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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

Dh will not accept that I want to split up

352 replies

Pinkjenny · 06/09/2012 07:55

i have tried to link to my previous thread but I can't seem to do it on this iPad. I told dh 3 weeks ago that I want to split up. I have told him over and over again. Basically he is following me around the house, sobbing about his kids and what he is going to lose etc etc, telling me i am destroying everyone's lives and threatening to kill himself. He keeps waking me to talk at 3am, waking me with wracking sobs etc. I have never seen this side of him before, I know it is a horrible situation and I honestly am not a bad person, but things have been terrible for so long and I just want to be happy.

Now he is saying that it is up to me to convince him why I don't love him, and explain what I want in a partner, and once he is sure he can't do that or be that, he will accept it.

I am emotionally drained and I can't go on like this. My solicitor has advised me not to leave the house, or that is what I would do.

OP posts:
solidgoldbrass · 21/09/2012 00:10

Really hope the OP is OK and has gone into a refuge with her DC.

We may never know, though and I really hope her absence is not due to this man having killed her.

stuffitunderthebed · 21/09/2012 06:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LittlePickleHead · 21/09/2012 07:48

Delurking to say I'm also really worried.

Further down the thread (on phone so can't check names) there were a couple of mnetters who know op in rl- is there any way that they can let us know she is ok if it's not possible for op?

DragonMamma · 21/09/2012 07:54

Another one delurking to say I hope pinkjenny is ok. I've been checking regularly for updates and am worried for her now.

ShirtyKnot · 21/09/2012 09:24

Hoping Pink is OK and just busy sorting stuff out in RL.

Tillyscoutsmum · 21/09/2012 10:33

She's not in any danger. Will ask her to update

Solo · 21/09/2012 11:21

Thank God.

HenriettaChicken · 21/09/2012 11:48

Thank you, Tilly.

whogivesaduck1 · 21/09/2012 12:33

pink , your situation sounds similar to my parents. us dc were older though 17, 15, 12. my dad was a total twat to my mum. very controlling etc. she eventually met someone new and my dad found out. it was hell in our house. hear them arguing and shouting at all hours. dad was nasty to my mums 'baby boy' (12yr old) to get back at her. police were regularly called. once heard then arguing and then it went quiet- went into see what happened and he was strangling her. Police being called happened more and more. Dad threatened to kill him self, would go missing, drinking heavily. In the end my mum left. Had to get serious and stern with my dad. No conversations about feeling etc. like someone else said purely ?bins need to go out? etc . he then got sectioned because his mental health totally failed ( there had never been any mental health issues before this) he then went to live somewhere else and was on medication for a long while. He still has issues with my mum and regularly says nasty things about her to us. But it has been about 7 yrs! You?d think he would be over it! If you want to chat feel free to pm, as i feel i have said far too much on here.

Charleymouse · 21/09/2012 15:44

PJ only just spotted these threads. So sorry it has come to this.

I don't care how unmumsnetty it is I am sending you a big hug.

Glad to hear you are back at work at least that will give you back some financial independance and hopefully some of your self esteem.

You are a great mum with two lovely kids and you owe it to A to show her how a women should be treated by her husband.

Please have the confidence to stick with it. You have given this marriage more than a good try. I agree you should cut your losses and get out. Obviously you are trying to do this as amicably as possible but if he won't help with that just get out of it. I do agree with you kicking him out though rather than you leaving, this has surely got to disrupt the kids the least.

Hope you are well apart from this and take care. If you need to get a small lock/bolt put on the inside of A door when you have gonoe to bed.

PS haha that you are a troll!

Pinkjenny · 21/09/2012 21:08

I'm terribly sorry if anyone was worrying about me. I'm just so consumed with work and all this drama I haven't updated.

He didn't come home Monday or Tuesday, and I hoped he had come to his senses. On Wednesday I had to meet him at dd's play, which was thoroughly unpleasant. He seethed down my ear for the entire performance, saying things like 'Look at her, you're ruining her life.'

