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Out of curiosity...

49 replies

Getit · 25/07/2016 22:53

If your dh cheated and lied did you or have you ever successfully managed to fully trust another man long term?

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ComingtoKent · 26/07/2016 12:55

I can answer yes, but I didn't believe I ever would when my long marriage ended because of his infidelity.

Now I am several years into my "new" relationship and I can say hand on heart that I completely trust my partner not to cheat on me. I can't guarantee we'll never split up for other reasons, but I am sure it won't be because of that. This is partly due to his personality and partly due to the completely different dynamics of this relationship. Now I have no reason to be suspicious and on red alert at all times, it's all just so different. My ex used to always check out other women wherever we were. I realise now that I always felt as though I was in a competition only visible to me.

That's all gone now.

Also, the betrayal and hurt of that split was so horrendous that I think I've hardened up in some ways. That was the worst thing that could have happened, it did happen and I got through it. I suppose I doubt that I could be hurt so badly again.

Getit · 26/07/2016 20:40

Anyone else?

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nooofthenoodle · 26/07/2016 23:10

I'm at the point of feeling like I will never fully trust a man again but I'm only 7 months out and it's been truly horrific and traumatic. I'm trying to work on myself so I can trust me and my instincts again and hopefully in time I will be able to open up, I don't want some piece of shit ruining the rest of my life.

PonchosLament · 26/07/2016 23:20

isthismylifenow

I am with you 100% on that. Especially with the levels of damage to trust.

My ex partner damaged my trust, but he was just one man. My exh damaged my trust, but he was just one more man.

But the husbands of my friends; the married men I've met at work or socially; the married man in my close social group who I have no way of avoiding, so I now just have to make the best of it... it is they who have done the most damage to my trust because I know what it looks like now.

I know how, "it just happened" starts. I know what, "we didn't mean for it to happen" looks like. I know what, "we are only together for the children"/"We don't have any relationship at all"/"We should never have got married in the first place and now we're both stuck" sounds like.

Sad
DietCockBreak · 27/07/2016 01:25

Good question OP. It's too soon for me to answer it yet, but it feels like trust will never be 100% with anyone ever again. I knew for certain he'd never do that to me, I was 100% sure, would have bet my house on it, he'd be the last man on earth to do something like that, but I was wrong. If he could do that, anyone could.

Tearsoffrustration · 27/07/2016 06:56

I can't trust that they won't change their mind about being with me - when they say 'I love you' I think you might now but that will change.

We're planning to have a child, but I can't trust that he will stick by me in the first few years - because my ex didn't

isthismylifenow · 27/07/2016 07:20

No I am also 7 months out..

hopefully in time I will be able to open up

Agree with this. I don't feel like I could ever could open up properly to anyone either at this point in time.

Ponchos its is shit isn't it. Someone else's husband....yet another crap thing that we have to face now, something that hit me in the face like a rock, just never expected it to happen. Not to the degree that it has. I thought the break up was bad enough, but now seeing just how many affairs clearly happen, and the fact that they just think its ok, has just fucked with my head so badly.

PaintedDrivesAndPolishedGrass · 27/07/2016 07:57

I can also answer yes, comingtokent has already described my story. My relationship with my DP is a completely different dynamic.

Lillygolightly · 27/07/2016 08:23

I was cheated on by my now ex dp, i was pregnant at the time it happened and discovery came not long after the birth of my first child. It was an emotional time and to be frank if i hadnt just given birth been hormonal and feeling vulnerable i think i wouldnt have forgiven him at all. I forgave and i stayed and it was hard, i lived in constant fear of it happening again. A little over a year later i fell preg by accident and had an abortion because i couldnt stand the thought of being pregnant and him cheating again. It was awful.

I did stay for another 11 odd years and eventually have another DC. Looking back though i dont think i ever trusted him again but think i honestly just had to stop worrying and caring. In the years that followed everything else he ever did wrong just got added to my mental list of resentments against him and it became such a heavy weight to carry. I used to fear getting terminally ill because in all honesty i didnt feel i could trust him to really be there for me and the DC.

I never got over it no, sure there were nice and happy times in the years that followed but it was always stained. His cheating was not the reason i left but more like the first straw among what became many.

BarbaraRoberts · 27/07/2016 08:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PonchosLament · 27/07/2016 10:09

isthis

It is shit, yes. And not one of them is a man you'd 'expect' to do this. They're just ordinary, married men. In my case, they're mostly, but not exclusively, teachers, with their own families and children who will know exactly what the fall out for the children is if an affair comes out. And they don't care.

One told me he believed he could trust me to be discreet. One felt confident I'd never meet his wife. One was married to a SAHM and he was risking her whole security. Two or three were just really brazen about it and one knew that I'd previously worked with his wife so I know her, and still thought it would be ok.

I read threads on here where women say, "I trust him, I know he'd never cheat" or the threads where the man was naked in bed with a woman but still believes that he had a final rush of guilt and left without doing anyway, or who booked several prostitutes but never went through with meeting up with them and I think that there are none so blind as those who will not see.

I have had married men hit on me 'discreetly' when their wife is in the same room.

It's not even easy to avoid them. These aren't anonymous drunk married men who hit on me in pubs or anything like that. These are men I have met through friends, or in my social group or at work. So the only way I'd have of never seeing them again is to cut myself off from my own social life or find a new job. So I just send them on their way and keep it all as friendly as possible so that I don't lose out. It's shit.

