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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

Message to the OW

117 replies

DiddlyDonut · 16/09/2023 20:37

I know I shouldn't and I won't get the closure I need but I've written a letter to the 'OW' (his ex. How funny). I want to hit 'send'. I haven't yet. I want to give her all the little details that would hurt her. To get in her head and ensure she feels anxious and restless like she's done to me. She knew full well all about me, that me and partner have a baby etc etc but she just wouldn't stop contacting him. Then it happened. I know he is to blame too, but what woman does that to another, knowing and apparently taking great delight in the pain they've caused me. Apparently she has 'won' 😒

Has anyone here ever written to the OW? If so, how did it go?

OP posts:
Maze76 · 17/09/2023 12:31

I wouldn’t send it.. she doesn’t care. It will take a while but eventually you won’t care as much either. Some women feed off the drama and excitement of the affair, but when real life kicks in, the gloss disappears.
In my case the OW wasn’t exactly stable, and my ex was a shit as he knew this - but again some men like weak women.
Hold your head high and crack on with your life.. it will all work out in the end.

SmileyClare · 17/09/2023 13:42

I think a bit more context is needed before laying into the woman.

How long were they together/married before he left? Did he leave her for you or have an affair with you? Do they have dc together?

If anything I feel sorry for you both.

You’ve both been treated badly by him I expect and led a merry dance.

This woman must have incredibly low self esteem to get back with a partner who is prepared to lie, cheat and waltz off when his gf has just given birth. Gods knows what lies he’s told her to be taken back.

Thisweeksname · 17/09/2023 13:48

Don’t give her the satisfaction of knowing your pain.
Some women thoroughly enjoy getting with married men, she’s a nasty homewrecker. Hold your head up, block any socials and move forward.

Thewookiemustgo · 17/09/2023 16:54

I wouldn’t send it, neither of them are worth your energy.
As usual there are two dynamics at work, who is to blame for the cheating versus personal accountability for one’s own behaviour in any given situation.
He is solely to blame for betraying you, he chose to cheat. Not her.
She, however, is personally accountable for knowingly engaging in behaviour which she knew would cause immeasurable hurt and harm to another person. People who have been cheated on are incredibly angry with their partners, obviously, but also with OW.
Here’s where the MN bone of contention usually lies. I think it’s absolutely understandable and justified to feel anger towards the OW as well as your partner, but I would be angry for different reasons, I would not blame the OW for the betrayal. However, I would be angry and upset with anyone who deliberately engaged in behaviour which they knew would hurt me. It doesn’t matter to me one bit whether I am a stranger to them or they ‘owe’ me anything or not. To suggest it’s ‘wrong’ to be angry with those who do things which hurt us is ridiculous to me. Just because your motive for doing it was nothing to do with deliberately hurting the cheated on partner, doesn’t mean you’re unaware that what you’re doing absolutely will hurt them. There is a personal moral choice at this point, which has nothing to do with the cheating husband or partner. A personal choice about what we think is or isn’t an OK way to treat others. It’s not OK to engage in behaviour which hurts others, whether you care about them or not, whether what you do hurts somebody indirectly or not. It’s just not OK to do stuff which you know hurts others. I’ve never met anyone who thinks it is.
So, I completely understand your anger towards her, there’s a place for it alongside your anger towards the one who is responsible for betraying you.
So why not act on this? Here’s why I think it’s a bad idea:
We don’t usually feel indifferent to those who do things which hurt us.
However, as you’ve already heard from an OW, most of them who post on MN seem not to care. It’s up to them to search their consciences as to whether or not their behaviour towards another person was laudable or not. Usually OW prefer to wash their hands of their part in hurting you by referring you back to your partner, as he’s the only one participating in wrongdoing and somehow that absolves them. They act as if nothing they did could possibly have anything to do with you. It did: the man they were sleeping with was deceiving you and destined to hurt you by doing it, their sleeping with him would hurt you, yet they still joined in. Not their job to police his behaviour or prevent him cheating on you, no, absolutely not, but very much their job to police their own behaviour towards others. Not many people think it’s right to sleep with anyone in monogamous relationships, whether the spouse or partner cares or not, basically because they know somebody else will get hurt by their actions too if they do. Just because somebody else can’t police their morals doesn’t give another person a ‘bye’ on their poor behaviour to shrug their shoulders and join in.
Not looking too closely at our own behaviour and chucking it back on others whom we know are behaving badly, helps get rid of guilt and shame enormously, like a child saying “Well, he/ she did it first! He/ she was doing it too! It’s nothing to do with me!” absolves us of any personal accountability. It doesn’t.
So I reckon it’s a waste of your precious time and energy. If she’s got no conscience about it or is avoiding looking at her conscience, she’ll shrug it off.
It’s understandable to want to hit back, but really, really not worth it. Keep your dignity and moral high ground, that feels way better, believe me.
Look forward now and live your best life OP, write out whatever gets it out of your system and then destroy it and move on, they’re not worth the energy you’re investing in them and most certainly don’t merit it.

