The Viall Files, Episode 1018: “Ask Nick – My Husband Left When I Was 7 Months Pregnant”

Host: Nick Viall
Date: October 20, 2025

Episode Overview

In this emotionally charged “Ask Nick” episode, Nick Viall dispenses candid advice to three callers grappling with issues ranging from friendship and dating boundaries to career confusion and profound betrayal. Nick’s sharp, empathetic insights guide listeners through supportive friendship dynamics, the pitfalls of professional dissatisfaction, and the pain of abandonment during pregnancy. The episode is centered around real-life struggles and delivers a blend of direct tough love and genuine support, with special focus on the last caller whose husband deserted her in the final weeks of her pregnancy.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Supporting a Single Friend's Dating Life Without Alienation

Caller 1 – Rose (32)
⏱️ [03:58–28:41]

Main Issue:
Rose, recently married, worries about supporting her long-time single friend through dating struggles without relying on platitudes or coming across as condescending.

Discussion Highlights:

• Pattern Recognition & Boundaries:

  • Rose details how her friend dates "the wrong men," avoids confrontation, and struggles to set boundaries due to her aversion to conflict.
  • Nick identifies her friend's inability to enforce boundaries as the core obstacle, noting:

    "If she's so adverse to conflict to the point where she can't even stand up for herself... how can you enforce a boundary?" [09:14, Nick]

• Effectiveness of Encouragement vs. Inquiry:

  • Rose seeks advice on building her friend’s confidence; Nick cautions against empty "gassing up" or direct criticism.

  • Strategy:

    • Use probing, nonjudgmental questions that help the friend articulate her own truths (e.g., "What did you like about him?", "How did that make you feel?", "What did you hope for from that interaction?").

  • Nick’s Quote:

    "It is not well received or it usually doesn’t land when you’re talking at them... you got to ask them questions and lead them down a path... They have to come up with the answers for themselves." [11:11, Nick]

• Balancing Support & Validation:

  • Emphasize listening and normalizing the fatigue of modern dating.
  • Dating is hard:

    "Dating is hard. It will never not be hard. It’s not meant to be fun... it’s a balance." [15:22, Nick]

• Friendship Shifts with Life Changes:

  • Rose reveals insecurity about her quicker marital success compared to her friend, and Nick normalizes the altered dynamic but reassures it's natural and surmountable.

Memorable Moment:

Nick’s advice on being a friend:

"You don’t want to make excuses for someone else either, because you don’t want to disappoint them… ask them questions about how they’re feeling, listen, and assuming it’s a normal response to a situation, validate those feelings." [15:24, Nick]

2. Post-Firing Career Paralysis & Quarter-Life Reassessment

Caller 2 – Emma (26)
⏱️ [33:17–66:36]

Main Issue:
Recently fired, Emma confesses a lack of motivation to job-search, confusion about her architecture degree, and a desire for meaningful, fulfilling work.

Discussion Highlights:

• Expectations vs. Reality:

  • Nick compares Emma's pivot from architecture to his own from accounting:

    "Our twenties are usually based off of expectations and dream expectations we set for ourselves and dreams we had as teenagers... then we actually get into it and then we start doing it and maybe even in school we liked it, and then we get into the job and we're like, this fucking sucks." [34:44, Nick]

• Permission to Start Over:

  • Emphasizes it's never too late to invest in oneself or change paths:

    "Take away the fact that you went to school to be an architect and open up your mind to the possibility that you can do anything." [40:56, Nick]

• Practical Advice on Motivation:

  • Nick encourages a focus on outcome vs. the drudgery of the work, referencing a viral clip:

    "Most people when they're thinking about things, they think about the work it will take rather than what you'll get out of it. So whatever the task is... focus on what you're going to get out of it rather than the work that goes into it." [50:29, Nick]

• Honest Talk on “Paying Dues”:

  • Whether in sales or any field, there’s no skipping hard work, especially in one’s twenties.