I'm not particularly attractive, I'm not young, I'm not slim, I'm nothing special. I certainly don't get any interest from single men my own age. But other people's husbands evidently have far lower standards.

I've never taken any of them up on it. But when I see how easily they do it, and how easy it would be for me to go along with it either for a one off or a fully fledged affair, well it doesn't fill me with confidence for my own relationships in the future, let's put it like that.

PonchosLament · 27/07/2016 10:09

Wow, that was long!

Kind of shows the strength of feeling about it, I think!

isthismylifenow · 27/07/2016 14:44

Ponchos

But other people's husbands evidently have far lower standards.

I am sorry that this is how you feel. I hope soon you will feel differently.

I will link the older post I referred to previously, it is just about the married men issue, I don't want to derail Getit's post. You will see then, that we are not in the minority in feeling how we do.

Here

Getit · 28/07/2016 08:15

Thanks for the replies.
I'm sorry that so many of us have had such bad experiences .
I feel so sad that there weren't more positive response's, I guess I'm disappointed as I was looking for hope / inspiration .
Do I ever move on in my new relationship?
How do people live together with someone else?
I think I will always be on alert for lying and cheating and I know its wrong but I view every woman as a potential threat. I was too trusting before and now I've become the polar opposite.

OP posts:
Evergreen17 · 28/07/2016 16:07

Sorry getit I just saw your question

Yes, many things:

He is not obsessed with beautiful women like my ex
He never lies, not about little things
He was very honest from the beginning and said he liked me a lot and wanting to be in a relationship
He never says nasty things about me or puts me down
He is very honest with everyone else in his life
If I am feeling insecure I ask him questions and he gives me the clear answers without avoidance

I hope that helps

I dont know. I just trust him and I also I have done lots of therapy

Cabrinha · 28/07/2016 16:24

I'm not looking for 100% trust.
Maybe that's why I haven't had any issue with it since my divorce?

In my case, XH rather unexpectedly had a long standard (pre me!) prostitute habit! Didn't see that coming.

But tbh, I didn't trust him - or anyone - 100% before. It's not that I'm suspicious and mistrustful and eaten up by that - it's just that I believe logically, loads of people cheat so why would I trust anyone 100%?

My current fiancé is lovely. I'd be very surprised if he cheated. If I had to put a number on it, I trust him 99.9%!

I don't spend any time worry about it. What it boils down to for me is this:

  1. Will he cheat? Maybe
  2. Would I rather take a risk than shut up shop? Absolutely!
  3. Will I cope if he does? Fuck yes!

Make your major life and financial decisions based around "will this still be the right decision if we split?" and then go for it!

PonchosLament · 28/07/2016 20:10

I think the lastthing you said there is the most important, Cabrinha.

I was always told that the most important thing was not to upset my boyfriend/partner/husband so that he didn't dump/leave me. I wish I'd realised that the most important thing was protecting myself and not holding onto a man at all costs sooner!

I think striking the balance between blind faith and paranoia is probably a good idea.

isthis yes, I followed that thread at the time. Such a sad state of affairs really (no pun intended).

Getit the legacy it leaves is more damaging than the initial betrayal I think. The fact it is can damage not only that relationship, but future ones too. So sad.

Destinysdaughter · 28/07/2016 20:17

I've reached the point that I only do FWB as I don't trust men to be faithful or even have much integrity any more. I had an horrendous experience of getting involved with a man who claimed to have been divorced for 3 years.6 months later he confesses ( under duress) he's not only still very much married but had also given me a false name...!Shock

PonchosLament · 28/07/2016 21:18

That's shocking Destiny Sad

I feel much more comfortable in a FWB situation. There's no expectation of commitment or fidelity. I don't have any of the anxiety or trust issues with a FWB that I have in a relationship.

Which is sad, because i would love to love and be loved. And I would love to trust someone. I would love to believe it. But like I say, the only men (well and women now) who have shown any interest over the last 3-4 years have been married.

Mytown1971 · 28/07/2016 22:43

I don't expect complete trust in relationships either way. Shit happens and it happens both ways. I accept that things may not always be the same whatever relationship I am in, some people will fall out of love and move on, some people will fall out of love but stay and cheat, some will just stay and not chest. Life is a lottery but sometimes you need to gamble. What's the worst that can happen when you have already had it happen at least once? You know how to deal with the aftermath because you have done it before and came out the other side.

Getit · 28/07/2016 22:48

Evergreen17 - sorry to pry but how do you know he is not obsessed with beautiful woman? Can you give a comparison?

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IHopeThatIDontFallInLove · 28/07/2016 22:54

Mytown I understand what you're saying, but I would counter that with, if you can't trust and you don't trust, why would you bother gambling and not just stick with the certainty that if you are on your own, there is no one to betray you?

0phelia · 28/07/2016 22:55

No one is entirely trustworthy.
Passionate love is worth holding onto and forgiveness comes from that love.

I don't tarnish all relationships with past hurt, so yes I did trust again but only to the extent that I trust anyone to begin with. So not entirely. But love makes it worthwhile.

Getit · 28/07/2016 22:56

Mytown1971- I want to take that gamble but I just feel stuck. I'm subconsciously trying to protect myself. Trouble is I guess I risk the loss of my relationship by not being able to move on and take the next step. I am always trying to push my feelings away.

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