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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

Forced to separate, husband wants divorce

25 replies

RNA1986 · 28/04/2023 18:45

I'm in a devastating situation.My husband of 3 years has told me he wants a divorce & I'm completely broken.He is suffering from depression (or so it definitely seems, he's refused to get help or admit there is anything wrong with him) it started at the beginning of this year, out of blue he said he didn't love me anymore & wanted out. He has a gambling addiction that I've supported his through for our entire relationship & marriage (total of 7 years)He is also suffering (I believe, again not diagnosed but the signs point to) PTSD from a prison sentence he faced just before we got married. This was very traumatic for him & I thought I had helped him through it.But since Jan this year he became withdrawn, wouldn't communicate with me (which is hard as it is as he is currently working abroad an we get hardly any time with eachother), he has lost interest in doing anything much, when he is home for a few days a month we don't really do much as he's still in substantial debt from the gambling.So on top of all that he tells me first he doesn't feel the same about me & he doesn't want to keep hurting me.He has done this 3 times so far, each time I'm a broken mess, then he sort of has clarity a few weeks later & promises he will change, get help & he loves me. I moved across the country to be with him so my family & friends are 300 miles away. The isolation and feeling of loss is monumental & I have no idea how I will be able to rebuild a life without him. I still love him, feelings don't just go away. Just wanted to know if there's anyone dealing with a similar thing ?

OP posts:
AgentJohnson · 28/04/2023 18:49

Waiting around for years for him to be different, has brought you here. You need to let him go.

LadyEloise1 · 28/04/2023 18:51

AgentJohnson · 28/04/2023 18:49

Waiting around for years for him to be different, has brought you here. You need to let him go.

This 💯
Sorry OP but it's true.

RNA1986 · 28/04/2023 18:51

Yes that's the advice from my family too. It just feels like a monumental thing to even consider. To start from scratch

OP posts:
Floralnomad · 28/04/2023 18:55

Seriously @RNA1986 , you may well love him but write down a pro and con list and it sounds like loving him and being scared of starting again will be the only pros . He’s a gambling addict , has debts which he will continue to accrue and is messing with your head . He won’t change so you need to make the changes for yourself .

crumpet · 28/04/2023 18:55

Less monumental surely than living like this for decades more?

Dery · 28/04/2023 18:58

OP - can I suggest you read Women Who Love Too Much? Where did you learn to be such a rescuer? Why have you been so keen to hang on to someone who is a gambling addict, has faced a prison sentence and has ended it with you 3 times? Let him go already. You can do so much better than a lifetime of this.

motherofcontracts · 28/04/2023 19:07

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ as requested by the OP.

Sensibletrousers · 28/04/2023 19:08

Repeat after me: Women are not rescue centres for bad, broken men.

Whist you still have a shred of dignity, please walk away by your own choice, with your head held high. He is letting you go - BE FREE! He is a lead weight dragging you down.

You have not failed. He is a failure. You are worth a thousand times more than you seem to believe and you deserve to be with someone who has taken responsibility for his own life, behaviour, mistakes etc.

There’s a name for how you feel about starting from scratch after investing so much time and live into him: Sunk Cost Fallacy. A quick google will show you why you need to ignore that feeling and not spend one more miserable day attached to him.

As Dr Phil once said: there’s only one thing worse than spending 7 years with the wrong person, and that’s spending 7 years and one more day.

Gotovalencia · 28/04/2023 19:14

Get out while you can! You live only once, you need to get put of this recurring nightmare! Life should not be like that. Best of luck, be brave, you must get out! Xxx

RNA1986 · 28/04/2023 19:51

Yes I do, the smart side of my brain is screaming this.
I'll be starting counselling soon myself, I think I need it as all of this has basically ripped my sense of self worth to shreds, I guess that's what's keeping me here

OP posts:
RNA1986 · 28/04/2023 19:53

Thank you for your kind words. I'll give that book a go

OP posts:
RNA1986 · 28/04/2023 19:56

Thank you so very much for the words of encouragement x

OP posts:
Catoo · 28/04/2023 21:37

So sorry OP.
Let him go this time.
Move back to where your family and friends are. It will get better day by day.
xx

RNA1986 · 28/04/2023 22:06

Thank you xx

OP posts:
BronnauMawrion · 28/04/2023 22:10

You deserve so much more than this relationship. Please don't waste any more time on a man who always puts himself first.

TheNachtzehrer · 28/04/2023 22:11

Jeez, he has more baggage than a 1920s heiress doing the Grand Tour.

My Spidey sense on this also says he's cheating on you. Sorry. All that blowing hot then cold generally turns out to have a woman-shaped reason.

