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Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

when trust is broken..............advice please

17 replies

charllie · 29/06/2012 19:42

I have been with my OH for almost 2 and half years, we live together, my DD calls him Dad. Its all sounding good eh!!? I found out just after a year of being together that he had been messaging female friends on facebook, flirting with them and the messages were extremely rude, talking about sex and what they wanted to do to each other. He never met any of them. When we sat down and talked, he admitted its something he's done for years, the messaging things like that. Listening to him talk was like listening to an addict talk, like he craved the attention (he has really low self-esteem, hates his body etc) i'm not excusing what he done, we very nearly broke up because of it. He did try lying about the messages, so i sent the women messages myself lol. Then he finally came clean and told me everything. He deleted his facebook account, to show me he'd stop. I stayed as i love him, have never felt this way about anyone before. Then......maybe just under a year ago, i found out that he had been watching porn. This alone, I wouldn't have liked, but with the lying and messaging previously, it really upset me and when i asked him about it, he lied. Its the lying thats hurt the most. He promised he'd never do it again, i explained why it had upset me so much, that i saw it as he was still looking at other women, and that he had lied to me (oh by the way, we dont' have sex too often, he has a massive confidence problem) So again, i gave him another chance. Then a few months back, i found out he had still been looking at porn! Again he lied, telling me that it was just pop ups on his phone, i'm not stupid, for the link to be there on his phone, he's clicked on it, if it were a 'pop up' there would be no record of it. So again, for the 3rd time, we nearly broke up. I've told him that this really is his last chance, that i will make myself end it, no matter how hard it is, if it happens again. I'm really hoping i can do that, to end the relationship if it happens again. Hope i have the strength to do it. My DD loves him just like a daddy, which onlly makes it harder.
Anyway, the advice that i need........he has been showing interest in joining twitter, because i'm on it and you can follow famous people/bands etc. This though filled me with dread as i know you can send private messages on there. So am i being silly for not wanting him to, or should i let him have a bit of line so to speak. The trust with us, where women are concerned is completely broken.

OP posts:
ImperialBlether · 29/06/2012 19:44

Can you send private messages on Twitter? I didn't think you could.

charllie · 29/06/2012 19:56

you can yes

OP posts:
FuckityFuckFuck · 29/06/2012 20:05

I would let him have a bit of line.You can't live the rest of your life constantly checking on him, and limiting his interactions with women.

He needs to get help to deal with his self esteem and body issues properly. Has he been to see his GP, or looked into private counselling?

charllie · 29/06/2012 20:08

Thats what i was thinking FuckityFuckFuck i know i need to, its just hard. Wish it wasn't. He hasn't been for help, i've suggested it and he said that he can't, just can't talk to a stranger about it. We talk quite alot, he says i'm helping with the compliments etc. He does say the talking helps.

OP posts:
izzyizin · 29/06/2012 23:05

Unless your dd is aware that he isn't her 'dad' in the legal sense, having her call a man who isn't her father 'dad' doesn't sound at all good to me

Similarly, I'm feeling somewhat despairing that you are teaching your dd that having a man treat you with disrespect is ok as long as you 'love him'.

Given that you've let him off the hook 3 times he's got no incentive to change. As for telling him that he's in the last chance saloon, I suspect that he knows full well that you've got no intention of calling time on him no matter what further deceits he gets up to.

Your willingness to be won over by his promises has given him licence to carry on being a sleazebag. Come back when you make your next 'discovery' and we'll see if we can convince you to chuck him out on his ear so that he'll be able to decide whether you're worth changing his ways for.

Lack of body confidence and self-esteem as an excuse for perving over other women? Give that man a mark for originality.

FuckityFuckFuck · 29/06/2012 23:40

You talking to him isn't going to deal with his issues. All that will do is make you more willing to stand by him time and time again because you are "fixing" him, he won't cope without you etc etc etc.

As I said before, do you really want to spend the rest of your life checking that he has not been messaging other women? Feeling paranoid everytime you see him speaking to a woman? Having to police what he can and cannot do like he's a child?

What do you think that is going to do to your self esteem. Knowing that the only reason your partner is faithful is because you watch his every move. Not because he loves and respects you, but because you make sure he doesn't speak to women.

Let him join twitter, let him do whatever he wants. If he sends messages like that again, finish it. Even if it hurts like hell, kick him out. As Izzy says, you are teaching your DD that this is acceptable behaviour and only you can change that

Spice17 · 30/06/2012 09:03

This may be irrelevent but just to say that porn type pop ups do come up if your DH/DP watches sport online. Mine watches cricket online and they come up, he's shown me that sites like 'sexintheUK' etc will just randomly pop up. I'm not naive enough to think he doesn't watch porn as well but just wanted to throw that in! :)

izzyizin · 30/06/2012 13:38

I suspect that the reason why you 'don't have sex too often' is that he's surreptiously wanking 3 times a day/night over porn and other cheap thrill sites.

