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Relationships

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

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Is my DH is a selfish bastard?

395 replies

Confused74 · 28/08/2012 19:53

6 Months ago i asked DH is he wanted to be with family and friends for his birthday as he shares the same birthday with my MIL and i wanted to book a weekend away for the both of us as a suprise but i know that if i just went and booked it he would tell me that he has planned to spend it with his DM/family/friends.

He said that he thinks that a weekend away just me and him would be a great idea and a lovely suprise (We havent been away together just the two of us every since we met!)

So i went and booked a really expensive hotel, Theatre trip and a meal out the first night and a day out the second day (2 nights).

Well its MIL's 50th birthday and she rang him yesterday to tell him of the plans (On the dates that we were going to be away) that she was thinking/to ask if we can make it.

DH has come home and dropped this on me (He knew what dates i booked the weekend away as we talked about it for a couple of weeks/I was hinting ideas) He said that he cannot miss his DM's 50th so i would have to cancel everything so we could attend, I asked him if she is able to change the dates for the weekend before/after as nothing is booked yet and he said "No way, Don't be selfish".

She hasn't booked anything i have had this booked for 6 months and i asked him beforehand if these dates were okay because i knew MIL would kick up a fuss if i just booked it without talking about dates etc.

I have looked into changing the dates of our weekend but the hotel has no rooms avaliable.

So he said that i have to cancel everything i had booked as he wants to go to MIL's "Do".

It has cost me well over £1000 for everything.

This has REALLY upset me but he said "Its my DM's 50th so im going".

I asked him if he told her that i had a weekend planned for him and me for his birthday weekend and he just said "I forgot to".

AIBU to be VERY upset about this?

OP posts:
moajab · 29/08/2012 09:21

OP, you deserve so much better than this. Please think very hard before cancelling the weekend. If you do this you will always be second best. You need to show your H that you are not. Maybe then he will start appreciating how lucky he is. If he doesn't, then you will always have to put up with this. And so will your DS. You've already said how your MIL didn't even want him in the house when she was visiting and your H just let you take him off to your mums. It's horrible for a child to be treated as second best by their own parent. You and your DS deserve better.

slightlycrumpled · 29/08/2012 09:23

This is awful. What a dreadful way to speak to you Angry.

I would be seriously considering my options in your situation. This will arise again and again, birthdays, Christmas, mothers day etc, and at each one you will build up an expectation only to be let down. That will eventually destroy your relationship anyway. Sadly, in the meantime while you are putting up with it, it will also destroy your own self esteem.

Hope you get this resolved. Sad

glastocat · 29/08/2012 09:25

My god. You may love him (although god knows why) but he certainly doesn't love you. He is treating you with contempt, is this really all you think you and your son deserve?

dreamingbohemian · 29/08/2012 09:27

OP please listen to your mum

This is NOT a healthy relationship, not at all

Your husband is controlling, manipulative and emotionally abusive. You may love him but he is bad for you.

Sometimes we can't have what we love the most, because it's bad for us. It sucks but that's life.

Please try some counseling, for yourself, so you can figure out how to get out of this relationship before it destroys your life and that of your child.

Justme23 · 29/08/2012 09:29

Wow, I dIdnt want to jump on the " leave him" bandwagon but seriously, your DH sounds like a prize dickhead.

Even down to way he speaks to you!

Have you considered what you would gain if you did just go with a friend? It's a grand, that's a lot to lose for your inlaws pigheadedness.

It may just be conjecture but I think if you stood your ground it would really wake your DH up, it sounds like he is quite used to getting his own way.

If it were me (well I wouldn't have got with the guy, he sounds like a tool) I would go, and not spend one second feeling guilty or unreasonable.

What are you going to lose, your inlaws hardly like you anyway a
D I'm sure they won't blossom a new love for you just because you turn up to this do, most likely they will carry on ostracising you.

Go, have some fun, Ot sounds like you deserve it.

CouthyMow · 29/08/2012 09:30

OP. PLEASE do not get sucked into this. You are worth MORE than being second best. To anyone. And much less to someone who is meant to love you.

It took me 12 long fucking years to stand up for myself and put my foot down where my MIL was concerned. It was only then that I realised how much she had controlled my life.

Your husband is emotionally abusing you. You may not see it, but he is. The threats to leave if you go on this trip? Emotional abuse.

He is so sure you won't leave him that he feels he can treat you like a possession.

Please don't waste 13 years of your life on someone like this. You will NEVER come first. He isn't going to magically change himself.

When a man tells you who he really is - LISTEN.

Your DH is telling you that you will never come first to him, you are not important to him, and you will do as he says.

You deserve better than that. So did I. It just took me a bloody long time to realise that.