The question here isn't why does he want to leave now. The question is why did you ever sacrifice so much of your happiness for him? Most people wouldn't put up with half of this. Why did you? He's not capable of loving you in any real and meaningful way, and he never will be.

biehrvduevr · 28/04/2023 22:16

Urgh. So wearing. I’m free if a similar relationship and honestly I can’t believe the knots I tied myself in to justify his piss poor behaviour.

Helpots · 05/05/2023 17:16

Hi there, I’m in a similar situation if you want to read my posts - together 13 years, married just over 4. My husband is a lifelong depressive, issues stemming from his childhood although apparently I’m now the cause.

I found out about his gambling adductor in 2015 before he moved in with me and my then 13 year old daughter, he came clean before he moved in, told me he was stopping, so I believed him and he moved in with us. He goes on sertraline at this point. We did split for a while as he was drinking to excess and making a fool of me.

2016 - I find out he’s still gambling, in £0000s of debt. I kick him out, he’s not dragging me into his financial problems when I’ve worked hard as a single parent to buy my own home. He tells me he’ll get help; he’ll come off the sertraline as it’s making him feel empty, he’ll get a counsellor. So we work towards reconciliation, then he tells me, after a lovely family holiday, that he just wants to be alone!

We manage to reconcile, he proposes in 2017, we buy our lovely big home that year, we get married in 2019. We’ve been TTC since 2015 (on and off due to breaks in the relationship).

we’ve always had an argumentative relationship, but in august last year, the same month he gets me to enter a new mortgage deal and talks about retirement, he tells me he’s no longer willing to do fertility treatment and the shit has hit the fan - we’ve argued almost every day, I’ve cried every day.

during this time, he’s telling me he still loves me but keeps swapping and changing his mind about whether he wants to be with me - he then left in January for 4 weeks, returns for 4 weeks before leaving for good 6 weeks ago, he’s moved into his mums house.

at first he needed space, then he’s told me he hasn’t loved me for a while, shouldn’t have told me he loved me, and wants to eventually divorce.

my MH has plummeted, I’m so ill. He’s cut off contact with me, blocked my number. It’s as though we never existed and I’ve not put my body through all kinds to give him a baby.

I spoke with him last Saturday, he’s refusing to put the house on the market, not ready to divorce but making clear he doesn’t want to be with me.

my head is all over the place, as yours will be too.

sorry for long post, but wanted to let you know that you’re not alone, depression clearly makes people act cruelly to their partners. He tells me he doesn’t love himself, so how can he love others?

surround yourself with friends, family, cry, get counselling, get MH support. That’s what I’m doing, and not sure if its working but the alternative is to lay down and not get back up.

feel free to PM me and look after yourself xx

LadyEloise1 · 06/05/2023 08:17

Oh @Helpots that is so difficult for you.
Hoping your friends and family continue to support you.
You will get through this 💐

Helpots · 15/05/2023 15:14

@LadyEloise1 thank you for your kind words, I’m in such a mess at the moment mentally. I just want ‘us’ back as we were, I know it’s never going to happen but I miss him so much.

@RNA1986 can I ask what your situation is at the moment? Feel free to PM me x

Blossombathing · 15/05/2023 15:43

This will be one of those relationships when you will look back and think what the actual hell was I doing allowing that total douche into my life.
Be brave, grit your teeth and trust me this is a god given opportunity for a second chance to be truly happy. Lots of counselling and support and you will see him for what he is soon enough.

RNA1986 · 15/05/2023 17:45

Helpots · 15/05/2023 15:14

@LadyEloise1 thank you for your kind words, I’m in such a mess at the moment mentally. I just want ‘us’ back as we were, I know it’s never going to happen but I miss him so much.

@RNA1986 can I ask what your situation is at the moment? Feel free to PM me x

@Helpots He works overseas and is home maybe once a month, he has asked if he can stay at our house (shared) when he returns for 3 days next week. Im still a state in all honesty. Have started antidepressants (waiting for them to actually kick in) everyday is an uphill struggle. When we last spoke, he was still V adement about wanting a divorce.

OP posts:
Helpots · 15/05/2023 18:42

@RNA1986 so sorry to hear the hell you’re going through. I’ve a counsellor in place and awaiting CBT, are you accessing this support? I miss my H so much, but also wondering whether I should start divorce proceedings - my head is in a constant battle with it send. DM me if you want to

Cantthinkof1rightnow · 01/08/2023 15:53

@RNA1986 How are things now?

chocobaby · 01/08/2023 16:09

From what you have written OP, I’ll be grateful and elated he has asked for a divorce. I’m sorry but I won’t spend my life like this at all.

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