Listening to him talk was like listening to an addict talk because he's addicted to these pursuits.

What is his relationship history? Does he have dc?

izzyizin · 30/06/2012 13:48

What is it with this man, honey? Why are you so besotted with a tosser man who has no hesitation about lying through his teeth to you?

Do you lack self-esteem? Do you have body confidence issues?

charllie · 02/07/2012 20:53

I'd just like to say that i'm not showing my DD that its ok to have a man treat you this way, she's 6 and has no clue about any of this! So i'm not worried about her being shown this sort of thing is acceptable at all.
I'd love to think that if it happens again, he's out! I just hope i have the strength to do it if it happens again. I've signed him up with a twitter account in the end, felt i should be giving him a bit of line, seeing as i've decided i want to try and make it work. izzyizin i guess it could be something to do with my last relationship, have been seeing a therapist (have post traumatic stress) so i guess i'm not as strong as i could be. I'm getting stronger though, and the therapist has given me lots of things to use that work for me. Haha my self esteem FuckityFuckFuck is pretty low anyway (see above) as soon as i got off of here the other night, i went and signed him up. Realised that i'll never know if i can try and trust him if i don't let him have things like that etc. I know you all think i'm silly for not finishing it. I know that if i had a friend in the same situation, i'd be telling her exactly what you're all telling me.

OP posts:
sternface · 02/07/2012 21:01

But what I suspect a lot of us are struggling with, is why on earth you want to hang on to this relationship at such enormous cost?

I mean, what does it give you?

You've got no sex life. You know he's an addict who won't get help. You know he lies to you and was trying to be unfaithful within a year of meeting you.

Is it money? Is it that you can't bear to be single? What is that you get from this relationship that would be preferable to being single or with a better man?

charllie · 02/07/2012 21:08

feel stupid for this, but i love him. Its nothing to do with money or being single. I hated that i gave him the chances i have done, but our relationship is great in every other way (well apart from the sex - yes i know that is an important part of a relationship) i may be kidding myself, but wanted to just give it one last go (the relationship)
What i hate is that if i were one of you reading my post, i'd be screaming no, get rid of him! But i can't just do that :/

OP posts:
sternface · 02/07/2012 21:24

But why do you love him?

And don't mention your daughter. Focus on what you love about him in so far as his relationship with you.

How can a relationship be 'great' if your sex life is rubbish and you don't trust him not to hook up with other women, either in RL or via porn?

charllie · 02/07/2012 21:44

Hard question, pin pointing why i love him.
But i've thought of this a few times and there are loads of reasons i love him, there are loads of things i love about him, obviously there are things that annoy me, like most relationships (not putting washing in the basket etc)
The relationship is great, even with the sex life the way it is. We can be ourselves with each other, there is never any raised voices, we dont' argue (which i found strange at first) i'm myself with him (something that i've not been in my previous relationship) so this is a BIG thing for me. We talk, he's my best friend as well as OH. I can talk to him about anything and everything. Sounds like i'm trying to talk myself round, thats not what i'm trying to do.
The trust thing, i honestly do find that hard, its killed something inside of me, i'm in bits about that quite often, that is something that i am finding hard, the not trusting him where women are concerned.

OP posts:
sternface · 02/07/2012 22:05

Have you realised there are negatives that you've written as positives?

I.e you don't argue, there are no raised voices.

When it gets to the point when you have to commend the absence of some bad behaviours, it means your standards in relationships with men have fallen way too low.

I'm sure he doesn't beat you up or gamble your money away either, but they are not good enough reasons to stay with someone or love them.

So you have a bad sex life, you don't trust him with women and he can't be trusted to put washing in a basket (presumably because he knows you'll pick it off the floor and clean his clothes anyway)....

You say you can be yourself with him and can talk to him about anything.

But he can't be himself with you because he lies to you repeatedly and no matter what he says, is perpetually interested in other women. He fobs you off with a sob story about low self-esteem and body confidence issues, but won't get help for it (probably because it's not actually the reason for his behaviour at all).

You've forgiven so many lies, so many times that he's probably lost respect for you. He knows your threats are empty and given that this is a mother-child relationship anyway by the sounds of things, will respond much like a child and do worse in the future.

izzyizin · 02/07/2012 22:10

You can get that from a housemate.

Face it, honey. You're making excuses for staying in a largely non-sexual relationship with a man you can't trust and you need to find out why you're content to settle for considerably less than second best with a second rate man.

izzyizin · 02/07/2012 22:13

Children absorb so much by osmosis. Do you really think your dd doesn't know when you're 'in bits' over him?

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