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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

On the edge.....

17 replies

Onthewayout · 15/08/2017 08:09

First post here so I need to unload

Married 13 years, together 16 years. 1 child aged 14.

Things have not been good for quite a while. Over a year since we last had sex and sex life leading up to this was dire.

I know it takes 2 and that I have a part to play. However H is the perpetual man child. Always, always, always on either phone or Xbox. Claims to do so much around the house when in fact what he does, isn't that much.

I do 100% food shop and cooking or we don't eat. I also work full time and have done in some capacity since DS was 3.5. H will clean if asked but usually with strops and complaints that I'm nagging. I think he deliberately does a poor job in an effort not to be asked.

He works and always has done. City based job on a 6 figure salary. I have always contributed to house hold income - about 25% of what he earns but have also run house, done all childcare and organised my job around our son. I've been to every school assembly, production, meeting and so on whereas 'because he works' H has not.

H has put on quite a bit of a belly in the last few years which I find quite off putting and has contributed to me not wanting to have sex. I would have overlooked this if H had been more caring or positive about my appearance; which he has not. I had my hair cut quite short and he spent 6 months telling me I looked like a butch dike and that he didn't like it. I tend to carry weight on my tummy (I'm a size 14) and he refers to that as my 'unit'. Apparently I have big, flappy ears like the BFG. I'm not allowed to mention he appearance though, he doesn't like that and can become quite offensive if I do point out I don't like his tummy.

He can be quite obnoxious about other people. He makes rude comments about people he thinks are beneath him. He claims to better than other people. Unsurprisingly I find this attitude to be very unattractive. Again affecting my perception and attraction towards him.

I think my living with this has had quite a negative effect on me and I'm quite snappy now. I don't react well to his comments and then I'm in the wrong. He tells our son that mummy has a poor attitude and that I'm difficult to live with. He has previously asked him who he loves more, daddy or mummy! He has told him wouldnt it be good if mummy left and that they can live together without me!

We have zero communication between us. There is no intimacy. He offers no emotional support for me when I need it. He has no interest in anything apart from playing computer games, watching crap TV and drinking beer.

On the weekend he threatened to leave again when I said something that required a response. I calmly informed him that I couldn't live like this anymore and that I wasn't going to stop him. Usually I would try to placate him and keep the peace. I have been reluctant to break up the family home due to the upheaval it would cause my son. Also I know he will be vile Abbott money and the thought of having to go through that put me off doing anything. I earn slightly too much to get any support salary from child benefit. Splitting up will
Leave him with loads of cash each month and me scrapping around for pennies.

So he decided to start packing. I didn't stop him. He went through all his personal effects and put his treasured possessions in a plastic store box that he left in the spare room. He then went back to playing his game. He hadn't packed any of his clothes. Atmosphere was awful. I left it and hour or 2 and then went and asked him what he was going and when was he leaving. He informed me when he felt like it and that he wasn't going to discuss it further. The rest of the day was horrendous. We slept in seperate bedrooms. Sunday he started to talk to me ignoring the elephant in the room. I calmly removed myself from him and sat in what ever room he was not in.

He went off to work yesterday. I went to work but have also contacted the divorce lawyer I had book marked and now have a first appointment, but due to annual leave it's not for 2 weeks.

Today, after H had left for work I decided to see what he has packed in his box. It's full of keepsakes. Postcards, photos, ticket stubs and things he has kept throughout the years.

Except there is nothing from me! It's photos and stuff from before we are together. Further investigations revealed everything I have ever given him is in the bin! So he has kept nothing from our 16 years together!! This has floored me! I can't believe that I have given so much of my life to someone who has placed zero value on our lives together.

I know it's over and I can't deny it probably should have finished a while ago. I feel numb. I'm terrified for my future. I am terrified about having to tell people. It won't be amicable because of the money. I have no pension as H has a very good pension and that was for both of us. H has recently taken to referring to it as his or Dion and that I need to sort out something for myself as I wont be he having any of his. I know that I can claim 1/2 of it but he will fight me every strep of the way. It will be awful.

I can't believe that this is my life. I feel lie screaming. I want to scream at him how much he has ruined my life. What a ways of the last 16 years.

OP posts:
Blanca87 · 15/08/2017 08:16

You go girl! fight the entitled little prick. you will probably get more than you think. Game on I say.

Teabay · 15/08/2017 08:17

Hi OP.

