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Stupidest Blameshifting You Got?

April 15, 2014 by Chump Lady

According to Andrew G. Marshall, some of the forces that compel cheaters to cheat are nagging and childrearing.

Yesterday, “blue” recounted that her husband told her he cheated on her because…. she didn’t shave her armpits.

God, are cheaters reduced to such thin soup as ARM PITS? Really? That’s the best blameshifting you got?

So tell me chumps, in a just a few sentences — the very best blameshift you received. The one that made you scratch your head and go, huh?

“I cheated on you because….”

You make coffee wrong.

You just didn’t need all of me, and it didn’t really take much time. (Would you begrudge someone a small hobby, Tracy?)

So chumps with hairy armpits, chumps with bad coffee, chumps with children — tell me — what’s the STUPIDEST reason you got for being chumped?

We might have to name this contest The Andrew G. Marshall Blameshifting Compendium.

Lay it on me.

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Filed Under: Blameshifting, Fun and games

Previous article: Why You Can’t “Nice” People Out of Affairs
Next article: So Sad When Cheater Loves Goes Bad

Comments

  1. bogie says

    April 15, 2014 at 7:37 am

    He said he didn’t want “all this” When pressed, all this included the pets, and the house (dogs and cats). So he chose a girlfriend with a dog? And, he decided he wanted to keep the house (fine by me).

    But seriously, he didn’t get away from “all this” now did he?

    • Kay Harris says

      April 15, 2014 at 3:01 pm

      What an idiot. It’s almost laughable.

      • Scoops says

        April 15, 2014 at 8:14 pm

        Crazy!

  2. An English Lady says

    April 15, 2014 at 7:39 am

    One of the reasons my ex-H cheated on me because I was “so tired”. How very dare I! A toddler (undiagnosed autistic), a baby, a part-time job, on my own 5 days a week and he comes home at the weekend having stayed in a 5 star hotel and had 5 unbroken nights of sleep to be disappointed/annoyed/disgusted by my tiredness and then use it as one of the reasons for having an affair.

    • LiningUpDucks says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:00 am

      Similar here. The injustice of it is beyond words.

    • Nat1 says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:34 am

      You know what….even if you weren’t tired it’d be that you jad too much energy for him. It’s a no win situation isn’t it?!

  3. Nat1 says

    April 15, 2014 at 7:41 am

    When we were in Turkey 3 years ago on our 2nd honeymoon “YOU were sick all the time and we couldn’t have sex.” Only HE was sick all the time and I went to bed most nights crying. 🙁 oh and apparently he is getting remarried to his new baby momma on Monday so it really must be twu wuv…..he hasn’t had any contact with our kids so no one knew. Um….

    • Nat1 says

      April 15, 2014 at 7:42 am

      Oh and ” when we first met I thought we had the same morals and values”. Sorry I disappointed you by not sinking to your level Fuckup!

      • Nat1 says

        April 15, 2014 at 7:45 am

        Oh and our crap sex life was all my fault because he was always brought up to not believe in sex before marriage, even after 18 years of marriage. I guess getting the 22 year old slut pregnant was ok because well, he was married! Albeit to me, but he WAS married!!!!!!

        • PattyToo says

          April 15, 2014 at 1:38 pm

          Sorry you had to get smacked in the face with the cheater’s second try at marriage. That really sucks. Try to go do something special for you and your kids that day. Sending you Chump Love.
          And may their marital bed be forever filled with huge and hungry bedbugs!

      • Maree says

        April 15, 2014 at 2:39 pm

        Nat1, I always said that I couldn’t bring my ex husband up to my level, so he dragged me down to his!! Just before he pulled the plug, he looked in my direction but over my shoulder, so he wasn’t looking directly at me and said “not everyone has your standards you know”!! Apparently my standards were/are too high. That is what 1st attracted him to me besides my good looks (ha ha) and that is what apparently pushed him away. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

        • Akko says

          April 16, 2014 at 5:20 pm

          That’s what happened to me, Maree! My ex was attracted to me because I wasn’t like “other girls” (I’m educated, with a secure full-time ‘white collar’ job, and with enough money to live comfortably), but then he said he hated feeling like he was “inferior” (he made half I did when he WASN’T “between jobs”, never finished college even though he kept saying he was going to go back, and basically a giant mooch).

          Keep in mind I never rubbed it in his face (I even stopped sharing the news with him whenever I got a bonus/raise after the first time), but he said his family and friends making comments about how I was “too good for him” (jokingly) made him lash out at ME. Oh, really, don’t try and improve yourself one bit, just bring your “trophy” girlfriend down to your level! FEH!

    • Chump in the Sand says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:24 pm

      I was student teaching and got the chicken pox–and I WAS sick all the time!

  4. DeltaGirl65 says

    April 15, 2014 at 7:42 am

    “You carry that dayplanner everywhere you go. You write everything down in it. If it is not written in that dayplanner, it doesn’t exist. Now, Lisa (a.k.a. OW), she wakes up in the morning. She thinks of the six things she needs to do. And she does them!”

    (Of course, I was working in an executive position running a national marketing department, setting him up in YET ANOTHER business, managing a toddler and a newborn, volunteering with church, managing our household including housework and personal finances. etc. Lisa, on the other hand, was a stay at home mom who lived with her mother.)

    • Chump Lady says

      April 15, 2014 at 7:43 am

      (Delta scribbles in day planner… “Divorce husband.”)

      • FoolMeTwice says

        April 15, 2014 at 8:06 am

        (Delta scribbles in day planner… “Divorce husband.”)

        Hahahaha! 🙂

        • Nord says

          April 15, 2014 at 11:08 am

          My reaction as well. We should all have scribbled that.

      • Kelly says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:03 am

        And what are those precious six things Lisa thinks about in the morning?:
        “what time is it? Is it morning yet? Will my mom watch my toddler while I go out on another date? Which married man shall I fuck today? Should I get my nails done? Should I have a Hot Pocket for lunch?”

        DeltaGirl, CL took the words right out of my mouth (except I would have worded it more as: “divorce dead-ass fuckup”).

        • Telo says

          April 15, 2014 at 12:08 pm

          This. ^^^

        • Kat says

          April 15, 2014 at 8:25 pm

          Lol. Don’t knock Hot Pockets 😉

      • Nicole says

        April 15, 2014 at 11:45 am

        Priceless!! CL – you are truly the funniest woman on this earth in a good, inspiring and awesome sort of way!!

  5. LiningUpDucks says

    April 15, 2014 at 7:51 am

    “You never want to go out (and get drunk) with me.”

    Gee, you think not? I was at home raising 2 preschoolers, while he was out at the bar and gambling.

    • jinx says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:40 am

      I heard that one too.

      • With Brave Wings says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:25 am

        Yep, got that too! Oh and who was going to watch the baby??? Yep, he never thought about that.

    • LilyBart says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:22 pm

      Me too! I didn’t show sufficient interest in his hobby (ie., going to a local dive bar every night until closing).

    • Marcie says

      April 15, 2014 at 7:25 pm

      me too

    • Kat says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:31 pm

      Yep, effing Karaoke three times a week with the same people. And I don’t sing. After three years you get awfully tired of hearing the same songs. Good thing we’re not still together or I’d probably be stuck home with a newborn while he went out and had shots with “the group”. That shit is fine when you’re 23, but not in your forties. Grow the eff up! Or don’t get married and have kids because then you can’t hang out with your loser friends all of the time.

  6. LiningUpDucks says

    April 15, 2014 at 7:56 am

    “I don’t respect you anymore” for being a stay-at-home mom.

    Okay, ouch that hurt, but fine, I can fix this. I got another high-paying job in my career, within months of his request. But he still couldn’t muster up any respect for me. I guess I could have guessed he had no respect because he was a serial cheater (in hindsight).

    • FoolMeTwice says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:10 am

      Ah, man, that’s hard to read. “I don’t respect you anymore” for being a SAHM. There’s just no way to win with that one. Their respect is a false contingency. Either you lose their respect because you’re “too focused on your career” or because being a SAHM doesn’t turn their crank anymore. Either way, you’re hooped.

      But good on you for getting your high-paying job, Ducks. Hope it made divorcing him a whole lot more expeditious!

      • LiningUpDucks says

        April 15, 2014 at 9:28 am

        It did. I could afford a lawyer, thanks to that.

        • Kelly says

          April 15, 2014 at 10:04 am

          Good for you LUD!

        • kb says

          April 15, 2014 at 10:30 am

          Sweet! Great going, LUD!

    • blue says

      April 15, 2014 at 11:43 pm

      Well, I got, “You’re too focused on your career. I want someone who is more domestic. My second wife will be a SAHM.”

  7. ffghtr67 says

    April 15, 2014 at 7:59 am

    “All I did was look for what I wasn’t getting at home” and “a husband should just know”…I suppose I’m supposed to be a psychic or have ESP or something. Fuck Her!

    • TimeHeals says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:10 am

      If you aren’t “psychic” (and nobody is), it’s proof you aren’t as “spiritual” as her (see my response below for explanation of that inside joke).

    • kb says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:35 am

      I am never sure how your spouse is supposed to “just know” what’ s going on unless you happen to say something like, “hey, honey, squeezing the toothpaste tube in the middle just frosts me.” Okay, it’s silly, but it’s there. I squeeze the tube from the bottom. STBX just reaches and squeezes, which is weird since he’s so anal in the rest of his life. Still, we compromised. He gets his own tube, so I don’t have to deal. Also, I introduced him to the stand-up tube that always looks neat.

      So, a teensy bit of communication, an easy compromise and workaround.

      This is what grownups do. They talk. They work things out.

    • TwinsDad says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:42 am

      Yeah, I got that one too. Here’s why we can’t read their minds, we’re not psychotic!

    • Sick of HER Chump says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:51 am

      I got that too! Apparently I was supposed to KNOW that he was unhappy. I guess I should have realized that our conversation 4 weeks prior when I ASKED him if he was ok and he responded with “of course I am, why wouldn’t I be”, was a complete lie. Good luck to the new Owife…hope she can read his fucking mind!

      • Nord says

        April 15, 2014 at 11:10 am

        I’m guessing many of us had similar situations. I asked ex if anything was wrong and nope, nothing, all good Nord. 6 weeks later and bam. Wish I hadn’t married a man child.

        • Lyn says

          April 15, 2014 at 1:11 pm

          Yes, I asked my ex all the time to talk to me. He would say “men don’t think about emotional stuff.” The only thing he’d ever talk about was work or sports. When I got upset about his relationship with a coworker I went to counseling because I thought I had a jealousy problem, an insecurity issue. I managed to talk my ex into coming to two meetings which he barely participated in, but things seem to get better after that for a few years.

          When he told me he’d fallen out of love he said “We went to marriage counseling and it didn’t work.” Well, it didn’t work because only one of us was putting any effort into it!

          • Kelly says

            April 15, 2014 at 6:26 pm

            Ugh, Lyn, so you go to marriage counseling because you think you are inappropriately jealous, only to find out later that you were right. And he says the marriage counseling didn’t “work?” Well of course it didn’t, unless they could have found a way to make a pathological liar (and a pretty cruel human being besides) tell the truth and grow a heart. Imagine knowingly putting your spouse through the humiliation and soul searching of believing they are insanely jealous, when in fact they were simply RIGHT. Will the mind fucks ever end???

            • BloomingRoseinWinter says

              April 25, 2014 at 2:18 pm

              T H I S.

      • horsesrcumin says

        April 15, 2014 at 4:45 pm

        Repeatedly asked if there was anything wrong. Nope. “I think we should get some counselling, something is off.” “Nah, don’t be silly, snooks, we’re fine.” So, I go to marriage counselling, alone, having no fucking idea why I am there. None, ‘cos I had no idea he was fucking my childhood friend, FOR FIFTEEN MONTHS, while she continued to pretend to be my friend.

        Best blameshifting (and to be fair – I know, I know! – he hasn’t used it as an “excuse” more an explanation of his brain explosion for fifteen months) was that when he moved me and our kids from our “life property” in less than five weeks, by buying a huge new farm, without having sold the original, his fourth generation family property we fought to afford and convince all that we desperately wanted and would cherish seventeen years earlier (financial stress, hell yeah) WITHOUT CONSULTING ME, I lay in bed with him the night we moved and suggested I move back TEMPORARILY to run the other property from there while I got my head around it all, but that I was definitely not leaving him, just trying to share homes until I got my head straight. He cried, the first time I ever saw him full on cry in over 20 years. So, I backtracked, and promised I would never leave, I was with him, whatever the circumstances. Apparently I emotionally abandoned him that night. Mmmmm, so it’s okay to fuck a diseased whore then. Of course! Why didn’t I KNOW this shit??? Of course putting his needs first meant I emotionally abandoned him. Lord, I must be some kind of special idiot not to understand that. So, never tell me you are pissed at me, not even when I dig for about a year about why things felt “off,” although the sex, and everything else was still great, just go fuck a whore, bring disease and a sociopath into our life, into my body, that’s a perfect solution. Problem solving at its best!

  8. MovingOn says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:00 am

    Are you ready for this?

    One of the reasons he cited for cheating is… I still can’t believe this came out of his mouth…

    I was too sad when Borders closed.

    Yes, I was sad when that bookstore closed, and I probably talked about it. This did not, however, involve crying, a period of mourning, obsessive discussions about it that went on for months, or any other type of extreme behavior. Aren’t you allowed to be a little bit bummed when a place you like closes? No? My bad. *eye roll*

    All of the other reasons were big cliches– not enough sex, not giving him enough attention, hitting middle age, not caring for the reality of what having children really is like, etc. Of course, he then marries his AP who is older than he is and has two children of her own, so I hope that he’s enjoying the reboot of the life that supposedly drove him to an affair in the first place.

    • Nat1 says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:04 am

      Damn. I was sad too, if only I’d known how to fix what ailed me 🙁

    • LovedaJackass says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:03 am

      That he went to a situation not any different from the one he had (but probably with a skank who doesn’t read) just shows how none of his reasons was really a reason; they were just justifications for his inability to live up to his commitments.

    • Kelly says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:07 am

      You were “too sad” when Borders closed?

      OMG, MovingOn, I just sat straight up in my chair and my mouth fell open. You win the contest, jeezus these guys are freaks.

    • Jayne says

      April 15, 2014 at 11:50 am

      ‘Yes, I was sad when that bookstore closed, and I probably talked about it. This did not, however, involve crying, a period of mourning, obsessive discussions about it that went on for months, or any other type of extreme behavior’.

      Lol Lol Snort! Snort! – what else can you do when faced with such idiocy – very funny MovingOn 😀

    • ffghtr67 says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:19 pm

      You win. Simply amazing.

    • Lyn says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:29 pm

      Were you diagnosed with bibliodepression?

      • Kat says

        April 15, 2014 at 8:37 pm

        Hahaha..hehehe. Book jokes are funny.

      • MovingOn says

        April 15, 2014 at 9:53 pm

        Yes, Lyn. I had to go straight into bibliotherapy. 😀

    • Chump Princess says

      April 15, 2014 at 5:39 pm

      MovingOn,

      I laughed so hard when I read this I almost peed my pants!!!! I am an AVID (and when I say avid, I mean I never have less that two books at a time with me) reader and I, too, was sad when Borders closed. I’m sad when any bookstore closes. I don’t do the sackcloth and ashes, dress all in black or drape purple bunting, but I’m pretty fucking bummed.

      What would he have done if you had been really devastated about a loss, maybe of a loved one? Hosted an orgy, Caligula style? Fucked a donkey?

      You win, hands down!! Your Ex is a truly disordered POS – you are well rid of him.

      • Kelly says

        April 15, 2014 at 6:30 pm

        “What would he have done if you had been really devastated about a loss, maybe of a loved one? Hosted an orgy, Caligula style? Fucked a donkey?”

        Princess, you’re the best I’m still laughing out loud….hard….

      • MovingOn says

        April 15, 2014 at 9:56 pm

        CP, a good friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer several years ago. She went into remission and returned to work right around the time that the A hit. When I told her what was going on and how my STBX was behaving, her comment was: “What would you have done if you had gotten cancer? He would NEVER have been there for you!”

        Yeah, the psycho Borders comment made that pretty evident!

  9. TimeHeals says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:04 am

    I’ve covered this before, but here’s the top 4 list:

    1. Socks on bathroom floor
    2. Rolls eyes
    3. Not ‘spiritual’ enough
    4. Not a Ken doll (refused to let her pick out my clothes).

    • Chump Lady says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:53 am

      Oh those socks again. 🙂 That’s a hanging offense.

      • Nord says

        April 15, 2014 at 11:13 am

        I bitched about ex leaving clothes all over the house (and I mean everywhere) for years. This was apparently a terrible, terrible thing that I would have liked him to put him clothes in the hamper/back in the drawer/thrown over a chair in the bedroom. I’m a horrible, nagging bitch.

        • nicolette14 says

          April 15, 2014 at 11:39 am

          now his OW can deal with his mess and picking up his dirty clothes off the floor. I wonder what she would say “oh ok sweetie, don’t worry about it” NOT! Everything he did to you, he will do it to her, now that’s the best revenge! 🙂

          • Datdamwuf says

            April 15, 2014 at 1:40 pm

            Oh yeah, I was evil because I complained when ex dropped trash on the kitchen floor or spilled shit and left it on the floor when I should have just cleaned it up because he just didn’t notice. poor thing

            • nicolette14 says

              April 16, 2014 at 5:50 pm

              oh yeah, we all were evil, horrible nagging bitches! that’s why I say let their OW clean up after them, deal with all the bullshit they bring and lets see how much fun it is now and live in the real world. But now we don’t have to worry about cleaning after them and what they are doing with whom, they are someone else’s problem now and that itself is a blessing 🙂

        • PattyToo says

          April 15, 2014 at 1:48 pm

          Ugh, this brings back a memory, from the Pick Me era, when I used to sometimes tell X – Jeeze, why don’t you just leave me alone, move across the street, and she can have you!
          Know what he said? ‘I can’t picture her picking up my dirty socks.’

          • TimeHeals says

            April 15, 2014 at 2:37 pm

            Guess he had better watch out. Socks have been known to cause cheating.

    • BloomingRoseinWinter says

      April 25, 2014 at 2:20 pm

      Jeez…Time, Compared to MY EX, You’re a SAINT.

  10. LiningUpDucks says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:04 am

    “You don’t give me the sex I want.”

    Narc translation: I want to shirk all child rearing and house-tending responsibility (even though you work full-time now, just like me) then go get drunk at the bar then come home at 3am and expect instant sex. What, you don’t feel like being woken up out of the rare bit of sleep you get while tending to a toddler and newborn? How come you’re not horny?!?

    • Kathy says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:31 am

      Wow, my ex said that too.

    • Chump Lady says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:55 am

      Well here’s the thing with that — you can’t be 77 flavors of different pussy.

      What cheaters want (what their actions tell us they want) is variety — and no one person can be variety. So they blame shift it to the nebulous — you don’t give me the sex I want (when I want, how I want).

      • Current chump says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:20 am

        THIS! Cheaters cheat because they can, they want to & feel entitled to it. And it is so easy especially for men with everything available on the internet right at their fingertips-especially when it is accessible on their smartphones………..as Tracy puts it, 77 flavors of pussy (and then some)

      • TwinsDad says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:45 am

        “— you don’t give me the sex I want (when I want, how I want).” Of course, what I want tomorrow, next week/month/year may be different and you should know that because if you loved me you would know.

        • Kat says

          April 15, 2014 at 8:52 pm

          TwinsDad, that game is rigged. Even if you did know she would still have cheated. It’s frustrating because in a relationship we’re so close to the other person we can’t see that there is no cause and effect. There is only the completely separate unrelated decision the cheater makes.

      • Nord says

        April 15, 2014 at 11:15 am

        They also want that fresh, new pussy that isn’t readily available or oh-so-familiar. Sorry my friend, but I was dealing with the same penis all those years and didn’t complain.

        • Current chump says

          April 15, 2014 at 12:42 pm

          I never thought of it that way Nord-even when he he had me on “penis- rations” over the years…….cuz you know he had to save his energy (any money) for the 19 year old Asian hookers

          • SeeTheLight says

            April 15, 2014 at 6:30 pm

            Hah! Penis Rations! I often felt that way too… even on my honeymoon! BIG RED FLAG!
            Current Chump, seems like we were the ones deprived of sex and should have been the ones cheating based on cheater blame-shifting 101.

            • current chump says

              April 15, 2014 at 7:26 pm

              Oh man SeeTheLight-I did get the same thing on my honeymoon too. He told me the sex filled honeymoons were for people who got married that hadn’t lived together before like we did………..Of course it was a HUGE RED FLAG THAT I MISSED cuz in was in Wuv with him. Blech! Little did I know he had a secret porn & hooker addiction. I’m convinced I was the chump he used to maintain a good family man/person image to the outside world to cover up what a disordered fucknut he really is

              • Drew says

                April 15, 2014 at 10:15 pm

                Oh! I win this! After a five year courtship and eighteen month engagement, my ex spent entire wedding night out gambling and partying with his bf (and mine!) while I stayed in our hotel room with our nine month old baby. What I should have done that day was leave. It was the biggest RED FLAG….Of course he did not understand why I was so disappointed by his selfish behavior. I don’t get how these people can live with themselves when they have wasted so much of our lives with lies. Oh his best lines on wanting a divorce, ” you know I just thought getting married was something I had to do” , even when he had plenty of opportunities to end our relationship as those first few years we were attending colleges a great distance from one another. “I stayed because of the kids” and “I have been unhappy our whole marriage.” One day he was there the next day planning a future with his new love. Although looking back there were a lot of signs he wasn’t who I thought he was. 🙁 One minute an involved father the next gone! He does show up at their graduations though. Him and ugly. Yes, one can not compete with 1 new pussy, let alone 77! Hey I am not against those who want that, just practice responsible sex and DON’T MARRY (which entertains the idea of monogamy over many many years!) When I began dating the dork my ex’s father once said, “A hard dick has no conscience,” maybe I should have asked him how that was relevant!

