing and pleading to true detachment, refusing to feed into control tactics even when conflict intensified.
- Protecting her children became central, using honest but age-appropriate explanations and tools to ensure they see their dad sober and safe.
- Support groups, personal writing and giving herself grace for past choices helped Kim rebuild self-worth and face a new chapter with more stability.
“There is no way to ever create the perfect environment to keep somebody sober.”
How do people cope with the challenges of staying sober when relapse crashes back into family life? This conversation with guest Kim Augustus offers a raw look at what happens after the "happy ending" of early recovery falls apart.
Kim returns to share what changed between her first appearance – when her husband's year-and-a-half of sobriety had her thinking they were finally safe – and the point where relapse, escalating emotional abuse, and repeated broken promises led to separation and an impending divorce. She talks frankly about how small "just a drink" slips turned into bigger binges, and how working in a treatment centre shifted her husband from doing recovery for himself to performing it for others.
You’ll hear Kim describe the familiar partner role of managing everything: careers, kids, finances, and the constant emotional fallout of addiction. She explains how she once chased him during disappearances, phoning over and over, and how she eventually recognised that as part of his control.
The turning point came when, as she puts it, "there is no way to ever create the perfect environment to keep somebody sober," and she began setting firm boundaries, even when that meant a restraining order and being seen as the "bad guy" by some. A big focus here is parenting through addiction and divorce.
Kim shares how she shields her children from active drinking, uses age‑appropriate honesty, and helps them separate "dad" from "the addict" while reassuring them that their feelings matter. She also reflects on her own healing: letter‑writing, support groups, and learning to detach without guilt. If you’re wondering how long you’re supposed to keep holding everything together, or what it really looks like to choose safety after years of chaos, this episode gives you company and language for those questions.
What chapter might you be ready to write next in your own story?
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