I had a similar event happen in my life last year. My ex also used to criticize my appearance in a similar way to yours ( I was a size 10) and say to get a proper job (I earned twice his salary). Unfortunately at first I wasn't as strong as you when be threatened to leave, and I used to apologize and ask him to stay! I was a fool!!
Eventually I found my strength and filed for divorce, and it was the BEST thing I ever did. Yes, it has been feckin awful as he was a complete bastard about everything, especially money, and he is still cruel through the DC.

But I cheered when I heard what you did. Mine also binned everything to do with us - including my stuff! One day I went home and he'd cut me out of the photos up around the house, and replaced the frames!!!

I hope others people offer you support on here, I found this to be a really useful place.

Onthewayout · 15/08/2017 08:28

I don't feel brave. I used to be a confident and secure person. I feel very insecure and unsure of myself right now.

OP posts:
Undercoverbanana · 15/08/2017 08:33

Friends. Talk to your friends. When my relationship broke up my friends saved my life. They held me when I wailed, promised me that I would survive the stress and worry, promised me I would not be homeless and would not die. I slept on their sofas, threw up in their toilets and got spectacularly drunk with their FILs (a very stuffy, disapproving man who let me cry in his arms and revealed a compassionate side no-one ever knew he had). God knows how I would have got through without them. Even if you have lost touch with your closest friends through controlling behaviour from your partner/motherhood/loss of self, just one honest phone call will show you which are your true friends. They will enable you to be strong when you can be and they will have your back when you cannot. Forget about money and pensions. Concentrate on your own happiness and the environment around your DC.

Undercoverbanana · 15/08/2017 08:34

Oh - and he hasn't ruined your life. No- one has that right except you and you are way better than that.

rumred · 15/08/2017 08:42

Get your list made and squirrel away money and belongings sharpish if you think he's going to try to avoid his financial responsibility.

Talk to friends, get support. Sounds like no real loss but a massive life change

Teabay · 15/08/2017 08:51

The starting point will be 50/50 on his pension too- I know this as my ex bastard took half of mine (after laughing at me for having one, he didn't, saying it they were a waste of money...)
But I'm just hoping he'll be dead before he can cash it in!!Grin

Onthewayout · 15/08/2017 09:25

Most of my friends now are the partners of his friends. I feel very much alone and don't feel I have anyone to support me. Might as all get used to being alone now anyway.

OP posts:
rumred · 15/08/2017 09:38

I'm single and don't feel alone. There's life outside relationships. Probably too early but you will feel good again. Better, even.
Are there family members you can talk to?

Onthewayout · 15/08/2017 09:41

If I tell my mum she will ask all the time what's happening and what I'm going to do. I don't need that right now as it will be additional pressure that I will struggle to cope with.

OP posts:
ImperialBlether · 15/08/2017 09:44

You won't have to fight - your solicitor will do that for you. He sounds really horrible, but to be honest, I think if someone dumped me I wouldn't want to keep reminders of them - maybe I would want them in the long-term, but I can understand him dumping all of that.

LoyaltyAndLobster · 15/08/2017 09:49
Flowers
Onthewayout · 15/08/2017 09:50

You're probably right. I am sentimental and wouldn't dream of throwing the bits I have away due to the amount of our lives we have spent together. I feel so sad for my son.

OP posts:
RiseToday · 15/08/2017 10:19

Well, he sounds extremely cruel and abusive.

Regarding the fight for assets, that's what your lawyer is for. Let them do the fighting on your behalf.

You certainly shouldn't be scratching around for pennies, you are the main carer to your dependant child, you are married, therefore surely you are entitled to at least half?

Onthewayout · 15/08/2017 10:36

Yes I think so. Not seeing the solicitor until 30th August as he is away. He is very exp divorce sol so I need to wait for him to come back.

OP posts:
rizlett · 15/08/2017 10:39

He's an emotional game player too op.

The womensaid.org.uk website will have some useful information.

It might be helpful to consider undertaking the freedomprogramme online to give you some perspective about the difference between good and abusive men.

It is sad but it also sounds like your sadness has been prevalent for a long long time. Even though there might be some scary changes ahead eventually you might feel much more free - without all this pressure.

Onthewayout · 15/08/2017 10:49

Thanks for the advice.

I have read a lot about abuse but I know some of my responses of late haven't been too positive and he frequently calls me abusive.

I have only ever wanted a grown up relationship. He pushes me to feel angry and fustrated that he is so unfeeling. He taught a me with comments like 'he made me do it. It's not my fault' like a victim of DV. As if!

OP posts:
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