AlrightThen · 18/09/2023 16:15

Isn't it more like you all lost rather than she has won?

I don't know.

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 18/09/2023 16:30

Don't do it, OP. It hurts like hell but rise above it.

The fact that she thinks she 'won' by bagging a cheating, lying bastard shows how low her standards are

Today is the anniversary of the day I came home from work and found a letter from DH on the dining room table telling me he 'couldn't do this any more' and with the standard cliches - it's not you it's me etc etc etc. What he DIDN'T say was that he had been shagging his secretary (SO original) and he'd left to be with her.

Once the gloss had worn off she was complaining (according to him as he vacillated between us, clearly liking the idea of a harem) was that he didn't do anything around the place (could have told her that) and he moaned especially that he had to account to her where he was going and who he was with because he 'couldn't be trusted.' No love, you knew that he was a cheat and a liar when you started sleeping with him, WTF did you expect, he'd change or something? We'd always given each other space to do our own thing - she moaned about his golf, his football, his drinking after work while she was left alone - and I sat there with a quiet smile of satisfaction on my face.

My experience is that there is definitely a profile of the OW who deliberately targets someone elses partner, and who feels no guilt or shame. They are often the ones who will not stop contacting and who feel a grand sense of entitlement

Yup, that was her. She'd fancied DH for ages and was distraught when we got married, apparently, and set out to split us up. Have often wondered how they got on with each other once they were married with that sort of hinterland, but at least they'd both found their level.

anybloodyname · 18/09/2023 19:54

Interesting that OP has not been back

DiddlyDonut · 19/09/2023 17:10

anybloodyname · 18/09/2023 19:54

Interesting that OP has not been back

Why is that interesting????

I am absolutely broken. My heart is shattered to pieces. I barely have the energy to function and putting my all at the moment into just focussing on my baby.

I'm grateful for all comments and opinions, sorry Ive not been up to replying but every one has been read and noted.

I have not yet sent anything. I have read all this and as much as I at times want to I'm unlikely too. Mostly as I don't think it'll have the effect I want as others have also said here.

OP posts:
Jonisaysitbest · 19/09/2023 17:49

Definitely write it down but not in a letter to her.

Whenever my head is getting too full of rubbish about my ex and the stuff he put me through I write it down just to get my head around it. It really helps to see it in black and white.
I have a book I have been writing in for a while. It's very well hidden and when it's full I intend to burn it.
I have kept it because when I read the early stuff it makes me realise that my thoughts and feelings are gradually changing and that I am moving on even when sometimes it doesn't feel like it.

Don't write to her. Don't give her any air time, it's not worth the effort and it might back fire.

