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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

Friend attempted suicide and said it’s my fault

158 replies

RockpoolGirl · 19/02/2022 08:05

This happened a couple of years ago but it plays on my mind daily and I need to get it out.

My male friend and I were very good friends, he was also friends with my boyfriend and there were a group of us. As things were unravelling with my boyfriend my friend- let’s call him B- told me he had feelings for me. My head was all over the place re my boyfriend but I didn’t indicate to B that they were reciprocated because they weren’t.

Anyway. I was now single and still friends with B. At no point did I ever indicate I had feelings for him apart from once on a night out when I made one flirty comment to him after a few drinks.

A few months later we went to a bar with a few of our other friends. Chatting, having a few drinks etc. Three of us including B got in a cab back to where we lived. I said night and went into my house. I was sitting in my room looking at photos on my phone when I heard a kerfuffle downstairs. Suddenly my bedroom door burst open and B walked in. Turned out he had knocked on the front door and when my sister answered he had pushed past her and barged in!

I was sitting there shocked and then he removed his coat and started to walk towards me. I was feeling vulnerable sitting in my bedroom and didn’t know what the hell he was going to do so I told him to leave. He refused so I had to be more forceful with my words. Eventually I got him downstairs to the door and he was still refusing to leave. Because he was unsteady after a few drinks I was able to open the door with one hand and push him out with the other, shutting it behind him. I heard him screaming the F word as he walked away.

The next day I got a call from B to tell me that he had been in A&E overnight after taking an overdose of painkillers. He said it was my fault. I was horrified but felt like he had been wrong for forcing himself in to my house and scaring me so I told him I didn’t feel I was wrong for making him go.

The next day I arrived at work to find cds and books that he had borrowed from me thrown all over my desk. (We worked in the same building). It was like a punch in the stomach. I opened my email and he had written to me saying he wanted nothing more to do with me.

And that was it, he never spoke to me again.

He was such a good friend and I was gutted at the time. The fact that he told me his attempt was my fault has never left me.

I don’t feel that I messed with his head. I knew him for 4 years and there were maybe two flirty incidents in all that time, but otherwise he knew I was utterly devoted to the boyfriend I had and later broke up with.

Was this my fault at all?

OP posts:
TurquoiseDragon · 20/02/2022 15:53

My ex was a "nice guy". An abusive bloke who, when I left, tried the "attempted suicide" route to reel me back in. I had a support thread on MN in the couple of weeks leading up to leaving, and people warned me he could try something like this, so I was forewarned and didn't react the way he wanted me too.

I'd started to turn my phone onto DND at night to avoid any late night calls from him. One night I was on the phone to turn it off when I got a text from ex that simply said "HELP". I will be honest, I did hesitate for a few seconds, then turned the phone off and went to sleep. Turns out to be nothing.

He tried another couple of times, each time I called 101 for a welfare check, whiich I think stopped hiim trying this way.

Final one, he dragged our DD into it. Not going to give details, but he slipped up and I got hard evidence that the story he was telling everyone else was a lie. Kept it up my sleeve to use if he started being a pest again. Never needed as he dropped dead at work one day. Natural causes. I ended up organising the funeral on behalf of the DC, his NOK.

I tell this story because I want you, OP, to realise it's not you at all. It's all him. I don't feel any guilt, and you shouldn't either. I seriously doubt your ex friend has ever had his sleep disturbed at all because of this. He just felt entitled to you, in the same way my ex felt entitled to me.

Some counsellling might help you, to talk it out and find out why you feel guilty for something that wasn't your fault. And I agree with the suggestion that his mention of suicide (remember, there's no proof) was to distract you from his behaviour the night before.

Italiangreyhound · 20/02/2022 16:08

So sorry this happened to you. Whether he tried to kill himself or not, it's nothing to do with you. His behaviour was anti social and downright scary. Please have peace that you did nothing wrong.

PandemicAtTheDisco · 20/02/2022 16:08

A man I know plays the 'nice guy that never wins' role. He's not a nice guy though and all his friendships with women have ulterior motives.

The truth is he is a fake friend to women he wants to have sex with. I don't think he actually values women as friends.

NannyKrampus · 20/02/2022 17:01

Do not waste time and energy on such a gaslighting, abusive manipulator. Good riddance!

hoadinthetole · 20/02/2022 17:31

My ex used to take a handful of painkillers and claim it was a suicide attempt then blame it on me, became a weekly occurrence.
As far as any of his friends were concerned though he was a decent guy, he hid his nob-headishness very well from everyone else.

He was an abusive controlling arsehole and sounds like this guy is too. Don't waste another minute thinking about it.

Last communication I had from my ex was that he was going to throw himself in front of a train and it was all my fault. So, I sent him a copy of the train timetable & packed my bags. That was 5 years ago and fairly sure he's still breathing.

DrSbaitso · 21/02/2022 09:15

This is why, despite all our socialisation to the contrary, it is not actually a good or virtuous thing to put up with abusive shite to prove how faithful or loving or forgiving or caring we are. Enabling people to treat others, including yourself, like shit doesn't make the world a better place.

BlissfullyIgnorant · 21/02/2022 09:30

If you know anyone who was in A&E after an overdose, you would know they wouldn't be in the office the next morning trashing someone's desk having rooted out all your stuff from their flat. Unless they had a Time Machine.
He's lying.
Block him out of your head. If it's too difficult, seek some therapy from Women's Refuge as you've been a victim of an abuser

NewLevelsOfTiredness · 21/02/2022 09:33

If you look at the statistics of men and women that actually commit suicide, men are very efficient at it. If they're genuinely depressed, their methods tend not to be the type that don't work 100%. It's funny how these men that have a woman they'd like to guilt trip are so suspiciously unsuccessful at it in comparison to the norm...

I know male suicide is a problem and I'm not making light of that, but it's all the more reason why these creeps' faux "attempts" are such an insult.

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