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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

Handhold please - feeling sick

286 replies

handholdplease9 · 09/08/2025 16:30

New username but long-term poster. I feel so sick and Ill probably ramble and not make sense but here it goes.
I just got married 3 weeks ago to who I thought was the man of my dreams but I just found out that he is on a BDSM website posting photos of him chained up and the most graphic photos of himself. He has been having conversations with guys/girls about what they'd do to each other sexually and how he is into pain.
This is coming from the guy who has a hard time getting an erection (now thinking it must be me), only wanting sex a couple of times a week and even then it's missionary. I don't think he's met these people, but really how much do I know?
I have a 12 y/o DD who absolutely adores the ground he walks on, she hasn't known him all her life as he was a close family friend.
What do I do? I know what I'd be advising if this was the other way around but honestly he's the absolute love of my life and I'm completely broken.
Please be kind, iv been throwing up most of the afternoon.

Thank you

OP posts:
kittensinthekitchen · 09/08/2025 23:02

So many fucking weirdos on this thread trying to convince a woman to stay in a marriage she no longer wants to be in.

Stop trying to make excuses for men's behaviour.

TwistedWonder · 09/08/2025 23:07

kittensinthekitchen · 09/08/2025 23:02

So many fucking weirdos on this thread trying to convince a woman to stay in a marriage she no longer wants to be in.

Stop trying to make excuses for men's behaviour.

Agree. Can’t believe that she’s being shamed for not wanting to continue in a marriage with a man who has hidden a huge part of himself from her. And they think she should allow herself to be coerced into sexual acts she’s not into otherwise she’s ‘boring’ and ‘vanilla’

Just disgusting apologists.

Imbusytodaysorry · 09/08/2025 23:13

@handholdplease9 I think you are doing the right thing. He is only sorry he got caught and still can’t tell the truth .
It very much explains his lack of erection.
Remember this is him not you .

I’d steam ahead with an annulment and give him a weeks notice any longer you may start to soften.

CunningLinguist2 · 09/08/2025 23:14

handholdplease9 · 09/08/2025 16:30

New username but long-term poster. I feel so sick and Ill probably ramble and not make sense but here it goes.
I just got married 3 weeks ago to who I thought was the man of my dreams but I just found out that he is on a BDSM website posting photos of him chained up and the most graphic photos of himself. He has been having conversations with guys/girls about what they'd do to each other sexually and how he is into pain.
This is coming from the guy who has a hard time getting an erection (now thinking it must be me), only wanting sex a couple of times a week and even then it's missionary. I don't think he's met these people, but really how much do I know?
I have a 12 y/o DD who absolutely adores the ground he walks on, she hasn't known him all her life as he was a close family friend.
What do I do? I know what I'd be advising if this was the other way around but honestly he's the absolute love of my life and I'm completely broken.
Please be kind, iv been throwing up most of the afternoon.

Thank you

It’s a kink - and not something to do with you.just how he’s “knitted” It’s a little sad he hasn’t shared the info with you, especially as you just got married, so that he could explain etc.
It doesn’t make him “unsafe” etc but is a release for him of his preferences under certain circumstances at a guess?
Could you talk to him about it?
he’s still the same man you love and married. This is just added info and a side to him he could t for whatever reason share with you.
how did you find out though?

boringingoring · 09/08/2025 23:16

MiffyPurple · 09/08/2025 21:53

It wouldn't be 'frowned upon' if you used a work system. It would be dismissal. I am a union rep for the police.

I might be reading it wrong, but I took OP as meaning that since she didn't access or use any police systems, her actions might be "frowned upon" but wouldn't be grounds for disciplinary action.

Booboobagins · 09/08/2025 23:16

@handholdplease9 Hope you're feeling less sick now. What a shock for you.

please take legal advice. If you can annul the marriage that would be best because its not going to last anyway is it? You will need to tell your DC - dont lie but dont go into full details. You could say he is cheating on you and that's not fair on you.

Good luck whatever you decide.

Gather your friends and family to help you through it xxx

pinkstripeycat · 09/08/2025 23:18

handholdplease9 · 09/08/2025 18:16

I know it wasn't one of my finer moments but I didn't use any of our systems or at work. It would be more frowned upon and hopefully won't be brought up. He didn't even ask how I got into it.

No because you’d be sacked!

pikkumyy77 · 09/08/2025 23:19

CunningLinguist2 · 09/08/2025 23:14

It’s a kink - and not something to do with you.just how he’s “knitted” It’s a little sad he hasn’t shared the info with you, especially as you just got married, so that he could explain etc.
It doesn’t make him “unsafe” etc but is a release for him of his preferences under certain circumstances at a guess?
Could you talk to him about it?
he’s still the same man you love and married. This is just added info and a side to him he could t for whatever reason share with you.
how did you find out though?

Ugh. Just because a language of diminishment exists (a kink) doesn’t mean a person’s ineradicable desire for humiliation and injury as a sexual fetish is other than pathological. She does not have to accept it as a charming idiosyncrasy.

