This post has been de-listed
It is no longer included in search results and normal feeds (front page, hot posts, subreddit posts, etc). It remains visible only via the author's post history.
I've been married for a few months. I am 41F and he is 43M. This is a second marriage for both of us.
There are so many things that are wrong with this relationship that I can't even get into much detail, so here are some highlights:
He is incredibly insecure and is always accusing me of having nefarious motives for things I do. He won't actually come out and say what he means but he will make bizarre insinuations. If I go to a work function out of town, it's to meet other men. If I go in to work early, I must be having an affair with a coworker. If I go to the gym alone, it's to talk to other men. If I take my kids to drop them off with their dad alone, I must have something going on with my ex husband.
I am a bodybuilder so I go to the gym every day. He started eating right and working out when he met me and he's slowly making some progress. He's insecure about his level of fitness though. We can't go to the gym without him accusing me of trying to get attention from other men or looking at other men. I have to be so careful not to so much as accidentally glance in another man's direction. I walk with my head down and look at the wall between sets, when I used to be able to sit there and look around the room and people watch before. But if I look around the room now, I'm "checking out" the men there. If any new guys start coming who are fit, he will accuse me of being interested in them. If he doesn't come with me for some reason, I will get a text while I'm there asking if the "new dude" is there, or saying I must be having an extended workout because the "audience" is good. He has told me my gym clothes are slutty and said how can he blame other men for looking at me with the way I dress?
If we go anywhere in public I have to be so careful to not look in any man's direction. For example, we were at a trampoline park on the weekend and the place was packed. I knew I would be in trouble the second we walked in because there were obviously lots of families there, including husbands/fathers. I was so careful the whole time and made a point of only looking at my husband and our kids. But just before we left, I looked back over my shoulder as a crowd of people walked by. My husband got a very displeased look on his face and stormed out. When I asked him what was wrong, he said that he saw me "check out the big muscular guy in the maroon sweater". He said that he *knows* I'm into bigger guys and it hurts his feelings. I had no idea what guy he was referring to because there were so many people there.
This kind of thing happens all the time - at the grocery store, coffee shop, my kids' school, etc. If I look around the room and there happens to be someone who my husband considers to be attractive in my line of sight, I am in trouble.
If we are driving through town and I turn my head to look out the window, he will make a big show of turning in the same direction and say "What are we looking at? Hot guy out there or what?" If we pass a nice truck and I happen to turn my head at the same time, he will say something like "Oh you just have to see who's driving that hey? Sorry I can't afford trucks like that anymore. I used to be able to."
At a recent bikini competition I was in, he accused me of being there solely to meet the male bodybuilders and watch them compete. By this time I had been training intensely for TWO YEARS, but apparently it was only to get to this competition to meet men. The night before the competition he wouldn't stop accusing me of trying to get rid of him so I could talk to other men. He had been planning on going to the mall while I did hair and makeup, tanning, check ins with my trainer, etc., so he thought I would actually be up to no good while he was at the mall. I almost told him to just go home if he wouldn't stop. He would finally apologize and then backtrack and say "But I do know that you and the other women are planning on watching the men compete."
What killed me is that he met and started following a 19-year-old girl on Instagram that day. She had the same trainer as me so he met her while I was talking to my trainer and the group we were with. I didn't see that he had followed her until months after when I went to her profile to refer back to something she had posted. I was so disgusted. He didn't follow any of the other women (like the ones my age or older who he met). He had kept talking about her and how it was great she won her category and such at the competition so I thought it was a bit weird, but pushed those thoughts aside. She only posts pictures of herself posing in bikinis on her Instagram. My husband has a daughter her age. His explanation was that he found her to be "inspirational" and that he followed her for his daughter's sake.
I won my categories (two gold medals and a professional bodybuilder status) at this competition. My picture is on promotional posters for future competitions now. I've gotten a lot of attention because of this and became a bit of a local celebrity at our hometown gym. He hates it when people congratulate me or tell me how good I look.
