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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 had his girlfriend round, I know it

308 replies

Mantua · 22/11/2021 21:19

Been away for a few weeks helping family out and DH stayed due to work commitments/ to look after the dogs. We’ve been in an open relationship for a few years now (his instigation, all one sided, I can live with it). I did have a thread about it some time back but won’t link to that as I came across as ridiculously blinkered then. I am more realistic about things now .

Anyway, I think he brought his current partner here whilst I was away. I don’t have any hard evidence but I overheard something that suggests she was here. Am I being paranoid? I’m not ready to ask him outright.

I did agree to an open relationship but not in my home.

OP posts:
Alittlepotofrosie · 23/11/2021 07:29

Well .. this won't be popular but presumably you changed the marriage to say no sex. It's a bit rich to complain he's now changed the terms of the open marriage agreement. Obviously he's realised he can have a fulfilling relationship elsewhere and maybe he doesn't want to be in this half marriage anymore. Get your ducks in a row because it sounds like he's got a foot out of the door. You can't expect him to stay in an unfulfilling relationship forever just because it's comfortable.

MsDogLady · 23/11/2021 07:32

Mantua, I have wondered about you, and am sorry that this distressing situation has escalated.

Your H set up the boundaries that he promised to adhere to if you would agree to the new arrangement — no-strings sex in hotels, discretion, no dating, no overnights. He smashed those boundaries by developing emotional intimacy with OW, publicly dating/romancing her, and then moving to a physical relationship. They were holding hands in cafes, walking on the beach, shopping for her underwear, etc., for all the world to see.

At the time of your thread, H was bringing OW into your orbit. He was texting and smiling at her messages right in front of you. You were crushed that he took her to your family’s special restaurant the night before you, H and his siblings went there with your FIL. He also brought OW to his fix-up cottage open-house where she met his/your friends, even your best friend’s H. You felt confident that nobody caught on to their sneaky secret, but of course they would have been buzzing over their charade.

Now OW has met FIL. And although you previously stated that H would not bring OW to your house, it appears that they have indeed defiled your home. If so, she has played with your pets, sat on your sofa, slept in your bed or another, showered in your bathroom, used your towels and dishes, and looked at your family photos. I said before that OW was walking in your path, but this is beyond the pale. Where is your outrage?

Mantua, H told you that ‘nothing will change,’ but now everything has changed. They are a couple and soon everyone will know. You are being marginalized and your home debased. H’s lack of empathy and callous disregard of you is monumental. You say you work well as a unit, but that structure is crumbling as you contort and subjugate yourself. Do you really see value in living/traveling with a man who is happy to humiliate you with his adoration of another woman? Flowers

Aishah231 · 23/11/2021 07:34

I think your language is telling OP. You call her the girlfriend. This is more than a bit on the side and that's not what you signed up to - even if you did sign up to it you are allowed to change your mind.

Subbaxeo · 23/11/2021 07:37

I am surprised some posters here are expressing shock that he doesn’t seem to want a woman just to have sex with - and what an awful person it makes him. Like most people, he wants sex as part of an intimate relationship-not just something to scratch an itch. Why does that make him so bad? He’s trying to make the best of a situation he was put in when his wife told him she no longer wanted to share that.

SoupDragon · 23/11/2021 07:44

The bottom line is that you need to divorce.

You can't expect him to live without intimacy and you don't want him to have that with you or someone else. The open marriage solution isn't working and you need to accept that.

Dashel · 23/11/2021 07:45

You need to start planning for a future without him. Your relationship continuing with your DH is now dependent on him splitting with his GF and that is not a situation I would be comfortable with.

You may have a bit of time to plan, get funds in order, but he obviously wants a sexual element to his life in the form of a relationship, rather than a one night stand, so it’s only going to be a matter of time before he meets someone whom he wants to shack up with.

Get yourself prepared financially, see a solicitor, get saving in a new account, think about how you see your life on your own, sooner or later this is going to be your reality, even if it’s not what you want.

I do agree with others about taking control and standing up for yourself and not being a passenger in your own life.

SoupDragon · 23/11/2021 07:48

H’s lack of empathy and callous disregard of you is monumental.

That applies equally to the OP though who doesn't want him to have a proper intimate relationship with her or anyone else.

