A business built around helping middle-aged, married women come out as lesbian later in life is drawing scrutiny after a New York Times profile detailed the fees and methods involved, according to a report from Fox News.
Anne-Marie Zanzal, who holds a master’s degree in divinity from Yale Divinity School, runs a coaching practice aimed at what she calls “late-blooming” women navigating “sexual identity transitions.” Many of her clients are still married to men when they begin working with her.
Zanzal charges $400 for a private online membership. She also sells $150 one-hour “clarity calls,” a $77 self-paced “Maybe I am Not Straight Course,” and a 16-week program called “This Authentic Life” that includes live group coaching, one-on-one sessions, and access to an online community called “Authentically Us.”
Zanzal came out herself at age 52, after nearly 30 years of marriage to a man and raising four children with him. She started the coaching business in 2018.
“I help women come home to themselves — with clarity, self-kindness, and community — so they can live authentically without abandoning the lives and relationships that matter to them,” Zanzal writes on her website.
A testimonial posted on her site reads: “She helped me see that leaving my marriage wasn’t selfish. It was honest. And my kids are better for it.”
The Times profile, published Wednesday, described group sessions in which women share updates with Zanzal and each other — including one woman preparing to tell her son she was a lesbian over a beer.
One client identified only as Shelly told the Times she had worried that coming out would disrupt what she called a “perfectly good” family dynamic. She said Zanzal helped her see that any distress her children felt was “likely to fade with time and be only a part of their story,” while her own unhappiness, if she kept concealing her identity, could last indefinitely.
Reaction splits along familiar lines
Podcast host Ben Ferguson called the business model “deeply disturbing” in a statement to Fox News Digital, saying it appears to profit from family upheaval.
“What’s especially outrageous is the suggestion that a mother’s unhappiness is permanent, but her children’s pain will somehow just fade away,” Ferguson said. “Children aren’t disposable characters in their parents’ journey of self-discovery. Marriage involves commitment, and parenting requires sacrifice.”
Ferguson added: “This isn’t about being gay or straight. It’s about charging people hundreds of dollars to navigate decisions that could tear their families apart, with seemingly zero accountability for the damage left behind. That’s not compassion or empowerment. That’s opportunism disguised as counseling.”
Democratic strategist Kaivan Shroff offered a different take, telling Fox News Digital that Zanzal’s coaching reflects a broader shift in how people think about identity and relationships later in life.
“There is so much more freedom and language around sexuality and what makes a modern relationship that it isn’t surprising older women are looking at that and realizing they never had space to ask some of these deep questions of themselves,” Shroff said.
Zanzal did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
A 2024 Gallup survey found that just 1% of LGBTQ+ women come out at age 50 or older. Separately, recent research has found the share of teenage girls identifying as lesbian or bisexual has dropped sharply over the past four years.
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