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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to think EX is lying about having depression

72 replies

BueenQee · 13/11/2021 08:43

I’ll try and keep this as brief as possible.

Ex and I split 2.5 years ago when DS was 5 weeks old (I ended it) and he put me through hell for the first few months afterwards - constantly texting me saying I was an unfit mother, name calling, telling me I was mentally unstable, lying to his family about me which resulted in his mum calling my GP to tell them she thought I had PND (amongst other things) - until I blocked him from everything and went no contact.

After a few months of NC he contacted me by email and we sorted things out and became friends again. DS has suspected ASD so we have attended appointments together...taken the kids on days out... etc, so have been in each other’s company often.

A few months ago I started to receive messages from a random Facebook account. At first, I didn’t reply but the person was very persistent, sending me messages A LOT and the style of writing was very similar to my EX so I became suspicious and replied to try and catch them out. This went on for weeks, and I literally felt like I was going off my head. I reverse image searched one of the profile pictures and found the real persons Instagram account so I then knew the Facebook account that had been messaging me was fake but still had no proof it was my ex. I contacted my ex and explained I knew he was behind the fake profile and that I had found the real persona social media but he ignored the message. So I contacted the guy who’s content was being taken to let him know so he could have the fake account removed. He asked me if I had any idea who was behind it and I explained I thought it may be my ex as the way they wrote was very similar, they spelled certain words the same way, they overused emojis...etc. This guy contacted my ex and what followed was the worst 3 weeks emotionally that I have ever dealt with in my life.

The lies, manipulation, gaslighting, my ex tried to turn it all around and make out I was some crazy ex who was obsessed with him and it was me who was behind the fake account, he said I made it up so I could pin it on him because he’s not been arsed with me since we split. I ended up having to contact the police and when I showed them everything - all the messages from the fake account & the emails from him - the police believed me and they went and spoke to him. But even then he continued to send me threatening emails saying he had filled the police in on a few blanks and I was going to get done with wasting police time.

Honestly, I felt like I was going crazy. It was hell. So I tried everything to get into the fake Facebook account so I could get the IP logs as this was the only way I could 100% know my ex was behind the face account. My ex had a lot of email addresses so I tried them with a password he used to use for nextflix and after the 3rd or 4th attempt I got into the fake account. So I screen shotted the IP logs and contacted my ex asking him to send a screenshot of the IP like he’s from his own Facebook account to see if any of them matched. I got a few excuses at first saying he couldn’t then he sent me an email confessing everything. It was like an extract from a book.

I know this all sounds so far fetched and crazy but this was my reality for a few months.

I obviously cut contact when he admitted everything and I spoke with DS child development officer, health visitor and speech and language, I explained I was really concerned about ex’s mental health and was worried about leaving DS with him. They all agreed that I should only allow supervised contact. I contacted ex’s mum and sister and explained everything to them, they also agreed it should be supervised contact going forward.

Ex continued to contact me saying the reason he did what he did was because he was suffering from depression and became obsessed with me. I don’t believe he had depression as every time I saw him he did not show any signs of mental illness. The professionals dealing with DS said the same, any time they saw my ex he presented himself as being a completely normal, articulate, intelligent, level headed guy. That’s the scary thing, he is highly intelligent and has a very successful job yet he seems to become someone else when he’s on his own??

The reason I’m writing this is because he’s still contacting my by email, albeit I haven’t replied, saying I need to let go of the hatred I feel for him and accept that he wasn’t emotionally well and that’s why he did all this stuff. He’s completely fine now and we need to start communicating and being civil to each other for DS sake. Well, wasn’t thinking of DS when he was stealing and catfishing me from a fake profile! And the amount of effort that went into the fake profile is scary! He was stealing this random guys pictures, screen recording his videos and had even made up a second fake account to make it look like the fake account had a friend.

So am I wrong to disbelieve him that he is suffering from depression? I actually think he has some sort of personality disorder. I sincerely don’t ever want to speak to or see him again after what he put me though. Am I wrong for feeling like this or should I give him the benefit of the doubt for DS sake?

OP posts:
BueenQee · 13/11/2021 08:47

Sorry for the typos! stalking and catfishing

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BueenQee · 13/11/2021 08:48

He’s 40 btw, not some silly little boy

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bibliomania · 13/11/2021 08:54

You have to go grey rock. No, funny go back to being friends. You need to get into a low-drama distant-but-civil situation. And yes to contact being supervised. No harm if he decides to back away from contact because he can't use it to get to you.

EnterFunnyNameHere · 13/11/2021 08:54

What was this fake FB account contacting you about which was so important you couldn't just block it and ignore? I mean, your ex sounds like he totally lost the plot, bit I don't get why you ended up embroiled in some crazy detective game trying to prove it was him - why not just block and ignore?

In terms of moving forward, I guess you won't be able to keep him away forever, does it make more sense to be civil so you are in control of the situation rather than avoiding contact and therefore having less insight what he's up to/where he's at? Totally get you'd prefer not to speak to him but unfortunately I'm not sure that's an option when children are involved...

bibliomania · 13/11/2021 08:54

No, funny should be no don't!

EnterFunnyNameHere · 13/11/2021 08:55

I mean just civil, polite, necessary contact by the way - you don't need to be bezzy mates!

LivingLaVidaBabyShower · 13/11/2021 08:55

i wont pretend to understand the slughtly bizarre life choices you've made up to now but....

Make it clear in writing he is not to contact you.
keep reporting it to the police.
Get a nonmolestation and or restraining order in place.
Limit DS contact with him to the contact centre.