Listen to your DM too. SHE is worried about your relationship and how your DH and your inlaws are treating you.

No one (except your nasty inlaws, and who cares what they think) will think any less of you for standing up for yourself, even if that DOES make him leave, that is a reflection on HIS lack of character, not yours. It shows him to be the controlling twerp he really is.

And it shows you for being someone who knows their own worth, because no one deserves to be treated like a chattel, something to be dragged around to satisfy her husband's every whim, and that of his family.

His mother has you leaving YOUR OWN HOME when she comes to see 'her son'. Because she makes you feel so uncomfortable.

I put up with being ignored in my own home for 12 years until I finally snapped, and told the ex-MIL a few home truths about her rudeness. And told her to get out of my home until SHE could apologise to ME.

My ex had the tearful phone calls about how horrid I was, and how I needed to apologise to her etc - I told him that would be happening when Hell froze over, and she was no longer welcome in my home until she would treat me with respect, and apologise for her rudeness.

He told me that he would leave if I didn't apologise to her for upsetting her. I pointed to the door and said "Go on then, the door's there..."

It took 13 wasted years to get to that point. The only good thing to come from that relationship was my DC's and me finding my own sense of self-worth, and what I would and wouldn't put up with in a relationship.

My Ex-MIL, on finding out that I was pregnant with DC4, told my Ex (not realising I was sitting close enough to him to hear, as I knew he would be upset by whatever she said, and wanted to comfort him) to leave me. Whilst I was pregnant.

BITCH.

BarredfromhavingStella · 29/08/2012 09:30

Your mum is bang on the money but it makes no difference what she or any of us says as it is clear from your posts that you will never leave him & will basically put up with whatever shit he decides to put you through.
This makes me feel so sad for you as the bastard also clearly knows this so will continue to treat you like shit & do as he pleases-no-one should put up with this & as someone above said-is this really the example you wish to set for your child? Sad

AllPastYears · 29/08/2012 09:31

You would never leave because you love him? Confused Why on earth do you love such a self-centred, controlling piece of (*&&(%)%? !!!

AllPastYears · 29/08/2012 09:34

And why the hell are you trying to figure out how you can placate him?

tryingtonotfeckup · 29/08/2012 09:36

Just reading this and feeling very sad, I'm sorry you and your DC are in this situation. Please listen to your mum, she sounds lovely and has your interests at heart. It doesn't sound like your (D)H does.

From your posts and how your relationship works with your (D)H I'd conclude that it is not a healthy marriage, because this is not a healthy relationship works.

Mistakes / miscommunications happen, I can well believe that my DH would forget an important birthday for his mum / dad / sister, but if this situation happened to us, we would discuss it together and work out a solution, be it postponing one, talking to his mother or if required him owning up to his mum for making a mistake. Mind you, he comes from a balanced family and they wouldn't be creating this issues. We have some issues with families on both sides, who doesn't, but we work around them together.

I think that at this point you aren't going to go on the weekend with a friend, could you try to postpone it, call up and plead prior engagements, relative in hospital anything to salvage the weekend. If you cannot would your DM like to go.

Good luck, consider what other posters have said and if counselling isn't an option for you both, could you have some alone, it may give you some perspective. Keep talking to / seeing friends and make sure you have a life for you and your DC outside the marriage.

CouthyMow · 29/08/2012 09:37

How many years can you put up with being treated like this? 2? 5? 10? 20?

Don't waste your life with this sorry excuse for a human being, please find your sense of self worth (it's in there somewhere, mine was too, just buried deep), and get the hell away from this toxic family.

How DARE your husband be angry with you for trying to do something nice for him? How DARE your husband order you around? How DARE he be angry with you for not wanting to waste your money. How DARE he try to pull the woe is me on you to get you to do what he wants? How DARE he make threats to leave you if you don't do as he says?

I can see so much of myself just 18 months ago in your posts. The Sad, the hurt emanates from your posts. How dare he put you through this when he professes to love you. This isn't love, darling, it's control.

Where is your Angry? You need to find it!

CouthyMow · 29/08/2012 09:42

Keep posting on MN, and maybe ask for the thread to be moved to the Relationship board. I hope the lovely ladies on there can help open your eyes as much as they did mine.

I look back to what I put up with for the 13 years I was with my Ex and his MIL (there WERE 3 people in my relationship, not two), and I shake my head at myself.

Just 18 months down the line, I am a completely different, better person.

GotMyGoat · 29/08/2012 09:42

Please leave - i don't often say that. He is emotionally abusive and controlling and you will never get the love you deserve from him. Don't cancel the break - go with friends or children.

handbagCrab · 29/08/2012 09:44

Why do you love him?

