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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

my husband is in love with another woman.

359 replies

ponytailcapbadge · 10/01/2026 18:59

Sorry this is a name change and a long one so as not to drip feed. I would like to hear people’s opinions as I am considering leaving my DH as he is in love with someone else, lets call her Sarah. He has known Sarah since they were 4 years old. Their parents and grandparents were all friends.She is who is parents thought he should and would marry and she is utterly adored by his who family. She called his parents mum and dad. My husband claims they were never an item (although he wished they were) and they have only kissed once when they were teenagers. She’s nothing to look at but has done very well in her career. We are now all in our late 50s.
This is a second marriage for both me and DH. I met him and his DW at work. I was friends with his DW1 and she would often speak about Sarah and how much she hated her and how she had banned her husband from ever contacting her. When DH marriage broke up, I was already divorced and we started seeing each other. Unfortunately in the job we do this is utterly banned and within 2 weeks we were discovered and he was sacked on the spot. He also lost his home at the same time as it went with the job. I was protected because he was my boss and so was considered a victim. DH had to move in with me and I supported him while he searched for a new career. I wanted a commitment from him and he proposed in a very theatrical way within 6 months of us getting together and it was wonderful – or so I thought.

It turned out that he had immediately got in contact with Sarah when his marriage failed and was messaging her several times a day. They also met up at her house. She told him not to marry me. At this point I understood why DW1 hated her. We got married anyway. It’s fair to say it’s been a pretty tempestuous union. My career has skyrocketed and I’ve moved up through the ranks. He’s struggled to find work and earns now a fraction of what he did when we worked together. I knew that he still thought about her and once he called out her name during sex.
When his mother died Sarah turned up at the funeral. I was furious that she should insert herself into our family grief. When DH father died a few years later she also came to that funeral and had the cheek to bring her husband and child as well. I told him in no uncertain terms that if he spoke to her there that the marriage would be over. She glared at me the whole time.
After the funeral I said he could never speak to Sarah again and told him to remove all social media links to her. I don’t understand why Sarah’s husband hadn’t stopped them speaking to each other.
It’s been 6 years and I really thought she was out of our lives and then on NYE his phone pinged.I checked his phone and it was a text from Sarah saying HNY. I then realised she is never going to be gone from our lives. Our respective kids are almost grown up. AIBU to think now is the time to call this a day. I’ve never even spoken to this woman and yet I want to kill her. I hate what she has done to my marriage. Do I really want to spend the last part of my life with a man who is in love with someone else?

OP posts:
TheSmallAssassin · 12/01/2026 17:22

Why wouldn't your husband's family still see Sarah if they'd grown up with her/known her all her and their lives? She's not an ex-girlfriend and she obviously isn't still "his one".

I really do you think you are thinking irrationally about this - as a previous poster says it's unlikely anyone else knows what you are worrying about. It might be worth getting some counselling on your own to talk all this through?

ldnmusic87 · 12/01/2026 17:28

She will always be the 'Rebecca' in your marriage.

spacemantravelling · 12/01/2026 17:30

Wishimaywishimight · 10/01/2026 19:19

You walked into this with your eyes wide open. It is difficult for you, of course, but hardly surprising?

I doubt she will ever be out of your lives, up to you if you want to spend the rest of your life like this.

She’s not in your life, she’s in his which is exactly where he wants her. He’s settling for scraps and crumbs from her while you settle for the same from him.

Oncloud918 · 12/01/2026 21:28

DeepBlueDeer · 12/01/2026 15:38

Sarah isn't a previous partner.

DH's parents are dead.

They kissed and OP said he told her he would have gone with her if given the chance. That's the same imo. Her in-laws have made it clear they wanted Sarah to be 'the one'
It's no wonder she feels threatened and hurt by the fact she is playing second fiddle in their eyes. It should all just stop & her DH should put an end to it.

Igneococcus · 12/01/2026 21:48

Oncloud918 · 12/01/2026 21:28

They kissed and OP said he told her he would have gone with her if given the chance. That's the same imo. Her in-laws have made it clear they wanted Sarah to be 'the one'
It's no wonder she feels threatened and hurt by the fact she is playing second fiddle in their eyes. It should all just stop & her DH should put an end to it.

Edited

They have known each other since they were four years old, they kissed once when they were teenagers and they are all in their late 50s now and they haven't had any contact at all for the past six years. If Sarah (who is married with children) really wants OP's husband she is hiding it well. I wish we could ask Sarah what she thinks about all this.
I can barely remember the boys I kissed during my teens.

OMGitsnotgood · 12/01/2026 21:52

He’s been married twice, neither time to Sarah. Surely if he was in love with her, and she was interested in him romantically, they would have been together by now. Sounds like they are life long friends, and she would of course attend funerals of his family, she was close to them. Far from it being a cheek that ahe brought her family to a funeral, I’d think that should be more reassuring to you that she wasn’t attending behind her husband’s back.
FWIW I’d be advising a friend against rushing into marriage too.

DeepBlueDeer · 12/01/2026 23:17

Oncloud918 · 12/01/2026 21:28

They kissed and OP said he told her he would have gone with her if given the chance. That's the same imo. Her in-laws have made it clear they wanted Sarah to be 'the one'
It's no wonder she feels threatened and hurt by the fact she is playing second fiddle in their eyes. It should all just stop & her DH should put an end to it.

Edited

"It should all just stop & her DH should put an end to it."
He has, per OP's demand, deleted Sarah from all social media and - as best we can tell - has not been in touch with her for 6 years (since blanking her at the funeral).

I don't think you can reasonably blame him for not having the phone number blocked - for one, you wouldn't necessarily expect someone you've cut out to reach out (I've cut people out before, but have never needed to block a phone number).

On top of that, blocking numbers is usually handset-specific (not a network thing) so even if he had blocked it 6 years ago, he'd need to reblock the number on each new handset (ironically meaning that he needs to keep the number).

I don't think he can reasonably demand that his siblings cut her out, if she's their lifelong friend too.

Sleepysleepycoffeecoffee · 16/01/2026 20:38

Oncloud918 · 10/01/2026 20:21

'Except that your husband called out her name during sex'

There are some extremely liberal views floating around 😂

😂 yes I just realised that sounds ridiculous. I’d hate any woman whose name my husband called out during sex. I just meant that from the OP posts it seems like much more has gone on considering how angry she is, and wondered if she wasn’t telling us everything that has happened

Goingootforawalk · 16/01/2026 22:23

I’d hate any woman whose name my husband called out during sex.

I wouldn’t, I’d hate my husband if I hated anyone. Or at least be really upset by him and worry about our relationship.

I don’t get the idea of hating a woman because the man I’m with may harbour fantasies for.

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