Really, I have managed to avoid him since. He didn't come in until late last night. We have had an argument tonight whereby he called me all the names under the sun, but it's all starting to wear a bit thin. He is still adamant that he won't split. So we're no further forward.

To be honest, I think he might be starting to get the message. There are certainly less histrionics. We'll see how this weekend goes.

Once again, I'm sorry if anyone was worried.

OP posts:
solidgoldbrass · 21/09/2012 21:37

THing is PJ, you don't need his agreement or his permission to end the marriage. Whether he likes it or not, you can get rid of him. There's no point in waiting for him to get reasonable when he has demonstrated repeatedly that he's an arsehole. Concentrate on the legal aspects of getting him removed from the house, for the sake of you and the DC.

myroomisatip · 21/09/2012 21:41

Oh you have my sympathies... I do know it is so hard, so very hard, to find the courage to leave. I have lost over 40 years of my life :(

One day I was just suddenly more afraid of spending what years i had left with him than I was of leaving!

It really is no way to live.

2rebecca · 21/09/2012 22:43

You need to tell your children, and take someone else to sit next to during plays etc. My ex and I can sit through things like that but he isn't nasty to me. if he was I'd go alone or take a friend and stay well away from him. Stop behaving like his wife by sitting next to him etc.

cestlavielife · 21/09/2012 23:47

What message do you think he is starting to get ?
A few days of a tiff and you are back to normal as far as he is concerned. You aren't splitting you will just carry on he thinks...

You are still there in The house.
He is still there.
Nothing has changed.

Nothing will change until you take action. Move him out or move out.., You need to make a plan . Move now before half term before Xmas .

CaliforniaLeaving · 22/09/2012 02:57

Good god woman move out and take the kids, he sounds dangerous. Your children must hear this stuff at night, him coming in and waking you are going on and crying, he's not stable. You don't want your children to hear and see any of this stuff, do you want them to think this is how they should be treated or treat others who love them when they get married?
He might not have been physical yet, but he's building up and you are sitting and waiting for him to do it.

Lueji · 22/09/2012 09:18

Listen to everyone, move out with the children, tell them and tell everyone.
Then file for divorce.

What in earth are you gaining from this continued situation?

Pinkjenny · 22/09/2012 11:09

He's just left for the weekend. My best friend is staying tonight.

OP posts:
tiredofwaitingforitalltochange · 22/09/2012 13:42

Good :)

ShowOfHands · 22/09/2012 18:03

Wotcha Troll Features. Grin

I wish that you were a troll. It would at least mean that none of this was happening to you.

Oh my love. You do know that one day this will all be sorted out and you'll be getting on with your life? I imagine at the moment it's really hard to believe that it'll ever end or get any better. You're probably exhausted, your nerves jangled and thoroughly demoralised.

Your h is a bully. He always was. And he has utterly despicable notions about your place in the world. In his mind he married a gorgeous, outgoing, fun loving- I hate to say it- also vulnerable and slightly damaged (only due to what you'd been through) woman to place on his arm and thought kerching! He could neatly catalogue you into his life, you would look good and make him feel good and his life would carry on as normal, only with a beautiful woman to show for his efforts. I think he thought (so wrongly) that he was a brilliant catch for you and you'd be grateful for every little carrot he dangled at you.

I think his true colours came out when you had dc together, though it was probably always there. You suddenly weren't what he'd signed up for and he was a bastard about it all wasn't he? You wanted dd so you get up with her and deal with it all. You've parented her a certain way, therefore anything she does is of your making and you have to deal with it. Oh btw, I'm fucking off on some cricket jolly for a fortnight, byeeeeeee. What, you want me to stay and help? But I thought you wanted dc. I want to watch cricket. I compromised, I gave you my sperm, now stop asking for more, more of me, more money, more more more, you don't deserve it. All hidden behind the odd grand gesture and the front he put on for other people but actually the corrosion of the relationship was a daily thing as he sniped and nitpicked and made comments and generally failed to take part in your marriage in any real way.

