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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Boyfriend says I’m being controlling. Am I overreacting?

133 replies

Loveeachday · 09/11/2019 15:52

My boyfriend and I (both mid 30s) have been together around 18 months. We live together and each have children from previous relationships. We are going through a rough patch (unplanned pregnancy and deciding to terminate the pregnancy).
I’m really beginning to wonder how much I and our relationship mean to him. A couple of months ago, I saw on Instagram that he’d been liking pictures of girls he knows posing sexily in underwear and bikinis (some live literally down the road and he has contact with them on a fairly frequent basis). I asked him why he had liked them and he said they’re nice pictures. I told him it made me uncomfortable because he knows them personally and he said it didn’t mean anything because he’s known them for years. Then, a couple of weeks ago, he was talking about his workmates, telling me that a lot of them fancy me and he just has to accept it. He then went on to tell me how his friends wife is a very attractive lady, like seriously attractive. Again, I told him I was uncomfortable about that because it’s someone he knows personally and he had a go at me saying that you’re allowed to say that someone’s good looking and it’s doesn’t mean he’s going to sit with her at social occasions thinking how much he wants to sleep with her. Then, last night, he told me he wanted us to go to the pub as some people wanted to meet me. When I asked who, he told me it was his ex girlfriends sister and best friend. I said I didn’t want to and tried to explain why...I’ve got anxiety issues about his ex as he was sleeping with her for the first four months of our relationship, something he denied even after she went to the trouble of finding me and telling me. He only confessed around eight months into our relationship when one of his best friends told me. He went absolutely mad at me telling me I’m a controlling c**t and that he was friends with them before he met me. I can’t understand why he wants them in his life when the two girls and his ex are nearly always together and it makes me feel really upset to think of them together (she’s not the mother of his child and they were only together a year).
My boyfriend keeps telling me I’m a control freak and that I’m trying to control his life and drive a wedge between him and his friends. I think that I’m well within my right to voice my feelings and that he should take them into consideration as I’ve done the same for him and didn’t make a fuss over it.

OP posts:
Groovinpeanut · 09/11/2019 18:31

He makes you feel amazing?
That might be due to the fact he's playing you like a fiddle!
He will say nice things when he's conditioning you to be some doormat. When you're not following his 'script' he calls you a cunt.
Why are you with this scummy man who triggers your anxieties and treats you like this?
Kick him out, give him his life back and don't waste any more time on him.

NeckPainChairSearch · 09/11/2019 18:34

The thing is, he can be the most loving boyfriend and make me feel amazing

Of course he can do that. If he acted like a faithless, vile shit 24/7 you wouldn't have started a relationship with him.

Putting up with this crap whilst waiting for your dickhead boyfriend to occasionally act 'amazing' is an utter waste of your life. Find someone who you count on to treat you well and who you can trust with your happiness.

You need to set a good example of healthy, mutually respectful relationships to your child.

Hotmessfandango · 09/11/2019 18:34

He’s controlling and disrespectful. Trying to imply you’re out of order for having boundaries around respect.

And frankly, he sounds a little weird.

Please, get rid of him and find someone who doesn’t play head-games.

Everyone’s different, but living together after 18 months with kids involved is a bit of a gamble. There’s nowhere to go when it goes tits-up because you didn’t know each other well enough.

Next time, don’t move in so quick. It’ll make your life easier if you have the misfortune of another nightmare like this one.

Good luck OP

FrivolousPancake · 09/11/2019 18:39

Why oh why would you drag your kids into this?
God I’m so sick of selfish people dragging their poor kids into these toxic messes because of their own desperation.

Namechangeoflife · 09/11/2019 18:47

God I’m so sick of selfish people dragging their poor kids into these toxic messes because of their own desperation.
This with bells on

IWorkAtTheCheescakeFactory · 09/11/2019 18:50

Get an STI test

DistanceCall · 09/11/2019 18:56

Your BF sleeps with someone else during the first 4 months of your relationship, tells you, and you stay with him?

Get some self-respect, for God's sake. And yes, an STI test.

Ilovethekitties · 09/11/2019 18:56

Put him in the BIN

Motoko · 09/11/2019 19:03

Bloody hell, you're a fool if you don't kick him out. I knew it would be him that moved in with you.

He turns on the charm, and says nice words sometimes, not because he actually means them, but to secure his place in YOUR home. And he calls you a cunt and controlling, because he wants to live like a single bloke, with all the comforts of home provided for him. And if he can't get a shag from one of the other women, he's got you there he can shag instead.

Get some self respect. Don't accept this behaviour, kick him out to "live his life" elsewhere. And do the Freedom Programme.

Loveeachday · 09/11/2019 19:04

My kids adore him and his child and he’s good with them, when the kids are with us, its a happy, good environment- there’s never arguments or bad atmosphere around them. I work to support my kids and pay my rent so it’s never been about money plus he pays towards food shop, etc. Admittedly, I do the housework, cooking etc but he does work hard

OP posts:
Alicenwonderland · 09/11/2019 19:05

If abusive men were awful all the time women wouldn't stay with them. Not in the beginning anyway, it gets worse over time once they've broken you down and know you won't leave. We're talking years here often as well. He is displaying lots of abusive traits, it's psychological warfare and it's very gradual.

lborgia · 09/11/2019 19:09

You're going to have to clarify your last post, because it sounded horribly like he is not paying half of everything...

