Help end medical misogyny. Sign our petition.

Help end medical misogyny.
Sign our petition.

Sign the petition

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to think my fiance overreacted by getting a younger woman's number because I double booked by accident, and threw my belongings about?

1000 replies

Sunglasses1979 · 01/06/2026 12:52

I am trying to work out whether I am being unfair or whether my fiancé genuinely overreacts to situations.
I was spending a long weekend with him and we had plans for Monday. Friday to Sunday eve were lovely and we did sightseeing etc. then went to his and were planning to stay there for a few nights.

However, I realised I had accidentally double-booked the Monday because my adult DD had arranged for me to meet her new boyfriend and his father over lunch. It was important to her and had been organised for a while. DD has is ND and has severe MH issues; this is the first "normal" relationship she has had and it's a huge deal for her.

I told my fiancé on Sunday afternoon that I would go to the lunch for a few hours and then come back afterwards so we could still spend the Monday evening together and the following days.

He was furious. He said I was choosing other people over him and repeatedly referred to my daughter's boyfriend and his father as "strange men". He seemed particularly upset that I would be spending time with another man, even though it was DD's BF's dad not just a random stranger.

After I had told him I had double booked and would need to go for a few hours we were arguing about it non-stop for hours. I was crying at one point and I kept saying I was sorry, it was human error, not deliberate. After all this arguing I was tired and wanted to stay in, but at around 11pm he insisted we go out. While we were out he deliberately started talking to a much younger woman, introduced himself to her, claimed he got her Instagram and then repeatedly talked about how he was meeting her for dinner the next day. His argument was that if I was going for lunch with strange men the next day, then why couldn't he meet up with a new person too? Even though it was not the same at all, obviously. The young woman must have been about 20 and we are both in our 40's so it just felt really weird and "off".

The argument continued after we got back to his for most of the night and I got very little sleep. The next morning I had to get an extremely expensive Uber to make sure I did not let my daughter down and miss the lunch. He had said not to come back to his after lunch but then called me when I was in the Uber and asked me to come back to his after all.

The lunch itself was lovely. Afterwards, I travelled back to his. However, when I arrived we had another argument. During it, he picked up my bags and threw them across the room in anger, they went everywhere as he threw them so hard.

He later continued to use the lunch as an example of me not caring about him enough and prioritising other people over our relationship, and how I like "strange men".

From my point of view, I attended an important family event for a few hours and still made the effort to return afterwards. From his point of view, I had disrespected him and chosen other people over him.

When I told him how much the Uber cost he took offence because I have never gotten an Uber to his even if I am running late; he said he didn't realise I have money in this way.

When I went back to his after the lunch I had to get a standing room only train in the middle of the heatwave; I don't like public transport at the best of times and he kept asking when I arrived what did I want to do; meet his friends in the pub or go straight to his. I said I don't care and was almost in tears as I was finding the journey so stressful. I didn't realise but he had me on loud speaker so all his friends heard me when I said "I don't care" and now he's saying his friends all think I am horrible and rude to him. When it was taken out of context and they didn't know we had been arguing all night and that he'd got a much younger woman's contact details the night before.

Am I missing something or was he overreacting?

OP posts:
SisterTeatime · 01/06/2026 13:11

WTF? Thank your lucky stars you’re not married and don’t live together. He is an abusive lunatic.

MrsOni · 01/06/2026 13:12

Surely you must realise that decent people - y'know, the type you want to marry - don't behave like this?

Run like the fucking wind.

Megifer · 01/06/2026 13:12

Why is this abuser not your ex fiance already?

Nowthatshuge · 01/06/2026 13:12

DoAWheelie · 01/06/2026 13:06

If your daughter came to you and told you her new boyfriend had done this to her, and asked you what to do, what advice would you give her?

Came to comment to the same
OP, you’ll look back on this AWFUL behaviour from your fiance and think why the fuck did I put up with that, let’s start that process. He’s controlling and awful

WilfredsPies · 01/06/2026 13:13

He’s an abuser. There is absolutely no point in trying to assess his motives, or try and use reason or logic to justify his behaviour because abusive behaviour makes no sense. There is nothing you can do that will change him or not set him off. You could be perfect, do everything he wanted and he would still find something to attack you for. Even if he had to make up a ‘disrespectful’ tone or invent a negative facial expression. You cannot fix this man.

You literally only have two choices here. You can stay and continue being abused until you are just a shell of the woman you once were and your DD no longer talks to you because he’s driven a wedge between you. Or you can leave. And then do the Freedom Programme so you learn to recognise abuse when you see it.

The only question is whether you want to leave before he starts with the physical violence, or after.

CaptainMyCaptain · 01/06/2026 13:13

Sunglasses1979 · 01/06/2026 12:58

Didn't realise how long my post was 🫠

I didn't feel very respected at all, it was horrible going out so late to what is essentially a student bar just to watch him show me how easily he can pick up other, much younger, women. I wanted the ground to swallow me up.

You are massively under reacting to this man's treatment of you. Leave him NOW.

Jackiepumpkinhead · 01/06/2026 13:13

ProfessorRedshoeblueshoe · 01/06/2026 13:09

Why on earth are you engaged to this bastard. This is ALL on him. LTB - today.

I think this is a LTB we can all agree on!

Nevermind31 · 01/06/2026 13:13

This would be the end of it for me.

CrispySquid · 01/06/2026 13:14

BIN HIM. Ghastly human being.

HalzTangz · 01/06/2026 13:14

My response would have been my daughter is my priority then you are. Grow up

OhGoshNotAgain · 01/06/2026 13:15

This is domestic abuse, and coercive control, which is a crime. He is deliberately cowing you into submission by threats of violence and infidelity, and cutting you off from your support network by making it impossible for you to spend time with your family.