Unless you love the drama in which case keep engaging

Theunamedcat · 13/11/2021 08:57

Just ignore the drama only respond to thing's if they are about the child so for example

"Long waffle about him his mental health and your forgiveness or getting over things" ignore totally
"Long waffle" about him plus a question about ds"
Answer the question nothing else don't be goaded coerced or anything

he might escalate thing's if he does call the police tell them you see no reason to go over this ground again your exes you don't wish to discuss anything but your child

clarepetal · 13/11/2021 08:59

Keep away from him. He sounds batshit. Supervised visits for the kid, no idea whether or not he's depressed, I know loads of people who get depressed who wouldn't act like that. He'd unhinged.

Yummypumpkin · 13/11/2021 09:00

Whether or not he has depression is irrelevant. It wouldn't excuse his behaviour nor be a reason why you have to forgive him.

BueenQee · 13/11/2021 09:01

I did block and ignore and he made another account and messaged me from that - he said it was an old account that he had deactivated because an ex had hacked into it and the account I had blocked was his new account. That’s when I became suspicious. There’s so much more I could write about what actually happened but I’m trying to keep it this as brief as possible

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Darkstar4855 · 13/11/2021 09:05

Doesn’t matter if he was depressed or not, the point is that his behaviour was clearly unacceptable and went on for a considerably long time. He had multiple opportunities to tell the truth but continued to lie and gaslight you. No amount of depression excuses that.

I would disengage completely and limit your communication to specific questions regarding your son as the poster above suggests.

And next time you get unsolicited messages on social media just block and ignore instead of taking the bait.

LittleOwl153 · 13/11/2021 09:06

Does your DS have contact with his dad? If so who supervises it?

If he doesn't or his contact is with Ex mother/sister which can be arranged through them then block him and ignore him.

If he wants contact other than supervised through his family he can get contact centre support.

BueenQee · 13/11/2021 09:09

I haven’t been replying to any messages. Although he did contact me a couple of weeks ago asking if he could have DS overnight unsupervised and I replied via his sister. Any attempts at excuses from him or anything else I’ve ignored

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caravanman · 13/11/2021 09:09

It really sounds like you are going through a living hell. I will try to phrase this carefully, because I realise that not every neurodiverse person is the same, however, have you ever considered that your ex may be autistic?

I am asking this because his behaviour resembles that of my partner who was diagnosed in his early fifties, not long after our eldest son was diagnosed with ASD.

Certain points in your post stand out to me. these are the obsessional tendency (being obsessed with you), not realising the consequences of his actions, grossly misinterpreting situations, not being able to censor what he says to others, a persistent 'mental illness' that is unresponsive to treatment.

Once my husband was diagnosed, it provided a framework through which we could understand his behaviour and his way of thinking a little better.

I must state that I am recounting the behaviour on one person here, and this, in no way, implies that all people with autism may behave like this.

Babyiskickingmyribs · 13/11/2021 09:09

Stop engaging with him completely. Set up one way of communicating with him about supervised contact only, ideally through a third party - probably the contact centre or whichever friend or family member is supervising contact. And just ignore absolutely everything else. His mental health diagnoses are irrelevant to you. He treated you appallingly, you no longer wish to speak to him. End of. Tell him this once in writing and then don’t reply to any responses. If he keeps bombarding you with unwanted communication, go back to the police for help and advice.

EnterFunnyNameHere · 13/11/2021 09:09

@BueenQee

I did block and ignore and he made another account and messaged me from that - he said it was an old account that he had deactivated because an ex had hacked into it and the account I had blocked was his new account. That’s when I became suspicious. There’s so much more I could write about what actually happened but I’m trying to keep it this as brief as possible
OK, but if you don't know who is contacting you (ie FB request is not from someone you know) just block and ignore - like using grey rock in communications you don't feed the crazy by engaging.

You don't need to talk about the back story if you don't want to, but IMO the best approach is to rise above and only engage on your terms - like PP have said, if it's not directly a) from him and b) about the DC don't respond!

BueenQee · 13/11/2021 09:11

I haven’t been engaging with him. I haven’t replied to any messages for months. He still sees DS but only while his mum and sister are there

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Missmissmiiiiiiiiisss · 13/11/2021 09:12

Contact women’s aid. This is abusive and probably harassment. They should be able to advise and as totally “out there” as it seems. Trust me they will have seen this manipulative behaviour all before and will believe you.

BueenQee · 13/11/2021 09:13

@caravanman yes!! I said this to him throughout our relationship even before DS was born. I have asked him to be assessed and he refuses.

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Pumpkinsonparade · 13/11/2021 09:14

I get why you had to prove it was him. Twats get away with so much they need calling out...
Block him in all ways. Your ds doesn't need him around op. He is potentially dangerous..

riotlady · 13/11/2021 09:17

Whether he’s depressed is neither here nor there (for the record, I have suffered depression and am also a normal, articulate person- they’re not mutually exclusive!) and isn’t your job to judge. Your relationship is damaging and you are much better off not engaging with him beyond what is absolutely necessary

BueenQee · 13/11/2021 09:17

@Pumpkinsonparade - thank you! I did have to prove it was him as there is a child involved and if I’d just left this, I’d have probably went crazy with the paranoia

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Sparkletastic · 13/11/2021 09:33

It does rather sound as if he has a personality disorder. Very telling that his mother and sister supported the supervised contact and didn't insist on his innocence.

knittingaddict · 13/11/2021 10:09

You're still too invested in him.

My daughter has been in an almost identical situation, but she responded in a very different way. She ignores it, doesn't respond and deletes all suspect sm accounts. Grey rock basically. Communication is strictly about the practicalities of contact. It's the only way.

By trying to get into the fake account you have muddied the waters a bit. Keep detached and your hands clean in future.

Apart from how it impacts the children, my daughter couldn't care less whether her ex is happy or sad. Best way to be, in my opinion.

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