Does Every Marriage Need a Prenup?

The staff writer Jennifer Wilson explores why prenuptial agreements have boomed in popularity among millennial and Gen Z couples.

January 9, 2026

Listen and subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google | Wherever You Listen

Sign up for our daily newsletter to get the best of The New Yorker in your inbox.

A red text card that reads “The New Yorker Radio Hour | WNYCStudios.”

Prenups have gone from a tool of the ultra-wealthy, carrying a whiff of scandal, to a more widespread request for aspirational young couples with few assets. The staff writer Jennifer Wilson spoke with the celebrity divorce attorney Laura Wasser, and found that generations who grew up in the era of universal no-fault divorce “just don’t trust marriage” as their elders did; “they want it in writing,” and they have developed apps that make it easy. Clauses calling for non-disparagement on social media are a common feature. But the boom in prenups, Wilson tells David Remnick, has led to couples trying to negotiate even intimate issues such as frequency of sex and body-mass index.

Wilson’s “Why Millennials Love Prenups” appeared in the December 29, 2025 & January 5, 2026, issue of The New Yorker.

New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts.

The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.

What happens when a bad-tempered, distractible doofus runs an empire?
After a London teen mysteriously plummeted into the Thames, his parents discovered that he’d been posing as an oligarch’s son.

Q. & A.

[

What Makes the Iranian Protests Different This Time

](https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/what-makes-the-iranian-protests-different-this-time#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_3caae7e1-eb76-4dc8-bfad-943638996db4_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

Unrest has spread across the Islamic Republic as it faces economic disaster at home and a profound weakening of its network of regional allies.

The Weekend Essay

[

The Robot and the Philosopher

](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/the-robot-and-the-philosopher#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_3caae7e1-eb76-4dc8-bfad-943638996db4_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

In the age of A.I., we endlessly debate what consciousness looks like. Can a camera see things more clearly?

The Lede

[

How an Attack on Obamacare Saved Abortion in Wyoming

](https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/how-an-attack-on-obamacare-saved-abortion-in-wyoming#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_3caae7e1-eb76-4dc8-bfad-943638996db4_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

In the most conservative state in the U.S., libertarianism can lead in surprising directions.

The Lede

[

Donald Trump Was Never an Isolationist

](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/01/19/donald-trump-was-never-an-isolationist#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_3caae7e1-eb76-4dc8-bfad-943638996db4_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

He once defied the G.O.P. by blasting military interventions. But what looked like anti-interventionism is really a preference for power freed from the pretense of principle.

Shuffalo

[

Shuffalo: Saturday, January 10, 2026

](https://www.newyorker.com/puzzles-and-games-dept/shuffalo/2026/01/10#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_3caae7e1-eb76-4dc8-bfad-943638996db4_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

Can you make a longer word with each new letter?

Critic’s Notebook

[

The Delicious Anticipation–and, Yes, Release—of “Heated Rivalry”

](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/critics-notebook/the-delicious-anticipation-and-yes-release-of-heated-rivalry#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_3caae7e1-eb76-4dc8-bfad-943638996db4_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

The show, a sexy romance between two closeted hockey players, began on a small Canadian streaming platform, but has become a huge, unexpected hit.

Photo Booth

[

Lagos Is a Vortex of Energy

](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/lagos-is-a-vortex-of-energy#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_3caae7e1-eb76-4dc8-bfad-943638996db4_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

In a recent book, “Èkó,” the photographer Ollie Babajide Tikare captures the messiness and hope of the Nigerian city.

The Political Scene Podcast

[

Is Donald Trump Creating the Conditions for Another World War?

](https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/political-scene/is-donald-trump-creating-the-conditions-for-another-world-war#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_3caae7e1-eb76-4dc8-bfad-943638996db4_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

“What you’re seeing both abroad and at home are completely optional conflicts created by the character of the President,” Jane Mayer says.

The Front Row

[

“Dead Man’s Wire” Is a Tangle of Loose Threads

](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/dead-mans-wire-is-a-tangle-of-loose-threads#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_3caae7e1-eb76-4dc8-bfad-943638996db4_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

In dramatizing a real-life hostage crisis from 1977, Gus Van Sant teases out enticing themes that remain undeveloped.

The Lede

[

An ICE Killing Puts Minneapolis on the Brink

](https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/an-ice-killing-puts-minneapolis-on-the-brink#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_3caae7e1-eb76-4dc8-bfad-943638996db4_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

The city where George Floyd was murdered finds itself again at the epicenter of a national crisis.