Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

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

Husband's affair - I'm completely broken, please help

445 replies

Janeysbroken · 18/03/2013 20:16

I found out last week that my DH of 22 years has been having an affair. It was with a woman he met online who is also married and ten years younger than me. I found out when her husband knocked on our door at midnight and told me, in a rage. Our 20 year old son heard everything and is inconsolable. When the husband had gone my DH told me he'd already finished the affair a few weeks earlier, he was drunk and it meant nothing. I was shocked and angry and unbelievably sad but he works away a lot and it's something I'd always feared. He swore it was the first time he'd been unfaithful in the 24 years we've been together.

The next morning I was burning up with anger and asked him to leave. I went out. He then phones me to tell me the OW has turned up at our house wanting to apologise and is demanding to speak to me. I was so livid I went home and grabbed his phone and called her. I told her he wasn't leaving, neither was I and he was drunk and she meant nothing to him. What followed has broken me.

She was obviously enraged by this. And told me the truth. He loved her, he hasn't finished it, had been meeting at hotels for four months, he said she was love of his life. Thousands and thousands of FB messages. To cut a long story short me and DH ended up driving down to their house that night as both me and OW needed answers from DH.

We all talked for almost two hours. He admitted he loved her, had told her she was love of his life, best friend and soulmate. He'd told her that morning that he loved her but couldn't leave because he has nowhere to go. He'd bought her presents. Talked to her almost constantly on FB for months. Said he was unhappy, I'm boring, our sex life is rubbish. But because i now knew he told her it had to stop and he's staying with me. She was crying and devastated. He'd told her we were just friends now and he hasn't felt anything more than friendship for me for over a decade. He was clearly besotted with her. And she with him.

I was having panic attacks. Can't eat. Want to kill her, him, myself. She showed me a FB message where he called me a boring twat. I thought we'd had a lovely day that day - we'd even had sex. He took her to a hotel the day after.

She refused to stop contacting him. Threatening to tell our 19 year old daughter (who still doesn't know) and his boss, which would get him sacked as he took her to hotels on fake business trips on expenses. I made it clear he couldn't ever speak to her again and was feeling physically like I might die. She then texts to say she's pregnant. Her husband phoned going mad as he says it's impossible it's his, it's my DH's.

My DH is, to his credit refusing to speak to her and has told her to have an abortion and never contact us again. Her husband phoned pleading for him to speak to her as she's slashed all her arms with a razor over the guilt of having to face an abortion. But I've told him I'll kill myself if he speaks to her again. Our son hates him. Our life is shattered and I'm destroyed.

I can't bear to think he loved her so much. It was plainly obvious. He claims not to now and I know he isn't in contact with her. Could he really have fallen out of love with her in the space of 24 hours? They'd just come back from a hotel when her husband found out and came to our house. I don't know what to do or think. I'm grieving and love him. I'm 48 and don't work or drive. I have nothing without him. He's my life. Please, please help me.

OP posts:
ike1 · 19/03/2013 20:47

Hopefully the OP is now going away to have a bit of a think,take time to take stock...maybe consider the travelodge option and eat something...

AnyFucker · 19/03/2013 20:48

I hope that too, ike

MandyH62 · 19/03/2013 21:02

omg, i'm 2 weeks into something very similar, minus the pregnant ow, i felt all the same, i'm the wife that didn't understand him. It's the shock, please just think 1 day at a time, if you want to cry, shout, laugh do it, we met up sunday to "talk", but i was so angry with him, how dare he make me feel like this ?. So my love take 1 day at a time take care xx

Snuppeline · 19/03/2013 21:13

This thread has moved so fast since last nigh and my first post to you Janey. I'm glad you've had so much support here and so many opinions. Good on you for coming here - you are very brave. A retreat may be healthy for you but do come back on here to vent and talk. In the mean time look after yourself.

YellowTulips · 19/03/2013 21:30

Taking time out is a good idea.

We go round in circles when we have no destination, no goal, no understanding of what we really want.

So what do you want? What are your expectations after this horrible revelation?

To simply remain married at all costs? To be part of a productive and loving relationship? To work out if that can be with your husband or not? For your husband to choose you rather than you choosing your husband? To value the past over the future?

You are 48 years young, not 48 years old.

My grandmother always felt to "old" to leave a man she didn't love (he was actually a decent guy, they were just incompatible) but she told me at 80 you always feel old when life hits you hard. It's only when you are really old you realise how young you were and the opportunities you wasted.

You have the opportunity to take control here and set your life in motion for the future. In the end it's not about him or her. It's about you. What do you want from the rest of your life?

LondonNinja · 19/03/2013 21:31

Janey, best of luck. You sound like a lovely woman. Look at how much support you've drummed up from a bunch of strangers who believe you are worth fighting for.

Take as long as you need and try to project yourself one, two, five, ten, twenty years hence. Will you have allowed life to pass you by in a haze of watchfulness and resentment?

Life is short. Be sure to think this through very carefully. Be strong.

Hopingtobehappy · 19/03/2013 21:48

Best of luck Janey, you will come out of the other side of this :-) xx

AnnandBarryAgain · 19/03/2013 21:48

clapping like a barking seal at Mr Meaner

ImperialBlether · 19/03/2013 23:12

One thing the OP needs to consider is that the house will probably have to be sold given that the children are now adults. She can't just kick him out and expect to be able to stay there herself.