He knows your marriage is over. But then he was never invested in it all in the first place and therefore if there's unhappiness and unfulfilment then what's the problem? As long as it all looks alright and you fulfil your end of the bargain and he gets to do what he wants then what's the problem all of a sudden? Because he doesn't care about your feelings. And that's what you're saying has changed. You say 'I don't love you' and it means nothing to him. Because it was never truly about love. It was about convenience and looking good and having a good time. Neither of you have been happy for years and all that love, affection, support stuff hasn't been there either, so why bring it all up now? I suppose in short, why do you get to make such an enormous decision about his life? How dare you? You're going to make him look like a failure. People will know. They'll know he had a failed marriage. That he's a part time Dad. I bet he hates the thought that he put in those years and you are going to undo it all. Like it's some kind of work project that he's lost money on. And this isn't part of the deal. You're supposed to be vulnerable and to do as you're told. And you won't. And you're listening to other people like your friends and your Mum and boy does he hate that.

I know nothing about domestic violence and escalating behaviour beyond knowing that it can happen when you'd never, ever expect it. I'd say that he wouldn't ever go that far from what I know of him and that all of this is a game. He's play acting is my gut feeling, but you know him, truly you do. Do you think there's any substance to his threats? I'm not remotely surprised that he's carping about suicide and his feelings because he's weak and trying to emotionally blackmail you. And of course he needs to paint himself as the victim in all of this because then he never has to admit he caused any of this. You ended the marriage, he's the victim. When he finally accepts it he can tell everybody you callously went on holiday and cooked up a plan. He begged, he cried, he offered you the world, he hit rock bottom, he thought of the dc. You? You were a callous bitch. You wouldn't even fight for your marriage, not even try. You went from happy and invested to 'it's over' and broke him. Of course you've been trying for bloody years and sacrificed so much for him, but he'll never admit it.

My main concern isn't that he's upset. He's not. He's angry and that's very different. It's a good thing in a way I suppose that he's hissing threats at you about ruining the dc's life and that he's exposing them to parts of this that he shouldn't because it just confirms what he is and what he's willing to do in order to control you.

There's little point agreeing to talk or hashing out his feelings or answering his questions (he's not actually interested in what you want). You'll waste valuable energy. Because when he finally accepts it you'll need to manage the dc and when you say to him 'look we need to talk to the dc together' or 'how shall we manage xyz' he'll say well you left me, you deal with it. Or if you need to sort out finances, well he'll remind you that you could have stayed with moneybags and had an easy life or when you need him to have the dc, they'll be your dc, you wanted them, you made your choice.

I really, really don't know what you're supposed to do. A small part of me thinks that if you just continue with the legal process, don't engage with the emotional abuse and keep it to 'it's over' and 'I no longer wish to be married to you', he'll only keep up the farce for so long. He'll one day tell you that he's decided to leave the marriage and he'll withdraw.

Or you could leave, but I don't think you want to? Go to your Mum's? Probably intolerable I know. If he starts crying at you at 3am offer him two choices: does he want a mental health crisis team or his parents? Tell him you're happy to help him if he's truly feeling that awful but not by agreeing to staying in the marriage. So pick an option.

You've made the right choice. You know you have. He's trying to convince you that you haven't. Not because he cherishes and loves you though. Because you made a decision without him and his perfect life is going to be exposed as a sham.

There's a bed here if you need it. Well done on the job. It's all going to be fine. Keep talking. Have a good night.

JamInMyWellies · 22/09/2012 19:16

Hear hear Showy.

cestlavielife · 22/09/2012 19:18

Please tell him not to come back. Sort his stuff and get it to him.

AitchTwoOhOneTwo · 22/09/2012 22:30

well, if showy isn't your best friend then that's two very very good mates you have in the world. you'll be fine (indeed, much better than fine) when you get him out of your life.

stuffitunderthebed · 23/09/2012 03:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pinkjenny · 23/09/2012 08:08

Jesus, SOH. Could I print that out and show him? Grin

OP posts:
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