TBH, they should have split up when the OP decided she was no longer going to be intimate with him. This was inevitable. I don't remember the original thread.

grapewine · 23/11/2021 07:51

@Subbaxeo

I am surprised some posters here are expressing shock that he doesn’t seem to want a woman just to have sex with - and what an awful person it makes him. Like most people, he wants sex as part of an intimate relationship-not just something to scratch an itch. Why does that make him so bad? He’s trying to make the best of a situation he was put in when his wife told him she no longer wanted to share that.
Yes, exactly. But then this was said on the last thread as well.
MsDogLady · 23/11/2021 07:51

OP is calling OW his ‘girlfriend’ because H and OW actually refer to each other as Boyfriend/Girlfriend.

Comedycook · 23/11/2021 07:52

I can't imagine finding the idea of sex with my DH so repulsive that this would be a better solution. It was inevitable he'd develop feelings for someone. You both should have taken steps to end the marriage.

SmokedGlass · 23/11/2021 07:55

What a grim life
Have some respect for yourself and get out of this relationship
Why are you so willing to live like this and putting up with this shit

girlmom21 · 23/11/2021 07:57

He just needs sex whereas I do not.

It's not just sex though. He's got a girlfriend who he introduced to his dad and his friends.

parentsonthenet · 23/11/2021 08:00

@Mantlemoose

So, you did make it clear then it was to be in hotels. Now she's met friends, colleagues, clients and his DD? You're being phased out I'm afraid.
This is exactly what it sounds like unfortunately for you.
DrGoogleSaysSo · 23/11/2021 08:00

You sound very miserable OP and lacking self esteem. You should reflect if that arrangement is really worth it.

Bluntness100 · 23/11/2021 08:04

Shared control of the joint bank account, some household bills and the roof over your head?Do you think thats enough to hold you together 'til death do us part'?

Some stay for less, let’s be honest. Fear of being alone, fear of the financial implications. They will take it for the lifestyle.

parentsonthenet · 23/11/2021 08:09

Sorry if I missed the part where you expressed what you're getting from this. I'm sorry this is not romantic but love for your husband alone is not enough to warrant staying.

If there is any part of you that wanted to stay together so as to appear as a complete and unbroken family unit, I'm afraid this is doing the polar opposite and even worse as it seems as though your nearest and dearest could be well aware of what is going on here.

Imagine if you left your husband and found a life companion that truly wanted you and only you. I guess that's what you initially signed up to but he is not keeping to his side of the bargain.

Please start enforcing the boundaries and have him show respect for you in your own home. The one place you should feel safe and secure.

Staryflight445 · 23/11/2021 08:10

I think you’ve got to ask yourself op why your finances come before yourself.

Comedycook · 23/11/2021 08:12

Actually I think you're both incredibly selfish.

Imagine your partner finding the idea of having sex with you so disgusting that they'd prefer you to sleep with other people? Think how that would have affected your husband?

Clymene · 23/11/2021 08:14

This is like pulling a plaster slowly off a dead marriage rather than the fast rip. It's much more painful.

Ultimately, you will end up in the same position as you would have been if you'd just divorced once you decided intimacy was off the cards but with added humiliation and betrayal thrown in.

Grab back some self respect. Please.

Whingasaurus · 23/11/2021 08:14

You are not in an open relationship. If you can accept that you can maybe find some strength to tackle this.

Open relationships typically have boundaries the most common ones are not in our home, honesty and a mutual desire to be in an open relationship.
You are in a relationship with a cheating, lying, gaslighting arse hole. If you wish to stay, stay if not leave no one can help you but you Flowers

parentsonthenet · 23/11/2021 08:17

@Staryflight445

I think you’ve got to ask yourself op why your finances come before yourself.
Has op said about the finances being the driver to stay?
spagbog5 · 23/11/2021 08:19

Don't bother asking him , just leave and live a life where you are valued and loved .
Being alone is so much better than feeling worthless in your relationship.
You are worth so so much more than this horrible man .

JollyJoon · 23/11/2021 08:20

This is a rare example on MN relationships where an OP only makes a handful of posts but posters continue responding for four pages on their own. This should tell you something OP. Even if you cant see it posters are responding strongly to your situation and that must be quite shocking to see.

How are you feeling this morning and what is your instinct telling you to do next?

Personally I think a good first step would be to ask him directly whether she has been here. It's not his answer that will be important here, but the fact that you have made a first (gentle) confrontation.

Reading between the lines, I am sensing that all your self confidence has evaporated.

AlbertBridge · 23/11/2021 08:22

I know you feel you can't leave this marriage, but you can. Your own happy life is waiting for you, outside this horrible situation.

TheRealHousewife · 23/11/2021 08:27

I can’t imagine having a conversation about an open relationship that didn’t cover boundaries? Especially one that ended in agreement.

What did you actually agree too?