Having said that, OP, I think once this has sunk in, you'll realise you'll be better off emotionally in a one bedroomed flat than in a house with him. He doesn't want you and has said awful things about you whilst telling another woman he loved her. It needs to sink in and I know that will take time, but please don't make any decisions too quickly.

rootypig · 20/03/2013 08:54

For years I've been saying to our son I bet your dad's having an affair.

That does NOT sound healthy. Children should never be privy to the machinations of their parents' relationships.

You need to leave him OP, and do something for yourself.

As for him continuing to choose not to contact her, though you have said he "can". He might be a bastard, but he's not completely stupid! He never wanted to leave you for her OP, he never did, he wanted to use you both. Her: shags and fun. You: home and children. She is no longer offering shags and fun. You are still offering home and children. He is acting entirely from his own self interest, of course, the cowardly prick.

rootypig · 20/03/2013 08:56

and yy to legal advice, asap.

I suggest you reread your posts, imagining is your mother / sister / daughter / friend writing.

Good luck, OP. You can do this.

Chislemum · 20/03/2013 10:06

I sound like a broken record but want to urgently reiterate that OP should seek legal advice asap. Life will go on and you will need to live somewhere and eat.

Best wishes x

Ormiriathomimus · 20/03/2013 10:20

"Nobody gets to demand a certain reaction while she is in shock at having her life torn apart by a pair of selfish cunts. "

This.

OP can react exactly as she wishes. Where was the concern for either spouse during the affair? Why does she have act the good guy now when he is massive pain?

Personally I would want my H to give the OW what she is demanding - for my own peace of mind. But then I'd probably not want him back. in the circs.

AnyFucker · 20/03/2013 13:37

OP, how are you feeling today ?

Janeysbroken · 20/03/2013 13:55

Thanks for asking AF.

I went through everything DH said to OW on the messages I've seen. Beautiful, stunning, love of life, best friend, soulmate, best thing that's ever happened to him, wishes she was his wife, thinks of nothing else, best, beautiful, most extraordinary sex ever, never felt anything like it when they kiss and her lips make him believe there is a god, unique, pure, only she has seen his true self, he's found the other half of his whole, constantly missed.

Then about me: boring twat, miserable, set in my ways, no sex, boring sex, moaner, no fun, rubbish clothes, drifted together, doesn't miss me, doesn't love me like a wife, I don't like drinking/going out, never kiss, lazy fat arse, boring weekends trailing round shops.

About himself: coward, no strength to leave, can't financially support her, one if life's 'also rans', he's not happy just drifting through life, comfortable but not brave.

He says he didn't mean it/no longer feels it. I suppose that has to mean something.

OP posts:
AnyFucker · 20/03/2013 13:58
Sad

I don't know what more to say to you, love. You are worth so much more than this x

shitmagnet · 20/03/2013 13:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ZolaBuddleia · 20/03/2013 14:06

You poor thing, how awful to hear even one of those things said about you.

The point is though, that he did say those things, whether he says he doesn't mean it now doesn't matter.

This isn't the way it should be, of course a long term relationship can get a bit stale, but to describe you like that is unforgiveable.

He is a weasly coward who is backtracking like mad because he thinks you are going to put up with is.

Inertia · 20/03/2013 14:06

Oh Janey, you deserve so much better than this.

This is what he is. He no longer means it because it's temporarily convenient to no longer mean it- in his head, at the moment, he doesn't mean it because that would result in him being out on his ear . And there's no cosy shagpad with OW to head off to, and she hasn't yet done what he's told her to do - so he is telling you what he thinks will keep you quiet enough to not chuck him out of his comfortable home.

ZolaBuddleia · 20/03/2013 14:06

it

Thisisaeuphemism · 20/03/2013 14:08

Oh janey, you wouldn't say those things about your worst enemy, would you?

And he says these things about his wife!

So he is saying he lied terribly to get (unprotected) sex.

That certainly means something, doesn't it.

Take care xx

ike1 · 20/03/2013 14:13

Hello Janey I hopeyou have managed some food today. Whichever way you look at it, these are the words of a liar...you cannot believe anything he says from now on in and he has zero perspectve. Remember that.

SilverSnake · 20/03/2013 14:23

You are in denial.

Noone can turn off or change their feelings over night.

"if he specks to her again I will kill myself" why do you value his life more than your own when he does not value or respect you?

You have lost yourself if you dont love yourself enough to put your life before that of a lier and audulter.

Do you want your dd to follow your example? What are you teaching them?

AnyFucker · 20/03/2013 14:27

Janey, have you been out today, or in fact at all since this utter bombshell has been dropped on you ?

I don't mean with your husband, I mean by yourself. Doing something you want to do. A coffee in a nice cafe with a book or magazine. A walk in the (bloody bracing!) fresh air to clear your head. A visit with a friend you can share your worries with.

Get on a bus and go off somewhere for a few hours by yourself. You must feel like you are suffocating.

hairclipcloe · 20/03/2013 14:28

Janey, i am sorry.

Saying he didn't mean any of it doesn't mean anything. He has been disloyal and betrayed you in every way. in actions and words. how he has behaved to you is not a demonstration of love or respect. I don't know how you could go on to forgive this because i couldn't.

If you imagine the post you wrote today was from your daughter what would you say/think/advise?

It must be hard/impossible to think of a future without your 'H' after all these years, but you can't stay with someone you know thinks so badly/little of you. You could twist yourself in knots trying to be more exciting or whatever but the truth is that he is just a lying cheating shit. the future however scary without him, has to be better than this?

Dig deep Janey, try to start taking steps to loose this arsehole xx

Swipe left for the next trending thread