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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:
Hawkins0009 · 21/09/2023 20:04

MorrisZapp · 21/09/2023 07:36

You sound completely unhinged. Why are women worth so much less than men in your world?

at a guess , seems its the ones that willing have an affair knowing the dh is cheating

SmileyClare · 21/09/2023 20:11

TinglingTangling · 21/09/2023 19:59

Say something like that and you better be prepared for something similar back…. Maybe even a picture or a video too.

Equally as bad would be her giving details of their emotional connection- screen shots of messages between them for example- possibly negative stuff he’s said about you.

SmileyClare · 21/09/2023 20:13

Hawkins0009 · 21/09/2023 20:04

at a guess , seems its the ones that willing have an affair knowing the dh is cheating

You’ve completely missed the point. Why is the woman described as a filthy piece of scum who doesn’t care, and not the man?

Jonti23 · 21/09/2023 20:34

If you communicate do so from an email and block, or create special one that you will never open again. Or a phone then change yr number. And block her. Don’t communicate more than once, 2 times plus can be classed as harassment. Also put in your letter that any attempt to contact you

will result in section 2 harassment as all communication from her to you is unwanted and she will be reported to the police. And if she does contact you do exactly that.

There is no misogyny in being realistic. She was not just after yr man, she was intent on destroying yr family.

As I said deal with him separately.

It’s ok to spoil her memories. I would but be smart about it. Don’t let on that u r hurt. Just how full yr relationship was during this time. It’s not a pick up dance. It’s literally keeping trash away from yr child. Do u fancy her in yr kids life? Yuck, a low life like that, no way. Look after yr family first and foremost. Don’t let immature actions of yr partner alter yr plans and what you wish for yr child. Be strong. You are not a victim unless u allow yourself to be one. Enjoy your child and your life.

Hawkins0009 · 21/09/2023 21:25

SmileyClare · 21/09/2023 20:13

You’ve completely missed the point. Why is the woman described as a filthy piece of scum who doesn’t care, and not the man?

in that case i did miss the point, my apologies

BreakTheChain · 21/09/2023 22:37

Why waste energy on her? You will never know what she is thinking so you will never be satisfied it had the desired effect. Your husband needs to get to the root cause of why he had an affair and deal with it. You need to allow yourself to work through the grief cycle and heal. This does not include "getting into the ow head." The best response is no response.

When I was cheated on the ow contacted me and laid on the sob story of her life. I am still so proud of my response which was to tell her that her background was irrelevant to me and to save her breath. I then stone walled and ended up with a lot of attempted contacts from her. I know it drove her nuts not getting a rise from me and I am in a place where I genuinely don't care how she felt or what she is up to. I know she exists but I don't have any space for her in my life. Therapy helped me get to this point and the Surviving Infedility forum made me feel less alone on my grief as I worked through it

MidnightMeltdown · 22/09/2023 00:06

Don't do it OP. It won't have the desired effect. It will just make you look bitter and jealous. In this case, silence is dignity.

GKD · 22/09/2023 00:33

@Kingofx thing is it couldn’t have happened if the DH hadn’t bought OW literally into their lives.
That OW didn’t give a shit, seems it was just sex to her hence the message. Grim.

But the effect on the wife was awful - imagine having that image burned in your mind, in your own bed and the caption? Urgh. I could never forgive my DH for that.

@Jonti23 I think it’s dangerous to assume OW will care about memories etc. Why would you give her insight to your life? Esp when it didn’t stop the DH from sleeping with someone else?

Jonti23 · 22/09/2023 05:50

OWs spend hours googling the wife hours and get very obsessed with it all. It’s no joke.

There is no harm against drawing a line between yr family unit and the outsider looking in. That’s what you want IF you do write. It’s not necessary to do so. A sweet but chilling one liner like that for men it’s always physical and you know she wanted more. Again if you write it does not have to be about how you really feel or what really happened. You may just wish to disturb her sense of reality and that’s fine if you are protecting yr family unit from pest invasion.

Jonti23 · 22/09/2023 05:52

It does not make you desperate.
But maybe you can just play it all through in yr mind and be satisfied instead.

Rockschooldropout · 22/09/2023 13:39

My ex’s OW actually contacted me and literally pleaded with me to “let him go and be happy “ giving me this whole star crossed lovers story … at that point I actually pitied her . That she was that desperate she had to have a relationship with someone’s husband … I calmly said “you’re welcome to him “ fast forward over ten years .. I feel sorry for her .. resigned to a life with someone she can never fully trust who actually only ended up with her because I ended our marriage and he had nowhere to live

Jonti23 · 22/09/2023 14:03

Not worth breaking up a family over trivial so called ‘love’. But hilarious to hear the OW plead, agree.

ClawedButler · 22/09/2023 14:52

You're imagining that she's as capable of hurting as you are.

AT BEST you'll look bitter. At worst, you could get a response that makes you feel a whole lot worse than you do already.

Your memories are YOUR memories. Not hers, and no-one can take them or spoil them unless you let them.

I'm so sorry this is happening to you, but I don't think this is salvageable. It's not a psychotic break, or a one-off, or any other scenario that could, possibly, be worked through with good therapy.

Remember this golden piece of MN wisdom: HE WASN'T SORRY WHEN YOU DIDN'T KNOW

Kingofx · 22/09/2023 15:14

Aside from other delightful characteristics, my exDHs OW was kind of hilarious.

