Couples who've "swapped" long-term

[MrsCristoforou]

Just musing on this really. I can't imagine it's very common but does anyone know of any couples who were friends and then e.g. one partner from each couple left their partners and got together, and then the other two got together as well?!

My step daughter’s grandparents swapped partners with the next door neighbours back in the 1980s. They’re all dead now.

Oh my word those are a gut punch, aren't they 😳 how incredibly sad.

Yes this happened in my family with two couples swapping partners. It was very difficult in the beginning especially as one of the women was pregnant when it all happened and the father turned out to be the new partner rather than the husband. However they are all still together now so obviously something worked! Not sure how their various kids feel about it all tho, I have heard snippets over the years about it being very hard for them all to come to terms with.

Yes, friends of my parents. The two couples were very close friends, and there was clearly an attraction between the wife of one and the husband of the other. Couple. One couple had kids, the other didn't. They swapped and now, 30 or so years later, they are all friendly and the kids have turned into seemingly happy and well adjusted adults.

Not true. Happened to a friend of mine when I was a teenager. Her mum went off with a family friend. His wife then got together with her hubbie. It was a complete shit show as it impacted so many people. Weird thing is they all went back to their original partners in the end. Kids involved in both families which I assume drove that decision.

My parents in their 40s. With long time good friends. My dad had an affair with the wife and left. To be fair I think mum was about to boot him out. My mum was very kind to the husband who was devastated and their friendship developed to romance. Both couples stayed together till death. They ended up with the right partners but it was quite the scandal in town.

Someone I worked with years ago had parents who did this. There were 3 couples who were all friends, who split up and 2 new couples were formed and 2 people who didn’t form a new couple. Her mum was one of the people who ended up single. Her dad was in one of the new couples. My work colleague was young and had previously gone out with a child of one of the original couples. This boy, after the swaps, became her step brother, which was slightly awkward!

Lost contact with work colleague so don’t know how long these relationships lasted