              • Kat says

                April 16, 2014 at 12:15 am

                We didn’t have sex on our wedding night. Come to think of it, my ex got exponentially weirder and more obnoxious the moment we got married. If he needed to act single and fuck everything that moved I honestly don’t understand what the hell possessed him to get married. I mean, I’m sure he could explain that one away, but to try for MONTHS for a baby while cheating….yeah, there’s no rationale that explains that one.

      • Emily says

        April 15, 2014 at 1:17 pm

        I wasn’t a nympho and he warned me!!!!

      • Lake says

        April 20, 2014 at 7:44 pm

        Exactly. He said those very words when I found out about strip clubs 9 months after affair dday. Except he “needs” variety and can’t understand how ppl don’t.

    • With Brave Wings says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:29 am

      SAME! Oh, the boner shoved onto my thigh to wake me up is an instant turn on. PUH-LEASE.

      • kb says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:38 am

        And the lack of reciprocity. Hey, if you want to wake me up out of a sound sleep for sex, you have to be okay for the times when I want to wake you up? You’re not? Well then!

        • Lavinia says

          April 15, 2014 at 11:59 am

          They don’t even care if it’s necessarily *better* sex. What they want is simply some “strange”, as my cousin used to say.

          • BloomingRoseinWinter says

            April 25, 2014 at 2:23 pm

            Yep.

  11. Gracie says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:11 am

    “You breastfed the children and I felt excluded from the family.”

    “You are boring, our marriage is boring, we don’t have enough sex and I am entitled to my fun.”

    He worked away driving trucks for weeks at a time (often his choice to accept the work away from home) leaving me to raise the children, work the farm, administer his business and work part time outside the farm. He got to sleep with truck stop whores, drink with his mates, snort speed and live his dream of zero responsibility and drive big trucks and I was no fun to be around when he came home? Especially no fun after I found out about the third affair.
    Feeling excluded from the family relationship – maybe be home more often and when you are home, involve yourself in the family, take the kids to the park or just spend some time with them and you might actually be included. Ignore the kids, sleep on the couch all day, drink rum with your mates all night and talk/text on the phone for hours to your ‘customers’ (slutty married girlfriend) and you wont feel included in family life.

    • Sandy R says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:14 am

      Gracie..Mine is a over the road truck driver as well. HIS choice to take a job that kept him away from his family, just like yours. I was home raising the children; handling the finances; working full time; holding down the fort. He’s galavanting around America, having the time of his life, and most likely screwing any lot lizard that knocked on his window. I am not sure how many long-term affairs he had..of course the 3 year one he’s in now; but I am pretty sure there was another long term affair right before this current one, because all of the same signs were there. Of course, the few times he came home he spent dozing on the couch, spending no time with me or the kids. Turns out he’d been spending the majority of his “home time” with the current whore and her family. MUCH more time with them then with ours. Best of all? His piece of shit truck driving friends knew all about the affair..and none of them cares one little bit. I was probably the running joke on the road.

  12. Scotty says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:17 am

    “I’m 35 years old! I shouldn’t have to park on the street!”
    Yes, to XW, not having a driveway = license to fuck around.

    Maybe if she didn’t spend us into ruin we could’ve afforded a new house, but come on, that would’ve required a contribution on her part. Pfffffft. Not interested. Easier to just leave and find a new chump with deeper pockets.

    • TimeHeals says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:19 am

      lol – a 3 -car garage didn’t work for me 🙂

    • Chump Lady says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:58 am

      Wow. Never heard that one before. Driveway?

      Gravel or paved? Good grief.

      • Scotty says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:11 am

        Eh, It could’ve been paved with gold bars and she’d have bitched that it was too slick when it rained.

        • Chump Lady says

          April 15, 2014 at 2:20 pm

          LOL!

        • Toni says

          April 22, 2014 at 10:07 am

          Wow!

    • kb says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:50 am

      I’ve not divorced mine yet, but this whole issue of spending is just nuts! If I made what STBX makes, I could afford to keep the house. Why STBX keeps running out of money, I’ll never know.

      Well, it could be that living a double life is expensive, but hey, other than that! 😛

      • Nord says

        April 15, 2014 at 11:17 am

        Funny but since divesting myself of ex I make a hell of a lot less money but actually have enough. He was spending a lot of money on who knows what. Don’t care but it wasn’t me.

        • Eilonwy says

          April 15, 2014 at 11:55 am

          I’ve discovered this too. I was absolutely stunned to realize how far my paycheck went (I provide entirely for our kids) once the EX (and his paycheck) had left. I knew what some of his financial excesses were . . . now I know there must have been others I didn’t know about.

          • Marie says

            April 15, 2014 at 6:15 pm

            Ditto here, I now get to bank my bonuses and my tax refund. My ex used to have them spent three times over before I even got them. I am getting a barrage of debt collectors calling – thank god I kicked him out when I did and made sure all the credit cards were paid off and cancelled all the joint ones – my credit score is golden and his is crap now. “ex, no he doesn’t live here anymore, no I will not give him a message, I try very hard not talk to him.” My biggest fear is that he will end up mooching off the kids when they are older – he still is in deep denial. I also fear identity theft since he knows all my data etc.

            • Kelly says

              April 15, 2014 at 6:39 pm

              Me too, my ex pays nothing, no child support, nada, and we used to “split” the bills for our house, etc. At least I thought we did. My ex was a financial advisor so invested and controlled our money and I obviously did not pay enough attention.

              Because it seems to last soooooo much longer now that he is gone and I am paying for the same house, all the same utilities, all of our kids’ cars, all the insurances, etc., by myself. What the hell was he doing with it? Some I can guess (a double life is expensive). And the rest? I’m sure I don’t want to know.

            • Kat says

              April 16, 2014 at 12:22 am

              Well it stands to reason that cheaters probably have less impulse control. So that’s going to cross over to spending. And driving as far as I can tell. Mine was incapable of forgoing his habits and crap spending to save towards anything important.

      • cheaterssuck says

        April 15, 2014 at 12:29 pm

        kb-does he even know that you know about his affair? Kudos for keeping that crap under wraps for so long while collecting evidence. You have some incredible intestinal fortitude girl!

    • Helen says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:56 pm

      We had a 3.5 car garage

      Didn’t keep him home

    • Kelly says

      April 15, 2014 at 6:34 pm

      My kingdom for a….driveway?!? Yes that’ll solve all my problems.

    • bogie says

      April 16, 2014 at 7:52 am

      Really? The parking situation drove her to it (no pun intended). Sheesh!

  13. March says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:18 am

    I never cleaned the baseboards.

    • Julie says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:38 am

      Well there you go, it all makes sense now, sheesh!

    • 4evertrue says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:41 am

      Let me guess how many times you were helped with the house work….hmmm….I’m coming up with a bog fat zero. Am I close?

      • 4evertrue says

        April 15, 2014 at 8:42 am

        Oops, big.

    • Cas says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:42 am

      Oooo. I’ve heard that so many times! Both when I was working full time with an infant while he was getting his MBA (party school) and as a SAHM. Guess I should have known it was one of those “top signs your husband is having an affair.”

    • jinx says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:44 am

      My laundry room-small closet- was never organized. Translation I didn’t immediately fold his clothes after drying.

    • Kay Harris says

      April 15, 2014 at 3:03 pm

      Well, that’s perfectly understandable then. Clean baseboards are very VERY important.

  14. Frannie says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:18 am

    Reason for wanting out of marriage:
    I just want to be alone. Only to find out a couple weeks after I left that he was having an affair. Whats wrong with this picture……. he’s wants to be on his own alright……. with her.
    Real prise!!!!!

    • TimeHeals says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:22 am

      That’s a more typical dating break-up line.

      I just want to be alone… to pursue somebody else.
      I don’t think I am ready for a relationship… with you, but there’s somebody I have my eye on that might do.

      The great thing about going through a divorce is that you can look back at every dishonest line ever uttered by anybody you ever dated who dumped you and realize that they did you a favor because they spoke cheatereese.

  15. Louise says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:19 am

    I got the opposite. ” She never meant anything to me.” What the fuck??? He was willing to throw away our marriage and the love of his children for someone he dumped the minute she began to affect his image. What an asshole.

    Ironically, I was also told she “worshipped” him and that’s what he needed. Truer words were never spoken, but I have never been into hero worship. At that point in time it didn’t really matter what he said. His actions told me everything I needed to know,

    • TimeHeals says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:24 am

      Great. She doesn’t mean anything but she worships him, and he needs that.

      Sounds like a match made in …. lol

      • nic says

        April 15, 2014 at 8:53 am

        Same here – she blew sunshine up his ass, I didn’t. The fact I didn’t was why he married me. And she blew sunshine up an ass that was a successful CEO married to a bitch, not the ass I had that was a financial mess and surrounding himself with idiots who made horrific decisions. trust me, I wanted the successful CEO, not the ass. Ugh.

        • Nord says

          April 15, 2014 at 11:20 am

          I loved my ex and I was a big cheerleader for him. But after many years of marriage I wasn’t exactly looking at him with stars in my eyes, probably because I had lived through too many farts, illnesses, and various other real life experiences with him. I didn’t make me love him less but I was well beyond the gaga phase that you have when you first fall for each other. My ex is addicted to the thrill of the first attraction. Good luck to final OW. 🙂

          • Kat says

            April 16, 2014 at 12:26 am

            Yes, the farts thing. What is it with these idiots over forty chasing the first attraction thing repeatedly? It’s like watching someone push against a door that says pull over and over again. Bleh. I don’t know why I even care at this point.

            • BloomingRoseinWinter says

              April 25, 2014 at 2:26 pm

              Great Analogy about the Door.

          • NorthernLight says

            April 18, 2014 at 8:32 pm

            “My ex is addicted to the thrill of the first attraction.”

            Mine too.

            • Next says

              April 18, 2014 at 9:54 pm

              These idiots think that the thrill of the first attraction is love!! How pathetic!! Lust does not pay the bills, raise the children, keep a clean house! F off!!

              • BloomingRoseinWinter says

                April 25, 2014 at 2:27 pm

                Fucking adrenaline Junkies.

  16. Sick of HER Chump says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:30 am

    I was never even given a reason. When I asked him why, he simply said “I didn’t think you would find out”. Asshole.

    • Louise says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:39 am

      Yeah, I heard that one, too. Probably shouldn’t have been caught fucking in a car during the day if he wanted to keep it a secret…

      • Sick of HER Chump says

        April 15, 2014 at 8:48 am

        My paramedic douchebag ex was caught getting out of the back of the ambulance with her! Wonder what happened in there…

    • Kelly says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:12 am

      Oooooh, Sick of HER Chump, that’s about what I got on D-Day. When I asked whether he intended to ever tell me before I caught him he said no, and he just kept repeating: “I just always thought we’d (he and I) would be together,” along with: “There is no reason I can give you that would make sense now.” Ya think???!?!?! At least 15 years of cheating and group sex?

      Later he waffled back and forth saying he always loved me and still did (to explain why till D-Day he was still telling me daily how much he loved me) but that maybe now he loved one of his AP’s more than me and would marry her. Barf.

      • Chump in the Sand says

        April 15, 2014 at 5:10 pm

        Maybe when group marriage becomes legal group sex won’t be as exciting anymore?

        • Kelly says

          April 15, 2014 at 6:42 pm

          Ah, interesting thought CITS, yes without the edgy badness, it might just be dumb and gross!

    • Sandy R says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:21 am

      Sick of HER Chump..that’s exactly what I got, too. “I just hoped you’d never find out.” Of course not..the best of both worlds, you know. Once I found out he booked on out with the OW anyway.

  17. Red says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:32 am

    “You give the kids too much attention. They add no value to my life. I’d rather have the money I spent on them than them.”

    • Julie says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:44 am

      Wow, holy crap that’s evil.

      • LovedaJackass says

        April 15, 2014 at 9:08 am

        What Julie said. I am shocked. Really. Poor kids. So sorry anyone ever said that to another human.

    • Kathy says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:48 am

      Wow Red, reading your posts it sounds exactly like my XH. Never knew he had a twin. And he doesn’t understand why his kids cut him completely from their lives. That’s my fault along with everything else.

      • Red says

        April 15, 2014 at 12:06 pm

        A twin?! Good Lord! One is MORE than enough! Aaack!

    • Sick of HER Chump says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:55 am

      I’m speechless. My ex also thought I gave the kids too much attention, but that second part…”they add no value to my life” is awful 🙁

      • Miss Sunshine says

        April 15, 2014 at 9:54 am

        Many of them think/feel that but realize it’s not in their interests to SAY IT out loud. But how else can you explain abandoning your family, whether by cheating on your family time, or, in my case, bailing on them and me and just seeing them a few hours a month? Actions speak louder than words.
        Obviously these people do not care about their kids. If they did, they would have acted like it.

        • Drew says

          April 15, 2014 at 11:00 pm

          Totally agree with All of these. Honestly, my ex did not love me. I think for all our exes love is sex. Once he stated “he could live alone and be happy,” and I believed him because he spent more time at the racquet club than he did with his family. After dday he stated that “he loves the children but they have their own lives now” (17, 19, 21. Two in HS and our son’s senior year and one left hanging as a junior in college!) and he has abandoned them too. Oh he supports them a little bit financially but it’s more for SHOW. Lol. As for spending any real time with them, like all the work part, like they are all getting through college, and dealing with life and the mindfuck he left and he is living his new shiny life w/OW. No. SOS. He is still absent. Does show up for big occasions though. And at first he even brought them souvenirs from the exotic places he travelled to, and shared how much fun he was having now with ugly. Cause it was all so new and wonderful. Yeah. Give me another Chump and I will show you a life that can be good every day. Cheaters are delusional. Sometimes I wonder what it must be like to make a decision without thinking about it. Lol

    • Chump Lady says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:02 am

      What an asshole! But according to Andrew G. Marshall that’s one of the legit reasons to cheat on someone — time spent childrearing.

      That would’ve been a good question for him, come to think of it. Okay, nagging and childrearing are acceptable reasons for cheating. What about hairy armpits and dirty baseboards? Sexual positions? Working too much? Borders Books closing? Where’s the line?

      • Red says

        April 15, 2014 at 12:23 pm

        Childrearing DOES take a lot of time, particularly when one parent does 95% of it. Had it been 50/50, or even 70/30, I could have more time for him. But no, he wasn’t willing to step up, and he still isn’t.

        All these people who think child care isn’t a big deal have clearly NEVER spent much time raising kids. You have to take what they say with a grain of salt.

    • Kelly says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:14 am

      Red, that is vile and disgusting. I hope he never sees those children again. What a monster.

    • kb says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:54 am

      Ugh. What a total jackass!

      You didn’t make those kids by yourself, did you? Thought not. If he’d have rather had the money to spend on something else, then he should have told you he didn’t want children, and taken the comparatively simple step to ensure that would never be the case!

    • Red says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:05 pm

      I will NEVER forget that conversation.

      I just stared at him for five minutes with my mouth open, aghast. I think it was the single nastiest thing he ever said to me. A real Twilight Zone moment, where the fun-loving man I’d spent nearly 30 years with suddenly turned into an alien I’d never seen before.

      My father always put his kids first. My XH – like his father – always put HIMSELF first. The clues were there 30 years ago, and my mother saw them and tried to warn me. But I just spackled and spackled because XH was so sparkly. I won’t be fooled again.

      In fact, I will be thoroughly vetting my children’s prospective mates in the years to come. No more nut jobs in the family, if I can help it!

    • ReDefiningMe says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:36 pm

      Maybe triplets?

      Mine said (about his 5 year old daughter) “I look at her and fell absolutely nothing.”

      About his 2 year old son, “Don’t you ever feel like an unpaid babysitter?” He also wanted to know if I ever thought of “taking him back” (he’s adopted).

      That was a week before final d-day, and despite lots of prior abusive behavior to me – was that first time I was really afraid, because my mommy instincts told me that he was capable of hurting the kids – since he clearly had no feelings toward them.

      Fast forward – he hasn’t seen them in six years. I think that was maybe the only time in our marriage he actually told the truth.

      • kb says

        April 15, 2014 at 12:48 pm

        I absolutely do not understand these parents who blow off their kids!

        Really, it infuriates me, since I know that these people are the same ones who’ll decide that they need to spend some time getting to know their progeny once the kids have grown up, i.e. after all the hard work has been done by the children’s real parent.

        • Red says

          April 15, 2014 at 12:57 pm

          ^^^. My XFIL walked out when XH was 17, but pats HIMSELF on the back that XH has a PhD.

          XH moved out 4 years ago. Who’s he congratulating now that his kids are getting academic scholarships? HIMSELF. It’s ridiculous!

          We tell him as little as possible these days…

          • FoolMeTwice says

            April 15, 2014 at 10:50 pm

            Red, that is one of the sickest things I’ve ever heard. I can’t even imagine how even the shittiest, most absentee parent could ever think something like that, much less say it out loud, especially to the other parent!

            Do you think your kids knew their dad’s real feelings? How about now?

      • Red says

        April 15, 2014 at 12:53 pm

        Redefining – wow! “Take him back?” Like he’s a pair of curtains that didn’t match the wallpaper?

        I don’t get it, I really don’t. My children has never been disposable to me, so I can’t comprehend that line of thinking. But it’s a good thing yours is out of the picture – you don’t want your kids burdened with his toxicity.

      • Lyn says

        April 15, 2014 at 2:48 pm

        My sister’s ex told her the best thing he could do for his daughter was to stay out of her life. Turns out he was right. The guy was a womanizer and drug addict who ended up “falling off a cliff” while he was “hiking” in the middle of the night at age 35.

        • BloomingRoseinWinter says

          April 25, 2014 at 2:30 pm

          Did he DIE ?
          PLEASE Tell me he Died.

      • Kathy says

        April 15, 2014 at 6:01 pm

        That’s so awful ReDefining!! What a monster!

        6years !! And I thought my ex was a cold, unfeeling jerk because he hasn’t seen his kids in over a year, and they’re not young, they’re 20 an 23. They are better off without him. And you and your kids are so much richer for it!

        My Dad believed that family was everything, that you could have all the money and the possessions in the world, but without family, you have nothing. My XH and his Dad were all about the money. The signs were there I just had speckle in my eyes.

      • Kelly says

        April 15, 2014 at 6:55 pm

        Redefining, I can sympathize. I just had this conversation with my mother this afternoon. My oldest son is graduating from law school next month, my daughter will graduate from college next year Phi Beta Kappa, and my youngest son is a handsome and active 14 year old with all the trials and tribulations of middle school. My ex left on D-Day, texted them a few times, refused my repeated suggestions he attend family counseling with them, and knows nothing about what is happening to them at this point at all. He never even asks me how our 14 year old son is doing. Ever. At. All.

        His ability to detach from even his own children both frightens me and breaks my heart, our children deserve so much more than to have fathers who are monsters.

        • Kathy says

          April 15, 2014 at 8:44 pm

          I know Kelly,

          How these men can just wipe us clean out of their lives is one thing, but the way they erase their kids (mine replaced them with the OW’s kid as easily as you’d change an old pair of shoes), is heartbreaking.

          You’re right they are monsters.

        • FoolMeTwice says

          April 15, 2014 at 11:02 pm

          Kelly, I’m so sorry to hear this, especially when he’s missing out on some stellar achievements. My ex has also made very little effort to stay involved with my kids, and that’s been very painful for me to see. Like a snake shedding its skin: goodbye old life, and just slither away. The day after we moved out, my girls wanted to go back and clear out the last few bits from their old room. He said: “Sorry; it’s not convenient.” That was lots of fun trying to explain on the phone to my 11 year-old daughter when she was already almost there on her way back from school. One day we lived there; the next they weren’t allowed to come by for 15 minutes. And then he was actually going to text her to ask for her key back so he could give it to the housekeeper he hired right after I left. But we weren’t together nearly as long as you and your ex were, and I’m hoping my kids can detoxify and understand that is NOT how honourable men treat women–or kids. Or anyone, for that matter. You called it: “Our children deserve so much more than to have fathers [or mothers] who are monsters.” Thank GOD they have you there lighting their paths and standing for what’s right!

          • Kelly says

            April 16, 2014 at 7:24 pm

            “Like a snake shedding its skin: goodbye old life, and just slither away.”

            Thanks FoolMe. Your observation is so true. I’m saving that one.

            My daughter told me that she can no longer have any contact with her father as “every contact is another chance for him to abandon me again.” That is what your ex is doing too, denying his own children every day.

            I was online recently and a new photo of my ex appeared with “people you may know” kind of thing. His life of debauchery appears to be catching up with him from what I could see, and I know he is not doing as well as he expected financially, and recently lost another position. (Surprise! It really was me carrying us all of that time). I sometimes worry what he will do when the karma bus hits him, and I think that bus is fast approaching. I pray he latches onto one of his demented AP’s and leaves our children alone.

            We are tough mamas (and papas), you will get your daughters through with your love.

        • FoolMeTwice says

          April 15, 2014 at 11:04 pm

          PS Kelly, WAY TO GO for your kids.

      • Kat says

        April 16, 2014 at 12:31 am

        Sociopaths.

      • marley says

        April 16, 2014 at 12:43 am

        I had several reasons:
        1. Life with me and my kids was boring.
        2. He didn’t want to have sex while I was pregnant as the baby grossed him out.
        3. I didn’t give him enough attention and focused on the kids to much.
        4. The OW listened to all his problems about our relationship (rather than communicate to me!)
        5. I was on my phone to much- umm hello he had sent the OW 1500 text messages in a month (including 16 when I was delivering our second child!)

        And so on and so on….Foff, he’s done me a fucking favour if that’s the way he is!

        • Red says

          April 16, 2014 at 6:45 am

          Marley – I got a lot of these same complaints. They won’t help with the kids to ease your burden so you CAN spend more time with them, they just complain that you’re spending too much time helping little people who can’t do anything for themselves. It’s infuriating.