  1. She believed they were in a "serious relationship", which was basically drunk sex for two months, no romance of any kind where he consistently said he didn't have feelings for her.
  1. When I asked her to stop harassing me and the kids, she said "I am suffering too! We were in a very serious relationship!" (No jokes)
  1. She complained to me that it was insensitive to her feelings for me to come to my own husbands office and hold hands with him and how dare I
  1. She downloaded lots of photos of me and my husband and emailed my DH to say her friends had analysed them and it was obvious to them we had "no love". (I remember asking who her fucking friends were...FBI profilers)
  1. Claimed to be pregnant. At 54. Which fine she might have been but considering no unprotected sex occurred (my ex husband didn't even have unprotected sex with ME) I highly doubt it. Miracle baby was lost in an imaginary miscarriage shortly after.

I mean she was just unhinged. I remember at one point being so desperate for her to just fuck off that I met up with her. She sobbed and outright told me that my exDH had

  1. Told her he didn't want to have sex with her and just wanted to be friends.
  1. Told her he loved me and didn't feel romantically towards her and wouldn't even if he was single
  1. Refused to even kiss her or have any physical contact outside of drunken sex

I don't know how she manifested this in her mind to be the great love of her life, but I think she just had major personal issues.

My exDH did too.

Most people Involved in infidelity are just seven shades of fucked up. Best to leave them to it!

Sunshineandflipflops · 22/09/2023 16:09

Kingofx · 21/09/2023 17:33

In the immediate, you might feel this urgent need to "win" or feel a sense of justice, so let me give you a picture 15 years out....

If they leave you for the OW, you don't win. They both got what they wanted and you get screwed.

If he stays and begs forgiveness and you try and move on from this, you get him, but you still don't "win". You get trauma you have to deal with, endless work, pain and one of the most awful experiences. Maybe if you do incredibly well, you end up with a better marriage but it's not "winning" because the cost is so high.

If you leave him with him begging and clinging to your legs, and he rejects OW and sits crying for years in his underpants while you go onto a joyful life with private jets and an amazing new husband, you still don't "win", because this happened and it will always hurt.

No one wins when someone cheats. Read that again, several times. You never "win". What you do is survive it.

In my story, he dropped OW very quickly and cried, begged, pleaded. And we endured OW harassing us while we were trying to work through things. Went on for months, made everyone ill. In the end we got the police involved and she finally got the message. Six weeks later she was "in love" with another married man.

Us?

I went through years of betrayal trauma, he got ill, the pain was engulfing and in the end we divorced after the three hardest years of my life.

He ended up sad, sick, alone and still misses us and regrets every day what he did.

She ended up (and this is not being mean it is being honest) about 25 stone, alcoholic, still alone once she ran out of married men to shag.

I got a new life and new husband, but I will never have "won". Seeing them suffer doesn't give me that, or take away the pain and losses. It was just something I had to survive.

What will make a difference to you in the long term will be what you did. You don't get to choose whether you have to deal with the cheating or not, sorry. Your agency over that was taken from you.

You do get to decide where you go from here.

I am very proud, looking back, that no matter what an abusive psycho cunt the OW was to me, that I kept my dignity and calm.

I am very proud that I was generally kind and classy about the whole thing, even though it killed me at the time.

What I regret was the desperation I felt for my husband to "pick" me as if a lying cheat was the prize. That doesn't mean I hate him because I don't. I love him and always will, but he did what he did and it was his value and not mine which were diminsished.

What makes you valuable right now is all your good characteristics, your self respect, your courage, being a Mum, being classy and not being the kind of woman who is trying to text someone else's partner with their baby there.

Try very hard to step back from what you are feeling and see that inherently makes you better than either of them.

I have worked for years in infidelity mentoring in support groups, and I absolutely promise you in almost every case this stuff happens because the two people involved are damaged, have weaknesses, flaws and fuck ups.

It doesn't happen because the affair partner is "better".

That is never the reason.

This really stuck a chord with me too, having also been cheated on.

The OW in my case didn't really 'win' anything. He dumped her too when the novelty wore off and (I suspect) started seeing his next gf while he was still with her, because all she gained was a cheat. She wasn't special, she was just the person who flattered his ego at the time.

My ex is now onto gf number 3, who is younger with a young child (our are teenagers now) so I feel bad for her that he will get bored of her at some point and her child will be collateral damage but that's not really my problem.

I met a lovely guy and we have been together 4 years and have just moved in together. I'm happy. I haven't 'won' as like the poster above said, I am changed by what happened and will be dealing with it in one way or another for the rest of my life. The OW didn't 'win' either. There are no winners.

Don't send the message. Write it out as it might help you process your feelings but don't send it. Seek some counselling and as well as help you work out your feelings, it might also help you find the strength and dignity to leave the crap 'prize' you have ended up with.

ClawedButler · 22/09/2023 16:25

I would say to write the letter/email, but don't send it.

It's important for you to get all your thoughts and feelings out as if you were going to send it, but actually sending it will cause you additional bother you can do without atm.

Have you got 2 email addresses? Maybe send it from one to the other. Or if it's a letter, put it in an envelope with no name or address (or a made up one) and no stamp, and actually post it. These give you the sense of having sent it, of releasing it, which you need.

Jonti23 · 22/09/2023 18:05

Do as u feel OP, remember to look after yr family even if yr DH did not. You can not be responsible for his deplorable actions at all.

But what is yr plan? Don’t alter it for anyone.

MN is full of wives with dignity that dump the guy, but tell u what there is no dignity in working yourself to death so u r able to afford rent and shuttling yr kid from one home to spend time with evil step mummy. Stay strong. Think of what Outcome u want. And to heck with shitty OP, common tart, hubby common shithead, you do you and you will be happy again that’s for sure. Don’t muck up yr life just because someone’s temporarily shat on it.

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