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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

Am I the ow here to my ex husband?

75 replies

therussiandolly · 28/01/2024 19:20

Long story short our marriage broke down a little over a year ago.
Ex H decided to leave so we could have some space. He ended up sleeping with another woman during the time we separated but was trying to fix things with me as well until he admitted he'd been seeing someone else and she wanted something more serious with him. Obviously I was furious and hurt and asked him to leave after his admission but he wanted to come home.
He ended up getting into the something serious with her a few days later despite her knowing he had asked me back and that we had been working on things while she was sleeping with him.

They've been together ever since. Recently ex h told me he misses me and thinks about me a lot and I have also found myself thinking about him and missing him. For the last 4 months he regularly video calls late at night, we chat and sometimes reminisce about things. I have to admit it's left me even more heartbroken because it's made me fall for him all over again. But I don't see this going anywhere because its been 4 months and while he's saying all these things and keeping in regular contact he doesn't actually ask me if he can come back or can we make this work.

The conversation is that he wishes things didn't go how they did, he hasn't given up on hope for me and him rekindling our marriage, but he's created something complicated and can't leave what he's created with his gf now. Keeps saying it's going to kill him if he sees me move on and how he regrets ever leaving in the first place.
He has definitely reeled me in again and now I've found myself wanting us to get back together. He's knows that because I told him, he says he wants the same and can't escape thinking about me but there's no effort from him to try and come back. He's continuing on with the gf and then treating me a bit like the ow.
Why is he doing this? If he regrets leaving as he says then why not come home when he knows from my end I'd likely welcome him back.
I'm not sure what to make of it all. He's also been going through a bit of a crap time with his family and I've been listening to him and giving him advice/support, he's not in a good head space but I've been helping him out however I can by listening and letting him vent. When I say to him why don't you just come home he says incase we fall back into old ways and become distant again and how he is afraid of feeling how he did before he left me. Says that's what is holding him back from coming running my direction but I'm not sure if it's just an excuse.
I obviously can't compare to the new gf she's beautiful, successful and he has been welcomed in by her family so I think he's actually afraid to leave one thing for another incase one goes sour and he fucks up the other connection.
It's hurtful as we are married 15 years and he knows I would rekindle our marriage again, I miss him a lot, I've been so lonely. I feel like I'm being breadcrumbed and turned into the "ow" when I'm actually married to him.
I'm not sure why he declares all these things to me and then when I offer him a place back in his home he has an excuse about being afraid I will hurt him or let him down again.
I do enjoy speaking to him but I realise it's getting to the stage I'm getting really upset because I'm invested in putting our marriage together again but from the sounds of it he's going to continue on in the other relationship but still wants to keep a connection with me as he says "because we don't know what the future holds and I still love you and you are on my mind every single day"
If that's true and the person you're saying it to is saying OK let's give this a go, would you not jump at that chance if it's what you actually wanted?
So am I just getting used here??
Or what do I need to do for him to make his bloody mind up?? I did do no contact at the start with him but since that has been broke and I've got to the point I love hearing from him I'm afraid to go no contact again as I would like to save my marriage and stupidly feel if I go no contact again he'll see it as I'm pushing him away.

please don't be harsh with me I do realise I'm probably a massive mug here but if I could rekindle with him, I would. I'm just unsure if I'm being breadcrumbed or if he does genuinely feel this way but honestly afraid of things going bad between us. I feel like he will drag this out for more months and I'll never get over him because I'm hooked on hoping he'll come back

OP posts:
FeralNun · 28/01/2024 19:23

I know it hurts massively, but the only answer is to bin him off. Permanently. That way, you’ll be healed in a year.
Or you can carry on with a half arsed relationship with an arsehole and waste your life.
I know that hurts.

hopscotcher · 28/01/2024 19:24

I think if his new gf thinks he's in a serious, monogamous relationship with her, then she's being cheated on - it's not very fair on her.

Also, this bit makes him sound manipulative, as if he wants the best of both worlds but wants YOU to be available for him.

The conversation is that he wishes things didn't go how they did, he hasn't given up on hope for me and him rekindling our marriage, but he's created something complicated and can't leave what he's created with his gf now. Keeps saying it's going to kill him if he sees me move on and how he regrets ever leaving in the first place

IncompleteSenten · 28/01/2024 19:27

Yes. You are the other woman.

It's not complicated at all. He wants to be with her and still get the ego boost of knowing he went balls deep in another woman and you still want him.

Unless she has him chained to a radiator he could leave her, same as he left you. I'm sure he told her it was complicated until she made him choose. And when she did - he chose her to be his main sucker (not in that way) . He decided she was of more use to him than you are so now you've been demoted to side piece ego booster.

