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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

Separation or counselling?

5 replies

unsureandconflicted · 20/08/2018 09:26

Sorry this is my first time but I desperately need advice and I'm unsure who of my friends I can talk to as there's so much, so please bear with me... I met my husband 18 years ago and when we first met he was going through a period of confusion about his sexuality. He had ended his previous relationship as he had started using gay porn/seeking gay sexual experiences and the guilt ate him up so much that he left. When I met him he was in an 'exploratory' phase but would still have girlfriends. We became very good friends and I wrote him off as a potential prospect. We were living abroad at the time and became part of the same close group. A few months later he told me that he loved me and that he wanted to be with me. I was very surprised but realised I still had feelings for him and we decided to give it a go together. A few months later he had the first 'crisis' and said that he wasn't sure that all of the 'gayness' (his description) had gone away and that he felt in crisis. We talked and talked and after putting our relationship on the back burner for a while he then decided that he was 'fine' and that we could be together. Fast forward a couple of years and we've got married. On our wedding day I felt underwhelmed - I'm not sure why - I'd never particularly been that bothered about getting married and we did argue and disagree a lot. A year later I was pregnant. 10 weeks into the pregnancy and again he said that he'd had these 'feelings' again and that he wasn't sure how to deal with them. Obviously this wasn't great for me and I was very unsure about what this meant for our future. He decided to go to counselling and after an intensive 4-month course of counselling came to the conclusion that he was bisexual but that he didn't need to fulfil that part of his sexuality any longer - he'd explored it and it was unfulfilling, and that he was happy to be with me as his only sexual partner. Over the years since I've often burnt with resentment and been very suspicious of him. When he's too quiet/secretive, I've been convinced that he's having 'those' thoughts. When he's been travelling away (which he often has) I have had to stop my mind from thinking about what he could be doing. Even if we watch a TV show with gay sex scenes, I'm convinced that he's being turned on. He says not, that it's part of him, but that it doesn't control him any more and that he's happy. I don't know if it's just this or other things as well but I just don't feel fully connected with him. We argue a lot, we're very different, we have different parenting styles and to be honest, I'm often a real cow to him - shouting at him, complaining about things he doesn't do (he's lazy and 'laid back', I'm not and am 'laid forward). Most of the time I don't feel close to him and I seek solace in close female friendships. We're so different - on our recent holiday myself and my two daughters want to play on the beach all day - he is sitting there looking totally bored and barely communicating with us - I have to say to him to perhaps play with the girls or do something with us. If I don't instigate conversation he's often very quiet. It's not all bad - we do like a few drinks and a chat - but our interests are very different. Over the last two years I've had a lot of online interaction with previous boyfriends and a few months ago my first love got in touch with me and we've been in daily contact. I've loved talking to him again and although obviously a lot of it is nostalgia, we seem to have so much more in common that I do with my husband. I look forward to talking to him everyday and we want to meet up and see each other again. I don't know if I'm using my husband's sexuality issues at the start of our relationship as an excuse for me to now 'do' something myself or if the roots of my marriage are totally broken and we've just built a marriage on something that isn't - and has never - been right. So I think there's two issues here - my husband's sexuality and my increasing desire to leave/have another relationship/escape from this one. Any advice would be very welcome. xxx

OP posts:
Isitovernow · 20/08/2018 09:54

It sounds tricky...havevyou asked him straight out if he has had relations with men while married to you?

Are you looking for a way out? It sounds like you weren't happy with him from the start ...

Rosetintedglass · 20/08/2018 10:00

So he likes both men and women but he has said he is committed to you. If instead of it being both genders and he had told you that he from time to time looked at other women and found them attractive but was committed to you would you feel the same way?

You say he is quiet and also shout at him from time to time. Id probably be quiet if I had a partner who was ocasionally verbally abusive as well.

You also say that you are carrying out an emotional affair on line that you are planning to move into real life. This is unfair to your husband. Either end it and work on your marriage or end your marriage before starting a new relationship rather than dragging your husband and childten into an emotional shitstorm.

If you dont love your husband move on but dont sit there justifying it by blaming him.

Bambi99 · 20/08/2018 10:11

I can see why the on and off again at the start of the relationship can cause concerns. Does your gut feel that he has cheated on you? I think that you know what you want (and on some level your dh prob does to) I think you should have some honest discussions with ur husband. All the best x

Babdoc · 20/08/2018 10:16

It sounds to me as if you have already checked out of the marriage and are looking for reasons to justify your decision, to avoid feeling that you are “the bad guy” in this.
If you always had doubts, if the wedding left you “underwhelmed”, if you are having an online EA, if you and DH have grown apart and can’t even interact on holiday, then I’d say the writing is on the wall, OP.

AgentJohnson · 20/08/2018 11:37

At no point did you have to stay with him, you chose to and now your using his sexuality to justify moving your emotional affair into a sexual one. End the marriage or don’t end the marriage but your suspicions about your H’s commitment to being heterosexual isn’t a excuse to do what you are doing or plan to do, not by a long way.

1/10 for creativity.

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