          As for sending texts to OW while you’re birthing his child – SO selfish! I feel your pain. XH went on a job interview out of town and called to tell me about it. I put all the kids on the phone to say hello. Length of call: 7 minutes. He then spent 3 HOURS on the phone with OW, debating the pros and cons of taking the job. Because, you know, it was HER future that was going to be impacted, not his family’s…

    • current chump says

      April 15, 2014 at 7:30 pm

      My stbx has said to me many times that we would have so much more money if we didn’t have to pay for daycare/pre-school for our son (when both of us work full time). Who does he think is going to watch him? I make just as much money when I had a job if not more than he does & you don’t see me complaining about paying for that. What an asshole!

  18. Carol says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:34 am

    “You always sit in the Lazy Boy instead of on the couch with me.” (He bought the Lazy Boy for me. I assumed he knew I’d likely sit in it. Nevermind the fact that they freakin’ sell Lazy Boy couches, if he wanted me to be joined at the hip all the freakin’ time. Asshole.)

    “I never felt loved by you.” (My kids, when they heard that, vowed to never speak to him again. And I guess fucking his whore co-worker made him feel loved.)

    “We don’t have anything in common.” I’m assuming he meant I didn’t rock and mountain climb. Funny thing is, I didn’t do those things when he begged me to marry him, along with the fact that I wasn’t a vegetarian and he was, etc. etc. I’m not sure when it started to matter. I also note that he never liked to scrapbook. It never would have occurred to me to cheat on him and abandon him because of that. I also note that we DID have much in common. Three kids, a home, friends, family, a shared history, shared interests other than climbing and scrapbooking. In fact, up until I told him I knew he was cheating on me, he seemed to be perfectly devoted to me.

    “I don’t want to be in a relationship right now.” (Gee, how nice of you to unilaterally make that decision for me, too.) WTH???

    • Red says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:39 am

      “I don’t want to be in a relationship right now.” (Gee, how nice of you to unilaterally make that decision for me, too.) WTH???

      ^^^This ticked me off as well. XH made the decision to divorce without bothering to discuss it with me, as if my input was of no importance. Now, I discuss very little with him – just the facts, ma’am. He doesn’t deserve more.

      • Kathy says

        April 15, 2014 at 8:45 am

        Wow Carol, what an ass.

        And I too, Red and Carol, heard that from him, he was so full of anger and hate when he said it. I wasn’t given a choice either, no input, no discussion…but I was the horrible person.

    • TimeHeals says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:21 am

      I said it up-upthread, but “I don’t want to be in a relationship right now” is just classic break-up nonsense speech if you are in a relationship with that person. Now, if they are cheating, it’s “I don’t want to be in a relationship with you because I am pursuing somebody else”, but in any case it’s somebody being passive and using your ego against you instead of just saying, “I don’t want to be in a relationship with you anymore”, and it works because your first thought was probably about yourself “What do you mean you don’t want to be in a relationship? You are in one with me!”, but it’s not about you. It’s about them.

      It’s just a dishonest thing to say. “It’s not you; it’s me” is more honest because that’s only a half-truth, IMO. It is them. They found somebody else. It’s all about them. You aren’t part of the equation.

      • coralf says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:16 am

        Nope. You definately aren’t part of the equation

    • Chrissybob says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:11 pm

      UGH the we don’t have anything in common – that one was the killer because in his mind he did all these things but in reality he wasn’t doing any of them. He’s a runner….but he only runs like 1-2 times a month? He snowboards but hasn’t gone in years? He simultaneously berated me for not having anything in common and at the same time said I needed to do things by myself, on my own.

    • Lyn says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:50 pm

      Yeah, mine said we never had anything in common but the kids. After 36 years together that really hurt. He told my youngest son “this has been coming for a long time.” I sure wish he’d have told me and I wouldn’t have wasted so many years waiting for him to come back from business trips!!!

    • NorthernLight says

      April 18, 2014 at 8:54 pm

      Exactly to your next to last paragraph. I was told that I was not a musican.

  19. nutmegpixy says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:37 am

    My father wasnt around when i was growing up.
    I was sexually abused…
    I have trouble making friends
    I didnt cheat on you..I was helping a buddy buy hotel rooms and jewlery..
    God told me to let go…of you and the kids
    A girl was in the room but i swear nothing happened!

    • Harmonysmine says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:15 pm

      “God told me to let go…of you and the kids.” Unbelievable….

      • FoolMeTwice says

        April 15, 2014 at 11:07 pm

        Ah yes, the old “burning bush” defense. Gotta love that one.

  20. Julie says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:37 am

    Occasionally(I would say this) when he would abandon me and the kids every weekend, I would make a joke just like on the movie the Hangover, “what happens in Vegas stay in Vegas……. . He said he took that to mean that for the last 5 years we had an open marriage. It was a fucking joke, idiot! That boy is not too swooft.

  21. Kathy says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:40 am

    9 years ago when our son was 14, he made a circle in that little patch of grass to the side of our house while mowing the lawn for the first time, and instead of yelling at him like my ex I had the audacity to think it was creative and funny.

    When I was battling cancer, I only cleaned up the dog poop from the back yard once a day NOT every time they went out.

    I didn’t think his jokes about child, animal or spouse abuse were funny like the OW does.

    Every time I got sick I took care of myself and didn’t devote all my attention on him.

    • Chump Lady says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:04 am

      I hope the OW is alone with him to enjoy his “humor” for many years to come.

      What a creep.

    • Chump in the Sand says

      April 15, 2014 at 5:14 pm

      ” when our son was 14, he made a circle in that little patch of grass to the side of our house “… of course your ex wouldn’t find that funny. He knows that the crop circle is the signal for his family to come and find him to take him home.

      • Kathy says

        April 15, 2014 at 6:04 pm

        OMG Chump in the Sand that’s so funny!!! I can’t stop laughing. My son will get a huge kick out of that ! Thanks for the smile!

        • Kelly says

          April 15, 2014 at 6:58 pm

          Oh hahaha CITS, that is hilarious!

  22. Michelle says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:43 am

    “I cheated on you because you didn’t wear enough make- up.” I guess going to grad school full-time, working, raising 3 small children and taking care of a house and yard largely by myself didn’t leave me enough time for eyeliner and contouring eye shadow. So very sorry. It must have been horrible to see my naked eyelids every day. I understand why you HAD to screw somebody who looked like she collided with an Avon truck.

    • bogie says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:05 am

      “I understand why you HAD to screw somebody who looked like she collided with an Avon truck.”

      OMG – that is sooo funny!

    • coralf says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:17 am

      You don’t wear toenail polish anymore…

      ( But not wearing make-up wasn’t an issue o_O )

    • NewChump says

      March 7, 2015 at 4:14 pm

      I was given a hard time for not wearing high heels!

  23. Ashley says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:44 am

    -I called him stupid 1 time at a party 5 years ago (which I did apologize for and never let happen again)
    -he asked my opinion on the placement of the light fixture in the shed, I told him I didn’t like it and preferred it to be in its old location
    -I got mad because we had plans and instead of doing the plans with me, he interrupted them to help an acquatinance move and I told him I felt like I was playing second fiddle to everyone else….this meant I was selfish
    -I took the loss of my best friend of 15 years too hard
    …
    Man, I beat myself up over those things for nearly 2 years because they were all true. Now I just laugh

    • 4evertrue says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:06 am

      Ashley,
      Don’t you just love the selfish projection crap? Ugh.

      Condolences on the loss of a long time friend. That’s a tough one. Peace.

  24. Amy says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:44 am

    “It’s been dead for years.”

    • Bella says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:56 am

      Oh, I got a variation of this one! “Our marriage was dead for years. I am just the coroner calling the time of death” .

      • jinx says

        April 15, 2014 at 9:48 am

        Our marriage was dead for ten years.

        • coralf says

          April 15, 2014 at 10:20 am

          Yep. This is on page one of “Cheaters 101”.

          Didn’t stop him from bringing me flowers, sending me affectionate smses and taking romantic baths with me the week before BD. I guess you have to keep the kibbles going somehow!!!

          • With Brave Wings says

            April 15, 2014 at 10:51 am

            My ex wanted another baby just 6 weeks before he started the affair. Then, after I found out about said affair, he also said “our marriage has been over for a very long time now.” Ha, but 6 weeks prior, he wanted that baby. They are masters at re writing history. Pathetic losers.

            • Nord says

              April 15, 2014 at 11:25 am

              Our marriage was crumbling for 1, 2, 4, 5 10 years. Take your pick depending on the day and the weather. Yet I heard how much he loved me every single day.

              • Datdamwuf says

                April 15, 2014 at 12:16 pm

                “Our marriage was already dead” has to be the quintessential cheater phrase, I’m sure we all heard some version of that at least once.

              • Kathy says

                April 15, 2014 at 6:06 pm

                It’s the ever changing timetable I heard too, as I’m sure so many of us have. I couldn’t keep track (and neither could he) as to how many years it was. And then I stopped caring.

              • marley says

                April 16, 2014 at 3:59 am

                I also had the “we lost the love” speech! Was news to me buddy, you used to tell me you loved me everyday! When I asked why he used to tell me he loved me he said “I was just telling you what you wanted to hear!” Bastard glad to be rid of him!!

          • It Is What It Is says

            April 17, 2014 at 9:04 am

            I got this: “you killed our love in Arizona 10 years ago so I didn’t feel married.” Giving himself permission to find love elesewhere with a double life of debauchery. So of course being the chump that I was I asked HIS forgiveness and pleaded for him to tell me what I could do to fix it. I asked him what specifically I had done to “kill our love” and he really couldn’t tell me anything. The only concrete answer he gave was that I had forced him to have a fourth child, our only daughter. Wow, I was floored because I’m pretty sure he was in on her conception plus she is the most delightful, beautiful person What a douche!!!

    • bogie says

      April 16, 2014 at 7:56 am

      Oh yeah, he hadn’t loved me for 10 years. Then when I asked “Really? since you went to [bikefest]?”

      When put that way he decided it hadn’t been 10 years, but had “been a while”. Yeah, whatever.

  25. Kammie says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:50 am

    This is the gem that I got just last week:

    “There was obviously something seriously wrong in our marriage that caused me to do it.”

    “It” being checking out of our 35 year marriage to spend two years and half our life savings on private sex chats with his online, video slut – the one that was his “girlfriend in real life.”

    Seriously wrong? As far as I knew we were still deeply in love, had an abiding respect for each other and looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together. But I’m being “hard and unforgiving” because “it was just a game and it was FUN!”

    The constant lies, the blatant disrespect, the selfishness and supreme sense of entitlement don’t feel particularly fun to me.

    • Nat1 says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:01 am

      See now this shit puts me off relatipnships for life!

    • Miss Sunshine says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:59 am

      “There was obviously something seriously wrong in our marriage that caused me to do it.”

      You DO know that half the shit that comes out of their mouth was whispered into their ear by the AP, right? And then they bring it home and drop it like it’s REALLY insightful and interesting. Because it seemed like SUCH a revelation when it was said by The One Who Can Do No Wrong.

      Idiots.

      • KarenE says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:12 am

        Yeah, my narc ex’s mistress told him the kids would be fine if I kicked him out. THAT he took seriously. So seriously he then went on to use the kids entirely to fulfill his needs, never thinking of their well-being or the consequences for them (by his own admission) for a year and a half, until they started refusing to have anything to do with him. And of course, I later find out that the OW’s kids are pretty fucked up – maybe because she cheated on their dad, leading to that divorce? Maybe because her current bf (my ex) is also a self-centered asshole?

        The stupidity is monumental.

        • Nord says

          April 15, 2014 at 11:27 am

          Final OW told ex the kids would be fine. Why? Because her father cheated on her mother and it only took her a year to get over it. Of course, she has a fucked up relationship with her parents but nope, she’s fine!

          • Still a Chump says

            April 15, 2014 at 5:58 pm

            So fine that she spreads her legs for married men. Boy, she’s just fine!

    • Diana L says

      April 15, 2014 at 6:38 pm

      “There was obviously something seriously wrong in our marriage that caused me to do it.” This is one of the weird things that comes from the way our society looks at affairs. The guy doesn’t know what’s wrong with his marriage or what made him cheat, but he’s positive that something about the marriage must be wrong because he did something bad and that can’t possibly be about him.

      • current chump says

        April 15, 2014 at 7:32 pm

        THIS. Of course it is never about them……………my stbx thinks he walks on water, is god’s gift to women, and poops in little baggies with bows…………..

  26. Bella says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:50 am

    Wow! I thought I was the only one with craptastic excuses thrown at me:
    1. Your post-partum depression affected me more than you.
    2.Your professional success makes you a bad wife. You are not the boss of me.
    3. You only care about the children and your career, your family (and his) and our friends. I get the left overs.
    4. You conned me into believing that our sex life would always be great. Now you are always tired and boring in bed (i.e. I am not into porn and super kinky sex, preferences he developed after 18 years together). And you never bothered to lose the baby weight.
    5. You painted our bedroom purple – I hate purple (I asked and he told me he didn’t care)
    6. I always make the coffee in morning for you, you never make it for me (because I am making the breakfast for everybody – and we have a freaking Kuering machine!!!!!)

    • Psyche says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:09 am

      “1. Your post-partum depression affected me more than you.”

      God almighty… Actually, all of these are unfathomably terrible. But yep, I heard several of them, too. Aren’t you glad you’re free? I know I am!

      • Bella says

        April 15, 2014 at 9:41 am

        Psyche, I am still in the process of getting rid of this douchbag, but yes, I am very glad I will soon be free. A pity I wasted almost 20 years of my life on this BS.

      • Kat says

        April 16, 2014 at 12:47 am

        “1. Your post-partum depression affected me more than you.”

        What a selfish piece of shit. Seriously.

    • Chump Lady says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:08 am

      Well when he’s the boss of him again, gosh, he can make the coffee his way.

      Keurig! ROTFLMAO!

      • With Brave Wings says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:56 am

        I asked for a Kuerig and that was me wanting to “keep up with the Joneses.” REALLY?!?!?!

        • Nord says

          April 15, 2014 at 11:29 am

          Ugh. Ex insisted we move into an upscale area that he’d been keen on for years. It wasn’t really my kind of place but decided to give it a go. When I kicked him out it was ‘And you just want to swan around like the bored rich housewife!’. Yeah, um, no.

        • kb says

          April 15, 2014 at 12:55 pm

          I actually am not a huge Kuerig fan, but STBX desperately wants one. Why, I don’t know, since I know that he’d not actually use it. I mean, it’s a kitchen thing and he does not do kitchen anything.

          However, I’ll be thrilled to take the Bona Vita and the burr grinder with me–both of which I bought–and then he can buy his own damn Kuerig and have OW make coffee for him from it!

          • TimeHeals says

            April 16, 2014 at 6:11 am

            No offense to Kuerig users, but my ex was a fan of those too, but… they make the coffee have a plastic undertone (probably the little plastic cups getting hot) kind of like how new coffee makers have similar after-tastes until they get broke in.

    • marley says

      April 16, 2014 at 4:05 am

      Bella what a selfish prick!,

      I found out about my STBXH’s affair a few weeks after giving birth and he told people that our marriage problems were due to post natal depression!! Not him having bum sex with a whore from work!!

  27. 4evertrue says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:51 am

    Verbatim, “I never would have cheated on you in the beginning but you changed.”
    Translation, I expected things like time and truth in some consistent manner instead of continued chaos and confusion, so he had to.
    I wanted a partner not a panderer.

    • Nord says

      April 15, 2014 at 11:30 am

      You weren’t supposed to grow and change and develop as a person…didn’t you know that wasn’t part of the deal? You were supposed to stay frozen in time, looking, acting, thinking and being exactly like you were in that window of falling in love. Sheesh. EVERYONE KNOWS THIS!

      • 4evertrue says

        April 15, 2014 at 12:46 pm

        Silly me. Yea, I’d lost weight and got a better job, owned my own home, loved his kids, worked at getting along with his ex. She and I actually threw the kids a b day party together shortly before d day. The girls and all their friends loved it.
        I probably should have apologized like the quackmeister said I should have done!
        (snark)

        • Kat says

          April 16, 2014 at 12:51 am

          Damn. Do you know the reason why he and his ex divorced?

          • 4evertrue says

            April 16, 2014 at 8:38 am

            Yea Kat, he’s a serial ass. The same woman that his ex caught him with twice had apparently been around the whole time we were together.
            So why be with me at all?

            • 4evertrue says

              April 16, 2014 at 8:48 am

              I started to get “crazy” thoughts of him cheating when some strange stuff started happening on the stepmom support site I was on which he knew all about. Long story short, she trolled me and after he got tossed out, never was the “new member” heard from again. Surprise!

            • Kat says

              April 16, 2014 at 3:01 pm

              Damn, I feel for you. I was a step-mom to two kids that I really loved. My ex married me and knocked me up in the middle of all sorts of nasty sexual activities so he was well aware of what he was. I think at that time he liked having someone take care of his kids and provide extra financial stability. But I also don’t understand what hell he was thinking making a baby knowing full well it would mean a larger commitment on his part in every way.

              They must be able to do this shit because they have a divided personality. They keep thinking they can get it all without having to put anything in. What they don’t realize is that you have to choose…either being married and committed with a family or being single and chasing tail. The two things don’t go together. That isn’t a failure to obtain happiness, that’s just fucking life. I don’t think they ever realize it though and continue to Jekyll and Hyde it.

              • PattyToo says

                April 16, 2014 at 8:34 pm

                The cozy home life, loving wife, kids looking up to you…..AND dirty, hidden sex no one’s supposed to ever find out about.
                They honestly think they can pull that off.
                (We aren’t that dumb)

              • Kat says

                April 16, 2014 at 9:59 pm

                Yeah, I told the idiot I’d be gone if he ever cheated. It took me a while to get proof but I told him I was leaving the day I found out. What’s so weird is that when we were first together he couldn’t lie to save his life. Boy did he become an expert at it. Lie lie lie.

  28. Susan says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:56 am

    “You don’t ski anymore!”
    “We can’t take family sport vacations!”

    How ridiculous is that after 30 years! Never mind that I have foot problems and can’t get my foot in a boot and received no credit for driving up the mountain and dropping the family at the base and picking them up when I got the call. My girls are expert skiers and I would probably still be back on the bunny slope. Now he’s gone and the kids won’t ski with him anymore, SO no more family sport vacations with his family!

  29. kimmy says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:56 am

    1. There was no passion
    2. He never wanted children – he had them because I wanted them
    3. He had to quit his hobby because of me – NOT TRUE! He quit because he couldn’t stand his brother
    4. I had sex with him even when I didn’t want it and he felt like it was a chore for me
    5. I love you but I’m not IN love with you

    Yeah! No problem. Now he can be with his whore, not see his children, have passionate sex that is ALWAYS perfect sex that they BOTH want ALL OF THE TIME!!!! Far be it for me to stand in his way of that!!!!

    • Edie says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:37 am

      Oh right. I forgot the hobby thing!

      Boo hoo that you don’t have time to play Xbox, computer games, fly sail planes & build Lego’s. You’re 50 years old and you have a house & family and responsibilities.
      Geez.
      Now some of that sometimes is fine but there was no balance.

      • TimeHeals says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:37 am

        I have all the time in the world–when I am not taking care of or walking dogs, cleaning house, shopping for groceries (etc), working in the yard or fixing something around the house, or working 50 hrs a week–for my hobbies now, and I have dedicated a good 2 hrs a week to them 🙂

        • kb says

          April 15, 2014 at 1:03 pm

          STBX was never interested in playing computer games with me, though I bought him Portal Two for some co-op. He watches youtube and television. I have to watch his shows.

          STBX has to do the chores he does. He’s always too tired to do anything else. He spends 1-1.5 hours cleaning the lower part of the house, and then another 1.5 hours mowing the lawn. Then he complains that he has to do X, Y, Z, but he has no sleep! His feet hurt! His back hurt! Oh the agony, the sacrifice!

          I could do a lot of that stuff, but if I don’t spend the 3.5 hours on the upstairs part of the house, the 2 hours per day I spend walking our high-energy dogs, and don’t forget fixing the meals–well, I’m ignoring him and goofing off.

          There’s a reason I game late at night…

  30. StayPuft says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:57 am

    I was the reason he was having trouble finishing his dissertation. (He hadn’t worked on it in three years).

    Sometimes I went to bed early.

    • Nord says

      April 15, 2014 at 11:32 am

      I sometimes went to bed early and read because I was bored with watching TV. This was a terrible crime, it never occurring to him to turn off the television and come to bed when I did.

  31. Dani says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:01 am

    Your job (law enforcement) just doesn’t jive with my lifestyle (of being a drunken asshole). Rachel (OW) really likes to have fun. You don’t like to have fun anymore.

    After we split up… his FUN landed him in jail for quite a while. And his whore… is gone with the wind. AHAHAHAHAHAHA!

    • KarenE says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:14 am

      Gotta love that karma!!

  32. MN Moved On says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:07 am

    “You won’t wear pantyhose every time we have sex. And your bras are boring colors”

    (Dude, try wearing pantyhose all day at work, ’cause I’m supporting the family, and then coming home to parent two daughters. Then tell me you’d be delighted to put them back on because I couldn’t get “in the mood” without you wearing them…..)

    Four years after D-Day, I have two drawers full of lovely lingerie and stockings that I delight in wearing WHENEVER I FREAKING CHOOSE with my awesome fiance!

    • Chump Lady says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:11 am

      Good for you MN!

      Uh, is pantyhose a kink or something? Maybe I don’t want to know…

      Pantyhose are evil.

      • MN Moved On says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:23 am

        Chump Lady, you don’t want to know….your eyeballs will be permanently seared. DO NOT Google Image search!

        Three times I had to spend hours cleaning a Trojan virus off our home computer because Big Chief Dumb Fuck had been trolling panty hose porn sites. I finally password protected the computer and forbade my girls from giving him the password.

        He bought his own laptop just before I kicked him out, and then complained when things started “acting funny.” Wanted me to fix it for him.

        Oh, hell no, buddy! Get your pantyhose-wearing Skank to fix it for you!

        • Nord says

          April 15, 2014 at 11:33 am

          Big Chief Dumb Fuck – hahahahaha. Nicking that one.