    "Whatever you do, you’re gonna have to figure out how to get the small wins... when you’re 30 or 40, you'll regret not putting in the work." [57:08, Nick]

• Mindset Shift:

  • The narrative on “your generation” and the opportunity to experiment more before adulthood truly sets in.
  • "Society is offering [20-somethings] grace to try new things out, to switch things up. But you still have... to pay your dues." [58:53, Nick]
  • Encouragement:

    "Most people can be good at anything they care about. Because if you care about it, you'll invest in it. If you invest in it, you'll replicate it. If you replicate it, you get good." [61:40, Nick]

Memorable Moment:

Nick’s challenge on self-motivation:

"I’m a big believer in betting on yourself... It’s easier to bet on yourself when you’re doing something you have a passion for." [52:36, Nick]

3. Heartbreak: Husband Leaves at Seven Months Pregnant

Caller 3 – Taylor (29)
⏱️ [68:10–89:29]

Main Issue:
Taylor’s husband moved out and sought divorce while she was seven months pregnant, leaving her to navigate late pregnancy and new motherhood alone. She seeks male perspective and validation.

Discussion Highlights:

• Situation Recap:

  • Married five years, Taylor and her husband moved states for family support before he abruptly abandoned her, returning to Miami to pursue his fading professional tennis ambitions.
  • He attended the birth but has only visited their six-month-old daughter once.

• Nick’s Immediate Reaction:

  "There's no way to slice this — this sucks. You have the right to feel like this sucks." [71:10, Nick]

  • Categorizes the ex-husband as extremely selfish and lacking basic responsibility.

• Nick on Coping, Moving Forward:

  • "You can and you will get through this." [71:21, Nick]
  • "The sooner you find out, the better. You have a clean slate." [71:32, Nick]
  • "Don’t let this ruin your life. This is the kind of event, so traumatic, that you have every right to feel bad, but there is a point where you stop feeling bad and not let this define you." [77:13, Nick]

• Red Flags & Hard Truths:

  • Notes the ex’s prior behavior (missing family events for tennis) was early indication of poor priorities.
  • Dismisses the idea that “following his dreams” justifies his actions:

    "His friends are losers... He should be embarrassed, he should be ashamed." [80:26, Nick]

  • On the ex’s prospects:

    "He is on a path to being a little loser... he's going to end up being a coach at a country club without his family, without having a relationship with his daughter, knowing that he was a piece of shit." [83:23, Nick]

• Empowerment & Future Focus:

  • Encourages Taylor to stop focusing on her victimhood and instead write a “proud” narrative for herself and her daughter.
  • Acknowledges her strength and the positive side of his absence:

    "Honestly, makes your life a lot easier... you can focus on being the best mom possible." [79:40, Nick]

  • Praises her mindset and wish to one day help other single mothers:

    "Be the person he clearly is not capable of being." [88:17, Nick] "You’ll be able to find love again, you’ll be able to raise your daughter and have a connection with her, something he’s eventually going to regret." [82:32, Nick]

Memorable Moments:

• Taylor:

  "If I can go through 46 hours of unmedicated labor while grieving the loss of my husband, I can do damn near anything." [88:07, Taylor]

• Nick (summarizing her ex):

  "He’s a bum. I mean, he’s going to be a bum. That’s his problem." [85:57, Nick]

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

On Friendship & Support:

• "Friendships change, but it doesn’t have to go away; it just changes." [23:16, Nick]
• "I don’t think gassing up your friends and filling them with delusion is helpful..." [15:24, Nick]

On Quarter-Life Crisis:

• "Most people, a college degree is, I don’t know, it is what it is... it really doesn’t make a difference one way or the other." [40:56, Nick]
• "Work is work. I mean, even the influencers... Act like it’s real work — work to some degree will, no matter what you do, always feel like work." [47:41, Nick]

On Trauma & Reinvention:

• "You can be the most pivotal person in her life. I’d absolutely focus on that rather than focus on what he did or follow his career to hope it fails." [87:29, Nick]
• "Don’t become obsessed with putting him down to make yourself feel better. Let it go." [88:29, Nick]
• "Be the person he clearly is not capable of being." [88:17, Nick]

Section Timestamps for Reference

• Rose’s Caller Segment: [03:58–28:41]
• Emma’s Caller Segment: [33:17–66:36]
• Taylor’s Caller Segment: [68:10–89:29]

Final Thoughts & Tone

This episode is honest, warm, and sometimes blunt, echoing Nick’s refusal to sugarcoat realities or coddle listeners. Through engaging real-life stories, he consistently emphasizes personal responsibility, the value of inner grit, and the necessity of self-reflection — whether confronting tough love for friends, career inertia, or the devastation of betrayal. With humor, humility, and empathy, Nick and his team deliver a memorable, meaningful episode focused on resilience through tough transitions.