Craig Melton – What Happened with Glennon Doyle’s First Marriage?

Before Glennon Doyle became the bestselling author of Untamed and one of the most outspoken voices on truth, identity, and love, she was married to Craig Melton.

Craig, a former model and soccer player, and Glennon appeared to have a seemingly “normal” suburban life. They were raising three kids together, living in Florida, and presenting the image of a typical all-American family.

But behind the curated family snapshots was a marriage that Glennon would later describe as full of pain, betrayals, and difficult truths. In fact, her eventual candor about the marriage, and its very public breakdown, became part of her rise to literary fame.

The Betrayal That Changed Everything

Glennon has never shied away from telling the world exactly what went wrong. In her 2016 memoir Love Warrior, she revealed that Craig had been unfaithful multiple times during their marriage.

She discovered his infidelity just before their 10th wedding anniversary, when the couple already had three children together.

The confession shook her to her core. Glennon later described feeling like her entire world had collapsed, yet she still decided to stay and work through the betrayal at the time.

For her, divorce was not the immediate option — she was determined to try counseling, prayer, and therapy to repair the marriage.

Craig, for his part, admitted his mistakes publicly. In later interviews, he described himself as immature, addicted to external validation, and unprepared for the responsibilities of marriage and fatherhood.

Love Warrior and the Public Marriage Rehab

The couple’s struggles became central to Glennon’s memoir Love Warrior, which was even selected as an Oprah’s Book Club pick. The book chronicled their raw and emotional journey of trying to repair a broken relationship. Glennon detailed her attempts at forgiveness, her spiritual wrestling with betrayal, and her determination to save her family.

For a time, it seemed like they were succeeding. They attended therapy together, rebuilt intimacy slowly, and were vocal about the messy process of healing after infidelity.

Craig became a character in Glennon’s public narrative — not just the husband who cheated, but the man she was learning to love again.

But the peace was temporary.

The Plot Twist: Enter Abby Wambach

Just as Love Warrior hit the bestseller lists in 2016, Glennon made a bombshell announcement: she had fallen in love with Abby Wambach, the U.S. soccer star and Olympic gold medalist.

Fans were stunned. Glennon, who had spent the previous years publicly fighting for her marriage to Craig, was now openly declaring love for another woman — and not just any woman, but a world-famous athlete.

The announcement marked the official end of Glennon and Craig’s marriage. They finalized their divorce, and Glennon began a new chapter with Abby. By 2017, Glennon and Abby were married, cementing one of the most high-profile queer love stories in recent memory.

Craig’s Role After the Divorce

Unlike some celebrity ex-spouses who vanish from the spotlight, Craig Melton has remained present — though in a quieter way. He and Glennon have worked hard to co-parent their three children, and by all accounts, they maintain a civil and respectful relationship.

Craig himself has spoken about the challenges of being “the ex-husband in Glennon Doyle’s story,” but he has leaned into parenting and personal growth. He shifted his career into leadership consulting and coaching, while staying largely out of the gossip headlines.

Glennon has also made it clear that, despite the pain, she respects Craig as the father of her children. Their co-parenting arrangement has been praised as unusually healthy, given the level of public attention surrounding their family.

The Gossip Factor: What Fans Still Talk About

The breakup of Glennon Doyle and Craig Melton continues to fascinate readers and fans because it has all the elements of a messy, modern love story:

It’s the kind of storyline that blurs the line between celebrity memoir and reality TV drama.

Where Things Stand Today

As of 2025, Glennon and Abby are still together, running their “We Can Do Hard Things” podcast and sharing their lives with a devoted fanbase. Craig continues his professional work outside of the spotlight but remains intertwined in Glennon’s public narrative because of their shared children.

The legacy of their marriage is complicated. For Glennon, it was both a source of trauma and the foundation for her most celebrated work. For Craig, it was a chapter marked by mistakes but followed by a determination to grow and maintain his role as a father.

Much like Bill Russell’s marriage to Jeannie Russell later in life, Glennon and Craig’s story shows how personal relationships remain part of a public legacy long after a partnership ends.

For readers and fans, the story of Glennon Doyle and Craig Melton is a reminder that even seemingly stable marriages can hold painful secrets, and that love stories don’t always end the way we expect, but they can still evolve into something meaningful in the aftermath.