        • Kammie says

          April 15, 2014 at 12:08 pm

          Oh my gosh, I can’t tell you how many times our son (who works in IT) had to completely re-format my husband’s computer. I’m talking completely re-format at least 6-10 times!

          Oh course, it had nothing to do with the countless hours he spent on porn sites or the thousands of images he had saved to his hard drive.

          Nope, nothing at all. He is the only person in the whole universe that was somehow innocently targeted to have his computer fail over and over again.

          He would get IRATE when I wouldn’t let him even touch my computer. Go figure.

    • Kelly says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:20 am

      Yayayayayay MN! You rock 🙂

  33. chumpedtwice says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:08 am

    I heard, “I thought I was missing out on something.” Yes, asswipe, you are missing out on a few things – character, integrity, values, moral compass….

    Granted we were married young – 21 yrs old – and married for almost 29 years. Not sure why a stable environment and loving family would cause one to think they were missing out on something. You can’t make this crap up.

  34. bogie says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:10 am

    When we moved to [this state] you said we would only stay 5 years then move back to [home state]

    Those words were said 26 years ago moron, and obviously I changed my mind (not to mention that at the time I was asking if that was what he had in mind at the time we moved – not making an absolute statement)

    • Louise says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:18 am

      And it only took 21 years and a fuck buddy to figure that out! Truly can’t make up this stupid shit.

  35. Linda says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:11 am

    My husband said I deserved the betrayals and lies because I lied to him. He says that when we got married, I told him God blesses marriage. Never mind the children,etc. , he is mad because he has to work. This jerk actually expected cash! So since cash didn’t miraculously appear…I am a liar!

  36. Susan14 says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:12 am

    It felt good to be needed. Give me a fricken break!!

  37. nicolette14 says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:20 am

    My ex said ” I thought you were too good for me, I still do, I didn’t think we would last and I didn’t want to be alone.” thus trying to explain why he was cheating on me from day one for almost a decade. Since he thought I was still too good for him, that also probably meant he will still cheat in the future..SMH….

    • KitKat says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:41 pm

      Such fucked up “logic”. I got something similar – “Do you think maybe you’re just too good for me?” So yes, fuck up the good thing you have by banging your ex-porn star coworker. Of course that only lasted one day and ever since I’ve heard about the multitudes of character flaws I possess…

      • nicolette14 says

        April 16, 2014 at 8:51 pm

        yes it sure is fucked up. Yes he did fuck up a good thing, when I somewhat found out about the first OW I threw him out, there he was no where to go and ended up in company condo and was told, he cant stay there too long and of course as usual he was playing the pity play, was broke and I felt bad for him(yes I was stupid) and let him back in until he found a place that he could afford (his own family didn’t take him in, geez I wonder why? because he is a deadbeat, mooching user!)and you know what he did that still burns my ass? 10 days after I let him back in, which was valentines day, he called the 2nd OW(I didn’t know it at the time) that he had been calling for year and a half, on valentines day! while telling me he will prove himself to me that from now on, he would be honest, devoted, loyal and earn my trust back again and do whatever it takes. He plays the poor good guy role so good that he could win an Oscar! and he claimed he was trying to call his brother(plays the stupid really well too) then he had no idea who’s number that was. Obviously that one was married too because if she wasn’t he would’ve moved in with her. Its funny he was cheating because just incase we didn’t work out so he wouldn’t be alone, then why did he pick married OW’s? that doesn’t even make sense. He is a slithering snake and a master gaslighter, it was like “what, you’re going to believe me or your lying eyes?” kind of thing..

        Oh my flaws? well at first he told me my mind was going crazy, there was nothing there (gaslighting) blah blah then when I dug and found out what cheating, lying POS he is, he accused me of being self righteous, saying “you could never forget anything or forgive anyone! ” I tried to stay friends at first, because my youngest adored him but when he came around he started to steal from me left and right and who steals from a single mom?!?! Grrrr. I had enough, I went NC and the idiot thought he is all that and bag of chips (more like bag of shit!) he text me saying ” I am sorry that I hurt you so bad, you are forced to do this” he thought I went NC because I am trying to heal, no fucktard I cant stand hearing from you or stand the site of you, you make my skin crawl lying POS, that’s why I am in NC. Then tried to reason with me saying that we had something special, I will never find anyone that I will truly connect, with the way we had and I am thinking “no douchebag, the only connection we ever had was your connection to my food, my things and my money!” Connection my ass! He had more connection with the first OW than me, because she knew all about me, idiot was sharing things with her about me every fucking day for over 3 years while screwing her every chance he got!

        You know what, TRUST THEY ALL SUCK!!

  38. blue says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:22 am

    CL, I was surprised to see my armpits mentioned this morning! I have more blameshifting example (below). Keep in mind that I am in my 40s, relatively young looking (people usually think I’m 30 years old), in shape, physically attractive, work full-time and have two young children, one who is 18 months old. My XH had an affair with some 25 year old girl from another country who barely speaks English (he HAD to spend time with her in order to teach her English because she was so helpless).

    -I didn’t get manicures often enough.
    -The watch (the one I wear on my wrist) wasn’t feminine enough.
    -I didn’t dye my hair (had a few greys).
    -I didn’t lose my baby weight fast enough (younger kid was only 5 months old when affair began, so he says).
    -I didn’t cook for him enough. (When we first got married, I cooked for him a lot, but he begged me to stop because it made him feel uncomfortable and he didn’t want a “domestic” wife.)
    -I ddn’t enjoy live music because I stuffed tissue into my ears when I entered loud clubs.
    -I spent too much attention on kids and not enough on him (he TOLD me before how jealous he was of how much care and attention I spent on kids; if only I had spent that energy on him, we wouldn’t be in this mess, he says).
    -I didn’t keep apartment clean enough (when most of the clutter was HIS and his parents’ stuff).
    -Now he wanted an SAHM-type, who could devote all his attention to him, when in the past he always told me that he wanted a wife who was a career woman and he had no respect for SAHMs.
    -He said that I was too successful in my career and couldn’t help me anymore; he needed someone who needed him (the OW needed him to help her get into grad school/find a job/learn English).
    -I didn’t call him enough (when before he told me not to call him at work unless it was an emergency, because he didn’t want to be bothered at work).
    -I insisted on having a second kid because I wanted a sibling for my older child.
    -I didn’t pay enough attention to him. He frequently came home after midnight and expected that I would be waiting for him every night with a drink ready for him. Meanwhile I had to get up early in the morning to get the kids ready for school/daycare, not to mention that I was waking up a couple of times per night to breastfeed.
    -He didn’t think I would care for him in his old age based on my “inconsiderate” and “selfish” behavior and not paying enough him attention to him now.
    -I argued with his parents and sister. XH insisted that his parents live with us to “help” take care of the kids. All I got were criticisms from his parents and sister, about how I wasn’t a good enough wife because I didn’t wash the dishes properly, didn’t pick up XH’s socks, didn’t cook him the proper foods, didn’t keep the floors clean, sent my child to camp (not sure what else he is supposed to do in the summer while I work), didn’t pay him enough attention, didn’t show him enough “consideration” and “care,” because XH needs someone to “care” for him as he can’t take care of himself (he’s in his mid-40s). The only person who could take proper care of him apparently is his mother (and childless older sister). Now his parents are apparently living with him so they have him all to himself.
    -I spent too much time with my family. I would take the kids to my parents’ house on the weekends because XH was either working or sleeping most of the weekends and frankly was mostly in a crabby mood (mostly about work) and would snap at me, sometimes yelling, if something didn’t go his way, blaming me. He never went to son’s baseball games on the weekends–either working or sleeping. XH said son was too close to my mom, who was a “bad influence” because she “spoiled” him.
    -I never initiated sex with him or tried to seduce him.
    -I didn’t wear sexy lingerie to bed.
    -He kept on saying he was turning 50 soon and life was too short and he didn’t want to live with any regrets. He even forwarded me an email announcing the sudden death of a colleague around his age, saying, see?
    -He said his commute to work was too long and too hard on him (which apparently was my fault because I wanted to live in the city where we are currently living), which is why he needed to rent his own apartment downtown, 7 miles away, in the same city (this was when he told me he was moving out, but before D-day).
    -He said he couldn’t relax and concentrate at home if the kids were awake or the baby was crying or if there were the kids’ toys/books on the floor. Once XH got mad that son had broken the tray to the printer and told me, “See? This wouldn’t happen if I lived alone.”
    -He said he just wanted his own place where he could cook himself gourmet meals.
    -He told me that his second wife would be an SAHM, so she could look after the kids, and it would be great for me, because then I wouldn’t have to worry about a nanny (as the kids would be with someone I could trust), and I could concentrate on my career and of course visit the kids after work whenever I wanted.
    -When he came to visit me years ago, I didn’t meet him at the airport, but made him take the train by himself.
    -We couldn’t take romantic vacations alone because we had kids and it was too difficult to find someone to care for them. But he never even suggested this, and he apparently took OW on some vacation trips.

    I probably have more, but have to go back to work now. 😉

    • LiningUpDucks says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:30 am

      I bet you do have more. So many blameshifts, it’s hard to remember them all. I hear you.

      Got quite a few of these also. “-I didn’t cook for him enough. (When we first got married, I cooked for him a lot, but he begged me to stop because it made him feel uncomfortable and he didn’t want a “domestic” wife.)” This! My ex complained if I *did* cook, and also if I *didn’t* cook. It was a no-win.

    • donwit says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:34 am

      I got a lot of those too – yeah, I didn’t ‘need’ him, I forgot about that one and I didn’t deserve my job, because he worked hard, and I didn’t as far as he could see (holding down a part time job, working at home full time)

      I wish his fuck buddy girlfriend all the best in the world with him 🙂

    • Louise says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:52 am

      Because we want nothing more than to entrust our children’s care to someone chosen by a lying, cheating bastard. Boggles the mind. My children were mostly grown when the shit hit the fan, but I would have LOVED to see them together in a room with the OW. It would have been a WWF cage fight between a pack of lions and a “church mouse.” Just the thought of it brings a smile to my face.

    • Chump Lady says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:14 am

      Hairy armpits AND he had to take the train? Blue, you monster!

      • blue says

        April 15, 2014 at 12:42 pm

        Yes, the horrible sins I’ve committed! On the flip side, if this is the best XH can come up with, perhaps I wasn’t so bad after all. 😉

        • Chump in the Sand says

          April 15, 2014 at 5:19 pm

          blue, do you realize if you show up to a chump get-together, people are going to want to search your armpits now?

          • blue says

            April 15, 2014 at 7:08 pm

            oh, dear. how embarrassing!

        • NorthernLight says

          April 18, 2014 at 9:49 pm

          blue, that is a great way to look at it. I will do that with the list my ex gave me. (They are all pretty weird reasons, like most of the reasons shared in these comments!)

    • DeltaGirl65 says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:01 pm

      “He told me that his second wife would be an SAHM, so she could look after the kids, and it would be great for me, because then I wouldn’t have to worry about a nanny (as the kids would be with someone I could trust), and I could concentrate on my career and of course visit the kids after work whenever I wanted.”

      Still LMAO at this one!!!!!!!!! Your ex is a piece of work.
      I remember after my ex had moved out (leaving me with a newborn and a toddler and a fulltime job, etc.) and he was trying to convince me what a great mom OW is and how she was going to be great to my kids. How kids came first for her (of course, they did. Her now x-husband had made it possible for her to be a SAHM and she wasn’t out having to earn a living). I remember telling x, “since I’ve had to give up my housekeeper in order to cut expenses, the least you could do is send OW over to clean my house.” He didn’t think that was too funny. Fast forward a few years: My x lost his biz, OW had to go to work (as a low-paid sales clerk as she could not get a professional job. Guess who her only professional reference was — ME!!!!! Her former boss!) She was so pissed that she had to go to work after her dreams of being a rich professional’s wife. And guess who was trapped at home (actually, they live in her mother’s home) for three years taking care of HER children and being her housemaid, cook, kids chauffer — my X!!!!!!

      • cheaterssuck says

        April 15, 2014 at 1:54 pm

        I love it when the karma gods get these jerks!! That is the. best. story.ever!

      • Chumpalicious says

        April 15, 2014 at 1:56 pm

        That is the best one I have EVER heard. A little karma’s a beautiful thing; a lot of Karma is glorious.

        There’s a lot of sacrifice involved in being a professional’s wife. My ex hasn’t fallen so low, but being the mistress was a lot more fun, I’ll bet.

      • Chump Lady says

        April 15, 2014 at 2:29 pm

        That’s some beautiful karma right there, Delta. Just WOW.

        And gee, you didn’t want to give her a job reference? ;-D

        • DeltaGirl65 says

          April 16, 2014 at 1:16 pm

          Oh I WANTED to all right. I even told my X, “Now you be SURE to tell OW to list me as a Job Reference.” I simply can’t imagine why she never took me up on it.

  39. notyou says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:24 am

    My X was not creative enough to devise any excuses that weren’t totally trite or transparent…..like the old standby, “We grew apart.” (Ah, no! You blasted us apart!)

    So looking elsewhere, one of the most creatively stupid ones I found was………………….

    ……… the “Patriotism Excuse”…..a la Newt Gingrich.

    “There’s no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate,” Gingrich told the Christian Broadcast Network when the question of the affair he had during his last marriage came up.

    See? They don’t always blame shift onto the spouse…well..unless he expected Mrs. Gingrich to be wearing a red, white, and blue, star-spangled thong complete with a twat pouch of real fireworks to set off at the ultimate moment. (Nothing like crotch burns and pubic gunpowder residue to liven up the old sex life, eh?)

    • LovedaJackass says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:30 am

      I love the passive voice sentence construction–“things happened in my life,” as if these clowns didn’t make choices.

      • notyou says

        April 15, 2014 at 9:45 am

        Yeah…passivity is the name and infidelity is the game, but I’m still chuckling over the mental image of an “Americana Butt-Flosser Line” for Victoria’s Secrets 😉

      • Chump Lady says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:15 am

        Exactly, I was just going to point that out. Always the passive voice. Things happened. Mistakes were made.

        No pronouns — no responsibility!

        • DeltaGirl65 says

          April 15, 2014 at 12:04 pm

          My x’s favorite excuse when asked if he had paid the mortgage or whatever other responsible thing he had promised to do:

          “It didn’t happen.”

          • Datdamwuf says

            April 15, 2014 at 12:28 pm

            Well Gingrich couldn’t blame it on his wife in public, didn’t she have cancer? or some other life threatening issue? I forget because he cheated on two wives in his public career and I get them confused.

            • Diana L says

              April 15, 2014 at 6:46 pm

              The first one had cancer, the second had MS and was supposed to avoid stress.

              They both got better, though. It was creepy of him to leave them, but they may have been better off without him.

        • Nord says

          April 15, 2014 at 12:56 pm

          I once went through a phase with the ex where I refused to use any pronouns in our correspondence. It took forever to craft an email but it was worth it. So much fun to make it sound alien-like.

          • Kelly says

            April 15, 2014 at 7:01 pm

            Oh I like that, Nord, I will try it the next time I have to exchange email with ex.

    • Nord says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:55 pm

      ‘Twat pouch’. Loving this thread tonight. 🙂

  40. LovedaJackass says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:25 am

    I wasn’t married to the cheater–just in what he said was a “forever” committed relationship including major financial commitments. Until he said, immediately after his friend’s younger sister got in touch with him, “I’m living a new life…I need time…I’ve got to make changes….” But he didn’t see fit to return several thousand dollars I had put in what was supposed to be “our” new business account, and so never got around to telling me the temporary move he made to help his parents was permanent. He wanted a new life and the money and the secret FB relationship (at minimum) with the OW. He still won’t even admit that it was a relationship, although there are those FB screenshots…He won’t even talk about the mess he left me with because I “accused” him of being unfaithful and “she is just —–‘s sister.” And you needed a secret (from me) FB account with only her as a friend for what reason, when she lives 5 minutes away on foot? So it’s all my fault for being upset that he disengaged from the relationship, which made him disengage more, and then for asking about the FB relationship, which was “intolerable.” And meanwhile, she has a husband and three kids.

    • Nord says

      April 15, 2014 at 1:16 pm

      Just sit back and watch it play out. Should be amusing as hell.

      • Drew says

        April 15, 2014 at 11:31 pm

        Nord, you are one witty chick! Your comments are so to the point brilliant! Hands and arms up above head bowing at waist. Truly laughing tonight!

  41. ThatGirl says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:26 am

    I only got two – he figured out pretty quick that blameshifting wouldn’t work, so he then went to the patented “I don’t know”.

    But here they are:

    I don’t like his friends. Yes, all 3 of them that he hardly saw or talked to. I could count one one hand without using all my fingers how many times I laid eyes on these friends.

    We don’t have enough sex. Hmmm, I agreed with this one and pointed out that I was the one who verbally complained on multiple occasions about our lack of sex, and it was he who liked to fall asleep eating chips on the couch and not come to bed until 3am. I mean really, how long is a girl supposed to wait around wearing thigh high boots? (Yes I actually did this – don’t 2X4 me to death).

    • Chump Lady says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:17 am

      Being sexually rejected sucks. Sorry ThatGirl.

      Oh and hey, you didn’t cheat.

      • current chump says

        April 15, 2014 at 7:45 pm

        This was one of the worst mindfucks for me out of my soon to be divorce. I can’t tell you how many times that bastard turned me down, rejected me, with-held sex for the dumbest reasons AFTER we got married. It killed my self-esteem & spirit. Especially since I have always had a VERY high sex drive. It was like a bait & switch nightmare. After almost 15 years of this I find out he has had a secret porn & hooker addiction all along?! WTF?! I really hate him to say the least. What a monumental waste of a big part of my life.
        I never cheated & I had always had my fair share of offers-even now……and I didn’t cheat.

        • KitKat says

          April 15, 2014 at 9:56 pm

          I’m right with you on this one. I also had the higher sex drive and for 15 years tried everything to spice it up to get him interested but was constantly turned down. When he was sick a few years back and had some ED issues, I was very patient and compassionate because I knew it was hurting his ego. So yeah, it felt great when he told me a few weeks ago “We’ve always had a terrible sex life. You said so yourself!”

          • Current chump says

            April 15, 2014 at 11:00 pm

            I know Kit-it really sucks. If only I would have known-hell, I could have worn a wig & charged him for sex if it would have gotten me laid in my marriage!! Just kidding………what a creep. I still can’t believe how gross my stbx is at 45 paying for 18 & 19 year old hookers. The truth is that I met my husband when I was 27-so I was already too old for him then!!!!

            • Current chump says

              April 15, 2014 at 11:05 pm

              One more thing Kit-my husband had a lot of “E.D.” Issues too but as it turns out it is also a symptom of porn addiction. Poor little sausage can’t function unless it’s by his own hand as he’s hiding out somewhere in secret watching teenager porn or paying for service from a barely legal hooker. Nice, huh

              • FoolMeTwice says

                April 15, 2014 at 11:15 pm

                This is all sounding eerily familiar. The number it does on your self-esteem and identity is just bad, bad news.

            • blue says

              April 16, 2014 at 8:20 am

              yeah, my XH had ED issues as well. turned out he couldn’t get it up unless he was watching transsexual porn.

      • ThatGirl says

        April 17, 2014 at 7:39 am

        Thanks CL!

        Yeah funny isn’t I didn’t feel compelled to run out and find some strange? Never crossed my mind. Instead I just got excited about those stupid sale emails from Fredricks to see what else I could try.

        An on a side note, ladies never fall asleep in thigh high boots. Your feet will hurt, and peeling the imitation leather down your legs is not a fun way to start your day.

    • Scoops says

      April 16, 2014 at 7:25 am

      He’s an idiot. If I had a wife that was upstairs with thigh high boots waiting for me… Id run up the steps.

  42. Akko says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:28 am

    “We never go out anymore” even though HE was the one that cancelled all our date nights, saying he was too busy with work. (He wasn’t, he was just f*cking a girl FROM work *rolls eyes*) Even when we went out before, I would always end up paying for everything because he would be “between jobs” or was saving up for a surprise. (I never saw a surprise, unless the surprise was “Surprise! I’m cheating on you!”)

    Oh, and on D-Day, he said “I still want to be able to go to a rave and drop ecstasy and have sex with a girl while we’re both high.” WOW. I’m sorry, I thought this kind of thought process would’ve died back in HIGH SCHOOL and COLLEGE but I guess not!

  43. donwit says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:30 am

    One of mine’s excuses was I wouldn’t allow him to continue buying more toys – I’m talking the $5,000 kind – not a $100 toy….yes, deciding that I didn’t want debt and I wanted savings was one of the ‘many’ deciding factors…oh and I didn’t want the honking ranch that cost $3,000,000 out of the city and I didn’t want…..and the list goes on. I made him feel fat (never said a word about his weight gain), I was fat (I weigh about 110 lbs and am 5’2″ – 5’3″), I didn’t give him enough attention, I wouldn’t cook the meals he wanted just so, I didn’t drink (I get headaches from alcohol, but never said you can’t drink), I didn’t appreciate the fact he wanted to go out with his girlfriend for dinner or concerts – which really made him wonder about my commitment to our relationship (WTF?), and yes, the list goes on…..oh and our son? well that was a problem too, because well, I couldn’t pay all my attention to him, because I focused on our child too much… and really, was this his son anyhow? how did he know for sure…ok venting done.

    • Psyche says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:20 pm

      “I didn’t appreciate the fact he wanted to go out with his girlfriend for dinner or concerts – which really made him wonder about my commitment to our relationship (WTF?)”

      HAHAHAHAHA!!! Seriously, folks, these excuses are mind-blowing…

      • Psyche says

        April 15, 2014 at 12:21 pm

        though the one about not being his son was just completely, unbelievably cruel…

        • donwit says

          April 15, 2014 at 9:46 pm

          Yeah, he’s a prize. When I offered up a DNA test right away, he backed off and yeah, how horrible of me not to understand about his going out with his girlfriend. I am a horrible monster 🙂

    • Nord says

      April 15, 2014 at 1:21 pm

      Weird, don wit. After ex and I moved in together I suggested he join me on my savings account, with both of us putting money into it for the future. I’ve always been a saver and he has never been. My suggestion was met with an attitude like I was trying to control him. I wasn’t, I was just thinking long-term. So I kept my savings and all through our many years together I always invested, had a savings and always had a stash of cash around the house, which bailed us out a few times when he fucked up.

