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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

Am I going mad?husband and single women

91 replies

Loola08 · 10/01/2021 03:43

Sorry but I need some opinions on this.my husband of one year has repeatedly kept in contact with single women he has had relationships with or flirty chat in the past.
He also friends a lot of single women on facebook and he will fixate liking all their photos etc.
I've spoke to him about it and he's admitted shoe on other foot he would be upset but it continues.
The most recent he had tried to arrange a date with a couple years back then recently he's been dropping her messages randomly, him contacting her not the other way round.I cannot take anymore of it.tries to make out I'm crazy every time. Says IM stalking but surely I shouldn't feel like this??
He has women friends that I have no problem with but others are random people he doesn't have any contact with then all of a sudden he will feel the need to talk to them.I feel hurt.no regard for my feelings at all.he's not hiding it either he just thinks it's ok to do I can't count how many times I've told him it upsets me.I honestly think I'm done with it all now

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Loola08 · 10/01/2021 06:37

Even told me I need to stop bathing at night because it eats into our evening and he wasn't happy about it!not oh yes there's 4 kids one with additional needs you don't have time during the day!when I write it, it makes me see how stupid it all really is!

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Loola08 · 10/01/2021 06:39

He also
Said I go looking for it, well it's not difficult to see!!

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DunderBlue · 10/01/2021 06:41

It's easy to just say leave him, way easier than actually doing it. He can change, it's not who he is, it's the behaviour he's getting away with.
Sit him down, tell him how it makes you feel, let him know his behaviour is inappropriate and he obviously knows that since he has said if you were doing the same he wouldn't like it, so you don't like it and you'd like him to stop. If he refuses, let him know you can't continue being with him then.

It doesn't always mean your partner is looking for other relationships or whatever, sometimes it's validation, he wants to know he's attractive to others perhaps or wants to feel he's still liked.

It is NOT a reflection on you, it's on him. You're doing great and you're enough. He's missing something to need to do this.
Just keep communicating. Everytime he does it, sit him down and tell him you don't like it, make him sleep on the sofa, distance yourself from him. You have to keep hammering the message home. But please don't feel like this is anything to do with you, I'm positive you're a great person and more than enough.

Loola08 · 10/01/2021 06:48

@DunderBlue Thankyou.it really is easier said than done, any friend of mine came to me
With this I would tell them to kick him to the kerb!
It's made me so sad because on the whole we get on well, and I kept telling him it was wrong but it has continued and I've tried everything and it's not stopping, and he tries to make it ok.it's obviously not ok because he had problems sleeping and I've been blamed for that too!doesn't dawn on him it might be his own actions scrambling his brain!

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Hippieinheels · 10/01/2021 06:54

He should be running the bath for you. Not complaining about it. Helping each other is a way of showing love and respect.
Less time on social media and more involvement with you is needed.

Mummyoflittledragon · 10/01/2021 06:59

You have 4 kids? He really does like you bare foot and pregnant. Are you using cast iron contraception? It will be even harder to extricate you from him if you fall pregnant again.

He said you go looking for it? Looking for what? Proof? He’s the one, who goes looking for it: ie other women. This is an ego boost at the very least.

Loola08 · 10/01/2021 07:01

@Mummyoflittledragon my first three are from an 18 year relationship!I definitely won't be having any more kids lol!

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mathanxiety · 10/01/2021 07:04

I was honestly made to believe that it was harmless that I need to pay him more attention that I am the cause of his problems.

You see how everything works in his favour, right?
How he blames you for everything, even poor sleep?

Yes, leaving is easier said than done.

But it boils down to what you want, and whether the way you have gone about getting that has worked up to now, or whether his responses have basically been an insult to your intelligence and an expression of contempt for you on his part. Which is what you have got.

So forget sitting him down and telling him how all of this is making you feel. You have tried that and it has got you nowhere.

The reason he is doing this is complete, total inadequacy as a man. You can't make him change. Give up any hope you have that you are special enough to him to make him give up what he is doing. He won't change. This is who he is. This is what he does. The thought that women are fighting over him makes him feel important. If he didn't have that there would be nothing in his sad, pathetic little life. A good woman and a lovely baby are not enough and your love and commitment are things he neither understands nor values.

Look up the definition of gaslighting. Essentially it means taking absolutely no responsibility for any hurt or damage he is causing. Do a bit of reading about the sort of man who does this.

Make plans to get rid of him. Show your children an example of a strong woman who doesn't let a man treat her like shit.

VeganCow · 10/01/2021 07:07

Narcissistic attention seeking egomaniac. Thank God you discovered this only a year in, you must surely have lost all love and respect for him, as he is not the man you thought you knew. This will still be your life in 10, 20 years so get out now.

