A growing niche coaching business is charging women hundreds of dollars for support as they come out as lesbian later in life, often after decades of marriage and raising children, according to a New York Times report.
Anne-Marie Zanzal, who describes herself as a “coming out coach,” charges $400 for a private online membership aimed at helping what she calls “late-blooming” women work through what she terms “sexual identity transitions.” Some of her clients remain married to their husbands while going through the process.
Zanzal also runs a 16-week program called “This Authentic Life,” which includes live group coaching, individual coaching sessions, and access to an online community called “Authentically Us.” Additional offerings include $150 one-hour “clarity calls” and a $77 self-paced course titled “Maybe I Am Not Straight.”
One testimonial posted on Zanzal’s website reads: “She helped me see that leaving my marriage wasn’t selfish. It was honest. And my kids are better for it.”
Her website also states: “It is not too late, and you are not too late. Come as you are, and let us walk this part of the road together,” and describes seeking women “who came to this the way we did, later in life and carrying a whole history, who would never ask us to explain any of it.”
A Personal Story Behind the Business
Zanzal holds a master’s degree in divinity from Yale Divinity School and started her coaching business in 2018. She came out at age 52 after nearly 30 years of marriage to a man, with whom she raised four children.
“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,” she writes on her coaching site. She adds: “That is why I built this work. Not because I have a degree in it — though I do … But because I lived it, in the dark, for a very long time.”
During group sessions, according to the Times profile published Wednesday, women share personal updates with Zanzal and one another. One described preparing to tell her son she was a lesbian over a beer.
A client identified as Shelly told the Times she feared 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 pain could become permanent if she kept concealing her identity.
Reactions Split Along Familiar Lines
Podcast host Ben Ferguson criticized the coaching model in a statement to Fox News Digital, calling the messaging “outrageous.”
“What’s especially outrageous is the suggestion that a mother’s unhappiness is permanent, but her children’s pain will somehow just fade away. Children aren’t disposable characters in their parents’ journey of self-discovery. Marriage involves commitment, and parenting requires sacrifice,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson also argued the business model itself was troubling. “This isn’t about being gay or straight,” he said. “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, describing Zanzal’s approach as reflective of a broader cultural shift.
“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 told Fox News Digital.
According to a 2024 Gallup survey, just 1% of LGBTQ+ women come out at age 50 or older. Separately, a recent study found the number of teenage girls identifying as lesbian or bisexual has dropped sharply over the past four years.
Zanzal did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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