Bunnyfuller · 09/11/2019 19:10

I can’t focus enough for the torrent of typing without paragraphs, but it all sounds very immature and FB-status-y.

You’re either together or not, why this muddying of waters with other people.

Both of you bin SM and have an adult relationship. Or not. If you’re having to ask him to not do this, that, the other with other women, it ain’t working!

Butchyrestingface · 09/11/2019 19:12

he was sleeping with her for the first four months of our relationship, something he denied even after she went to the trouble of finding me and telling me. He only confessed around eight months into our relationship when one of his best friends told me.

Have you posted about this prince before, in the recent past? 🤨

MyNewBearTotoro · 09/11/2019 19:15

You pay the rent and do all the cooking/ housework etc but it’s okay because he contributes to the food bill? Sorry but he sounds like a cocklodger and your posts are full of red flags. Him telling you he’s given up his life whenever you have a disagreement is manipulative behaviour designed to make you feel guilty even though it’s blatantly untrue - how can he say he doesn’t have his own life when he’s going out with his ex and her friends?

Sounds like he’s bound to cheat at some point so leave now while you’ve got the upper hand!

GettingABitDesperateNow · 09/11/2019 19:21

If someone is controlling they try and unreasonably influence their partners behaviour due to their own insecurities

If anyone's partner cheated on them for 4 whole months of a relationship, it's a natural reaction to be a bit suspicious and worried for a while. For a while I mean I think it can take a couple of years before you're not worried about it.

I think if he hadn't cheated he could claim you were being controlling. But if someone has cheated then its normal for their partner to be worried about their behaviour for a while especially when they make no secret of the fact they are looking at other women.

I know some people are fine with it but I think its disrespectful to point out other people that are attractive even if they're famous. It shows they are always appraising and categorizing other people based on their looks and if looks are that important to them I dont think that's a nice thing in itself

GreyHare · 09/11/2019 19:22

He sounds like a twat I know, and he'll have someone else lined up and sleeping with whilst still with you and stringing you along, he will not be faithful to you and he will get bored sooner or later and off he will go, completely screwing your head before he does making you doubt yourself and removing all of your self worth and confidence, please leave whilst you still have a chance.

Mollymoo01 · 09/11/2019 19:23

He doesn’t respect you and quite honestly it doesn’t sound like he even likes you very much.

I Imagine he is cheating (or soon will be) on you because he sounds like he thinks he is some sort of player/jack the lad.
If he was a bit older I would say mid life crisis but as he is mid 30’s he’s clearly just a dick that’s never grown up and definitely never thought about anyone over and above his own penis.

nancyjuice7 · 09/11/2019 19:24

"I work to support my kids and pay my rent so it’s never been about money plus he pays towards food shop, etc. Admittedly, I do the housework, cooking etc but he does work hard"

So you pay all the rent and bills?

He pays "towards" the food he eats and you do all the housework?

You're a slave to an arse hole who dosnt even pay you for the pleasure.

I think other posters saying he's abusive are too far. He's a dick, kick him out.

1Morewineplease · 09/11/2019 19:25

OP please listen to what others are saying to you.
It sounds like you keep making excuses for him. He is controlling and is emotionally abusive.
He has chipped away at your self esteem.
You must tell him to leave.

Namechangeoflife · 09/11/2019 19:25

Have you posted about this prince before, in the recent past? 🤨
Yes. Advance search is your friend.

Op I don’t know why you are posting.
You clearly have no intention of splitting up with your partner,no matter what shit you have to put up with so good luck.

Namechangeoflife · 09/11/2019 19:26

My kids adore him and his child
What happened to his other 3 children

GuessWhoColeen · 09/11/2019 19:29

I think you will find he has been lusting after women on Instagram for the year before he moved in with you.

He moved in with me about three months ago and when he gets angry he tells me that he gave up his life for me and that he’s not got his own life any more

Why is he getting angry?

The thing is, he can be the most loving boyfriend and make me feel amazing

When he wants sex/wants to go out?

annielouise · 09/11/2019 19:30

You're asking us if this relationship has legs. It doesn't. You know it doesn't otherwise you wouldn't be asking us.

Any relationship that involves kids and blending families together should not be so bad that the woman is on here 18 months with such major concerns. Think of your kids. You shouldn't have let him move in. It's been only a short time so get rid of him now for your kids' sakes.

NeckPainChairSearch · 09/11/2019 19:31

This is the bit where you try to persuade us that he's just what your kids need in their lives, OP? He's 'a good man really' and all that shite?

Good men do NOT act the way this dickhead has. Good men do NOT call their partner Godawful names. Good men do NOT need excuses making for them.

For goodness sake. Do not use the old 'Aww but he's great with the kids' rubbish to absolve you of the responsibility of getting this arsehole out of your life and the lives of your children.