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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

To withdraw from toxic friendship group ?

186 replies

Judygiraffe · 30/09/2021 10:08

So I'm 29, and am friends with a group of girls I met at secondary school , age. 29. Last year one of my friends , "left the group" as she felt it was toxic. She said she felt that both of us were just there to make the others feel better about their own lives , and I'm beginning to agree.

The queen bee married her childhood sweetheart at 22. At the time , because k wasn't in a long term relationship , I had a few more sexual partners than her. She'd regularly make comments to imply I was a slag, e.g. "I'm sorry, but your not discarded vagina is just not as sacred as ours."

However the marriage broke down when she was 26, ( she works at a university , she cheated on him with one of her 19 year old undergraduate students). Immediately after the marriage broke down, she signed up to dating sites and was having multiple sexual encounters, ( including threesomes), with men she met off the internet. She never apologised for repeatedly calling/ implying I was a slut previously, and instead went on to judging and making harsh comments about people she felt hadn't had enough sexual partners , ( she's now changed from judging people she feels have too much sex, to judging people who have to little sex).

Despite this , I was supportive of her during the time of her marriage breakdown. She'd ring multiple times a day, and I was supportive. Yet we went out for a meal with another girl in the group a few weeks later, and she rveeted back to openly mocking me for sleeping with more people than she had in front of the other girl, ( at this point, she had actually slept with many more people than I had, but didn't want the other girl to know this). I didn't say anything to reveal she had been having threesomes / sleeping with more men, as I didn't want to embarrass her.

She regularly gives the , ( unasked for) opinion that Lucy* , ( another girl in the group), "doesn't know how to be single" and berates her for getting together with her new boyfriend too quickly after s relationship break up. Despite this , she was signed up to online dating sites within days of her own marriage breaking down....

She regularly mocks me and Lucy for making "bad choices in relationships" but skirts over the fact her first husband had a lot of issues, ( he'd regularly shout racist abuse out the car windows at other drivers, would regularly shout "j , get the f out if my chair, I want to sit next to my f* wife" at group meals), and that she then dated on her undergraduate students.

She regularly makes comments about Lucy's tattoos being badly drawn and tacky, despite the fact she herself has tattoos.

The queen bee told her new boyfriend I had previously been raped, and he casually brought this up in conversation the first time we went out for lunch together, which left me feeling awkward. He regularly gives pseudo diagnosis's to members of the group , ( one evening he repeatedly told me I must be autistic cos I didn't look people directly in the eye, and refused to listen despite the fact I wa getting tearful and trying to explain I have a diagnosed visual impairment that makes that difficult). He also tells anyone that will listen that Lucy* had classic abandonment issues due to the fact her parents immigrated abroad when Lucy was 19.

We also have a mutual aquantance who has a mild learning disability, ( still functioning enough to work, drive , live independently etc). She has recently announced an engagement to a lovely man, ( I have met him), and instead of saying congratulations, all they can do is laugh and mock cos she had a broken engagement to someone else four years previously.
Am I right to just slowly stop bothering with the group ?

OP posts:
SleepingBunnies21 · 30/09/2021 16:16

I wonder if he'd been orally or anally raped himself, whether he'd be so keen to discuss it in a restaurant in the daytime the first time he met his partner's friend.

Judygiraffe · 30/09/2021 16:17

@SleepingBunnies21

I wonder if he'd been orally or anally raped himself, whether he'd be so keen to discuss it in a restaurant in the daytime the first time he met his partner's friend.
I'd think highly unlikely ...
OP posts:
blacksax · 30/09/2021 16:19

Good grief. Why in the wide world are you still bothering with this nonsense? Time to put a stop to it if you ask me.

SleepingBunnies21 · 30/09/2021 16:21

Yes, she told him not to report it to anyone.

She's an all round disaster area.

Her current partner sounds like a sociopath and he sounds like he's cheated on.her (and possibly will again). Meanwhile Mr psychologist is gas lighting the fuck out if her about the condoms she discovered, and probably generally fucking with her head; if his behaviour to essentially strangers is anything to go by.