It is a very well worn path by abusers, and one which ends in A&E and penury for you. It should end in prison for him, instead.

You have to end it and get safely away from him before it escalates further.

AttachmentFTW · 01/06/2026 13:15

OP it really worries me that you are even asking if his behaviour is an over reaction. He is abusive, controlling, coercive and violent. Even if he didn't hit you, he threw your stuff.

There are so many red flags, why are you unsure? To me it seems like you might need some therapy to help you figure out why your opinion of your self is so low that you think any part of his behaviour is acceptable.

OriginalSkang · 01/06/2026 13:15

People do post some really weird stuff on here. This isnt over reacting, its abuse. Your fiance is a childish, self absorbed piece of shit and he's just told you he has cheated on you, but youre still calling him your fiance and asking if he 'overreacted'?

Because you went for lunch with your DD? He is looking for excuses to abuse you.

Newmeagain · 01/06/2026 13:16

Surely you are not going to marry this man?????

Notsosweetcaroline · 01/06/2026 13:16

There has to be a back story op; no one stands and is abused and humiliated and just takes it and then goes back for more, without one, no one is that desperate to be with a bloke. Have you a history of abuse that you’d be unable to recognise this and have to ask if it’s an over reaction?

I also feel for the young woman, she must have been so uncomfortable, knowing you were there watching, guessing you were an abused woman being humiliated, then you left with him.

hes threatened you, humiliated you, displayed anger and violence, gaslit you, shamed you, and still you stayed and took it. So there must be more to this?

whyohwhyisitalwayswet · 01/06/2026 13:16

Sunglasses1979 · 01/06/2026 12:58

Didn't realise how long my post was 🫠

I didn't feel very respected at all, it was horrible going out so late to what is essentially a student bar just to watch him show me how easily he can pick up other, much younger, women. I wanted the ground to swallow me up.

It isn't just an overreaction and it isn't just the disrespect at the bar. It's the fact that his mind works the way it does. Even objecting to your meeting your DD and her boyfriend for lunch sound completely over the top. He sounds disturbed, controlling, melodramatic and prone to anger and jealousy. I'm assuming from your post that you are both middle aged. He certainly isn't going to change. Please don't marry this man. This will not be a happily ever after!

weareallcats · 01/06/2026 13:17

He is really horrible and abusive, jealous, controlling, violent. Please don’t stay with him.

pikkumyy77 · 01/06/2026 13:17

Sunglasses1979 · 01/06/2026 12:58

Didn't realise how long my post was 🫠

I didn't feel very respected at all, it was horrible going out so late to what is essentially a student bar just to watch him show me how easily he can pick up other, much younger, women. I wanted the ground to swallow me up.

stop trying to analyze yourself. He is awful. He lives for this shit. This is what he likes: to abuse you and humiliate you. Shoe some self respect and bin him off. Block him everywhere or tell him you met a hot younger man on the tube (which you did) so you are dumping him. Then block.

Krevlornswath · 01/06/2026 13:17

Yes it all sounds horrible OP, because it is, because he is extremely abusive.

You must take a pause here, stop focusing on how he's made you feel and evaluate the relationship instead, he is completely in the wrong, the behaviour is wildly abnormal. This is not someone you want to stay with let alone marry. How long has this been going on?

In real life, what do your own family and friends think of this?

powersthatbe · 01/06/2026 13:18

Get out. This is not a healthy or normal relationship. He is an abusive asshole. Do not let any other “nice things” he dows override this appalling behaviour.

Is this what you’d want for tour daughter? No? Then why tolerate it for you.

Sunglasses1979 · 01/06/2026 13:18

Bluffinwithmymuffin · 01/06/2026 13:09

Why on earth are you with this man? The whole situation is ridiculous, and for him to try and trap you into making yourself look bad on speakerphone is vile. His friends sound like a bunch of twats too. For your own peace of mind, just ditch him.

His friends are fine as far as I can tell, he just made me look really bad by pretending to them that I was running late by not saying I had just got on the train and then putting me on speakerphone so they could hear me saying "I don't care!" without any context of being out the night before and me having spent about 7 hours arguing and crying with him the night before. All for a silly lunch.

OP posts:
Grammarninja · 01/06/2026 13:18

How could you even question whether you're the unreasonable one here. He is a horrible bully. I never tell people to LTB but in this case you would be very unreasonable to stay. He is a bad man who I am sure is capable of being very lovely when things are going completely to his plan but that's not life and not what happens in relationships.

OriginalSkang · 01/06/2026 13:19

Sunglasses1979 · 01/06/2026 13:18

His friends are fine as far as I can tell, he just made me look really bad by pretending to them that I was running late by not saying I had just got on the train and then putting me on speakerphone so they could hear me saying "I don't care!" without any context of being out the night before and me having spent about 7 hours arguing and crying with him the night before. All for a silly lunch.

But why did you do this though? Any of it?

SnappyQuoter · 01/06/2026 13:19

Do not marry him. Get out now. The man is insane. End it.

But I suspect you won’t. So good luck.

quackers7 · 01/06/2026 13:20

What a horrible, controlling man. He achieved what he set out to do which was ruin your important lunch with your dd and her bf by keeping you up all hours the night before, punishing you when you got back and no doubt shredding your nerves so that you couldn’t relax anyway.

The level of arrogance and disrespect it would take to chat up another woman in front of you, why did you not just walk out then? You did absolutely nothing wrong, you just wanted to support your dd and he has created this whole abusive drama over that very normal thing. Rest assured if you stay with him and show him you’ll tolerate that nonsense it will happen every single time you want to do something that doesn’t include him until you are completely controlled and worn down by him. You’ll not get a minutes peace with this man unless things are going 100% the way he wants them to. Leave now before it escalates.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

This thread is not accepting new messages.