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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

DH has no friends and following me round the house

288 replies

DotDashDottyDashy · 11/10/2021 16:23

My husband dropped his friends years ago and he has nothing to do with his family. He now works at home since the pandemic and his employer has made this a permanent thing. I already worked at home because I freelance. He goes to a book club once a month, but apart from that I am literally never alone in the house. He doesn't count the book-club members as friends and he will never stay for a drink after they've discussed the book as the rest of them do. I have lots of friends and interests that take me out of the house, but sometimes I'd just like some time in the house on my own without hearing his ever-there presence - the TV, his stomping and sighing.

If I close a door behind me (e.g. if I'm reading in the snug or in the bath, I close the door so I can't hear the TV that he has on all the time, or if I'm in my office I keep the door closed so I can't hear him on his work calls), he will always, without fail, find a reason to come into the room, and then leave the door open on his way back out. If I ask him to close the door behind him, he always frowns and sighs very loudly and exaggeratedly. I find this so unpleasant that I've stopped asking him to close the door and I wait until he's gone, then quietly close it myself. He wants to watch TV every night, whereas I don't - sometimes I want to read or do some drawing or something, but if I say this, he always asks why can't I do it in the same room as him (the reason is because the TV is distracting, but also I just want some time on my own as well sometimes) or he'll pull a 'jokey' sulky pouty face and say sarcastically 'oh that's nice'. Or, he'll give it half an hour, then come and join me in whatever room I'm in, sit next to me, and scroll through his phone.

He cares very deeply about furniture, decor and clothes. He watches what I do in the house and corrects things I do. For example, if I put the box of teabags on the kitchen counter, he'll lift it up to put a protective mat under it. Or he'll pretend he's admiring the knife I'm using and come to look at it (when in reality I know it's because he wants to make sure none of the veg I'm chopping have fallen off the chopping board onto the worktop). If he thinks one of us might have damaged something, he goes nuts, even if he can't see any damage with his naked eye, so he'll do things like get a torch to inspect it. I never do things to his standards - I apparently do gardening wrong, cleaning wrong, bedmaking wrong, washing wrong.

He doesn't like us using things in case we damage them, so the kitchen worktops are covered in lots of protective mats (so we can hardly see any of the worktop now) and the settees are covered in protective throws. And he gets really tense when we have visitors in case they damage something.

If I try discussing anything with him, he either denies whatever I say (even stupid things that are obviously true - it's his default position to just deny anything I say. I could point out his grey hair and he'd deny it's grey), or he gets really defensive, or more often than not he just walks away and refuses to discuss anything with me, going completely silent on me. He literally never gets riled or worked up. He likes to ignore me when I ask something of him, and if I repeat myself, he'll just say really dismissively and calmly, "yeah I heard you", but then he won't comment any further. He also makes things up about me. For example, he was sorting out our important documents and I asked him to leave mine alone and I would sort them myself, and he told me that I had lost my driving licence once so I shouldn't do the sorting and should let him do it. I know for a fact that I've never lost my driving licence, but he was so adamant that I started believing him. He could tell me I'm spelling my name wrong and he'd be so believable that I'd doubt how my own name is spelt.

I'm 20 years into this marriage, and now I'm perimenopausal, and suddenly I'm just drained by it. We're currently not talking to each other at all after he was snappy with me on Saturday all day but wouldn't tell me what the issue was. He does that a lot - snapping and frowning at me, but if I ask him what's wrong he says "nothing" every single time. I really fucking hate the silent treatment - I think it's a pathetic game and really manipulative, but I can't be arsed trying to engage with him anymore, so I'm just not bothering. I know I'm in the wrong not talking to him, but I'm exhausted by him and actually it's quite nice not having to talk to him and listen to him go on about how his work colleagues have wronged him this week.

OP posts:
Hen2018 · 12/10/2021 18:37

Honestly, I thought you were both in your 70s and you were making the best of an awful relationship, no sex etc as you were in your “twilight” years.

You’re only a year older than I am!

It sounds unbearable.

FreshFreesias · 12/10/2021 20:02

It’s sad that married people think being single is so awful. Its really not. I’m 59, divorced (thank the lord),have no family but a few friends and it’s fine.
It’s good to be free and independent.

EarthSight · 12/10/2021 21:23

I sympathise and his good qualities are great.

Setting aside malicious behaviour, I would say he's a person who absolutely needs to control everything that's inside his 4 walls. If he can't, if he can't keep an eye on everything, it puts him on edge, and it's made even worse by the fact that he thinks he's right. You can be a person who has anxiety or control issues, but still be the type person who knows it's wrong or sees that it has a negative impact on other people, and care about it. He seems totally blinkered. Even if you were absolutely convinced you were right, sure there's still room to care about the emotional wellbeing of another person? He doesn't seem to care though. If there's a conflict between what he wants in the house, and what you want, only what he wants matters.

Reading your post, I thought I was reading the post of someone who was at least 60, if not older. It's like you are living with a very rigid old man, and you're only 47. You say he's got worse. I wonder how much worse he'll get. Over the next few years, will he end up controlling more and more of what you do inside the house, down to the type of toothbrush you use to the type of socks you wear and when you wear them? What about how you sit or how you close doors or switch the lights on?

Usually, pandering to these anxieties (whatever you want to call it), just makes them worse.

He wants to live in a certain way under his roof? Fine. But you have the right to leave him to it if it's suffocating you.

Again, get a lock on your door if you have a separate office you work in. Don't ask permission because it's your house as well and it's not like you're knocking down a wall or something or changing your sofa.

Put a lock on, and put your headphones on, for the time being anyway.

EarthSight · 12/10/2021 21:29

Also, just wanted to say that I heard of someone once who had a husband like yours. As far as I'm aware their separation was amicable, but she had to move out because she just couldn't live with him any more.