One would feel sorry for her if she weren't such a bitch.

Slow fade. Unless she changes big time or gas incredibly good luck, her life is going to continue to be this cluster fuck, abd fees going tk continue to be poisonous.

moreshitandnofuckingredemption · 30/09/2021 16:27

Mute the chat, be unavailable for get-togethers. Don't tell them why, it's just fuel for them to bitch some more, and you'll keep getting dragged back in.
Tell Lucy on the side what you're doing, maybe suggest she might want to think about doing the same, for her own self-esteem.
Meet Sally with Lucy and move on with your life

Judygiraffe · 30/09/2021 16:29

Yes, and despite all this Mr. Psychologist still gives unasked for lectures about how he is a better partner than anyone else.

Adam's new girlfriend Tina is epileptic, it's generally very well controlled, but she happenned to have a seizure when she was out with us , ( day trip round a castle).When the seizure started , Adam was queueing for a coffee at a kiosk, but ran over to us as soon as we called over to say hi girlfriend was having a siezure. Queen bee's boyfriend then went on lecturing everyone about what a bad boyfriend Adam was for leaving his girlfriend "alone" ( she wasn't alone , she was with the rest of the group), and skirted around the fact that Adam had run over as soon as he heard she was having a seizure.

Now , TBF , I am a remain voter but I accept people feel differently. He has ascertained that Adam has voted for Brexit and spent the whole day out lecturing Adam about how "thick ," he was to do so, and kept butting in with , "just do yourself a favour and admit you don't understand , and your vote f the country up, please just admit you are wrong," etc. Adam.is quite quiet, so couldn't really defend himself. Now although I do believe remain was the right way to vote , it was unecessarily rude I felt...

OP posts:
Judygiraffe · 30/09/2021 16:30

The gist of it was he kept loudly going round and saying , " I would never have left queen bee, that is why Adam has never had a proper relationship before, that is why they make a terrible couple, as they just don't know how to behave " etc.

OP posts:
Cam2020 · 30/09/2021 16:34

Ditch the bitch and form a separate group if the other women are, reasonable and decent friends ( and, you actually want to be friends with then, of course).

Ionlydomassiveones · 30/09/2021 16:45

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn at the poster's request.

Judygiraffe · 30/09/2021 16:59

Oh and as a final, ( albeit bitchy), comment from me, Queen Bee's boyfriend is telling everyone he passed all the exams for MENSA but rejected them , ( he actually failed / dropped out of both degrees he started).

OP posts:
Dizzy1234 · 30/09/2021 17:11

I've always been a people pleaser, hate rocking the boat, can't stand confrontation but as I've got older I have started to stand up for myself and I have to tell you how liberating it is.
I'm not nasty, don't shout but I do get my point across. I've found my voice and my backbone 😊
Recently, after years of toxic / spiteful behaviour I have told my sisters exactly what I thought of them and have gone nc.
Guess what? The sky never fell in, the world didn't stop turning, my life hasn't got worse, I still live day to day enjoying the little things that give me pleasure but without the added pressure of spiteful people in my life.
Are they slagging me off behind my back, yep!
Does it affect me or do I care, nope!
If I were you I'd withdraw gracefully with your dignity intact.
Don't get into a battle of wits with them, it would be an unfair fight as they will be unarmed!
Onwards and upwards op, look forward to enjoying the rest of your life in peace ❤️

SleepingBunnies21 · 30/09/2021 17:46

Well, while kat quote at bad; at least you know you're in good company with the rape conversation, given him ploughing in about the epileptic seizure, and that guy voting to leave in brecht.

This guy sounds like he has mental issues, that is some nuclear level of rudeness, inappropriatebess, offensiveness etc. He seems to have a pathological need to lord it over people, tell them.hes superior, bully them for views different to his own etc.

Even if Queen bee was nice- which she's most definitely not - many people would withdraw from a friendship on the basis of her partner choice anyway. He's ruining your meetings, he's bullying people quite severely ... and tbh she's not much better.
Leave them to it, it's bound to be the most uncredited dysfunctional relationship and will either implode or shell go on being cheated on by him, gas lit by him, head fucked by him etc as I saud you'd feel.sorry for her her she wasn't a shit person herself.