I hope you start to feel better soon. Lots of us have been there and it's really horrible but you will get through it. Focusing on yourself and your wee one is the best thing to do right now. xxx

anybloodyname · 19/09/2023 18:27

I meant no offence to you @DiddlyDonut

I am so sorry you are hurting , you deserve so much better than this

Usually when an OP puts up an emotive post and then never comments again it suggests it may have not been genuine , perhaps journo or similar , that was all I meant .

Allthecheeseplease · 19/09/2023 18:30

@AngelinaFibres Your ex-husband groomed a 17 year old (possibly 16 when it started) I'm so sorry it happened to you and it's wonderful that you've move on and have a great life now but that is an awful thing to have happened to her too.

darkspotontimber · 19/09/2023 18:33

AngelinaFibres · 16/09/2023 21:27

This.
My exhusband left me for a 17 year old when he and I were 32. I was devastated and bloody angry. Twenty seven years later she has divorced him.He has left her in far worse financial shit than he was able to leave me ( not so high up in accountancy when he left me. Fewer opportunities to syphon off other people's money). She has lost the marital home to pay off his debts. Her legal bills are eye watering.The funniest thing for me was when she moaned to my ,now adult, children that she was being left to bring up their teenage child whilst he was out shagging other women. Yes it's pretty shit but she didn't seem to mind when she was the one he was shagging and I was bringing up the 2 tiny children he had left behind. Watch and wait Op.Make a plan and focus on making your life the best it can be. If my first husband hadn't left I wouldn't have the fabulous life I have now. The OW won't believe anything you say. My exhusbands second wife believed all his lies. She only realised a few weeks ago that I had divorced him. He told her I was so mentally ill he'd had to divorce me. Focus on yourself. The trash took itself out.

She was a 17 year old groomed and used by a 32 year old adult man. This is one OW who doesn’t deserve hate. And one utterly bastard man who certainly does.

Comtesse · 19/09/2023 18:37

Burn the letter. Than stamp on the ashes. Maybe flush them down the toilet. So sorry.

Rockschooldropout · 19/09/2023 18:44

Hold the mural high ground - honestly OW won’t give a toss - my ex h started an affair with his employee when I was 8 months pregnant .
I saw her almost daily and at the time was oblivious .. He had given her all the usual lines about our marriage being dead etc (despite the fact I was expecting a planned baby ) ..

she sent constant texts , I’d be sat on the sofa next to him and see them come through .. he Would even secretly go and meet her and take our baby dd when I was at work in his days off .. she must have had the self esteem of a table mat tbh to think he was s catch ..
I moved out .. they got married in June .. but it’s ok because I got married too , to a wonderful man .

Of course your heartbroken .. but it will get easier honestly .. OW hasn’t WON .. she got the booby prize in the worlds worst raffle , a lying devious cheat .. good luck to her !!

5128gap · 19/09/2023 20:50

I've known of an OW who recieved such a letter.
She didn't believe a word of the things designed to hurt her. She showed the letter to anyone and everyone and people sympathised with her for having a contend with her partners ex who wouldn't leave them alone. In the world outside of MN, OW have friends and people who love them who will take their side, who will reassure them and tell them you're jealous and crazy and to ignore you. I'm willing to bet she wouldn't suffer a moments anxiety about anything you had to say. However, given she's now in a relationship with a cheat, it's highly probable she'll suffer a fair bit of anxiety and hurt anyway. But whether she does or not, try to put her out of your mind and concentrate on your own road to happiness. She is of no importance. She is not your nemesis and you don't need her to be miserable to have a good life yourself.

Rockfordpeach · 19/09/2023 20:55

I did but many years after the events and I was very much over it. She popped up in a large FB group we were obviously both members of, she'd made a post about something and included a picture of herself which I recognised. I sent her a message but it was pretty measured. I mainly just wanted to know if she had been aware that he was married with a baby at the time they got together. We ended up having a civil conversation, she apologised and I got some closure. But like I said, this was years later and I was happily settled with DP and another child by that time so it wasn't emotional and angry.

