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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

Husband used ‘massage’ parlours numerous times. How to move on?

207 replies

Bengal12 · 17/04/2019 18:03

So I’ve found out that my husband of 9 years have made repeat visits to ‘massage’ parlours for ‘happy endings’.
Found a couple of old messages on his iPad by accident and confronted him straight away. He denied it for a week claiming it was just a fantasy but both messages had him saying ‘I’m in the street, what’s your door number’ so I refused to believe him. He eventually fessed up but it took him a week where I was in a complete shock, could not sleep, eat or focus.
He tried to play it down saying that although it’s been going on for 5 months, he only had gone a couple of times.
Well, by this stage I had cross checked his blocked numbers against his car satnav and google searching the number + massage and I knew it was more than that.
Cut the long story short, he finally said that it was more like 10 times and gave me full access to his phone and iCloud so i accessed all his old deleted WhatsApp messages and I know it was actually 12 times he paid the hookers to get his end away. He claims it was ‘just’ hand jobs at the end of a naked body to body massage but there are 5 messages where he asks if they would do full Dec with the massage. Each time the response is ‘no’ but that does not mean that he could not have called to book full sex with someone else... not that it would make it any worse as he has done enough to make me feel disgusted and utterly betrayed.
Yet... I am still thinking that we should give our relationship a go, I do love him.
Let’s be clear, I do t need him and I have lived by myself before - perfectly happily. But other than this the relationship was perfect! Can’t believe I’m even saying this as clearly it was not but we had good sex life, lovely holidays and a good social life.
He is not sure why he did it, says the first time it happened it was after a normal massage - she offered him an extra and he did not say no... and then he got a taste for it and. Kept going. He also says that he was worried about not being able to come as often as he used to (I’d every night) but he is in his late forties! And I thought I made it clear to him that I did not mind - because I did not. He has always complimented me on my figure/ looks etc and says it has nothing to do with me not being sexy enough, it’s just his stupidity.
I want us to stay together but it’s been over 2 months since I found out and I’m still having thoughts about him actually paying someone to wxxnk him off and other women sliding their pert bodies over his.
I was a complete wreck for a month but have pulled myself together out of the black hole and I’m now starting to think logically. But perhaps I should think with my heart? Opinions and experiences welcome...

OP posts:
magoria · 17/04/2019 21:18

If you stay make sure you use condoms every time you have sex from now on and go for regular STI check ups to make sure he hasn't given you anything.

Also stay in the knowledge that he will think you have let him get away with this so may well carry on.

What you found is probably the tip of the iceberg. You will never have any idea what he has done predating what you found.

You will never know if he has told the truth and you will never be able to fully trust him.

Carpetburns · 17/04/2019 21:31

This may be brutal OP but where is your self-respect?! Please, get rid.

AnyFucker · 17/04/2019 21:36

Has your counsellor time travelled from the 1950's ? Confused

The days of Stand By Your Man even if he uses prostitutes are long over.

What the hell happened to you that you were even considering compromising yourself in this way ?

Bengal12 · 17/04/2019 21:38

Thanks everyone for the messages of support and words of wisdom...
TheGodmother, you described what my marriage felt like up until recently. I consider myself reasonably intelligent, how could I have been this stupid? I guess I would not have done anything like this so it never occurred to me that someone could be so devious and two-faced...
I still suffer from PTSD, I was hoping it would go by now but perhaps a more decisive action is needed for it to heal.

OP posts:
NW2SW · 17/04/2019 21:40

Does he have quite an addictive personality? And do you think you'll ever be able to trust him fully again?

SkinnyPete · 17/04/2019 21:40

He's still lying to you, he'll continue lying to you and you're living a lie. You are off your head staying with this person.

Bengal12 · 17/04/2019 21:42

AnyFucker, I swear the counsellor said that the days of the stigma attached to NOT LTB are gone!
I’m getting paranoid now and thinking that perhaps he’s got her in his pocket? Unlikely but I just don’t know who to trust anymore

OP posts:
AnyFucker · 17/04/2019 21:44

Your counsellor is projecting

Bengal12 · 17/04/2019 21:45

Yes, he does have an addictive personality! Oh shit, am I a complete idiot?