      Today, I have an excellent savings, he saves nothing, and he is no longer employed, while I, the SAHM for nearly a decade, is working my ass off to get ahead.

      I’m kind of laughing because he has a very young final OW who seems to be bankrolling a lot of things for him. Actually, I’m really laughing because I*m putting my financial life back together while his falls apart. And final OW has him under much more of a close eye than I ever did so I figure his life kind of sucks, particularly since she doesn’t cook, something he apparently ‘jokes’ about regularly (his passive aggressive way of saying ‘cook for me, bitch’).

      My advice is sit back and watch how their fucked up ways don’t fly in the long run.

  44. Chumpalicious says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:31 am

    “You didn’t respect me” (translation: you don’t oooo and ahhh over every soundbite that comes out of my mouth as if it were a deep insight only a super advanced intellect could have)

    “I projected my need for my father’s approval (SAY WHAT?!!) on to you and that was wrong”

    ……oh go mindfuck yourself……

  45. Bella says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:34 am

    Holy cow, blue! Did we marry the same jerk? I got all but 4 of the items you posted above. And although I didn’t get the armpit one, I was told I wasn’t sexy enough b/c I wouldn’t get a full brazilian wax (his preference). I also was told that he had implied he was unhappy all along, I just wasn’t listening!! So he had to cheat, so I would finally pay attention to “his pain” and how broken he is (because I broke him).

    • MN Moved On says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:44 am

      Oh, lord, yes! I just remembered the Great Pubic Hair War when I refused to submit to a full Brazilian wax just because he wanted to see what it felt like!!!

      Then YOU go do it, not me!

      • Chumpalicious says

        April 15, 2014 at 9:52 am

        “You first” would have been my reply. Plus, get your chest and back hair waxed off.

        One time I had a wax job (legs) at a spa and the technician spent the whole time telling me stories about doing men. You’re not going to be surprised to hear they’re uniformly wusses, are you?

        • Chump in the Sand says

          April 15, 2014 at 5:24 pm

          How ’bout a “crack, sack and back” wax?

          • Chumpalicious says

            April 15, 2014 at 7:09 pm

            there we go……

          • current chump says

            April 15, 2014 at 7:47 pm

            Lovin’ the “CSB” wax comment!

    • kimmy says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:44 pm

      Trust me when I tell ya………..going brazillian doesn’t insure that he won’t cheat!!! I did and he still found other reasons!!!!!

      But now……someone else can benefit from my brazillian wax!!! Yay!

    • blue says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:52 pm

      Bella, I got the Brazilian wax excuse, too. Forgot to mention that one!

      • Nord says

        April 15, 2014 at 1:24 pm

        It’s fun to go hair-free here and there and it can be sexy but as a requirement? No. I am not into looking like I did before I hit puberty on a regular basis. I am slightly thankful ex never had any hangup about this, although we did have fun when I divested myself of hair for a bit of a change up.

        • Michelle says

          April 15, 2014 at 10:15 pm

          I had been getting Brazilian waxes every 2-3 weeks for 6 years (god forbid there was a hair) and had a boob job (his insistence) and he still cheated! It made no difference.

          Except the shocker is the OW was flat chested when the affair started but then had the same boob job by my plastic surgeon. Oh and if I had had kids he insisted I get a C section so I remained ” tight” and thought i could have a tummy tuck on the operating table ( you know after I gave birth) bc god forbid my stomach not be flat. His OW is pregnant now I wonder if he will be so strict with her level of perfection! Hahaha.

          • Nord says

            April 16, 2014 at 7:41 am

            SEriously? He insisted on a surgical procedure to keep you ‘tight’? What an absolute shallow asshole. I’m literally shocked.

            • Michelle says

              April 16, 2014 at 5:54 pm

              Oh he was/is a prize. The idea that I remain “tight” was towards the end so really nothing was shocking anymore. Now that we are divorcing, I feel like an innocent man being freed from death row.

              • nicolette14 says

                April 16, 2014 at 6:05 pm

                oh my, your STBX is a piece of work..maybe after the baby is born (since they don’t do C-sections on demand) he can have a surgery to increase his size…just a thought…you know…then again if he was so worried about keeping you tight that he might not have much down there to work with 😉

  46. Edie says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:35 am

    Oh man this stuff is good. Anything to justify…

    1. your tone of voice when I said things. Yep. Apparently I was mad all the time.
    2. I’m not spontaneous
    3. I didn’t clean enough
    4. I didn’t lose weight
    5. I wasn’t adventurous
    6. I wouldn’t get a full time job

    Now here’s the thing… aside from #4 all of those things existed when we met. I didn’t suddenly stop taking risks. I have always been a more cautious person.
    My tone of voice? Huh I WONDER why I’m pissed but no, let’s blame me instead of wondering WHY I sound the way I sound!!

    Full time job. Oh sure it’s ok for me to figure out every single child care activity issue, do the errands, cooking & cleaning while I work full time, too. SUre. I’ll get right on that.
    Funny thing is..now I HAVE to work more and still figure crap out. Gah! 😉

    Like CL I was told he was turning 50 (in a few days) and didn’t want to live his life like this anymore.
    What? And here I thought things were going “ok” recently.

  47. Connie says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:54 am

    Your grown children don’t like me.

  48. nicolette14 says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:57 am

    here is another one; “she was relentless (1st OW) and wouldn’t let up and I let my old habits get the best of me and ruin/tarnish the purest, truest love I have ever known, I am sorry, I never meant for any of this.”

    Next it would be that she raped him over and over for 3 years lol! What about the others?
    Geez old habits? Serial cheating and lying that is.. I guess his old habits were never old, WOOF WOOF!!

    • Nord says

      April 15, 2014 at 1:33 pm

      ‘I never meant for this to happen’. yeah, well, what? What did you not mean to happen? The numerous flings? the final OW? The bomb thrown into my life and our children’s lives? These folks say some seriously stupid stuff that sort of sounds nice until you actually listen to it.

      • nicolette14 says

        April 16, 2014 at 5:40 pm

        The truth is they never meant to get caught!

  49. Mehphista says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:57 am

    “You never showed me enough respect”

    • Chumpalicious says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:15 am

      Yep. I instructed my daughter: If you ever hear this line, you will KNOW there is another woman somewhere who has given him this funny idea of what “respect” is. Like bj(s) in parked cars. “Respect”

      To this very day, even with a baby that was born 6 months before the divorce was final, the ex still says it was all about how I didn’t respect him.

      REAL MEN don’t need pats on the head (either one) in order to live their lives.

      • Scotty says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:24 am

        That is just the ultimate in projection. If you were so disrespectful, how come YOU were the faithful one?

        • Chumpalicious says

          April 15, 2014 at 10:38 am

          Thank you, Scotty.

          Daughter is getting married soon. Ex is so deep into the “you didn’t respect me” delusion, that he wants me to be sure to sit down with daughter and explain to her how important “respect” is to men. Even when they’re not acting respectable, I guess.

          I asked him what he would do to future son-in-law if he ever caught him cheating on our daughter. Haven’t heard back on that one yet. Probably has to ask the Owife for his opinion.

          • Kathy says

            April 15, 2014 at 10:30 pm

            My Ex said that he wouldn’t have a problem if a future son-in-law cheated, or if our daughter had an affair with a married man . Sooooo messed up in his thinking.

            And the OW constantly tells him, and everyone she comes in contact with, how disrespectful his kids are to him (though he’s yet to show an ounce of respect to them or me! But I guess that’s ok).

            Yep, Scotty you are So right !!

      • nicolette14 says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:59 am

        my ex also said “what man in his right mind would turn down bj(s) in a car in a parking lot?” my answer ” a man who has character, who is decent with integrity, morals, a good man who loves and respects his woman and loyal.” which obviously he has none of those qualities and just from his answer tells me, if there was another opportunity he wouldn’t hesitate for one second to act on it. Pathetic, disgusting loser!

  50. jodes says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:00 am

    “I didn’t think you loved me anymore.”

    Read: you spent too much time with the kids and volunteering and doing everything at home, and when I came home at random times and offered to give you some attention (sex) you didn’t jump at the chance! Wtf? Why didn’t you jump?

    “I can’t think here (with me and the kids) I need to sort my head out.”

    Read: you’re demanding that I be a grown up and I don’t want to. I want to go screw the whore around the corner and do what I want when I want to, and be a teenager, AND EAT CAKE DAMMIT!

    • Edie says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:07 am

      Oh yeah, now that it’s here I’ve decided it’s all too much for me.
      I want to be a kid w/ no responsibilities and do whatever I want w/o you nagging at me.

  51. Nain says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:01 am

    I met my husband when I was 15. I am now 61. High school sweet hearts and I was “crazy in crush” with him but we broke up as often as we were “together”. Went our separate ways in college – got back together junior year of undergrad. Guess who had just dumped him? Sorority chick from his school. Didn’t know about her until he started getting grumpier and more miserable than he had ever been in spite of my cheery spackle and agreement to support him in his own business ventures with my salary and benefits as a teacher during our 36 year marriage.

    Then I found a text that he had been thinking of her. Clam shell tightlipped misery ensued and how dare I even ask if there was someone else? Although she’s still married for 30 years, she gives him the high sign that she’s ready and off he goes. 4 beautiful granddaughters don’t matter. Son to be married doesn’t matter, adult daughter moving home to be within a mile of our age in place house doesn’t matter. “I just realized family is not that important, there’s too much else I want to do.”

    She’s married to a fella who “can’t take care of her”. She needs to be happy. Her husband calls me and lets me know that my husband had stalked said sorority chick OW to reconnect by roaming her old high school halls and finding yearbooks to look her up asking random people on said high school’s soccer fields if they knew her married name. He blames himself for not giving her everything she ever wanted and acknowledges a drinking issue.

    My narcissist told me after he walked out leaving no forwarding address, he didn’t want a divorce – just a legal separation. Cake with frosting PILED HIGH. Could we please just take a piece of paper to a notary and work that part out? And if you DON’T cooperate, I’ll take your pension. These threats coming as I find out about bank accounts, loans, funny financing and the ability to spend $40,000 a year on fun with her.

    I filed immediately but he won’t divorce me after 2 1/2 years of stalling – won’t provide info – I file motions to compel, motions for sanctions as I seek equitable distribution of considerable assets. He’s hired lawyer #3 who looks and behaves EXACTLY like his hypochondriac mother.

    And do you want to know WHY he needed to get out, go live a new life, be free of me?
    As they say, “wait for it”….. I went to our high school prom with someone else…

    • Datdamwuf says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:38 pm

      OMG, that is seriously a fucked up excuse. What I don’t get is how you aren’t divorced yet. WTF is he doing that could hold it up for 2.5 years?

      • Nord says

        April 15, 2014 at 1:36 pm

        And how can he stop the divorce from going through? Fuck that noise. Get your lawyer to PUSH HARD and make it happen.

        • Chrissybob says

          April 15, 2014 at 3:56 pm

          That’s crazy! In Oregon if they are served and they don’t respond then you get divorced by default judgement.

    • Louise says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:24 pm

      I have no words, except that is seriously fucked up! We have a winner…and a loser. What an asshole.

      • Kathy says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:32 pm

        Wow !!! No words, he’s a soulless ass.

    • nwrain says

      April 16, 2014 at 7:39 am

      So sorry! What a….can’t think of a foul enough word for it. “Family not that important?” Strange how you discover an NPD type is so tenuously connected to what we assume are strong family bonds.

      • NorthernLight says

        April 18, 2014 at 10:13 pm

        Exactly this: “Strange how you discover an NPD type is so tenuously connected to what we assume are strong family bonds.” It’s mind-blowing…

    • bogie says

      April 16, 2014 at 8:03 am

      Wow, 40+ years later he is holding a grudge about going to the prom with someone else? That is one tiny mind if he can’t think of anything better than that!

  52. HappyEverAfter says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:03 am

    Because I didn’t spend enough time in the garden with him.

    • 4evertrue says

      April 15, 2014 at 11:59 am

      Can we plant him there now?

      • Drew says

        April 15, 2014 at 11:42 pm

        Funny! Lol

  53. Jasper says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:06 am

    “She’s everything you’re not…she’s short, she likes heavy metal, she likes bars and drinks beer, and (his emphasis) SHE has a full time job!”

    Sounds like a fine, fine woman to me!

    • nic says

      April 16, 2014 at 2:25 pm

      I’m so sorry, this had me laughing – I think he’s with my h’s ow. Is she also a married mother who “really Nic, she helps people.”? What in the sam hill? Fine woman indeed!

  54. Chump-no-more says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:11 am

    “There’s just no…spark…”

    Yes, that’s what she said. Lame.

    • This Chump medicated for your protection says

      April 16, 2014 at 8:10 am

      Chump-no-more…
      Your right…
      She’s lame !

      Her letting OM jizz on her sparker doused that flame!

    • NorthernLight says

      April 18, 2014 at 10:16 pm

      Mine left for a “spark” he felt with the OW.

  55. ANR says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:15 am

    When I stopped wanting sex with you, you didn’t seem to mind enough,

    • With Brave Wings says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:32 pm

      C’mon now! I heard that one too. It’s true though, I didn’t mind because he treated me so poorly that I was not at all connected to him on any level. However, I still never ever cheated on him.

      • ANR says

        April 16, 2014 at 10:25 am

        Same with me WIW.

        • ANR says

          April 16, 2014 at 10:27 am

          WBW, rather.

    • kb says

      April 15, 2014 at 1:10 pm

      When he stopped the sex, I knew he was getting it from somewhere, and I had a good idea from where. I didn’t want the STDs that the OW had probably picked up from innumerable 1-night stands. Honestly, she spread her legs for anyone who’d buy her a drink–and she drinks lots!

      • Nord says

        April 15, 2014 at 1:39 pm

        Hey now, nothing wrong with enjoying a cocktail now and again!

  56. chumptacular says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:17 am

    After 20 years of giving him the porn-style sex he demanded anytime he wanted it, I was told that it was the “little things” the OW did like hold his hand or rub his back. This in spite of the fact that he would pull away any time I would do anything of the sort and was scolded anytime I was looking for anything that resembled intimacy (a kiss, touch or kind words) because he suffered from PTSD and “You know I’m not capable of that”.

    • 4evertrue says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:30 pm

      There’s a hockey saying from announcer Mike Lange, “Well scratch my back with a hack saw!” For some reason it just popped onto my head. Imagery is fun.

      • LovedaJackass says

        April 15, 2014 at 1:31 pm

        4evertrue, Penguins fan here, as well.

        • 4evertrue says

          April 15, 2014 at 2:11 pm

          Love it Loved! He’s a gem! Get Sam a beer and get his dog one too!

          • Scotty says

            April 15, 2014 at 2:34 pm

            Well call Arnold Slick from Turtle Crick, GO PENS 🙂

            • 4evertrue says

              April 15, 2014 at 3:27 pm

              “Smilin’ like a butchers dog!” Go Pens!

    • Chrissybob says

      April 15, 2014 at 3:58 pm

      Man, this. I wasn’t affectionate enough but anytime I tried to lean in for a kiss he’d jog just lightly the other way or I’d go to touch his face and he’d do the same thing – germs you know. Finally I just stopped. I’d still hug all the time but that was conveniently forgotten.

  57. bostonirisher says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:18 am

    He said that I was boring and fat.
    I guess that he did not look in the mirror much, but alas he did hog the mirror, but must have been imagining he was Jon Hamm!

    • Roslyn says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:49 am

      Ha! I was overweight, out of shape and on a glide path to retirement. I did need to lose about 15 lbs., but I was not obese. I lost 20 lbs. real quick when he moved out, though. And I guess because I was not wracked with angst about turning 50 (like he was) that was a crime.

      The best one, though, was that I made too many potatoes. I actually made them maybe once a month because I knew they weren’t his favorite. After he moved out I ate baked potatoes with sour cream, baked potatoes with broccoli and cheese, baked potatoes with bacon, etc., etc. It was great.

      • ReDefiningMe says

        April 15, 2014 at 12:51 pm

        Roslyn,

        My ex had a wicked aversion to onions. After he left, I think I bought and cooked with about 5 pounds of onions every week. Dick.

        • Nord says

          April 15, 2014 at 1:43 pm

          Here’s a weird one: ex rarely cooked when we were together and if he did he had 3 or 4 standard dishes (two of which sucked but I would choke down with a smile – to show him how much I ‘appreciated’ this massive effort of cooking every few months). Well, final OW isn’t much of a cook, so ex seemingly spends his time trying to re-create all my recipes (I’m a damned fine cook, btw) whilst dropping major hints to final ow about wanting to ‘come home to a fully cooked meal’.

          Poor thing will never taste my food again. Nor will anyone in his family. They LOVED my cooking and one of my treats at their birthdays was to cook them their favourite dishes (of mine)…dishes no one else knows how to make because I developed them myself.

          I do still cook them for my kids and apparently there is much consternation when my kids mention this to the various ex inlaws (and ex). 🙂

          • 4evertrue says

            April 15, 2014 at 2:15 pm

            Revenge is a dish best NOT served at all. Sweet.

          • NorthernLight says

            April 18, 2014 at 10:22 pm

            That’s great, Nord! My ex once said something about how he would maybe need to look for a recipe for (one of the extremely unusual/specific dishes I make). This was early on after dday, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to give him my recipe for the OW to make for him!

        • Drew says

          April 15, 2014 at 11:46 pm

          That’s cause he would have needed a heart! Onions are good for our hearts.

      • Chrissybob says

        April 15, 2014 at 3:59 pm

        AHAHAHAHHA!!! Baked Potatoes for days……………….

  58. SeeTheLight says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:22 am

    My cheater’s excuses were just a reflection of his fantastical sense of entitlement because they were so banal:

    The stress at work (cue Wolf of Wall Street – he was a stock broker)

    I was bored (his only interests: golf, gambling, physical fitness, screwing around- if he couldn’t do one because of weather or other logistics, he felt entitled to do one of the others – they seem to be interchangeable as hobbies)

    I deserved it: “it was my birthday, I made a big commission, I moved my bowels….”

    In the end, all signs pointed to what CL has said about the cheater’s “crap life skills.”

    • Lyn says

      April 15, 2014 at 1:21 pm

      Yeah, “crap life skills” kind of says it all.

  59. Lee Ann says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:22 am

    Well, I could never get him to admit to the first cheat even though I had a million bajillion emails that he and she had traded, among them cyber sex and lots of references to the times they were together. The 2nd time he at first denied the hotel bill I found indicating that he and she had met 1/2 way between their jobs to “do” the deed. He insisted that he paid for a room for a brother of a friend of his who was down on his luck and needed a place to stay for the night. It was just a weird coincidence where it was located. Later, he told me that if I hadn’t signed him up for Facebook he wouldn’t have been found by his old girlfriend so therefore, it was my fault that he cheated. I guess I should be grateful that at least this time, he admitted to cheating on me.

  60. Nat says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:22 am

    He wanted me to lose weight for him and said that the reason he was losing weight himself was for me (I never asked him to do that plus I thought he was losing too much of it). Now I know that the real reason he was working out was to impress OW.

    He said we were not a couple and that we should do more things together…but he just became more and more distant and did not make himself available to that because he was spending his time with OW.

    The day he asked for divorce he just said he didn’t love me or was attracted to me. Which was honest but dang, it still hurt.

    • Drew says

      April 16, 2014 at 12:13 am

      Hat, a good man would love you. My ex said that too. He wasn’t attracted to me because I’d gained weight. Funny how your body responds to “something doesn’t quite make sense here” A narc is always looking for the next thrill and they say this crap to keep you from looking too closely at what they are doing. They are not looking for decent. So his opinion Doesn’t mean anything. What makes people attractive is their joy for life, their honesty, integrity, and sense of humor. Their resilience. Their ability to change. To do good things. I suspect these traits were largely absent in our spouses. Not at first but as time progressed. I work with infants and each and every one of them is beautiful. Fat, bald, fussy. Each has a quality that makes him/her special and I believe each has a gift to share with the world. I suspect Chumps have a lot more in common with babies and blessings than Narcs ever will.

      • Drew says

        April 16, 2014 at 12:25 am

        Nat! iPad correct

    • current chump says

      April 16, 2014 at 4:03 pm

      Nat-Just know that you are beautiful & if you wanted to lose weight for yourself then you do it for yourself. By the way, you probably lost a quick 175 when you divorced that cheater right? 🙂

      It didn’t matter if your ex lost a bunch of weight-he was an awful person on the inside. My stbx was constantly trying to convince me that I could get back down to 125 pounds but would need to get my tits done…..cuz don’t ya know he likes those barely legal porn stars and my having 2 c-sections in 1 year& half and breastfeeding our son ruined me for him.

      These days, me & my imperfect breasts, and adorable 4 yr old are setting up for a new, cheater free life while my bald, 45 yr old stbx is running around paying for sex, tanning, taking steroids, doing the full monty shave/wax crap, and trying to furiously work out to find his future 3rd ex-wife. Blech! Meh or bust here!

      • nicolette14 says

        April 16, 2014 at 4:38 pm

        well your fucktard STBX can suck it! not your boobs that is. Your boobs are sexual and functional, they were working boobs to feed your child. SOB should’ve been grateful that you gave your son a gift, his own mothers milk and he complained about that because it ruined your breasts for him? Wow talk about a selfish POS pig! enough said..

  61. Champ, not Chump! says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:25 am

    Blameshifting? Well, he’d have to admit he cheated, right? LOL…

    The blameshifting he did while trying to get me to reconcile (read: feed him more cake) involved swearing to high heaven that he “DID NOT HAVE A PROFILE ON MATCH.” They screwed up, some mix-up!

    Dude, I saw it. I watched it go “online now.” Did Match do that? Did Match take your profile offline, then invisible as soon as you got my email saying I’m done? Did Match change your screenname, your profile content and add another photo (of you)?

    Later, while he stalked me relentlessly, he just stopped mentioning the cheating altogether. If he doesn’t acknowledge, it didn’t happen, I guess. Poor sausage; he’s one of the ones who needs a home base while he cheats, and it went away, stayed NC, and found someone else.

  62. Elyse says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:27 am

    My husband tol me that ne of the reasons he cheated on me was because I would come home from work at night and clean the house!!

    • With Brave Wings says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:37 am

      Yep, heard that too. Who else was going to do it? Certainly not him, ha!

      • Lunachick says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:39 am

        I got something similar. He didn’t like that when he came home from work I said “your dinner is in the microwave to keep warm” instead of dropping everything and kissing him every night. Delusional!

        Hope he’s enjoying his Six Dollar Burger for the 545th time.

        • Nord says

          April 15, 2014 at 1:52 pm

          Oh yes, I didn’t run to the door and smooch him when he came home. Why? Because his return was unpredictable and usually when one of the following were going on:

          1. In the middle of cooking dinner
          2. In the middle of cooking dinner while supervising homework
          3. In the middle of cooking dinner while supervising homework and attending to chores
          4. In the middle of cooking dinner while supervising homework and attending to chores and moderating an argument between the kids.

          And you know what? I could have dropped everything, run to the door and given him a big old smack on the lips. Except he didn’t really want that. And maybe he could have run to me once in awhile and shown he was happy to be home?

          Gah…

          • Lunachick says

            April 15, 2014 at 6:44 pm

            Exactly! They’re full of shit!

          • nicolette14 says

            April 17, 2014 at 8:03 am

            Nord,

            I did run to the door and smooched him everyday, it didn’t matter. The fact was after getting a bj in a car he was coming home and acted like he was really happy to see me, hugging me tight and returning my kiss. These are just excuses and justifications. No matter what you do you cant win. They will cheat regardless because that’s who they are.

          • NorthernLight says

            April 18, 2014 at 10:27 pm

            I went to the door too to welcome him when he came home…. it didn’t matter.

    • bogie says

      April 16, 2014 at 8:05 am

      Oh my – you didn’t let the bugs and rats take over? How unthoughtful of you 🙂

  63. AllaLie says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:32 am

    Heard a lot of the more normal ones like some listed above. I also heard:

    1. I held a grudge against you for the last 15 years and can never trust you again. (You know, he would never tell me what it was, so I have no idea! Not like I ever cheated on him or anything!).
    2. You manipulated me into having our kids (um, no, I warned you it might not be a “safe” time and YOU chose to, um, you know, without being careful).

    But the two that made me think he was crazy or the aliens had come and taken him were:

    1. I didn’t wash the walls (actually that’s not true, I have at least once.. LOL). and….
    2. I didn’t hem curtains. (Yep, I mentioned this before.. it’s not 1940 anymore……).

    • Drew says

      April 16, 2014 at 12:37 am

      I manipulated my ex into marrying and having children. Not one child, not two, but THREE! And into buying me stuff. Like the promise ring when we were twenty. Lol…and building a custom home on 20 acres and getting pets( more responsibilities you know) and paying for our children to go to college. All NOT what he wanted. Then GET off the TRAIN. Give him his disordered fuck and life with OW. So happy for ME! Now she gets to tell him how to live. Starting with, “divorce your WIFE…..” When the sex gets old and it will he will be on to something, anything, new.

  64. With Brave Wings says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:35 am

    “you spend too much time on your phone” (said while on the couch watching TV)

    Wait a minute, I would work all day (just like him), pick up the baby from daycare, give her a bath, put her to bed, and THEN get about 5 minutes to myself! And, you know what I was looking at on my phone most of the time….Pinterest. Family, kid, home life pins to make our life at home more fun because family always came first to me!

  65. Lunachick says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:37 am

    He cheated on me because I didn’t like movies, I didn’t want to have kids (although he always told me he didn’t want them so him wanting them immediately was news to me), I was too independent and I didn’t touch him enough (he actually counted how many times I touched him on a given day).

    Sorry asshole, it’s tough to give you affection when you sit in a chair and play video games all day long.

  66. Chumpapalazoo says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:38 am

    I don’t cook and clean often !!! Lol any of my friends can come to the house and see it’s clean.. And I do make dinners,I have kids!! Also at Counceling he told counceler complaining about my job, that I dont get retirement and that I could have bettered myself!!! What an ass!!!!

    • Lunachick says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:40 am

      I got the opposite, I got “I never cared about you making me dinner every night, I don’t care about food as much as you do.”

      Both are total asses though! Unreal!

    • Chumpalicious says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:45 am

      Pardon — but could you please pick another moniker? Chumpalicious is taken.

      • Wow 33 says

        April 15, 2014 at 2:23 pm

        So sorry I did not look to see if somebody had that name:-( I will change to something else:-)

        • Chump Lady says

          April 15, 2014 at 2:36 pm

          For this post I changed it to Chumpapalooza — but Wow 33 works too. Sorry everyone, this is one limitation of WordPress that sucks — it doesn’t flag comment name redundancies.

        • Chumpalicious says

          April 15, 2014 at 5:27 pm

          Thanks. It freaked me out there a bit to scroll backward and see something I didn’t remember writing……

          • Kelly says

            April 15, 2014 at 7:12 pm

            Hahaha, like a bad night with too much red wine!

            • Drew says

              April 16, 2014 at 12:39 am

              Or a good night with too much wine!

    • Datdamwuf says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:45 pm

      Can you change the name? we already have a Chumpalicious, please create a new account. It sucks that WordPress doesn’t flag dupe account names.

  67. Current chump says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:41 am

    He tried to say that I gained weight before we got married, the garage and/or my closet was a mess (the garage is his shit & why does he care if my closet is a mess?) he deserves his privacy (WTF-your married you asshole!!) The hits just keep on coming!!

    The best one was when I caught him at the Asian Massage Parlor (cough, hooker palace) he said that he knew I wouldn’t be ok with it but went anyways…………..
    And then, (wait for it) He was angry with me because I violated his trust by using the find my iPhone app to catch him there

    When I told him it was over he proceeded to tell me that I was going to ruin our 4 year olds life.

    Total disordered fucking wing nut! Can’t wait till it’s finally over

  68. Cas says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:41 am

    It’s unbelievable how many of these I’ve heard, particularly the “no win” ones where I’m simultaneously too fat and too skinny, pay too much and too little attention to the kids, and spend too much time at work then I’m a lazy, TV-watching, bonbon eating SAHM.

    The only one I have to add is that he said he needed to have affairs because he was fat as a child. I have never, ever nagged him about his weight. But previous girlfriends and the OW have ha ha ha.

  69. Flowerlady says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:41 am

    I got a lot of lame reasons and rationalizations following D-day. A fair amount of that involved blameshifting, and most of it was absurd. This is one that stands out in my memory:

    “You always put wooden-handled utensils in the dishwasher”

    • Chumpalicious says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:56 am

      CL — I vote FlowerLady for the win. That really is a pretty stupid blameshift.

      • Datdamwuf says

        April 15, 2014 at 12:49 pm

        that is more creative than “you never clean the baseboards”

    • Nord says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:02 pm

      I’m going to have to say that you shouldn’t put wood in the dishwasher but I wouldn’t cheat on you for it. 😉

    • bogie says

      April 16, 2014 at 8:10 am

      Wooden-handled utensils in the dishwasher??? Do they get wetter in there than laying in a sink full of water?

      Okay, I know a guy that goes ballistic because his wife washes the cast iron skillet with soap and water (I do too, then oil it – but my take is if he cares so much then he should clean it). BUT he hasn’t used this as an excuse to cheat so I gotta give him some credit!

      • Datdamwuf says

        April 16, 2014 at 12:14 pm

        if the iron is properly seasoned a mild soap won’t harm it so long as you dry it immediately.

    • NorthernLight says

      April 18, 2014 at 10:35 pm

      I am so glad you shared this one. Just…wow.

  70. AC_ says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:42 am

    I got:

    * You are trivial (I got a PhD, I read, I have a job, I have a conversation, interests outside of work, have lived in two different countries, but I am trivial?? – his APs tend to be people with no conversation!!)
    * You don’t walk as much as I want you to (OK, so I got bad knees and I can’t run around in the hills, but I still go hiking – not like he hikes every weekend, he doesn’t really).
    * I got cheated on before (so it’s someone else’s fault).

  71. NMchump says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:43 am

    “I like to drink wine with my dinner but you don’t like wine” and “I like coffee and you don’t”. But I didn’t drink wine or coffee 20 years ago when he told me he would love me forever.

  72. SingleAndFree says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:47 am

    I had a conversation with my STBX and he was starting to complain about his relationship with his current GF. It was then he took it upon himself to inform me that if, perhaps, we discovered my “G Spot” it would have helped our marriage survive.

  73. Edie says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:50 am

    I love how you hear WE violated THEIR privacy.
    Um…how about how WE were violated!

    • Lyn says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:54 pm

      When I discovered my ex’s journal and read about what was really going on with him (in love with coworker) he told me it made him pretty damn mad that I’d get into his private stuff. I immediately shot back “It makes me pretty damn mad you’re in love with another woman.” He had no comeback to that.

      • Chrissybob says

        April 15, 2014 at 4:26 pm

        Oh my god – I got this – when I found the box of all his mementos from her or activities with her- I violated his privacy is what he said. Yet where did I find this box of his things – in MY garage! Shit it wasn’t like I went tearing through his car or something explicitly his – he stored those things in my HOUSE!!! I through it all awayl.

  74. PattyToo says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:53 am

    There’s a back story one of my crazy blameshifts, the one that felt the worst!
    When I was 18, I got a scholarship, for four yrs, to a really great University. My parents were right in the middle of a heart-breaking divorce, and everyone was falling apart. In my devastated mind I thought ‘I can’t go to school, fuck it, I ‘ll just give it back’.
    I actually ended up moving East with my sister and Mom, so she could get away from X and start over. But, all my life, I knew I made a mistake, and wanted to fix that.
    When I went to college in my forties, it was a big deal, and it was so hard. X- husband felt so neglected, I had to study all the time!
    He started his affair in MY LAST MONTH OF MY LAST SEMESTER. It still makes my blood boil! He told me- “i was always alone, you were so busy, and I got lonely”. (Enter crazy neighbor with lazy morals).
    This still stuns me, every time I think about it.

    • 4evertrue says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:25 pm

      Please tell us you finished. Hope you are doing well. That’s awesome and very hard to do, being a “non-traditional college student”.
      Patty Too, he must have been so very jealous of your intelligence, motivation and perseverance. They are child men. If we don’t play the game the exact way they want they just take the ball and go home.

      • PattyToo says

        April 15, 2014 at 1:26 pm

        I finished, got a 95 on my xray license exam, and then played Pick Me for three years! Left him last November on my birthday. It was a whirlwind, but we Chumps survive somehow. Thanks for caring! I can see now, he must have been threatened by my success, but why? I always built him up, and led the cheers for everything HE did.
        Like they say- what a waste.

        • 4evertrue says

          April 15, 2014 at 3:36 pm

          Awesome. And what a wonderful birthday gift to yourself. Independence.
          Well done.

      • PattyToo says

        April 15, 2014 at 1:32 pm

        Oh, and I just remembered, he used to ‘joke’ that he would love to keep me pregnant and barefoot, chained to the stove.

        • NorthernLight says

          April 18, 2014 at 10:38 pm

          My ex joked about taming me.

    • Nord says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:07 pm

      PattyToo, what an asshole your ex is. You are finally doing something for yourself and he chooses this exact moment to fuck up your life massively? Reminds me of ex, who chose to amp up his serial cheating to a full-blown love affair right at the moment when the kids were going through a lot of bullshit, I was struggling and we really needed him like we had never needed him before. After I discovered the final OW the rest was revealed: years of affairs and flings. But it was still all my fault – or at least partly. As he said, during one argument ‘what about what you did?’. What did I do? I didn’t pay enough attention to him. Why didn’t I put my full and 100% attention on him 100% of the time? Because my kids had been through a lot of stuff in the preceding years (long story, most of it due to ex and his choices that impacted the family) and they needed me. But I was still there for him full on but it wasn’t enough.

      So in the end it all came down to him wanting a relationship like his parents had/have. Which would have meant me being even more of a doormat. No. Thank. You.

  75. Wastedheart says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:54 am

    He just wanted attention! He has no one to talk to all day (while I work more than full time, he’s blissfully “retired” and the toddler is in full time day care)! He’s “helping” these women and they are getting more out of their illicit relationships than he is (translation: I did these gals a big favor by letting them blow me). I watch tv with our daughter IN OUR BED before putting her to bed at night (I heard that one at least 20 times after DDay). He HAD to tell his morbidly obese lover that he was thinking of her while in the hot tub or she would POUT ABOUT HURT FEELINGS, DAMMIT! Plus, he had to fuck her one last time bf our wedding (it wasn’t the last of course) because she was PESTERING him! When his brother was teasing me that my husband paid all sorts of contractors to do chores he could do himself, I replied that I didn’t care, as long as I come home to a happy husband every night (see, anyone would understand that I was issuing license to cheat by that statement….. ). Uggh. I could go on forever, but they really are the same.

  76. notyou says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:56 am

    While hilarious, this excuse may be closer to the truth than most! 😉

    Flip Wilson as “Geraldine” in, “The Devil Made Me Do It!”

    • Maree says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:10 pm

      Brilliant not you. We absolutely loved Flip Wilson in our home when I was growing up. They don’t make them like that any more. Very funny indeed.

  77. river says

    April 15, 2014 at 11:00 am

    “I was so stressed out, and the dog was always barking.” – river’s XH, a couple weeks after dday.

    • kimmy says

      April 15, 2014 at 11:47 am

      Really?????? THE DOG!!!!??????? Omg! It’s an original excuse if nothing else!

      • river says

        April 15, 2014 at 4:58 pm

        Yeah, it baffled me when he said it. Later, he told me he was diagnosed with Aspergers, so maybe in his mind the dog barking really played a part in his emotional undoing…?? Gah?

  78. Jasper says

    April 15, 2014 at 11:01 am

    “She’s everything you’re not – she’s short, she likes heavy metal, she goes to bars and she drinks beer. And SHE (his emphasis) has a full time job.”

    Later on I was told it was because I wouldn’t let him play golf. Bear in mind he didn’t play golf the entire time we were married. As a matter of fact, he’d tell me golf was a stupid game. I guess her affinity for little balls whetted his desire.

  79. Nord says

    April 15, 2014 at 11:05 am

    You never asked me what was wrong. Ok, you asked once.

    Apparently volunteering that something was wrong was too much for the special snowflake – although something must have been wrong for many years because he was cheating for a long, long time.

    • bogie says

      April 16, 2014 at 8:16 am

      I something similar “You never asked if I was happy.” So if I had asked, you would have told me the truth? Like you didn’t tell me the truth when you said you loved me twice a day, every day until the day you told me you hadn’t loved me for years?

      My retort was that I couldn’t ask if he was happy every couple of weeks for 28 year, because then I would have been nagging him and that would have made him unhappy!

      Oh, and by the way, he never asked me until DDay (his attempt to get me to start the breakup instead of him).

  80. Cletus says

    April 15, 2014 at 11:15 am

    “You were too kid centric and you settled for being a college professor”….Really? Well somebody had to take care of the kids while she pursued her career as a part-time shop girl in a boutique, a part time Zumba instructor, and part-time Advocare distributor…HOLY SHIT reading this makes me realize what a dumbass I married!!! … Meh you are glorious!

    • Kelly says

      April 15, 2014 at 11:56 am

      Cletus, you cared too much for YOUR KIDS?? You “settled” for being a COLLEGE PROFESSOR? How the hell is that “settling”? And this coming from a part-time clerk and Zumba instructor? Jeez these people suck. And they’re dumb. Just sayin’…

    • Nord says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:15 pm

      You settled for being a college professor? You are horrible! How could you settle for an esteemed position that garners respect and is based on intelligence, hard work and perseverance!

    • Nord says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:17 pm

      And yeah, the further away you get the more you kick yourself for realising you married a dumb ass. My therapist even told me once (she had met ex a number of times in early therapy/spackling mode) that she didn’t understand how I was with him for so long. She got the sexual tension but basically I was ten times as intelligent as he was and she couldn’t understand why I would want him for a mate. Quite the eye-opener.

      • Lyn says

        April 15, 2014 at 7:30 pm

        My counselor told me I stayed in the relationship much longer than most people would have.

        • Nord says

          April 16, 2014 at 7:28 am

          Mine did as well.

    • zyx321 says

      April 16, 2014 at 9:33 pm

      My exH told me it was _MY_ fault he settled for being a college professor.

      Um, no. You never told me it was not what you wanted…plus, I encouraged the new profession (where he met the OWife)

  81. Rose says

    April 15, 2014 at 11:24 am

    Breastfeeding. He said he finds it disgusting and he’s afraid milk will squirt in his face if he touches my boob. Then he actually said “moo.”

    • Nain says

      April 15, 2014 at 11:33 am

      Ahhh – this too – he was a dairy farmer when we first married – no money AT ALL – I nursed the 3 children – my boobs got too small – that’s why he made a pass at my sister in law – he’s a breast man dontcha know?? : )

      • Chump Lady says

        April 15, 2014 at 11:36 am

        He was a DAIRY FARMER and he didn’t like BREASTFEEDING? He surrounds himself ALL DAY with LACTATING BOVINES and is grossed out at what BREASTS DO?!

        • Nain says

          April 15, 2014 at 1:28 pm

          Yeah – I know words like staunchion and double herringbone parlor and first calf heifer. I can expound on the difference between alfalfa and timothy hay and why a hayride is not a hayride at all but a strawride instead. Cows don’t know when its Christmas and they need to be milked 2x/day 365. And that’s what we did. And learning all of that and CARING about it entitled me to, honest to goodness, right hand to the creator, a roll of duct tape and a 10 pound bag of birdseed one year for my Christmas present. Because that’s what he could lift from the Agway on his way home, last minute.

          But now dontcha know, “Don’t call me a FARMER – I’m an ag businessman”!!!!
          Oh golly, he’s an “entre-manure” who can afford to set up a business for my son (who now won’t speak to me cuz it’ll mean RUINATION for him and his dad IF the master makes him settle) Nowadays, he dazzles his chippy with diamonds, drinks the finest wines and demands that I meekly fold my tent because, “nobody tells me what to do”.

          BUT –

          “You wanna hear God laugh??? Tell him your plans” – My fav line from the absolutely wonderful AMAZING, most adorable, sweet and snort out my nose, make me laugh funny widower in my life. He’s mine, I’m his and we’re HAPPY. And Tracy, you have NEVER been more right when you state that when it’s really good, it’s just that wonderful – not work at all. I am blessed! : )

          • Chump Lady says

            April 15, 2014 at 2:42 pm

            Nain! I am so happy for you! I write about farming (in another life), so I have a passing acquaintance with dairy farming. Can’t your ex fall into a manure pit or something?

            Birdseed and ducktape… what a charmer. Divorce master and dairies — you in Pennsylvania?

            • Nain says

              April 15, 2014 at 3:54 pm

              yes, yes indeed : )

              • Kelly says

                April 15, 2014 at 7:33 pm

                So happy for you Nain!

              • Drew says

                April 16, 2014 at 12:54 am

                I think what bothers us most about these gifts is that there is so little thought behind them. I bet if he had loved you, bird seed and duck tape would have worked. Breast feeding is the best way to nurture infants. Nutrition, health benefits, and bonding! Bet those kids are smart!

    • Chump Lady says

      April 15, 2014 at 11:37 am

      Rose, you wonder what the result would be if he got one of his nuts caught in a breast pump. All that suction power, vice grip…

  82. Jayne says

    April 15, 2014 at 11:33 am

    Hi all! Haven’t mailed for a while – busy, busy busy! Happy birthday to me – happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear me- ee – happy birthday to me 😀

    Now on topic:

    ‘I had to cheat for an ego boost when my umpteenth nose job didn’t work’.

    • Chump Lady says

      April 15, 2014 at 11:40 am

      Happy birthday! 🙂

    • Kelly says

      April 15, 2014 at 11:56 am

      Happy birthday Jayne!

      • Datdamwuf says

        April 15, 2014 at 12:54 pm

        Merry Birthday Jayne, and many more 🙂

        • Jayne says

          April 15, 2014 at 1:04 pm

          Thanks Datdamwuf – merry, hippy, hoppu birfday to me too (see previous vodka reference :-D) …. anyone know why there isn’t a ‘sozzled’ emoticon available?

          • Chump in the Sand says

            April 15, 2014 at 5:35 pm

            Bone fayte! Good to see you again!

      • Jayne says

        April 15, 2014 at 12:55 pm

        Thank you CL and Kelly 😀 quietly sozzled on vodka and coke – going to spend the rest of the eve with my good girlfriend. Have a good one everybody 😀

    • Nord says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:18 pm

      Happy happy!!!

    • bogie says

      April 16, 2014 at 8:18 am

      Happy Birthday – a bit belated but just as heartfelt!

  83. Andrea says

    April 15, 2014 at 11:38 am

    I don’t love you because you get angry with our son.

  84. Jayne says

    April 15, 2014 at 11:39 am

    When I queried the ego-boost thing – given I was constantly telling him he was gorgeous and hung the moon, he said; ‘you’re too nice, I couldn’t trust you were telling me the truth when you said my nose looked fine’! (It did – he just wanted to hang a plumb weight from his forehead and get straight to within a nano-centimetre – if such exists and if it doesn’t I know a man who could define it’s parameters!).

    • Scotty says

      April 15, 2014 at 11:48 am

      The constant ego-stroking and validation required to placate a true narcissist is effing EXHAUSTING.