SleepingBunnies21 · 30/09/2021 17:49

*while not quite as bad

SleepingBunnies21 · 30/09/2021 17:54

m.youtube.com/watch?v=FdXAUKcjejI

This guy actually is a psychologist but your situation really put me in mind of this character.

SleepingBunnies21 · 30/09/2021 18:23

It's also notable that Mr psychologist know how to pick his targets.

I'm.not blaming you - because you were blind sided in an utterly inappropriate way about an extremely traumatic experience (and he knew he was doing that, or else he's very very stupid) but another woman could have really kicked off at that lunch, asked him repeatedly and angrily why he thought this was so appropriate context to discuss this, the very first time he'd met her ... could have walked out, could have chewed out queen bee for her indiscretion (an instruction not to tell someone about another person's rape is not necessary, anyone with a tap of tap of abd compassion would not share share without explicit permission) .... he knew you wouldn't.

He picked on Adam because he's quiet avd not argumentative and perhaps not assertive. That behaviour towards znother type of person would have led to a major argument, perhaps even violence.

He's betting on you guts bring too polite, not wanting conflict, not wanting to Los your long "friendship" with queen bee, not a friendship worth having but there you go.

He's a bully, an abuser .. he matches your freely quite well, leave them to it.

SleepingBunnies21 · 30/09/2021 18:26

I know he's like that anyway bit hesalso taking his cue from Queen bee. She knows she can bully without consequence, he's happily jumped on that bandwagon because he's a bully too.

OakPine · 30/09/2021 18:38

Enough!! Enough!!

BiscuitLover09876 · 30/09/2021 18:43

It's hard to do when you've normalised a friendship so long, but op, leave! Empower yourself and move on. Once you stop caring about them, you'll realise how different life can be.

BoredZelda · 30/09/2021 18:54

This sounds like a badly written plot for a chick movie.

Probably better off out of it.

Ihopeyourcakeisshit · 30/09/2021 19:00

@BoredZelda

This sounds like a badly written plot for a chick movie.

Probably better off out of it.

It does appear to have ticked every 'controversial' subject goung, not least on MN. The OP has had some significant investment from many posters. One can only hope that posting today has been a cathartic experience from which she can now move on Hmm
Onelifeonly · 30/09/2021 19:04

Haven't read all posts but they sound like they have the maturity level of 14 year olds. Why have you bothered for so long? I'd have refused to meet the new boyfriend after the first "you must be autistic" comment. He is a bully and sounds like his girlfriend richly deserves him.

SandAndSea · 30/09/2021 19:10

I would walk away from these horrible people.

The fact that you're on here asking us, in these circumstances, makes me think that confronting them may not be in your best interests atm, though it's hard to say. (I'm thinking that it won't serve you to get into a situation where they could become even more hurtful.)

It might help you to look into 'grey rock' as a technique for dealing with abusive people. Boredom and being boring could be your friends here too. (I mean they're useful tools to use, not that you are boring!)

Don't hesitate to just block them. They've broken the social contract so you're under no obligation to engage with them.

Shellfishblastard · 30/09/2021 19:28

Oh wow this is insane.

Leave the WhatsApp group. Don’t give these people any more of your time.

Stay in touch with the people you like and who are kind to you. Stop putting up with this shit, it’s awful and, as an adult, you do not need to put up with this.

Walk away and don’t look back. Block them from your phone, emails and social media.

The people who care will soon get in touch

Shellfishblastard · 30/09/2021 19:29

Don’t engage with them any further - they are horrible to you when you are their “friend”, They will be much worse if you challenge them. It’s a waste of your time snd energy and will only hurt you more.

Do it now OP, don’t waste any more of your time on them

Judygiraffe · 30/09/2021 20:48

Yes, I think I no I have to just disengage. Because we have been friends since 11 I'm worried it will feel weird / strange without them , as despite this thread highlighting all the negatives, we have had some good times together, but I need to let go .

OP posts: