21. ‘Toward the last few months of our relationship where I started to realize how great I am and how awful he was.’
“I’m not ashamed. My ex-SO was so mean and manipulative. Dated him for 2 years. I was making more money in the household and paid for EVERYTHING. Dates, activities, bills, groceries. He never took me out or got me a birthday gift, shit even a Christmas gift. Time spent with him was awful. I don’t know why I stuck around, ‘love.’ He called me names, was emotionally abusive. It got to a point where I just started to sleep on the couch when he fell asleep to avoid him in any way because he would freak out if he knew I didn’t want to be near him. So toward the last few months of our relationship where I started to realize how great I am and how awful he was, someone else offered to take me out on a date. It was the best date I’ve ever been on. It was beautiful and the conversation flowed and he made me feel so good and I fell in love with that guy that night.
I had full intentions of leaving my SO a bit before this but he didn’t know yet, so that was cheating. I ended up dumping my SO the next week and have been dating the other guy ever since. Been almost two years.”
22. ‘I’d tried to break up with him 6 months before I cheated but he sent me pictures/videos of himself crying about how sorry he was.’
“Long-distance relationship for two years. I’d tried to break up with him 6 months before I cheated but he sent me pictures/videos of himself crying about how sorry he was and that my wanting to leave was destroying him. I’d spent several months being emotionally manipulated into participating in incestuous, lesbian fantasies and other things I don’t want to go into (I am female, he was a straight guy who loved pretending to be a lesbian). He told me I could tell him if I didn’t want to do these things. I told him. He would throw a tantrum, cry and scream about how I was disrespecting our love, which made me feel guilty so I just let him do what he wanted and was miserable. He was abusive, controlling, manipulative, wanted to know what I was doing every minute of the day and so on. He had certain pictures I was forced to take for him, also had my address so I was scared of leaving.
Four to five months after I failed to break up with him, I cheated. I’d met another guy online, also long distance. He was sweet, affectionate, and respected me. I told him soon after about the abusive guy. With his support I broke up with the abusive guy, it was messy and I went through a horrible time for months but in the end I blocked him and continued my relationship with the other guy. I’m engaged to the other guy now and we are happy together. Two years and going strong.”