Wibble01 · 10/01/2021 07:13

@Loola08

Oh and to add he was dating other people when we first got into a relationship. That I swallowed as it was early on and he cheated on his ex because he felt 'lonely'. I was with someone 18 years and never felt the way I do now, this stuff was never an issue.
It sounds like your 18 year relationship was sensible (I'm sure there's reasons for it coming to an end of course). This relationship seems anything but. Sorry
Loola08 · 10/01/2021 07:14

@VeganCow I'm glad too.I know I can't carry on living like it, I just couldn't figure if I really was making a big deal out of nothing, but it stands that if I feel this way there's something very wrong.
I'm not a jelous person and never had these issues with anyone I've been in a relationship with before.

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DunderBlue · 10/01/2021 07:17

It's so difficult, especially when you don't feel ready to end the relationship but you're struggling to stay sane in one where you feel constantly betrayed.
He definitely can change and you don't need to feel like it's over if you're not wanting that. But he needs to get to a point where he can work on himself.
All you can do is just keep telling him you're not putting up with it, keep talking to him, try your best to get through to him. Eventually it'll either hit home with him or you'll end up ready to walk away and know it's for the best. Don't give up on yourself, you deserve to be treat better, and he can be the one to do that, but he's got some proving to do.

DianaT1969 · 10/01/2021 07:18

Is there a reason you got married rather than just live together? I'm surprised a man like this got married. Do you have a house in your name? I'd be concerned about letting the marriage continue if you have an asset that you have to share.

Loola08 · 10/01/2021 08:04

@DianaT1969 no we rent he moved in with me it's his second marriage, I never married my ex partner.
I wanted a happy ever after I suppose, stupid as it's sounds and trust me I don't need to be told how stupid that is, it was never going to happen I see that.

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Lex345 · 10/01/2021 08:06

You deserve better. You have done everything reasonable to ask him not to do this and explained its impact on you and yet he still actively chooses to do it, despite it causing you unhappiness.

He will not stop doing it. You have a choice-put up with it (and the risk it could escalate into more) or finish it. No more chances. He has enough insight into what he is doing to not want you to do it.

Loola08 · 10/01/2021 08:11

@Lex345 and that's Excactly it.to know it's hurts me and
Continue and he told me that if I have a problem with someone he's chatting to I should say.how about don't do it in the first place???
I'm not silly enough to believe he's that stupid that he needs to be told!

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everyonebutme · 10/01/2021 08:13

I was within someone like this. I ended it after a year. Definitely a gas lighting narcissist. My ex partner was also very controlling - didn't like me having another life, seeing my friends, was always suspicious (for no reason). It just got worse and worse.

Lex345 · 10/01/2021 08:17

He is an arse to carry on doing it and the faux-innocent "if you have a problem you should say" line would make me even more annoyed, especially when he has already said he wouldn't like you doing it.

Loola08 · 10/01/2021 08:18

@everyonebutme I've already been told who he classes as friends worth keeping and I'm becoming isolated from any support I have.there's a lot to this story and I think if I'm really honest with myself, me burying his issues is enabling the behaviour

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Shoxfordian · 10/01/2021 08:36

It sounds like you know what you need to do

Can you contact family for support? Don’t settle for this anymore op

footprintsintheslow · 10/01/2021 09:02

I think you know what you need to do here.

His boundaries were set when he knew you'd let him off for his early cheating behaviour. I sound harsh and as if I'm blaming you. I'm not at all. He's a total pig and you'll feel fabulous when you get rid of him. What a loser he is.

converseandjeans · 10/01/2021 09:08

He's gas lighting you do you think it's your fault & that you're imagining things. Trying to make you think it's ok for him to do this.

I think lots of men feel displaced when there's babies & toddlers around. They're not centre of attention any more.

I'd call it off tbh - it doesn't sound like he's bringing much to the party.

It always astounds me that women reply to people like your husband. It's a horrible thing to do - message or flirt with someone married with a baby.

category12 · 10/01/2021 09:08

It's yet another example of what you tolerate and overlook at the beginning of a relationship setting the stage for the rest of the relationship.

You showed him you'd stick around after he was shagging around at the start, and he's continued to be disrespectful and chase other women throughout.

Loola08 · 10/01/2021 09:08

@footprintsintheslow I've just told him I've let too much go and his behaviour is not acceptable and I've been told that I just use this excuse all the time to have a go at him when he has an issue with me.(this is by the way is the baby was too noisy yesterday and he couldn't stand it so went to the bedroom then complained he was all alone)oh and I didn't block a friend that he wanted me to, woman by the way not a man lol!

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Loola08 · 10/01/2021 09:09

And that he wasn't flirting it was just a chat but he would be hurt if I had done it????seriously confused!!!!

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