I'm a chartered accountant and have a successful career. He is jealous of this because I make twice as much money as he does and have a more demanding work schedule, more responsibilities and more authority than he does. I play piano for my church and my kids' schools when needed. He used to like how busy I am and how much I contribute to the community. But now he makes so many underhanded comments about it. He gets jealous when I get compliments about my piano playing as well.
I could go on and on about his jealousy, insecurities, etc. And also his online behavior is gross. He has a friend who does photography - mainly women's boudoir and portraits. My husband follows his Facebook page and then either searches the women's profiles or even goes so far as to add them as friends. I only recently discovered this.
I am nervous a good chunk of the time because I get scared about what his reaction will be if I say I'm going somewhere or doing something. I can't talk to him about my day much because he doesn't like that my job is "important" than his in his mind.
But then he can be the kindest and most supportive person. He will turn around and tell me how impressed he is by me and how lucky he is to have me, etc. He will help out with my kids, driving them to sports, school, etc. So it's a roller coaster. I know I should leave but it's so hard to get away when I have good times too.
This is what I have considered for sure. He is always telling me how shady ALL guys are (except him of course), how guys think, what guys want, etc. He'll tell me someone we know has a thing for me (say the father of my kids' friends, for example). I'll say that I've known that guy for years and our kids have been friends for years and how he's MARRIED to his wife who he loves. But my husband will say none of that matters, it doesn't matter that someone is married, this guy definitely wants me, etc.
He lives in this bizarre world where every man and every woman always want each other. Every interaction between men and women has sexual undertones in his world. Men and women can't interact without there being some kind of "thing" between them. Yet when I point out that he has female coworkers and other female acquaintances who he interacts with platonically, he gets so mad. It's only me, apparently, who has inappropriate interactions with my male coworkers, friends, etc.
I have been to a lawyer and have a divorce agreement drawn up. It’s just a matter of deciding to give it to him.
I own the house and everything else in our relationship lol. I can kick him out at any time. It's just a matter of me finally making that final call.
The only financial thing I have concerns about is that I bought him a truck a few months ago and he owes me about $5000 for it still. He's been making monthly payments to me for it.
It’s a matter of me finally deciding to kick him out of my house. I have a divorce agreement drawn up but haven’t told him. It’s so hard to weigh the good with the bad.
I'm sure I will just eat it in the end. It's not a big deal. I just paid cash for it so I don't have a loan or anything for it. He didn't have any means to buy it himself.
Thank you for your response. Just to add some clarification, it's not that he has ever come out and actually SAID I'm not allowed to look around or do other things. His tactics are to make constant implications about my behaviour to manipulate me into acting differently.
So now I know not to look around if we're in a public place, not to talk about male coworkers or other male acquaintances, not to bring up work functions I should attend, not to go to the gym alone, etc. Because if I do any of those things, it's the insinuations he makes that make my blood run cold.
And if I ask him to clarify what he's saying exactly, he will deny and say something like, "I didn't tell you not to go to that work event." Because he didn't actually use those words. But what he will say is something passive aggressive like, "You should go. You have my support. Maybe you'll meet someone who you can really *hit it off with*." So then I don't go because the insinuation is out there that I will meet someone at the function.
I had posted that under my old account. Then deleted that account because someone found out my identity.
Subreddit
Post Details
- Posted
- 2 months ago
- Reddit URL
- View post on reddit.com
- External URL
- reddit.com/r/breakingmom...
Exactly. I keep saying to him that I have never given him a reason to think I am cheating or would cheat. If I mention some of his social media interactions and how those are inappropriate, he gets so angry. He has said that when a man "likes" a woman's picture on Facebook, it means he wants her, has a thing for her, has something going on with her, etc. So he will go through my pictures and analyze who has liked them, and then accused me of having affairs with the men who have liked them. But when I point out that HE will go and "like" pictures of women on Facebook and that applying his own logic must mean that he has a thing for those women, he gets so mad.