TatianaBis · 12/10/2021 21:44

One of my best friends divorced her DH a long time ago as she couldn’t live with him (he was nothing like as bad as this). They’re still close friends and spend Christmas and go on holiday together (their DD is adult).

tarasmalatarocks · 12/10/2021 21:48

If I can just say something about long marriages and where there are no kids involved ( either because they have left home or there aren’t any children) , as others have said it really isnt always a case of stuffing your stuff in a bag and saying ‘see ya’ in most cases. For a start unless there’s a trigger like an affair you are basically having to have the ‘I don’t want to be in a relationship with you ‘ from a standing start’ and deal with someone’s upset/distress in many cases. You have stuff- lots of it by this stage! and run the risk of someone breaking or smashing stuff or binning it if you just walk out. You need money to just go and rent a flat and if you don’t earn that much on paper and live in a not cheap area then will possibly fail referencing unless you can put 6 months down, which means that if you own and have equity you may well be stuck in the house until it’s sold and can release the cash and if you rent you may well need 7 months up front unless you earn well in your own right. You don’t get to leave and have your kids as instant company and something to focus on , so unless you have a support system it can be a bit lonely for a while and if you have a partner who is anxious if you have an ounce of kindness towards them you may well be worried about them too. This can all be a bit overwhelming especially when you are feeling a bit crap anyway- it doesn’t mean you shouldnt do it- but it really isn’t as straight forward as many make it sound.

SpringCrocus · 12/10/2021 22:21

@tarasmalatarocks

If I can just say something about long marriages and where there are no kids involved ( either because they have left home or there aren’t any children) , as others have said it really isnt always a case of stuffing your stuff in a bag and saying ‘see ya’ in most cases. For a start unless there’s a trigger like an affair you are basically having to have the ‘I don’t want to be in a relationship with you ‘ from a standing start’ and deal with someone’s upset/distress in many cases. You have stuff- lots of it by this stage! and run the risk of someone breaking or smashing stuff or binning it if you just walk out. You need money to just go and rent a flat and if you don’t earn that much on paper and live in a not cheap area then will possibly fail referencing unless you can put 6 months down, which means that if you own and have equity you may well be stuck in the house until it’s sold and can release the cash and if you rent you may well need 7 months up front unless you earn well in your own right. You don’t get to leave and have your kids as instant company and something to focus on , so unless you have a support system it can be a bit lonely for a while and if you have a partner who is anxious if you have an ounce of kindness towards them you may well be worried about them too. This can all be a bit overwhelming especially when you are feeling a bit crap anyway- it doesn’t mean you shouldnt do it- but it really isn’t as straight forward as many make it sound.
Oh yes, this. I'm in a 35 + year marriage.

We have a farm, and both have separate self employed businesses.

Separating/leaving/divorcing/disentangling is SO complicated.

We have land, animals, employees, my students, his students to sort out.

And that's assuming he will be reasonable and co operative.

Which he isn't.

Some of you commenting have no idea of the realities.

It really isn't a case that I can just "walk away"

CharityDingle · 12/10/2021 23:03

It really isn't a case that I can just "walk away"

Completely agree. As I said upthread, if life was like a soap opera, all would be wrapped up by the next episode. Unfortunately reality is a heck of a lot more messy and complicated than that. Sad

whynotwhatknot · 13/10/2021 00:34

You say its not delibrate or mean

but what about the documents you said he wont let yu orignaise because you lost your driving license-you said you never have and he jsut carried on

thats pure gaslighting and intentional

peridito · 13/10/2021 08:28

tarasmalta,springcrocus,Charity, - so glad to read your posts .

Life is complicated and has many dimensions .Sometimes on here it can seem as though people's experience is very black and white ,very one dimensional .

SueSaid · 13/10/2021 09:21

'Some of you commenting have no idea of the realities. It really isn't a case that I can just "walk away"

There aren't ever easy solutions. But to live in a sexless relationship, writing reams about his many faults must be absolutely depressing. I'd rather live in a bedsit than live like that.

The op needs to either accept him and his clinginess/faults or leave. The logistics won't be straight forward but the decision should be.

Silenceisgolden20 · 13/10/2021 19:46

@CharityDingle

It really isn't a case that I can just "walk away"

Completely agree. As I said upthread, if life was like a soap opera, all would be wrapped up by the next episode. Unfortunately reality is a heck of a lot more messy and complicated than that. Sad

A lot of posters do realise that. Divorce isn't easy for anyone and is always complicated. It's easy to comment ,yes , which makes it sound it's easy to leave but staying and moaning is just as easy.
SpidersAreShitheads · 14/10/2021 02:18

Tough situation OP, I hope you're feeling OK. It's difficult when you're contemplating changing everything you've ever known.

The one thing that struck me from your comments was your descriptions of the things that are still pleasurable and his good qualities. Many couples who divorce could still name some good qualities about their partner - very few people are absolutely rotten through and through. It's about weighing up the balance. When the bad qualities outweigh the good ones, it's time to seriously considering walking. The fact that you can still describe some good qualities that he has doesn't mean that leaving him would be a wrong decision. I think quite often we can be caught up by absolutes and confused when we still feel lingering fondness for some aspects. That's perfectly normal and doesn't mean that you should stay.

You've got loads of thinking to do and big decisions to make. You say you suspect that he will be unpleasant if you split - if there are any things you can do now to prepare before he suspects anything, it would be a good idea - eg/ stashing some money away secretly.

Also, if you do decide to stay, don't consider that a failure or a weakness. Making a conscious decision about your priorities is a good thing to do. If that means that you prefer to stay, that's not weak or silly. The important thing is that you're facing facts head on and making a cool, considered and thought-out decision that feels right to you. Best of luck Flowers

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