Marriage is a trip. Sometimes it’s a beautiful one-way ticket to a dream life, and other times it’s more like being trapped in a professional-grade magician's trunk with no obvious latch. For Anna Kloots, it was quite literally both. If you've scrolled through her Instagram or read her memoir My Own Magic, you know her life in Paris looks like a movie. But long before the croissants and the Eiffel Tower backdrops, there was a decade-long relationship that defined her twenties and then, quite suddenly, evaporated.
People are constantly digging for dirt on anna kloots ex husband, wanting to know the "real" reason things ended. Was it a scandal? Was it just boredom? Honestly, it seems like a classic case of two people outgrowing a very specific, very stifling box.
Who is the man behind the curtain?
The man in question is Joshua Jay. He isn't just some guy who knows a few card tricks; he’s one of the most respected magicians in the world. We’re talking about a guy who has performed in over 100 countries and authored multiple books on the craft. He’s a serious artist. Anna met him when she was just 19, a freshman in New York City. He was older, established, and already living this nomadic, high-stakes life of an international performer.
For a young woman from Ohio, that world was intoxicating. She didn't just join his life; she became the architecture of it. For years, she was his "unpaid, private assistant," as she later described it. She wasn't just standing on stage in sequins. She was booking the travel, managing the schedules, and making sure the "magic" happened behind the scenes while her own identity basically went into hibernation.
The breaking point of the "perfect" marriage
On paper, they were the ultimate power couple. They traveled to 80 countries together. They lived a life most people only see on Discovery Channel. But while the audience saw a seamless performance, Anna was starting to feel invisible. She’s been very open about the fact that she "molded" herself into whatever he needed.
Why the divorce actually happened
The split didn't happen because of one big "gotcha" moment. It was a slow burn. According to Anna, the end came in 2019 when Joshua told her he wanted a divorce. It wasn't a mutual "let's be friends" talk. It was a world-ending, back-against-the-bathroom-wall kind of shock.
- The Power Imbalance: She was his assistant, not his equal partner.
- The Sacrifice: She spent her entire twenties building someone else’s dream.
- The Warning: Some reports (and deep-dive Reddit threads) suggest Joshua had actually expressed doubts a year earlier, but Anna hoped therapy could save it.
It’s easy to vilify the person who leaves. But if you look at it from a different angle, they were stuck in a loop. He was a man obsessed with his career, and she was a woman who hadn't yet figured out who she was without him.
Life after the disappearing act
When the marriage ended, Anna was 30. She had no job, no house, and a resume that essentially said "Magician's Assistant." Most people would have moved back to their parents' basement in Ohio. Instead, she took her half of the settlement—or whatever savings she had—and moved to Paris.
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That move is what turned her into the "American in Paris" influencer we know today. It’s also where she wrote her memoir, which sparked a lot of the renewed interest in anna kloots ex husband. Joshua has mostly stayed silent about the book. He’s continued his career in the magic world, staying out of the "influencer" drama, which is probably the smartest move he could make.
What we can learn from the Kloots-Jay split
Look, divorce is messy. It’s never just one person's fault, even if one person is the "main character" of the story we see online. The takeaway here isn't that Joshua Jay is a villain or that Anna Kloots is a victim. It’s a reminder that you can’t build a whole life on someone else's foundation and expect it to stand forever.
If you’re going through something similar, or just watching from the sidelines, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Identity is non-negotiable. If you have to shrink to fit into your partner's life, the relationship has an expiration date.
- Failure is a pivot point. Anna's "worst day" (the divorce) led to her becoming a New York Times bestselling author.
- Social media is a curated lie. The jet-setting photos from 2017 looked perfect, but the people in them were struggling.
The story of Anna and her ex-husband is ultimately about the moment the assistant decides to step out from behind the curtain and start her own show. It’s a tough transition, but as the 2026 landscape of "reinvention" shows, it’s usually the right one.
Next Steps for Readers:
- Check out Anna's memoir, My Own Magic, for her full perspective on the transition from assistant to author.
- Audit your own "unpaid assistant" roles in your personal life—are you building your dream or someone else's?
- Follow Joshua Jay's professional work if you're interested in the technical side of magic, which remains top-tier in the industry.