OP posts:
Bengal12 · 17/04/2019 21:47

What do you mean ‘projecting’? Not being objective by letting her personal experiences/traumas affect the advice given?

OP posts:
AnyFucker · 17/04/2019 21:51

If the counsellor is a woman she has previously forgiven similar behaviour

If it is a man he has indulged in it

MachineBee · 17/04/2019 21:54

Why did his first marriage end? Could it be because he did the same to his first wife?

MashedSpud · 17/04/2019 21:55

He has no respect for you.

LTB

Bengal12 · 17/04/2019 21:57

Thanks @AnyFucker, all clear now. It’s a woman and I must say I feel worse after each session but i thought it would get worse before it would get better. FFS

OP posts:
NW2SW · 17/04/2019 21:58

Figures, his behaviour did seem super intense. 0-12 in six months, that's twice a month.

Regardless his reasoning is poppycock "it was there"... everything can be within reach if you put yourself in a certain situation. Why did he say yes, and what drive him to continuously seek it out? Without understanding that can you really move forward?

Bengal12 · 17/04/2019 22:01

@MachineBee, their sex life was non existent and he had an affair. OK, you can all now call me officially stoopid! Right in front of me, but you just cannot imagine the depths of the shell shock I’m still recovering from. Interestingly, even my really good friends are supportive of my staying with him. But you would need to meet him, a complete teddy bear. With a weird libido, I hear you scream Grin

OP posts:
Beautifullycalm · 17/04/2019 22:11

OP I’ve been through the same. I left my ex 18 months ago, for me there was no choice as he now physically repulses me. When I first found out we went to see a councillor and one of the first things she said to me was “ maybe your H did this because he didn’t feel loved enough “. I was speechless because I really loved my H and he knew it. I refused to see the councillor again. It’s unbelievable qualified professionals can come out with such damaging rubbish

Bengal12 · 17/04/2019 22:12

@NW2SW, he has not said why he kept going (and would have kept going). He says he cannot understand it himself. Just wants to put it behind us. My (crap) counsellor said that sometimes sex is just sex but I don’t buy it. On Tinder yes but not in this situation.
I think I was so shell shocked I clung on to any explanation...

OP posts:
Bengal12 · 17/04/2019 22:16

OMG, @beautifullyCalm! That’s what my one said as well. I’m not overly demonstrative and assume that people I love know I love them because of my actions not constant reassuring or gifts. My H often asks me if I love him to which I respond affirmatively but I’m always bemused by his neediness. He says he feels inferior to me as I’ve achieved more academically and professionally/financially than him without much financial support from my family.

OP posts:
Beautifullycalm · 17/04/2019 22:20

OP I think you’ve hit the nail on the head re neediness. This is caused by something lacking in them and they need there egos boosting. It’s not caused by something you have or haven’t done. I feel for you x

Bengal12 · 17/04/2019 22:20

@NW2SW one week it was 3 times in a row...

OP posts:
Ratatatouille · 17/04/2019 22:31

But other than this the relationship was perfect!

This is a bit like “it’s the perfect house, except for the fact it’s built on top of a toxic dumping ground” or “it’s the perfect job, except for the fact that I have to do 30 hours of unpaid overtime every week”.

To be blunt, if you stay with him then you have sent a clear message that he will get away with anything. There is absolutely no way that 12 visits to prostitutes is the extent of it. He is already a man who has been unfaithful in other relationships. And not only is he a cheat, but he's a misogynistic arsehole who thinks women's bodies are there to be purchased and used for his pleasure. Maybe he could learn about the concept of consent and how this is compromised when one party is paying for sex.

OP, this guy is NOT a prize. Please think about what sort of person you want to spend your life with.

MachineBee · 17/04/2019 22:36

You’re not ‘stoopid’ OP. He is. Please look after yourself.

2cats2many · 17/04/2019 22:41

He's disgusting. He went looking for it the first time (no masseuse offers hand jobs unless they are up front a prostitute) and he carried on looking for it. No matter how nice your family holidays are, how could you contemplate being intimate with someone who has cheated on you and treated women like a commodity in the way he has?

croprotationinthe13thcentury · 17/04/2019 22:49

Lot of counsellors out there doing way more harm than good,
Lets drop any talk of addiction etc here. He did this cos he thought he could get away with it, have his cake and eat it.

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