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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

Me (33M) and my wife (29F) are have Roommate Issues leading to Relationship Issues

15 replies

Bradh9110 · 04/11/2025 11:45

Some background context for this story. We currently live in a home with three other roommates in which we are the home owners. One of our tenants has a boyfriend who occasionally sleeps over and is known to have night terrors and sleep walking. This was never really a problem and he had really only stood up out of bed before to our knowledge. This was until a night a few weeks ago.

My wife's sister was throwing a house warming party and was inviting some guests from out of town. We offered to host two of her female friends in our guest room. Everyone in our household and her friends went to the party and all returned to our house for the evening. Sometime during the night, our roommate's boyfriend got out of bed sleep walking and ended up walking into the guest room where the two girls were sleeping. Being half conscious he attempted to crawl into bed thinking he was in our roommates (his girlfriends room) in which he ends up touching one of the girls legs and they wake up and scream him out of the room. He has our roommate try and knock and apologize, but the guests had already left to go rent a hotel room.

Starting the next morning we hear about the situation. Our roommate apologizes to us letting us know what happened. Her boyfriend has a history with sleep-walking and hasn't ever been creepy around women, so we feel confident he wasn't intentionally doing it. Still we tell him he isn't allowed to sleep over anymore and we will figure out the next steps as we process through it. After mulling it over for a few days, my wife tells me she is not going to be comfortable seeing him ever again. I like our current roommate, but my wife's comfort is more important so we talk with our roommate about her moving out.

Our roommate doesn't take the news well and ultimately ends up mad at us, but proceeds to start moving out. She tells us her boyfriend is going to assist her with the move out process, but won't be spending the night. My wife is mad about this as she doesn't want him around at any point. I think it is better just to have him help so she is out faster. This ultimately leads to my wife and I having a discussion on how I would have handled the situation if I wasn't letting her lead. I tell her I don't think our roommates boyfriend was intentional with this, but he did mess up pretty bad. So I told her I would be okay with him not spending the night and only coming over if he took steps to earn forgiveness.

My wife is very upset that I feel this way. What he did by touching them was sexual assault and he should be gone forever because of this. I tell her if she feels that way I support her in it, but I am not a female so I don't pretend to know what she would expect the consequences for him to be or if she would ever be okay with him being around. She was still not content with this answer and said I should have never been okay with him being around under any circumstance and doesn't know how she can feel safe with me if I don't realize this.

Should I have ever considered giving our roommates boyfriend a second chance? Or is my wife right that even though it wasn't intentional what he did was so bad we should have cut him out completely?

I appreciate all the feedback!

OP posts:
Hoppinggreen · 04/11/2025 11:52

Well he didn't sexually assault a man while "sleepwalking" did he?
Funny that

Girlmom35 · 04/11/2025 12:10

Honestly, I don't see a problem with the way you handled it.
You may not have personally needed to have drastic measures taken, but as soon as your wife told you she needed these measures to feel safe, you put them in place.
You didn't question it, you didn't minimise her feelings and boundaries.
She wanted the boyfriend out, even if that meant the roommate needed to leave. And that's what happened.

I'd ask her what she needs from you.
Does she need to you agree with everything she feels, even though it's not your lived experience and as a man you can't relate to these things, or does she need you to hear her, validate her and respect her wishes? You seemed to have done just that.

I personally don't need my husband to feel unsafe whenever I feel unsafe. He can't truly understand what it's like to be a woman and be constantly under threat. What I do expect from him is that when I point out something that makes me feel unsafe, he believes me instantly, doesn't minimise or rationalise, and he respects my boundaries.

I really don't think the conversation needs to be about whether or not the boyfriend was really sleepwalking or not. You believed he was, your wife didn't think that absolved him. And every action was taken to follow your wifes boundaries regarding this situation. Nothing more needs to be done.

Endofyear · 04/11/2025 12:12

I think if I were your wife I'd be ok for him to come over to move the roommate out as long as it's a prearranged date and your wife can make sure she's out and doesn't have to see him.

SaratogaFilly · 04/11/2025 12:15

Hoppinggreen · 04/11/2025 11:52

Well he didn't sexually assault a man while "sleepwalking" did he?
Funny that

This! You’re well out of order. 100% agree with your wife!

DiscoBob · 04/11/2025 12:18

Do you own a five bedroom house? What made you decide to get a big house and then fill it with room mates?

pinkdelight · 04/11/2025 14:09

I think you'll never know if it was intentional or not, given that a history of sleepwalking is a great cover for doing such things and most creeps are careful not to openly 'be creepy around women', so your DW is justifiably less chill about it than you are. I would be okay with him helping the roommate move out if wife wasn't there and you supervised, but if you or someone else can help instead then that won't be necessary. Overall I'd not pick a battle on this with DW on some moral point on this guy's behalf as you just don't know the truth and it's a grim thing for the other women to have had to endure. Also strange that the whole house wasn't woken up if they screamed him out and left in the night. Did the roommate and boyfriend just go back to sleep?

ForTipsyFinch · 04/11/2025 15:24

Whether it was intentional or not, there’s no way of knowing. I wouldn’t want him around at all though so I agree with your wife.

Would you feel differently if it was you he tried to get into bed with? 🤷‍♀️

TonTonMacoute · 04/11/2025 15:42

OP appears to be totally onboard with the idea that the sleepwalking is unacceptable. OP has gone along with everything DW has asked for.

The current argument is whether he should be allowed in the house to help their lodger move out! As OP says, this will speed up the process.

OPs wife might not want to see or speak to him, but it seems a bit OTT not to allow him help with the move at all. He could still help even if it's just carrying stuff to the car

pinkyredrose · 04/11/2025 15:45

Hoppinggreen · 04/11/2025 11:52

Well he didn't sexually assault a man while "sleepwalking" did he?
Funny that

Why did you write sleepwalking like that? Do you think it's an excuse to get in to bed with strange women?

Hoppinggreen · 04/11/2025 17:19

pinkyredrose · 04/11/2025 15:45

Why did you write sleepwalking like that? Do you think it's an excuse to get in to bed with strange women?

I think men have used all sorts of excuses to SA women

MeganM3 · 04/11/2025 17:26

Does W think that the sleepwalking into two women’s bed was intentional or otherwise?

I think that if she doesn’t believe it to be innocent then she shouldn’t have to put up with having him in her home again for ANY reason.

Pryceosh1987 · 05/11/2025 01:48

If someone is a problem they need to move out and stay out.

MrsTerryPratchett · 05/11/2025 02:23

Hoppinggreen · 04/11/2025 17:19

I think men have used all sorts of excuses to SA women

I hear hooves, I think horses.

Other men want to hear zebras. But it’s always horses.

BackToBeingACatSlave · 05/11/2025 02:30

Creepy o’ clock

🤔

Hoppinggreen · 05/11/2025 09:34

I think part of the issue is that some decent men cannot get their heads around the fact that so many men are actually total creeps.
I have seen DH go "no, but I am sure that wasn't what they meant" or similar until its pointed out to him very clearly and then he gets it. After DD hit around 11/12 he REALLY started to get it - I remember a man shouting something at her and he said why would the man do that when DD was only 13, maybe he hadn't realised (not that he thought it was acceptable at any age)

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