Last weekend I was enjoying an aimless mooch with my boyfriend. Sipping beer on a bench, a swing band playing in the distance, plotting our next move. Pub? “I went there with my ex,” he says, glancing at Google Maps. “Let’s not go there.” Suddenly, my calm is overwritten with feverish curiosity. What was she like? Did you love her? Why did it end?
I’m far from a freak here. Our collective investment in, and endless questioning of, the ex-factor is internet catnip these days. I’m thinking of ‘frexes’: friendly exes. It’s Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson laughing together at the Met Gala. Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux having a low-key dinner last month (five years after their divorce). Scarlett Johansson calling ex-husband Ryan Reynolds a “good guy” on a podcast.