I don't even know you but I know you deserve better. Don't you?

therussiandolly · 28/01/2024 19:28

@hopscotcher no I agree with you, even though nothing has happened between us I do think to myself am I the ow here and it doesn't sit comfortably with me at all.
That's why I said come back and let's do this that he has to make a choice. I don't want to be considered or think of myself as the ow but I do love him, I do want my relationship back with him but not by being a piece on the side or doing it behind her back.

OP posts:
BoohooWoohoo · 28/01/2024 19:28

You are his plan B. He knows you well enough to know your weaknesses so knows which buttons to press to keep you keen where as his gf is new and he doesn’t know how she might react. Having you say positive things about him is a great ego boost and if things go wrong he wants you available.

He is treating you like a mug. Have some self respect and block his number. You aren’t going to be able to move on as long as he is able to play games with you.

Starseeking · 28/01/2024 19:29

Your EXDH is absolutely loving this; living with one woman whose family have welcomed him with open arms, while having his actual wife lining down the phone for him.

He wants to have his cake and eat it, and is stringing you along.

Don't engage in his pick me behaviour.

The best thing you could do for yourself, your self-esteem, your sanity and your well-being is to cut him off completely, and start initiating divorce proceedings.

therussiandolly · 28/01/2024 19:29

IncompleteSenten · 28/01/2024 19:27

Yes. You are the other woman.

It's not complicated at all. He wants to be with her and still get the ego boost of knowing he went balls deep in another woman and you still want him.

Unless she has him chained to a radiator he could leave her, same as he left you. I'm sure he told her it was complicated until she made him choose. And when she did - he chose her to be his main sucker (not in that way) . He decided she was of more use to him than you are so now you've been demoted to side piece ego booster.

I don't even know you but I know you deserve better. Don't you?

Thankyou for this. I'm not trying to be the ow at all. I believed what I was being told by a man I still love just

OP posts:
Mytopia · 28/01/2024 19:30

He wants to have both of you, have his cake and eat it.

Tell him either to leave her and try again at the marriage, or bin him off.

therussiandolly · 28/01/2024 19:31

I've only just started this and the feeling I had about I'm a mug seems to be right.
I'm just getting used then 😔

OP posts:
ColdButSunny · 28/01/2024 19:32

He's deceiving her and he's keeping you as a fall back option. Not exactly a great guy, is he? You need to rip off the band aid OP. Give him one last chance to come back if you really want to. But if he says no you need to stop speaking to him.

therussiandolly · 28/01/2024 19:36

Why is he bothering to do this to me if he's so bloody happy.
Why tell me he loves me still, dreams of coming home but he's just so full of fear
Why bother roping me like this at all if he's happy in another relationship, I just don't understand men at all and agree it's not fair on the gf either

OP posts:
Barbarella73 · 28/01/2024 19:39

Stop trying to understand why he’s doing this - it doesn’t change anything. All it’s doing is keeping you stuck. Look at what he is doing to you. Focus on your own feelings and needs. Are these crumbs enough for you? Do you just want to be a backup if things don’t work out with his girlfriend? Can you imagine ever feeling ‘safe’ with him?

Put yourself first. God knows, he certainly won’t.

Mytopia · 28/01/2024 19:40

He's doing it because he can, he may even be nudging the gf to be 'jealous' and telling her you want him back. It keeps both of you wanting him and he can do as he pleases.

CoffeeBeansGalore · 28/01/2024 19:44

You are being kept on the backburner as an ego boost and in case the new gf sees through him.
You are his comfortable slippers. He knows what to say to keep you hanging.
You need to see through him.
Would you treat someone you love this way?

ColdButSunny · 28/01/2024 19:45

He's doing it because it's working well for him. He's getting support from you, sex from her, attention from both of you.

IncompleteSenten · 28/01/2024 19:45

He's doing it because he can.

Because it feels great to know you want him back even after he treated you with utter contempt.

But mainly because he thinks he'll be able to fuck you on the side and keep the benefits of being with her.

Notalldogs23 · 28/01/2024 19:47

If he loved you he wouldn't treat you like this, he's making you very unhappy, because he can. People don't do this to people they love. It's an ego trip for him, and he has you as a back up in case it doesn't work out with the current girlfriend.

You're the one who's hurting here, you need to pull off the plaster, properly dump him, and leave her to this Prince among men.

