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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 and her relationship

10 replies

mumoftwoboys321 · 21/03/2025 12:46

After some advice I went for coffee with a friend today and she’s told me that her partner of 18 years secretly messages other women he’s done it on and off throughout their relationship usually just flirty stuff but nothing else each time she’s found out she’s told him it’s not acceptable and if it happens again she’ll leave obviously she hasn’t and she thought he’d stopped (she’d never said anything to be before came as a shock) so fast forward to this year and she says she been feeling anxious about things I probe her on what and she said he’s gone out 6-7 times since January which I didn’t think was a lot and she went to put a valentines card in his rucksack so he could have it as he goes to work early and she found a valentines card with a photo of him and another woman she had it out with him and he’s claimed it was nothing she sent him a card because he’d been nice and understanding something her husband hasn’t been in a long time (the partner messages this woman and her husband they all met on holiday a couple of years ago) so to not make this to long my poor friend burst into tears and said that the card had been sent to his work address and that two weeks ago she found a parcel in his rucksack which had a couple of pairs of knickers in doused in a perfume. I was completely shocked by all of this and I’ve told her I don’t think he’s as innocent as he claims to be she has told him she’s done with his lies but she hasn’t told him about the other things she’s found she knows he’ll come up with some story and I know she’ll brush it under the carpet she loves him and I believe she is waiting for him to change, I don’t know how to get through to her and I hate to see her so upset and convinced that she must of done something to deserve this or make him do it

OP posts:
Idontjetwashthefucker · 21/03/2025 13:20

Best thing 'your friend' can do is to dump this loser, 'she' can do better

Girlmom35 · 21/03/2025 13:33

You can't make your friend understand something she's not ready or willing to understand.
Just be there for her as much as you can. Be gentle, but also keep pointing out that his behaviour is not acceptable.
Sometimes it's a matter of planting a seed in her head and giving it time to grow.

mumoftwoboys321 · 21/03/2025 13:41

It’s so frustrating she can be so good at giving advice and yet she’s been allowing this to go on for so long we only meet up once a month or once every two as don’t live close by just hate the thought of what she must be going through, why do people think it’s ok to behave in such a way surly if he’s that interested in other women just leave

OP posts:
EvenMoreFuriousVexation · 21/03/2025 13:50

mumoftwoboys321 · 21/03/2025 13:41

It’s so frustrating she can be so good at giving advice and yet she’s been allowing this to go on for so long we only meet up once a month or once every two as don’t live close by just hate the thought of what she must be going through, why do people think it’s ok to behave in such a way surly if he’s that interested in other women just leave

Why would he leave? He's got it all at the moment. Sex on tap with your friend, the financial and practical benefits of a relationship, sex with as many other women as he can manage, and all he has to do when he gets caught is make up some laughably transparent bullshit.

So if I was speaking to your friend, me being a blunt cow would probably say
"it's very clear that he's not ever going to be monogamous and has no intention of changing. So you either accept him as he is and ignore the fact that he's playing away, and just make sure you're using condoms with him and anybody else you decide to play away with. Or you leave. You can only control your own actions, not his."

mumoftwoboys321 · 21/03/2025 14:17

Suppose he wouldn’t think I just hold people to a standard and didn’t realise so many fall so short of that, just going to try and be there for her and hope that she realises she is worth so much more than how she’s being treated

OP posts:
SCWS · 28/03/2025 14:51

Idontjetwashthefucker · 21/03/2025 13:20

Best thing 'your friend' can do is to dump this loser, 'she' can do better

This thread is definitely not about the “friend”. OP has posted many threads about her wayward partner.

noidea69 · 28/03/2025 14:53

Your friend should dump him , but she clearly isnt going to, so not much you can do.

AnonAnonmystery · 28/03/2025 15:17

SCWS · 28/03/2025 14:51

This thread is definitely not about the “friend”. OP has posted many threads about her wayward partner.

Yes she started a thread today about catching her in partner cheat but it’s a bit bizarre comparing this thread to the current one

Idontjetwashthefucker · 28/03/2025 15:50

SCWS · 28/03/2025 14:51

This thread is definitely not about the “friend”. OP has posted many threads about her wayward partner.

I know, sadly

ThisUniqueDreamer · 28/03/2025 20:30

If this is about your friend then respect her decision.

My best friend has a partner and he cheated on her very early on in their relationship. He messages other women at the time as well. She doesn't fully trust him now, as he keeps liking women's pictures on instagram and she is not sure who these women are.

I listen and I sympathize, but it's her relationship, not mine, and if she doesn't want to leave them, that's her choice.

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