      Great thread. It sure feels like Tuesday to me 🙂

      • 4evertrue says

        April 15, 2014 at 12:50 pm

      • 4evertrue says

        April 15, 2014 at 12:52 pm

        Sorry. That was supposed to be a smiley face, Happy Tuesday. that is all…..

      • Jayne says

        April 15, 2014 at 12:58 pm

        Scotty – I’d be amazed if the said Nark could find anyone so awesome at ego-stroking and validating as I was – sad thing is – I believed it myself at the time – what a waste of good-loving!

  85. Dodged Bullet says

    April 15, 2014 at 11:48 am

    Nain, your story really touched me, and hope you are doing well now. The asshole never deserved you…

  86. Nicole says

    April 15, 2014 at 11:58 am

    Let’ssss seeeee….
    –I didn’t like to play golf (gee…what with two kids and a full time job and a house to tend to with no help, I just didn’t get a thrill from spending 1/2 of every weekend on a golf course while the laundry continued to multiply like a rabbit)
    –I “nagged” him about getting a job after yet another of his business ventures went under (no comment needed)
    –I wasn’t supportive of him during his business bankruptcy (because I was scared shitless we were going to lose our house that I paid for with my inheritance and I was working two jobs and I was at a loss as to how to do more in the 24 hours a day I was allotted!?)
    –I talked too much (I am a social person…will never apologize for having a personality!)
    –My family problems were too much for him (my mother had just almost died from surgery complications when he announced he was leaving…he was upset that I had spent a lot of time visiting her in the hospital between working two jobs and that he had had to pick up some of the slack at home with the kids)
    –He had never really loved me (that one really did hurt…all the rest were bullshit and I can laugh them off, but not this….)

    • Lyn says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:50 pm

      Mine told me we never had anything in common but the kids. We were together 36 years but we had nothing in common but a family and shared history.

      • LovedaJackass says

        April 15, 2014 at 1:48 pm

        if he were any more shallow, he would be a sinkhole.

        • Drew says

          April 16, 2014 at 1:12 am

          Yes so TRUE. It took me a long time to really know my ex was shallow. I should have paid attention to the girls he dated, they were pretty but were not known to have any opinions of their own. He really spent the last ten years of our marriage compartmentalizing. He had all these different lives. He hung out with a small group of guys at the fitness club and out of five marriages four have gone bust in that all were cheaters. The fifth guy just talks crap about his marriage and his ill behaved children. Doesn’t help his wife though. I see a lot of common traits though. My ex sparkled. Middle aged. Spent a lot of time at work, or the club. Was worried about dying. Had trouble communicating. Passive aggressive. Controlling. Intimacy challenged. Selfish.

  87. Still a chump says

    April 15, 2014 at 11:59 am

    I am having an affair because you don’t like my family.

    • Chump Lady says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:43 pm

      I’m sure they really LOVE him now. Idiot!

  88. Char says

    April 15, 2014 at 12:03 pm

    I received the standard adolescent diatribe (you don’t like my friends, no fatties, please, don’t judge me no matter what my behavior) but the BEST I ever got in blame shifting was the following: “You don’t shop any more like you used to – it’s no fun to go shopping because you won’t buy anything.”

    Now – mind you- in the last year of our marriage I was slowly scraping the sparkle and spackle from my view of him….and had fast learned that he’d put us into enormous, bone crushing debt. In order to avoid more and stop any additional hemorrhaging, I pretty much stopped shopping for any clothing personally. And that bothered him the most – that I wasn’t fun to go “spend” with. That remains the funniest and most bizarre reason he gave in the litany of bizarre and bad reasons for ruining our life and family.

    • Nord says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:26 pm

      Isn’t it odd? In the last year or two of my marriage I stopped speckling (mostly) and got very realistic. I considered this a good thing and saw it as us getting into a deeper place. It seems it scared the living crap out of ex because it meant he would have to be, you know, REAL. So after years of fucking around the final OW was ‘the real deal’..despite the fact that he was fucking around with others whilst fucking around with her.

      She’s with him now and is clingy as fuck. I did do her the favour of letting her know exactly how much he ‘loved’ her, as in ‘girly girl, you were not the only one, not by a long shot’, mainly because she was an absolute twat towards me. And continues to be, for reasons I will never comprehend, since I told her very early on ‘He’s all yours. Good luck. Snicker’. :=)

  89. Telo says

    April 15, 2014 at 12:06 pm

    “You are too accommodating.”

    • ANR says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:27 pm

      I got that too

      • Telo says

        April 15, 2014 at 12:46 pm

        You have my sympathy, ANR.

        Now I’m with a wonderful spouse who accommodates and loves to be accommodated.

        • Chump Lady says

          April 16, 2014 at 10:10 am

          🙂 Yea Telo!

  90. carrie says

    April 15, 2014 at 12:16 pm

    My stbx told me that one of the reasons he is involved with his married gf is that the kids leave the bathroom messy. This is the same bathroom he uses and showers in daily when he is here. He has never cleaned it or asked that the kids clean it up.

    He also stated that his married gf “is a really good person” and that no one likes him here anymore. Sometimes he sounds like a 5 y/o talking. Maybe the married gf keeps a cleaner house?

    • Chumpalicious says

      April 15, 2014 at 1:13 pm

      My ex spent so much time dissing my housecleaning skills that the Owife is now paranoid to have so much as a thumbtack out of place. (ex called her a Neatness Nazi to my son!) My kids had cats and dogs as welcome indoor companions and keeping up with the hair was a problem, I admit.

      Now, the luv child is old enough to want a pet, and they got rid of the dogs when they bought the fancy new house. What did they get him? BEES. They don’t poop, they don’t shed, and they stay outside. Not very cuddly though.

      • PattyToo says

        April 15, 2014 at 3:23 pm

        That poor child! Two cheaters for parents, and when he asks for a pet, he gets a beehive? Hoo boy, too, too funny, and sad too!

        • Chumpalicious says

          April 15, 2014 at 5:23 pm

          You know you might be a little bit obsessive when you won’t let your kid have a nice clean indoor pet like an ant farm or sea monkeys.

  91. debdenchis says

    April 15, 2014 at 12:17 pm

    He told me he cheated because I was sad all the time and depressed after my father died. My mother had already passed away, so it was my only remaining parent and I was having to clean out their home. His first affair was because I had my first child.

    • Lyn says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:48 pm

      That was pretty selfish of you to be sad after your parent died.

      • Nord says

        April 15, 2014 at 2:29 pm

        And when she had a child and perhaps put a lot of attention on that child? Selfish, selfish, selfish. I can totally see why he cheated. It all makes sense as I read this thread. We’re all terrible and at fault! They are special bunnies who were just not getting what they needed, despite never mentioning anything they needed. I really need to brush up on my mind-reading skills for my next relationship.

      • ANR says

        April 16, 2014 at 10:49 am

        You should have done what my wife did after her mother died — started an affair with your boss.

  92. Eilonwy says

    April 15, 2014 at 12:18 pm

    Mine actually made a numbered list (it extends beyond a hundred) of all my failures. At first I was shocked and hurt. Then I was scared–who keeps a list of every perceived flaw in a spouse? Then I was just flat out insulted. Now, I can just see it for what it is–a detailed deposition of his own insanity. Even if every item on it were true, the fact that I “failed” as a wife because we ran out of soy sauce one night when he wanted it says a lot more about him than me.

    If I weren’t concerned about maintaining some anonymity (I’ve got kids to protect), I’d enter it all in here so that some of you could run it through the narcissist translator for me.

    • Cletus says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:31 pm

      Your husband sounds like he is a little OCD…OCD about being as perfect and as complete an asshole as anyone can be!…good to be rid of that fuckwit!

    • Lyn says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:47 pm

      That reminds me of my ex taking the first of every letter in the alphabet and listing a word that represented what he loved about OW.

      • Wastedheart says

        April 16, 2014 at 4:02 am

        What could it possibly read?

        Ass-bleached
        Blowjobs behind the Cracker Barrel
        Communicative (at least via SMS, i-chats and personal pics)
        Doggie-style!
        Electrolosized lady-parts
        Fetish-accepting
        Gropetastic
        HIV-free (she swears, so t must be true)
        Ink atop her ass-crack (YOU are crass and judgmental to call it a tramp-stamp)
        etc etc etc

        • Lyn says

          April 16, 2014 at 9:02 pm

          Thanks for making me laugh out loud!!!

          • Wastedheart says

            April 17, 2014 at 8:20 am

            😉

    • Edie says

      April 15, 2014 at 1:18 pm

      Ok this makes a lot more sense hearing it from someone else.
      THANK YOU!
      stbx also had lists that I’ve seen.
      Funny, all of my lists about him were positive…keeping negative lists to remind yourself of things DOES say more about them than us.

      *passes the soy sauce so that embarrassing situation NEVER happens again* 😉

      • Nord says

        April 15, 2014 at 2:32 pm

        Now I’m reminded that when I get home from this biz trip I need to buy soy sauce. And table salt. Thank goodness Ex isn’t around to see my poorly housekeeping skills. 🙂

    • Nord says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:31 pm

      Eilonwy, I understand about not wanting to reveal too much. I want to protect my privacy as well but sometimes….I need to spill. 🙂

      • Bella says

        April 15, 2014 at 4:23 pm

        Oh, I had forgotten about the lists! My STBX kept a secret list for a WHOLE FREAKING YEAR of the all the times I asked for his opinion of something and then didn’t follow what he had suggested (ranged from “should I wear this dress to our friend’s wedding” to “should we invest in this or that fund for my 401k” to “do you think I should order chicken or pasta”) – he says he didn’t feel cared for and respected and cherished because many times I didn’t follow his opinion

        • Nicole says

          April 16, 2014 at 11:29 am

          Yes!! My Ex had a secret list to that he presented to me right before he announced he was moving out. He had cataloged every single minute of my day for several months – when I left for work – how many hours I was at the office (deducting an hour for lunch) – how much time I spent cooking dinner or picking up take out – how much time spent on laundry and cleaning and yardwork, etc. – how much time I spend “tending” to our children (dr. appointments, sports events) – how much time I spent reading (my only leisure activity) and even how long I slept each night. I was so shocked that it took me months to realize how incredibly creepy it was for him to do this. He stated that he created the list to show that he was actually spending more time on work and “house work” than me each day. I think he created it as some sort of sick OCD/control mechanism to quiet his inner demons.

    • Kelly says

      April 15, 2014 at 7:39 pm

      “Now, I can just see it for what it is–a detailed deposition of his own insanity.”

      You’re a smart cookie, Eilowny, that line made me scoff out loud!

    • Gypsy57 says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:19 pm

      My ex didn’t say too much about my ‘flaws’. He got so far as to mention a handful of things before I interrupted him by saying, “Go ahead. Bring it on. Tell me everything you don’t like about me. I’ll sit here patiently and listen, no matter how long it takes.

      And when you’re finished, it’ll be *MY* turn to give you *MY* laundry list of YOUR faults.

      And I can guarantee *MY* list will be 10 TIMES LONGER than yours.

      Do you REALLY want to go there?”

      I think he blinked once before changing the subject. 🙂

      G.

    • Drew says

      April 16, 2014 at 1:17 am

      It is ALL ON THEM.

  93. MJD says

    April 15, 2014 at 12:23 pm

    “The house we bought terrified me.”

    • Chump Lady says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:47 pm

      I hope he/she got it in the divorce.

      • MJD says

        April 15, 2014 at 4:54 pm

        HA ! I did. 🙂

  94. Eilonwy says

    April 15, 2014 at 12:30 pm

    The best blameshifting I’ve heard comes from a friend. My friend Mindy had three children with her husband of nearly 20 years. Then Mindy’s husband, John, had an affair with another married mother of three.

    John left Mindy to be with his new honey. The honey left her husband and kids. The cheaters moved to Canada.

    Mindy asked John how he could do this to their family.

    John replied, “She was willing to leave her kids to be with me. You’ve never loved me that much.”

    Mindy was dumbfounded . . . “You want me to abandon our kids and run away with you to prove I love you? How does that even make sense. They are our children–yours and mine.”

    John said, “You would if you love me, but you don’t love me enough to leave them behind and move to another country.”

    And he was right. Mindy did not love the stupid jackass enough to abandon their three kids (two of them still in elementary school) and leave the country.

    But there is a happy ending ! John’s new honey returned to her own chump-husband after a year. Mindy did not take John back. Mindy has a lovely widower as a new husband. He’s a gem and they deserve each other.

    • Lyn says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:44 pm

      That is hysterical! What a moron!

      • With Brave Wings says

        April 15, 2014 at 4:18 pm

        I laughed out loud! Thanks Eilonwy.

    • This Chump medicated for your protection says

      April 16, 2014 at 8:41 am

      Mindy gets my vote !!!

    • Chump Lady says

      April 16, 2014 at 10:12 am

      John wandered into a snow bank and perished.

  95. Shadowfire says

    April 15, 2014 at 12:41 pm

    “I decided I wasn’t married so it wasn’t cheating.”

    That one still has me going ‘huh?’ but at least now it’s true-he’s not married anymore 😉

    • Chrissybob says

      April 15, 2014 at 4:38 pm

      I got that too – in his mind the marriage was over so it wasn’t cheating. And same for me – he’s not married anymore – thanks to me and now I have a lovely MAN that i’m seeing –

      • nicolette14 says

        April 16, 2014 at 9:50 pm

        geez why weren’t you informed that the marriage was over? another bullshit excuse!

    • Marcie says

      April 15, 2014 at 7:46 pm

      like that Steve Martin movie, “I break with thee, I break with thee, I break with thee. Then I throw dog poop on your shoes.”

    • zyx321 says

      April 16, 2014 at 9:39 pm

      ExH told our then 12 yr old daughter that the marriage was long over (the inference being he did not cheat….)

  96. Lyn says

    April 15, 2014 at 12:43 pm

    My husband had horses and his whole life was focused on them, even his job involves teaching about horses and the horse industry. Anyway, I like horses but they aren’t more important to me than PEOPLE (like they were to my ex). Anyway, I’d been helping him shovel out stalls in the evenings so it didn’t take him so long. When he announced he didn’t want to be married any more he said “You’re just shoveling stalls because of me, not because you LOVE horses.” Now, most people would be touched their wives were willing to shovel crap to prove you loved them, but NOOOOO, not him. I was supposed to LOVE HORSES MORE THAN HIM! Turns out OW and him shared an obsession with horses, with which I could not compete.

    • Chumpalicious says

      April 15, 2014 at 12:56 pm

      There were horses involved with my cheater too. We raised a couple of young mares of cutting/cow horse stock from babies. One turned into a lazy kids horse, but the other, my, she was catty. He trained her and used to say “God! I LOVE THIS MARE!” every time he rode her. Until he up and sold her for no apparent reason, and started using this blockhead mare that was given to him (reject). Come to find out the catty mare was SHORTER, that the OW’s mare. LOL, maybe she didn’t “respect” him like he liked either. All in all, no loyalty from that man to anything other than his ego and pecker.

      About that same time he was also buying custom made “Christian” horse tack off of Ebay. Lots of turquoise embedded silver crosses and shit decorating the bridles and doodads to fancy your saddle up with. Crazy times.

      • Lyn says

        April 15, 2014 at 1:05 pm

        My ex got all involved with OW’s horses too. For instance, for years he’d told me when he got to retirement age he’d like to breed horses and sell the foals because he knew I’d enjoy being around the babies. Well, low and behold we had a couple of foals and I started to really like the second one. I thought it was possible I could help raise her and maybe learn to show or ride her like my ex always wanted me to (now that our kids were grown). Well, he got mad when I told him I was getting attached to the second one. He yelled “stay away from her because I’m going to sell her!” Turns out the foals were out of OW’s mare. The two of them had made plans to take the foal to horse shows.

        Another reason my ex gave for divorcing me was because “I don’t want to be with someone who gets bored at horse shows.”

        • Chumpalicious says

          April 15, 2014 at 1:28 pm

          Lotta narcs in the horse world. It’s like a all day Jr. High popularity contest with horse proxies.

          The ex doesn’t get to ride anymore. Can’t afford any down time if the reject blockhead mare dumps him again. Got support payments and a trophy wife to keep up with.

          • Lyn says

            April 15, 2014 at 2:58 pm

            I don’t ever hear what is going on with my ex, thankfully. I do know he moved to a new farm that’s close to the OW and her husband. He boards his horses with her brother. He even moved in her parent’s basement for awhile. Too bad her family doesn’t know he’s plotting to break up their daughter’s family, which he was dumb enough to put in a document on a public server. Their daughter is no innocent, though, so I wash my hands of the whole sordid mess. Needless to say, I avoid anything to do with horses now.

        • ANC says

          April 15, 2014 at 4:40 pm

          Ohmygod. They ARE boring. Ask my sons. Especially the winter indoor shows. It’s like Vegas with manure! No windows, no concept of time and shit everywhere.

          • Lyn says

            April 15, 2014 at 7:38 pm

            Yeah I guess I was supposed to jump up and down and squeal through the hours and hours that horses trotted by. Problem was I have bad allergies and all the dust usually made me sick

    • ANC says

      April 15, 2014 at 4:42 pm

      Yeesh. There are batshit crazy people in the horse industry. Spend time at Wellington and watch the circus.

  97. ReDefiningMe says

    April 15, 2014 at 12:56 pm

    I got

    1) “Since you’re smart, you must think I’m stupid.” (after encouraging him/feedinglots of cake about how SMART and amazing he was; and him calling me an idiot on a regular basis);
    2) “Your family reads too much.”
    3) “Since our marriage has been based on lies since the beginning, I have to leave to make it right.” (that didn’t stop you from stealing TEN YEARS of my life and bringing 2 children into this family, but since OW threatened to dump you, now is the PERFECT time to set your conscience free…)
    4) “Watching you with the kids, and seeing how much you love them makes me sad.” I guess that fact that I then had to put 2 pre-schoolers in daycare 50+ hours a week after being a SAHM all their lives, using that logic, should have made you happpyyyyyyy.

    • Nord says

      April 15, 2014 at 3:10 pm

      Yeah, ex seems to think it’s great that after all these years of the kids having me around (even when I was still working I arranged my work around the family) now it’s me basically working 24/7 to try to put my life and career back together and he thinks this is great. Doesn’t see for one second how much this rocks the kids worlds … then again, he is not working much these days so sees it as an opportunity to ‘win’ the one who still talks to him. It’s insane, really but my kids will always be my kids and they know how much I love them and what I do for them. Even my working around the clock is so that we can have a roof over our head, as ex tries to sleaze out of paying for anything.

    • PattyToo says

      April 15, 2014 at 4:00 pm

      ReDefiningMe, that’s horrible. And that guy is evil.
      Calling your partner an idiot is considered to be domestic violence! We all need to recognize that, and never, ever accept labels like that!

  98. Nocake4u says

    April 15, 2014 at 1:09 pm

    Apparently my XH thinks I have some kind of magically powers. He told me I made him to do it because I asked him if he had feelings for that girl? So, I guess the power of suggestion is unusually strong in me. Hmm, I wonder what else I can suggest? 😉

    • Whatawaste says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:40 pm

      Same here! He said my crazy jealousy made OW appealing. Oops. I destroyed my entire family just like that! Bad me!

  99. NAWSbrat says

    April 15, 2014 at 1:20 pm

    When I look back, the weirdest incident was when he took me kayaking for my first time. Never having done this before, I followed directions to help get the gear, unload the kayaks, etc. Out on the water, he said I was to blame for forgetting the the flashlight. Not on par with the others here, but there you go.

  100. Hurt1 says

    April 15, 2014 at 1:21 pm

    The best he could spew was that we had crab cakes on Thanksgiving. He somehow forgot that he bought the meat, made them & served them.

  101. Datdamwuf says

    April 15, 2014 at 1:24 pm

    My ex wasn’t as creative as many here, but;

    “I begged you to get out of your chair and off the computer, you didn’t listen” (No shit asshole, I am a engineer and I work from home ON a computer every day)

    “We haven’t had sex in years” (no shit asshole, after 12 years in a committed relationship you convinced me to marry you, then you cut off sex with me. I begged, I tried everything and you said you couldn’t physically do it. I thought about leaving you for that reason, but I stuck it out because I loved you)

    “I never loved you, you pursued me relentlessly and I gave in, it was a mistake” (now that’s some bullshit asshole, it was the other way around. I wanted nothing more from you than a single hook up and you love bombed me)

    The next one may not be technically blame shifting but I think it’s more creative, basically he told me his cheating was good for me.

    “I thought I could get out of this dreary life and find happiness, it didn’t work for me. But look at you, you lost weight, you dress better and you go out of the house more, at least this was good for you. You are so much better now” (no shit asshole, the stress caused massive weight loss that I could not afford, I had to buy new clothes because everything I owned was falling off me, and yeah I was going out more to get away from your sorry ass)

    And of course after the emotional abuse and the rages didn’t work on me any longer and he escalated to physical abuse? He began telling me and other people I had abused him for years and he just could not take it any more. It was at that point my friends realized he was lying to them, they’d known me for over 20 years and they knew that was bullshit. But his example of my abuse when talking to my friends was priceless.

    “She yelled at me that I had better go to the store and get butter or borrow some from neighbor. She was screaming at me to do it now, you remember how I came to your house and was scared, don’t you neighbor?” (no shit asshole? sorry, this is bullshit. And no, neighbor doesn’t recall you being scared, she recalls you being pissed off. If you want to know what actually happened; Before I went to the store he assured me we had plenty of butter, so in the middle of making bearnaise sauce I discover the box in the fridge is empty, if I don’t get butter quick I have to start over. So yes I yelled to him in the other room to borrow some from neighbor. He told me he was too busy, he was playing a game, so yeah I got pissed and told him I’d never cook him another meal if he didn’t get off his ass and get me butter. Not all that scary…)

    • Datdamwuf says

      April 15, 2014 at 1:30 pm

      sheesh, I forgot the “Butter Incident” as my friends and I laughingly call it took place somewhere around 1996 as near as my neighbor and I can remember….this was the only instance of “abuse” he could come up with.