Rockschooldropout · 19/09/2023 21:29

@5128gap That’s very true - the OW in my case was held in very high regard by everyone her and my x h worked with , to the point where they are helped to cover up the affair as they truly believed that my ex and OW were star crossed lovers who deserved to be together ..

writing a letter is cathartic .. but don’t post it .. write an email .. but archive it .. get out of your head all the things you are feeling .. but sending it won’t help you in the long run

BadHairBae · 19/09/2023 21:45

Dacadactyl · 16/09/2023 20:38

I wouldn't do it OP.

Keep your head held high and let her "win". He's no prize anyway.

Nailed it

babyproblems · 19/09/2023 21:56

She’s not won op.. if she’s nasty enough to be capable of that can you imagine how insecure and toxic her inner narrative must be??? To deliberately intervene and destroy a family how fucked up must you be on the inside.. she’s lost and will alway me lose because it’s nasty selfish behaviour that comes from a place of emotional deep insecurity and a shambolic lifestyle.

write as many letters as you need to write.
dint send them. Keep your head high high high. Xxxx

Jonti23 · 19/09/2023 22:42

I would send it. Pack it full of little details about her that yr partner shared with you, that’s the key. You are actually not hurting but I sense a lot of anger about the situation and rightly so. Throw in juicy bits about you having a highly sexed relationship and continuing with that during any liaison that may have been between them. Say you are aware he would have tried to minimise this to try and bed her, but it’s only fair that she knows that he was not exclusive and was promiscuous with her. She’s none the wiser and it spoils her memories like she’s spoiled yours which in my opinion is only fair. If you are going to do it you have one chance of making it work and that is to make her question everything about him and her history with him. I would do it it’s priceless. You may not ruin anything but planting doubts is fair game and I see where you are coming from.

Jonti23 · 19/09/2023 22:49

Also the only way you can hurt her is to come across as friendly and reasonable as possible. That’s the key. Say something like you forgive her but he had you both fooled, then dive in with the fun between the sheets you had. Where she is being cheated on. It’s actually a healing strategy and I would do it, because right now he chose that over you and the baby, and the moment you send it, she’ll question every moment and it would doom their future forever. It’s ok to give yourself the permission to return the favour. Say how he wooed you too and you can recognise a pattern. How it felt special at the time but feels rather cheap Once you can see through it. But include bonding and love making during time they were together. Perhaps say it increased at that time. And realisation was confusing.

SmileyClare · 19/09/2023 22:50

Its worth considering the narrative she’s been fed by him.

Men who cheat usually lie that their partner is “crazy” that the relationship is over and he’s deeply unhappy and trapped, that there’s no affection or sex.
The OW chooses to believe this shit because it makes the whole thing more palatable- they never entertain the idea that their lover has been playing happy families at home - playing you both women off each other.

I doubt she chased and hounded him like an evil temptress until he gave in. He engineered this affair as much as she did.

The light in which cheating men paint their spouses means the mistress won’t believe you. She chooses to believe whatever your dp has told her about you.

Jonti23 · 19/09/2023 22:56

Disagree with the above. You just have to word it smartly. Make sure you come across as reasonable. Say you were full on intimate. Say he described OW as overbearing and needy. There is nothing as bad as that. Then once you have sent it block her so you never ever get to be fed crap and narratives from her.

SmileyClare · 19/09/2023 23:16

Yes I see your point @Jonti23 That would do her a favour- give her a chance to see him for the arsehole he is.

I think op is in the raw angry stage of wanting revenge- it’s not always best to make decisions or act on impulse when emotions are so high.

I suspect ( like the pp upthread who had an affair) she’ll choose not to care or think about anyone else’s feelings.

TinglingTangling · 19/09/2023 23:24

She doesn’t care OP and anything you think you can say to upset her will be nothing compared to what she will say back to you to hurt you even more.