SilverpetalShine · 09/08/2025 23:22

AnnoyedAsAllHeck · 09/08/2025 22:03

Because I have read ALL the OP's posts. Give it a try! FFS!

I've read all she's posted, the main concern seems to be one of lying and dishonesty and shock. The picture was uploaded fifteen years ago. He's made posts, she says since but he says its not him and someone has hacked his account. She says she's hacked his account. Did you read that bit? He posted this fifteen years ago when struggling with a mental health condition and self harming thoughts. The inserted hacked phrases are more recent, I wonder how more recent? Do you think they might coincide with when she hacked the account? Or someone else? Who knows...who knows. The chronology is off, the truth seems to be off, maybe for both of them. Which complicates everything.

CunningLinguist2 · 09/08/2025 23:24

pikkumyy77 · 09/08/2025 23:19

Ugh. Just because a language of diminishment exists (a kink) doesn’t mean a person’s ineradicable desire for humiliation and injury as a sexual fetish is other than pathological. She does not have to accept it as a charming idiosyncrasy.

Never said she did.
But still just a bloody (NPI) kink that he could & should have mentioned. Not the end of the world (he’s not asking her to participate or join or condone).

CunningLinguist2 · 09/08/2025 23:26

CunningLinguist2 · 09/08/2025 23:24

Never said she did.
But still just a bloody (NPI) kink that he could & should have mentioned. Not the end of the world (he’s not asking her to participate or join or condone).

Also keen to know where I said it was a “charming idiosyncrasy”?? But hey, pop words in my mouth to feed your pearl clutching outrage :)

MarxistMags · 09/08/2025 23:38

I can't help, but wishing you all the best for Monday and going forward.

MsDDxx · 09/08/2025 23:42

TwistedWonder · 09/08/2025 20:04

That poster is a man who is very fond of scolding women and lecturing us how we should just tolerate men’s behaviour and shut up like dutiful handmaidens.

Edited

Yep, I see this from him on almost every thread he posts on.

He also seems to think it’s normal for a man to have no sex drive in their 30s. I think his frustration at the lack of drive is the cause of all his bitterness towards women.

TwistedWonder · 09/08/2025 23:52

MsDDxx · 09/08/2025 23:42

Yep, I see this from him on almost every thread he posts on.

He also seems to think it’s normal for a man to have no sex drive in their 30s. I think his frustration at the lack of drive is the cause of all his bitterness towards women.

I recall him saying the only criteria a woman should have for dating is that the man is a nice person and anything else is being ‘too fussy’ - I mean how dare a woman have standards and preferences!

Carzycat · 10/08/2025 00:36

Stay strong. I discovered similar after 25+ years marriage. I didn’t get to see what had been posted as he quickly deleted the account when I knew of its existence, despite promising to share the password when he got home. I never thought he’d be capable of telling the lies he did, but he was. Anything to protect the image he’d built up of an all round good guy. Sickening.

twilightermummy · 10/08/2025 01:03

I found out 5 months pregnant that my ex was on gay dating sites. I let him gaslight me. I stayed. Had another child. 7 years later found a phone in a cereal box full of the same stuff. Please don't do what I did. I wasted so many years. All of those years were full of suspicion and paranoia. I went down so many rabbit holes trying to discover this and that.
Don't try and understand it, don't try and create narratives to exonerate him and don't waste your life. He's not the man you thought you knew. It's like a grief and I'm sorry x

PlayingDevilsAdvocateisinteresting · 10/08/2025 04:45

@handholdplease9 I am so very sorry OP, and I understand your revulsion completely, but you are also in total shock at the moment, and until you know for absolute certain, when you are no longer in such a state of shock, could you put off making such a final decision for a while? Obviously you can't live normally with him in the meantime, is there anyone else that he could stay with for a while - a good friend of his, or a sibling maybe?

I understand your very kind reason for not wanting to upset his Mum, you are obviously a lovely person, and as others have said, none of his issues are your fault.

I will probably have every other Mumsnetter on here shouting at me and being rude, but I am only trying to make sure that you don't do now, what it is possible you could regret for years. I have to admit that although I have not got any sexual deviant desires myself, I have no problem with other people behaving in any sexual way they want as long as their behaviour is both legal, and consensual if it involves other participants. Therefore, I would not be suffering in the same way as you are - even though your reaction is entirely normal and understandable in the circumstances, whereas mine probably isn't! What I would be upset about, is him not telling me the truth about his past behaviour and his depression - I think that at least the depression part of his explanation probably is true, and he would have been very scared of losing you if he admitted it to you, especially if his past behaviour is no longer relevant in his life.