MILLYmo0se · 28/01/2024 19:49

He is doing it because he can, simple as that. And yes he can be perfectly happy with her while still enjoying the ego boost of knowing there's another woman who will ask 'how high? ' when he says 'jump'
He is having a fabulous time, you not so much

BeckiWithAnI · 28/01/2024 19:51

he hasn't given up on hope for me and him rekindling our marriage, but he's created something complicated and can't leave what he's created with his gf now

This is without doubt the biggest crock of BS I’ve ever heard!!! He’s been with his gf two seconds (one, if you count the proportion of that time he’s been degrading you as his side piece whilst with her). What can possibly be so “complicated”? Surely the only thing that can be complicated enough to stay with her rather than the person he claims to want to be with is if she’s pregnant.
If that’s the case do you want to be with him if he has a baby with someone else?
Really, OP. You say you love him but love alone is not enough. Love yourself more than this. You deserve better.

EliflurtleAndTheInfiniteMadness · 28/01/2024 19:51

therussiandolly · 28/01/2024 19:36

Why is he bothering to do this to me if he's so bloody happy.
Why tell me he loves me still, dreams of coming home but he's just so full of fear
Why bother roping me like this at all if he's happy in another relationship, I just don't understand men at all and agree it's not fair on the gf either

Because he isn't the good person you think he is. I know how hard that is to accept that you love someone who's a selfish arsehole, but that's who he is. Ideally he wants to keep you on side as an ego boost and back-up plan. He doesn't care that he's using and hurting you, if he did he'd stop doing it. He's not wracked with guilt and struggling to choose, he's getting an ego boost and enjoying the fact that he's left you and hurt you and you're still stuck and wanting him back. He's not a good person or he wouldn't be doing this to both you and his GF. Block him, walk away and get some space to think clearly. In a year you could be free of him and feeling relieved he's no longer hurting you or you could still be here wondering why he won't commit and feeling increasingly worthless because the person you love is treating you like crap. Its harder right now to walk away, but in the long run it will be a better easier hsppier life.

Lollypop701 · 28/01/2024 19:54

why wouldn’t he… you are letting him. You are his ego boost… he left you and he’s encouraging you to want him back…but has he actually changed from what he was which caused the split ? Why would he have ? He left to go to another woman and is in the first flush of lust, meanwhile he has you to lean on for any emotional angst plus the ego boost of you wanting him back.

fuck that!

take back control… if you want to, tell him in or out by next weekend and if it’s in you need marriage counselling to resolve what made the split happen in the first place.

Personally I think I’d record some incriminating conversations, text him and her at same time with the recording and say that actually you don’t want him and she’s welcome to him… but you thought she might want to know (maybe don’t send really, but having the recording would be good….)

DaffodilsAlready · 28/01/2024 19:55

It’s a form of manipulation and control, isn’t it? Because for as long as he does this, whilst also getting his ego stroked by what you say, you are not moving on and getting over the break-up. So he knows where you are, what you are doing and that he is still your romantic priority.
If he wanted to come back, he would. If he was concerned about the same thing happening again, in terms of the marriage ending, he would ask for marriage counselling so you could both understand what had happened and take things forward together. But what he is doing is taking your time and emotional investment, stopping you moving on, and laying the guilt in you about even potentially moving on. Fuck that for a game of soldiers, as they say.

I don’t think you are the OW because of course you are his wife. But your husband is to all intents and purposes having an affair and giving the impression he is a free man, whilst not instigating divorce and keeping his foot under the table with you, so to speak. Either he needs to come back and act like a husband, or you need to consider yourself separated and take steps to formalise that.

Hiwhoeveryyouare · 28/01/2024 19:58

The situation isn't about whether you are the OW but the fact he is a cheater.
Please don't let this man continue to screw up 2 women's lives.
If you even consider getting back with him you will never feel cherished again because you know exactly what he will do the minute he gets an "out" and will be walking on eggshells. He's manipulating both of you to have his cake and eat it. Bet he thinks he is something really special having both of you running around trying to "keep" him. Yuck.

DaffodilsAlready · 28/01/2024 19:59

BeckiWithAnI · 28/01/2024 19:51

he hasn't given up on hope for me and him rekindling our marriage, but he's created something complicated and can't leave what he's created with his gf now

This is without doubt the biggest crock of BS I’ve ever heard!!! He’s been with his gf two seconds (one, if you count the proportion of that time he’s been degrading you as his side piece whilst with her). What can possibly be so “complicated”? Surely the only thing that can be complicated enough to stay with her rather than the person he claims to want to be with is if she’s pregnant.
If that’s the case do you want to be with him if he has a baby with someone else?
Really, OP. You say you love him but love alone is not enough. Love yourself more than this. You deserve better.

Actually, you say that, but this is what happened with DD’s dad, who went off with another woman. One time he was over and we were out for a walk with DD (who was still a baby) and we had a hug and he was in tears. I asked if he wanted to come back but he said he couldn’t. I found out they had had a baby about two years later. So yes 🤷🏻‍♀️ who knows?