From what you have said

  • he doesn't put you or your Ds first
  • he lies (not close to his family before he married you etc)
  • he says he doesn't love you as much as his mother!
  • he doesn't care about your opinion
  • he left you on your own for your first mothers day (heartbreaking)

Does he

  • do any of the housework?
  • do any of the childcare?
  • ask you about your day/ take an interest in your life?
  • enable you to have free time to pursue your own interests?
  • let you see or speak to your friends?
  • give you the same access to household finances as he has?
  • provide you with a mutually satisfying sex life?

I don't care if he has got PhDs coming out of his arse and you don't even have a swimming certificate, being more educated does not mean that you are more right than other people or your opinions automatcally have more weight (and you come across as very articulate btw so don't put yourself down).

diddl · 29/08/2012 09:47

Why will it cause drama with the ILs-by the sounds of things, they won´t give a fuck & might even be pleased that you are not there-& tbh I think that that goes for your husband also.

So, he will leave you if you dont go-lucky you, I say.

pictish · 29/08/2012 09:53

Aww OP.
Wish I could make you see...but I can't.

If this were me, he'd be getting royally slung. His stuff would be in bags on the doorstep waiting for him when he gets home, and I'd tell him fuck off to mummy's for good.

You'll be ok in the long run you know. Your mum sounds gold...she'll pitch in and sort you out.

This is a bunch of arse you are settling for. You are selling yourself well short. Your husband is a total prick.

alienreflux · 29/08/2012 09:53

i have read this whole thread, and i'm FUCKING FUMING on ur behalf. why aren't you?!!! he's told you HE LOVES HIS MUM MORE THAN YOU!!!! that SHE WILL ALWAYS COME FIRST!! sorry for shouting, but i can't comprehend how you can not hear these words for what they are I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU honestly love, it will only get so much worse, think of your son, think of yourself, and tell him to do one, you never do know, he may find some seriously lacking respect for you for standing up for yourself, you can only be treated how you allow people to treat you. My heart breaks for you, but jesus, only you can sort this out Sad Angry Sad

nvj · 29/08/2012 09:54

so sad reading through this thread....

what are the positives about your husband? does he even understand your POV at all?
What is the FIL like? could you maybe talk to him instead about the dates of party/weekend away if he is more amenable than the mother?
Could you auction your weekend away on ebay or something to recoup some of the costs?

I guess you really need to question why you are with your husband. You say you love him, but why? you need a lot more than love to have a healthy relationship!

Confused74 · 29/08/2012 09:54

I would love to go and stay with my DM for a weekend, I have asked my DH in the past if I could as she also lives a long way away just so I could clear my head but he said 'That will be the last time you step foot in my house, I don't run a fucking hotel' Word for word, That was the final straw for my DM and she spent hours on the phone telling me how it would never change.

I do wish I had the strength to just up and go to my DM's for a weekend or so but I honestly cannot explain why I really can't do it, I do love him and I always have, He is my first 'Proper' relationship. I don't know what is making me stay because reading your posts I can see that I should be treated with a bit more respect, I have tried to talk to him in the past about how he speaks to me but he laughs and says 'I must treat you well because your still here' It's not money or anything like that that is wanting me to stay. I have never been in a serious relationship and I do feel that I am so lucky to have someone like him want to be with me, I have always felt this way.

He knows how much I love him that's why he says leave and tells me that he wouldn't shed a year if I did.

I don't have the strength to just up and go to my DM's, I have thought about it but even the thought makes me feel guilty.

OP posts:
anonacfr · 29/08/2012 09:56

OP you might love him but he certainly doesn't love you.

The more you write about him the worst he sounds . He made you and your infant son leave your home so that he could spend time with his mother? He made you change plans at the last second because his parents called?

He doesn't love you and he's been quite open about it too- he's basically told you that you and your son will never come first to him.

. Sorry and good luck.

alienreflux · 29/08/2012 09:58

you will one day, it's up you what state you and your son are in when you do. the sooner you do the more chance you have of leaving in tact, instead of an emotional wreck. he's a twat of the highest order, and mocks the fact you love him so much. he's taking the piss out of you .

Dropdeadfred · 29/08/2012 09:58

if this is how you want your life to be stretching into the future then stay.
soon he will have your son treating you like shit too
you need to take this opportunity to put your foot down and show him you are not ruled by him

KatMumsnet · 29/08/2012 09:59

Hi, we're going to move this into Relationships. Thanks.

GnocchiNineDoors · 29/08/2012 10:01

OP it is better, far better, to be single than to be with someone who treats you like something he has trodden in.

diddl · 29/08/2012 10:01

Perhaps you can´t do it because you are frightened of him?

Dear Lord-no one asks if they can go & see their own mother.

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