If this was my situation I would tell him that if there were to be any chance for our relationship surviving this massive shock, I would need to know everything, including the truth about what appears to be quite recent additions to this site, and if he admitted it was him, why did he still feel the need to be a part of it, now that he had your love and devotion? If we were to have a future, I think that he would need to see a counsellor who specialised in this sort of sexual behaviour, and when he had gained some sort of understanding from that, he would need to be willing to go to joint partner counselling with you, and to accept that after all of that, if you were still sickened and repulsed by him, he must let you go without making your life any harder.

I also think that if it was me in this situation, I would try in the meantime, to find if there were any sites for the partners of people who indulge in those sort of fantasy behaviours, and whether, and if so, how they came to terms with it, and whether their partner had completely stopped being on those sort of sites now, and if not, why were they still in a loving and sexual relationship with them? One last thing that I feel a need to add, is to ask you to remember that your (dear) husband is not only what you discovered about him yesterday, but also - most likely - all the other things that you do/did love about him, except that you believed him to be totally honest/open with you. Of course, and unfortunately, many of us have something in our past that we keep to ourselves, maybe something that we now feel embarrassed about, or regret, etc. Being a couple does not mean having to share everything with our loved one.

If your whole mind and heart have been rejecting everything I have said here, then you probably do already have your answer to what happens next... I wish you and your DD the very best of luck, and that the rest of your life is full of contentment and love xx

sameshizz · 10/08/2025 06:52

kittensinthekitchen · 09/08/2025 23:02

So many fucking weirdos on this thread trying to convince a woman to stay in a marriage she no longer wants to be in.

Stop trying to make excuses for men's behaviour.

And they’re also neglecting to acknowledge that he has involved others in this behaviour since he has been with the op which many of us would consider cheating .

DonkeylovesWaffles · 10/08/2025 07:41

kittensinthekitchen · 09/08/2025 23:02

So many fucking weirdos on this thread trying to convince a woman to stay in a marriage she no longer wants to be in.

Stop trying to make excuses for men's behaviour.

It makes my skin crawl @kittensinthekitchen
And I can be a bit kinky, but not BDSM or bi or cheating ...

I really am sorry, OP. You and your DD are worth so much more than this, worth more than having an absolute seedy specimen like this in your initimate lives. There is a beautiful life for you both after this creep and his deceit.

Squishymallows · 10/08/2025 08:16

Heyitsmeyeh · 09/08/2025 22:50

I’m sorry you’re so upset by this but I don’t understand.
he’s hidden it from you which is awful but which part exactly are you so upset by? The lack of honesty? The kink? That he has messaged men?
As someone who has been on the verge of leaving her husband this month, started to make it happen and realised how major it is, just take a breath. Get some counselling together. Talk it through. The sex you have sounds dull (mines the same) so maybe this will work out well for you to spice things up a bit. Sex can be a huge part of your life or not part of it at all. There’s so much to be discussed here, everyone on MN just says leave the whole time but life is more complex than that

Wtf

Rasell · 10/08/2025 08:24

Wouldn't asking him to suppress his desires be unfair and, realistically, impossible? His urges are his urges and he'd have to give in eventually - which he'd be ashamed of and lie about; or he'd have to live a lie and would resent her. He doesn't spund like a bad man, he also needs to live his life to the fullest and not pretend to be someone he isn't. No-one needs to tell their partner every minor detail, and I can understand being ashamed of something in your past that's over and not wanting to change your new partner's opinion of you; but he was a family friend for ages and he's still messaging people every few months when the urge is overwhelming. The trust is gone, the opinion has changed and the issue isn't going away. And did you just stumble across this, OP...would there be a possibility of your daughter accidentally finding them?

WalkingaroundJardine · 10/08/2025 08:33

You are doing the right thing getting legal advice on Monday OP. In the same shoes, I’d be very concerned for my DD, as trying to manage people with sexual addictions is very difficult, especially those who are secretive and dishonest. Someone close to me tried to be a good wife to a sex addict but her kids got exposed with long lasting consequences.

Ramallamading · 10/08/2025 08:45

The biggest issue is the lack of honesty. A lot of people being squeamish and sometimes downright uneducated about kink and BDSM, but the BIGGEST thing is that he kept this from her. He's already done those things, he can't undo them. You can't build on a foundation of lies, whatever the lies are about.

DonkeylovesWaffles · 10/08/2025 09:11

I couldn't be with a man like the OP's H.

*Not being able to get or sustain an erection.

*Blatant lying when caught out.

*Refusal to even be respectful enough to leave her home.

*Cheating on OP right after their honeymoon, most likely with both men and women, BDSM or not.

*Has significant, disturbing mental health/illness(?) - self-harm, secret, active fetishes, etc

Am I missing something here?

slightlydistrac · 10/08/2025 11:13

Rosscameasdoody · 09/08/2025 19:33

She’s only been married three weeks and it looks as though she may have a case for not giving proper consent, given that he kept all of this from her. And what you’re entitled to depends on how long you were married. If OP is using her house as the marital home, then she needs to act fast. Three weeks won’t give him much if anything, but the longer this goes on, he’ll have a claim.

Agreed. Just wanted to give the OP the heads up.

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