      • 4evertrue says

        April 15, 2014 at 3:56 pm

        Sorry to hear it went there. Did he get the crazy eye thing too? Scary shit. Doesn’t stop their revision of history, facts, eyewitness accounts, the in your face about what you said and did lies. It’s history the way they want it to be. The spin.
        After d day he told his daughters well, yea, I hit her but it wasn’t too bad. Great thing for young women to hear.
        Curious if you laugh when you make béarnaise sauce now?

        • Datdamwuf says

          April 15, 2014 at 9:56 pm

          4evertrue, that was my last time making bearnaise sauce because it’s a pain in the ass and so was he. Maybe I’ll make it again soon and see if I laugh. Probably will. M

          As for the crazy eyes, have you seen those tapes of Charlie Manson? The ones where he is staring with rage and intensity? He did that, just like that, I think he practiced.

    • Nord says

      April 15, 2014 at 3:13 pm

      My ex told me, in the weeks and maybe month or two after I kicked him out, that ‘see? you’re so much happier! You’re going out and doing things!’. Erm, I was going out because he was coming over to see the kids. And I was ‘happier’ because I was drunk, basically.

      • Lyn says

        April 16, 2014 at 8:17 am

        Mine told me that cheating on and abandoning me was going to give me a chance to do those things I’d always wanted to do. So I guess I was supposed to feel excited and grateful???

  102. Annie says

    April 15, 2014 at 1:30 pm

    My jerk never came up with a decent excuse to my face, but I overheard him tell his sister “there isn’t any zing anymore”. That’s right, no ZING! Three great kids, mortagages, full time work, ALL the childrearing, finances, housecleaning, shopping later and gosh darn it, no zing. Let’s see how long the zing lasts with his bankrupt alcoholic OW. I won’t be there to enjoy it, but I can hear the fireworks fizzle from here.

  103. Wag n chump says

    April 15, 2014 at 1:51 pm

    I kid you not…
    Reason #1: The dog loves your move than me and you care for the dog more.
    Reason #2: You get on your computer when I leave the room. (I run an online business) But while doing the pick me dance, I stopped working on my business to please him.
    However I did spend most evenings and through dinner with him texting his OW. And if I asked him to please stop…
    His response…there you go again being a selfish nag.

    • Datdamwuf says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:11 pm

      oh yeah, I have two cats because when I got my cat (the one he “forbid” me to buy) the cat wouldn’t hang out with him so he wanted his own cat. All that happened is we ended up with two cats that wouldn’t hang out with him, they both follow me around. On the bright side, “his” cat that was so scared of everyone when he lived here has become social and doesn’t run away and hide anymore.

      • Maree says

        April 15, 2014 at 2:48 pm

        Cats aren’t silly. They can pick the duds!!!

      • Kelly says

        April 15, 2014 at 7:45 pm

        This proves that cats have superior intellect, DDW

    • With Brave Wings says

      April 15, 2014 at 4:24 pm

      My stbx would text her all through dinner also.

  104. GladIt'sOver says

    April 15, 2014 at 1:57 pm

    Some reasons I was given for his cheating/abandoning the marriage:

    I didn’t like playing board games enough.
    I complained about listening to nothing but Christmas CD’s from Nov through Jan.
    I liked to read.
    I liked to garden. According to him, only old, boring people like reading and gardening.
    I settled for “mediocrity.” Well, that’s true I guess. After all, I settled for HIM.
    I wasn’t an extension of him.
    I expected him to have a job.
    He just didn’t feel enough passion for me. True, I suppose, since it seems strange men in gay bath houses get most of his passion.

    • Lyn says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:53 pm

      Didn’t you know you were supposed to wear a fake mustache to entice him more?

    • Hoodwinked says

      April 15, 2014 at 3:27 pm

      Oh yeah, I got that criticism too. You read too much!

      • ForgeOn! says

        April 21, 2014 at 8:37 pm

        Ditto here on the reading…..

        Sorry, ‘Charlie’, but reading is one of the ways an authentic human feeds their soul!

        I guess seeing me reading Mohandis Gandis’ biography and the Bible are just too heart-rending for him……..(or something of that sort)

        Seems many of us Chumps feed our soul everyday by reading, gardening and other such things. I think that what it does for the cheaters is just confirm how shallow they are and that makes them angry…….(Who knows? / Whatever…..)

        Forge on, Chump readers!……

    • LiningUpDucks says

      April 16, 2014 at 8:14 am

      Board games??!! Seriously?

      I got the “only old, boring people like ___”. Fill in the blank….”reading”….”those movies”, “that” music, etc. It looks like he had being “young and fun” covered by staying up until 3am every effing night playing first person shooter video games at full blast, getting drunk with his ho-workers, gambling, or general carousing (in hindsight).

  105. SheChump says

    April 15, 2014 at 2:00 pm

    “You look old”.

    Oh, and you don’t?

    • Maree says

      April 15, 2014 at 2:46 pm

      They don’t see themselves as getting old even when they bald, get paunches etc. What hair my ex has left he describes as brown on the RSVP dating site. It is grey. I am convinced none of these blokes have mirrors.

      • Scotty says

        April 15, 2014 at 2:49 pm

        Oh, they have them, they just reflect back what they WANT to see.

        • nic says

          April 16, 2014 at 2:36 pm

          Mine does not look in the mirror and think, “better cut back, that’s the beginning of a barrel there.” He stands naked in the mirror and sees the college athlete he was. The body of an athlete covered in patchy graying yeti hair and a fat suit bending over to clip his toenails. Wish he had shared that part of himself with the OW. His goggles were pretty fucked up though regarding her because you can put lipstick on a pig, but….

    • PattyToo says

      April 15, 2014 at 5:43 pm

      My X looks really old, and beat up, but I didn’t mind. He seems delusional about his appearance, no big surprise there! I picked up from a friend of ours, that he was saying he didn’t like my looks, and had been bitching about it behind my back. It’s because I look different than I did at 22! I’m 59. What the Hell, I just get so tired of figuring out crazy people!
      It’s OK now, I’m away from that, and I’ve gotten VERY positive feedback from guys, I’m not the dog he thought I was, after all!

      • SheChump says

        April 15, 2014 at 7:24 pm

        wtg PattyToo! I am 57 and do not feel old. Since he quit doing any exercising and leaving it all up to me to get the 4 Great Danes out daily, he’s become….let’s just say, he’s much paunchier than ever and had even become hygienically challenged before he left. Grey hair springs upwards like Dr. Emmet (Doc) Brown! I think he still sees himself as the pro bodybuilder in his 20’s when I met him. Jokes.

  106. Whatawaste says

    April 15, 2014 at 2:34 pm

    I got a few reasons both before and post Dday. I was always blamed for not being affectionate enough. Yeah it’s hard feeling close to a guy that would publically gloat about us having sex and me actually getting to climax. He took credit for everything, even my orgasms. Also being called a cunt because you’re passing people on the left doing 80 in a 55 with our two kids in the car, a history of four totaled cats, all his fault, and there’s plenty of cars on the road and when that reaction and word is not unusual, well, it makes a person hard to warm up to. Up until recently I really blamed myself for that until a friend described seeing them on the weekends at my kids sports events. Apparently there’s no closeness to touching between him and OW. She said it looked business like. Huh. Sounds familiar.

    • Chumpalicious says

      April 15, 2014 at 5:12 pm

      He called you a cunt in front of your kids? Unforgivable.

      BTW, I know you meant cars, but I loved playing (in my head) with the image of totaled cats.

      • thensome says

        April 15, 2014 at 5:41 pm

        Mine called me that as well. Ugh.

        • Happy at Last says

          April 15, 2014 at 7:08 pm

          Mine called our baby daughter that nasty word when she woke him up crying in the middle of the night. That was definitely a turning point in our so-called relationshit.

          • LiningUpDucks says

            April 16, 2014 at 8:17 am

            No, he didn’t!!! What a jerk.

        • Marcie says

          April 15, 2014 at 7:40 pm

          me too

          • AllaLie says

            April 15, 2014 at 8:40 pm

            I, too, was called that many times. Including when I was pregnant with our first baby.

      • SheChump says

        April 15, 2014 at 7:35 pm

        Thanks for clarifying ‘Cars’ not ‘Cats’.
        I was so bothered by that until your correction.

      • Drew says

        April 16, 2014 at 1:35 am

        ROTFLMAO;)

        • Drew says

          April 16, 2014 at 1:37 am

          The cats hehee

    • LovedaJackass says

      April 15, 2014 at 5:41 pm

      The C word is a real deal-breaker for me. I can give you half a dozen reasons from a linguistic perspective, but it is a way of reducing women to the body part that services them–and that is often the target of violence against women. A man who would call any woman that is abusive, period. A man who calls his wife that is utterly despicable. In front of the kids? That’s the last time he should be heard from.

      • AllaLie says

        April 15, 2014 at 8:42 pm

        As I said above, I was called that many times. I agree with you. I told my X that calling his wife that is one of the most disrespectful thing he can call the mother of his children. After I said that, I am sure he called me that again. 🙁 And he said he was told to call me that to put me in my place.

      • Datdamwuf says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:07 pm

        I agree, it’s the only word in the english language that I have an issue with. It is freighted with really bad meaning socially and for me personally. My ex also called me that. He said “You were going to lock me out of my own house, you fucking c**t, I’m not going anywhere, you are” as he was bringing his fist back to punch my head through the wall. He did this because I told him we were getting a divorce. I miscalculated, I had no idea how violent he could become, I’d buried my intuition. That will never happen again.

        • Michelle says

          April 15, 2014 at 10:46 pm

          Oh the C word, I don’t think there is a more misogynistic word in the English language. I just stopped dating a guy bc he used that word in reference to someone else not me. Oh course that word has special significance to me now as that is how STBXH and his mistress referred to me as the C***. The OW actually said i was the C word bc I didn’t feel bad for her nor did I care about her feelings! I know it’s shocking but I guess I’m a bad person .. Hahaha.

          Lovely as I don’t think he so much as swore at me until he started his affair.

          • LiningUpDucks says

            April 16, 2014 at 8:23 am

            Agreed, the c word is ugly, I’ve only heard it used hatefully (other than British comedy skits, notable exception).

            My ex never called me the c word (to my face), but he would say “fucking bitch” ALL the time…not to me, but to anything in his vicinity that would piss him off. If the soap slipped out of his hands, he would say “FUCKING BITCH!!” in the most hateful way. Funny, I didn’t know bars of soap were female? Or that they were so sexually active? Seriously, though, it was the hatred that scared me. He had a lot of repressed hatred and even though he didn’t call me those names directly it sure did scare me.

        • Drew says

          April 16, 2014 at 1:39 am

          DDW, hugs your way.

          • Datdamwuf says

            April 16, 2014 at 12:17 pm

            thanks Drew

      • Chrissybob says

        April 16, 2014 at 1:56 pm

        I’m a “fucking cunt” – who knew? I didn’t! Got that a time or two. And when I said to my now EX, you know, I get it, we’ve both called eachother alot of names, but i’m sorry, there’s just no male equivalent to and nothing as bad to being called a cunt. His response – “you criticizing my parents for their reaction to all this is the male equivalent to being called a cunt”. Ah, I see, because I said I was hurt that I never heard from his parents the entire time we were going through the divorce (I have known them since I was 17 and i’m now 41) that THAT is as bad as calling a woman a cunt. Ok then.

  107. Hoodwinked says

    April 15, 2014 at 2:42 pm

    “she’s tall and skinny” okaaay…..and you’re saying this because you think it means I’ll just never be what you want? you just decided? after all these years? and you think this might disarm me and distract me from noticing that you are a liar? (used to say I was the “perfect” height for him, must have been trying to convince himself–or keep the kibbles coming.)

  108. kimmy says

    April 15, 2014 at 2:56 pm

    I was told that he was “trying to get it out of his system”!!!!! I really laugh at this one now.

    And he told mutual friends of ours that he hadn’t been happy for the past five years! (he should have been jumping for joy since he had two woman to adore him! but he wasn’t because he couldn’t live with the fact that he was living a lie)! He created his own unhappiness!!!! What a fucktard!

    • BloomingRoseinWinter says

      April 16, 2014 at 12:54 am

      Umm..You get it Out of your System BEFORE ya Marry.. *sigh* Fucker.

      • Kammie says

        April 16, 2014 at 1:30 pm

        We married very young (20 and 21) and I was told at one point that he “didn’t get a chance to sow his wild oats.”

        Neither did I, but I still managed to remain faithful for 37 years.

  109. Gomez says

    April 15, 2014 at 2:56 pm

    Mine was when I bought a mother’s gift online. That was the last straw and loss all her love to me and justified her exit affair. I thought she’d understand because that year my foot was injured and I was on crutches. wtf!

    • LilyBart says

      April 15, 2014 at 5:32 pm

      Jeesh. What an entitled brat.

    • bogie says

      April 16, 2014 at 8:27 am

      Really? She should have been happy that you bought a gift at all!

  110. Kay Harris says

    April 15, 2014 at 3:06 pm

    All I can do is laugh when I read all of these. Absolutely ridiculous. I got ‘your dog ate my hat and you didn’t give me enough sympathy so I found someone who would understand what was important to me.’ Okay dokey, marriage over.

    • 4evertrue says

      April 15, 2014 at 4:00 pm

      So he lost a hat and you got rid of an asshat. Sorry. Could not resist.

    • bogie says

      April 16, 2014 at 8:27 am

      Hope the dog was okay!

  111. PhysicsGal says

    April 15, 2014 at 3:12 pm

    “You changed when your mother died.” “I don’t want to be a father, husband or home owner. I want to go to work, come home and play my video games.” OW (20something with child) is now his wife but they live in different countries.

    • LovedaJackass says

      April 15, 2014 at 5:44 pm

      The immaturity is staggering. Who doesn’t change when a parent dies? Some of these guys are utterly hollow–missing a heart, a brain, a conscience and a soul.

  112. Really says

    April 15, 2014 at 3:13 pm

    My xH just HAD to cheat on me. After all, when a 16 (or 17 – liar told me both ages) year old student tells you, “I think Asian guys are HOT,” well, what else can you do except cheat on your wife? I mean she practically FLUNG herself at him!

    In fact, SHE was the one who wanted sex! SHE was the one who wanted him to “deflower” her – but being the gentleman, he told her he didn’t feel right doing that.

    He actually told me this.

    Oh, barf!

    • SeeTheLight says

      April 15, 2014 at 4:24 pm

      Sounds like the excuse my mother got from my father, “She was a nymphomaniac – there was no stopping her….” I think my mother read too many Harold Robbins novels and actually believed him. Ugh.

      • LovedaJackass says

        April 15, 2014 at 5:46 pm

        Nymphomania=Has a massive supply of NEW ego kibbles and is desperate enough to dish them out by the shovel-load.

    • Datdamwuf says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:09 pm

      Now we know why you chose the name “Really”, what an asshat

    • Diana L says

      April 16, 2014 at 11:50 am

      He needs some jail time.

  113. Carolyn says

    April 15, 2014 at 3:14 pm

    My favorite: at home I have to share everything with you and sometimes I need something that is just for me.

    Also the more mundane “you don’t tell me I am handsome and smart enough”, “you pay too much attention to the kids and not enough to me” and the ever popular “you make mistakes too, why are you so hung up on this one I made”. (Used for dozens of instances not just with cheating but with abuse. . )

    • Maree says

      April 15, 2014 at 5:22 pm

      He certainly hasn’t grown up. What a moron.

  114. nomar says

    April 15, 2014 at 3:20 pm

    I wanted to write something snarky listing impossibly stupid blameshifting but then realized there is NOTHING I could write that

    • Datdamwuf says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:10 pm

      way to leave me hanging nomar! LOL

  115. Duped says

    April 15, 2014 at 3:22 pm

    Because I napped on the weekends, went to bed too early (forget that I get up at 5 and work all day at a soul-sucking job),and didn’t “need” him.

    • keepcalmjustmoveon says

      April 15, 2014 at 7:16 pm

      I got that too…I feel needed, but not wanted….Pleeease

  116. MapleLeaf says

    April 15, 2014 at 3:46 pm

    My ex-husband told me that the reason he cheated during the whole 18 months were engaged is because I was too focused on the “details” of wedding planning, and had passed too many small wedding checklist tasks over to him, which got overwhelming. I was being unreasonable with my expectations of him, he said. (In truth, I was preparing to write my PhD comprehensive exams IN ADDITION TO trusting him to help plan the party that was supposed to mark the beginning our life partnership – but details, details….)

  117. ANC says

    April 15, 2014 at 3:58 pm

    I needed “a slice!!!!!” ( he wasn’t talking about the Humble Pie.)

    • ANC says

      April 15, 2014 at 4:30 pm

      Oh yeah, this too:
      ” You’re not fun anymore!”
      Um yah, shit head. Someone has to be responsible and raise 4 kids in a State where we have no family support.

      ” She likes to drink! Go to bars! ”
      See response above to this rationalization.

      “You never touch me!!!!”
      See above. Hard to get jiggy after nonstop twin nursing and running two other kids all over the place. Post nursing, sex was not the issue at home. Had I known he was putting his penis into any orifice offered , I would have shut that down. Holy Cow.

  118. Lisa says

    April 15, 2014 at 4:07 pm

    He told our children he needed to hold hands with someone!

    • ANC says

      April 15, 2014 at 4:23 pm

      What a creep.

      • namedforvera says

        April 15, 2014 at 5:36 pm

        Lisa, do you not have hands? Sorry to ask, but…really?

  119. echo says

    April 15, 2014 at 5:19 pm

    I was also given a list of my shortcomings, but the corker was: he cheated because I ALWAYS suspected he was cheating. What the what? Yeah, it was my idea that put him into action.

    • heisFubar says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:01 pm

      I got this too in a slightly different version. After first Dday if I brought the subject up he would comment that if I continued to think/want to talk about his cheating it would become a “self fulfilling prophesy” so…my fault?

      • BloomingRoseinWinter says

        April 16, 2014 at 12:50 am

        Ah..The ” I’m Already Catching shit for it, So what the HEll, Might as well” Excuse.

        Classic.

    • Drew says

      April 16, 2014 at 1:45 am

      Where there’s smoke…as the old saying goes.

  120. namedforvera says

    April 15, 2014 at 5:34 pm

    Well, there was the old stand by, because I “got fat”… because “he never loved me as much as I loved him”. But my very favorite? Hands down, “because he wanted someone who went to drama school.”

    His current babe did not, btw. She’s an old college flame. His OW was a HS lady…I guess he’s finally growing up! Not. He’s followed the exact MO. Facebook. Quickie sex (the college babe was into BDSM–I only know b/c she dumped him right before we started going out, so I heard all about it.)

    But really? He barely knows her, and he’s moving to California to be with her. Yaaaay!!! Hilarious. Off topic, I know, but it’s just so damned funny. He hated me being a “strong woman” (not that I was ever a dom, sexually). Be REALLY interesting to see how this all pans out…..

  121. TheMuse says

    April 15, 2014 at 5:37 pm

    “We only watched tv shows that YOU liked.”
    “You paid more attention to your children than me.”
    “When you were sick (with Meniere’s disease/vertigo attacks), I got tired of picking you up at work and emptying your barf bags!”
    and of course;
    “You didn’t pay enough attention to me”.
    Narc much?

  122. thensome says

    April 15, 2014 at 5:39 pm

    1. “We lacked intimacy.” Maybe cause you were getting f*cked elsewhere?
    2. “You didn’t appreciate me.” Yeah, nothing says ‘I love my spouse’ more than cheating.
    3. “You were verbally abusive.” Hmm..ok. So I got angry at you? Poor sausage.
    4. “You were sick.” I sure was, mentally and often physically because it was lovely coming in 2nd, 8th or 25th to your needs during our marriage.
    5. “We wanted different things.” Yes, we did. I didn’t want a cheater.
    6. “You were enmeshed with our child.” I looked after our kid while you were out cheating, working and drinking? Hmmm..right.

    • MMargaret says

      April 16, 2014 at 1:16 am

      Mine made me very ill in several ways – by not helping when I worked full time and had two babies in diapers (meaning no sleep either) and my body was breaking down and I was getting sick all the time. Our fights were about him not helping so we went to marriage counselling and the MC and he agreed together that I had postpartum depression which was the reason for all my problems.

      • KarenE says

        April 16, 2014 at 6:59 am

        The MC never mentioned that lack of support from the spouse is the #1 trigger for post-partum depression????

        • MMargaret says

          April 16, 2014 at 10:22 am

          It never occurred to that quack. I was just another woman complaining about nothing important! Housework, childcare, my health, unimportant stuff like that. In those days my ex taunted me saying that women used to give birth in a field and keep on working and us spoiled rotten modern women are weak.

  123. Chump in the Sand says

    April 15, 2014 at 5:44 pm

    He insisted that I spend zilch time with friends or acquaintances, and then started in on my having “no life”.

    D’ya THUNK?

    He’d call me at all hours of the night to get together (he did shift work), and complained about me being tired (I was studying full time).

    I really should have seen the writing on the wall…

  124. RNE is going though the big D and I don't mean Dallas says

    April 15, 2014 at 6:02 pm

    “You read too much.” And “I wasn’t going to wait forever for this book thing to pan out.” I’m a writer and not so delusional as to think I’d be a best seller, but he pretty much thought I was a failure because the first book I released didn’t sell like hot cakes.

    • Marcie says

      April 15, 2014 at 7:36 pm

      WTF

  125. DeeL says

    April 15, 2014 at 6:18 pm

    My ex said that I did not need him to be my “knight in shining armor” anymore. WTF. So he picks a married woman of 3 who has been all around the workplace with any guy who’s stupid enough to try her. But her husband is mean to her and she makes him feel good about himself. I’m sure she does, parking lot bj’s for lunch anyone.

    • ChumpedTwice says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:03 pm

      I got the same story from my piece of shit ex. The OW’s husband abused her – he saw the bruises on her. She was so miserable. Poor OW. I was supposed to sympathize for the OW. Not once did he ever acknowledge any of the pain he caused me.

      • BloomingRoseinWinter says

        April 16, 2014 at 12:46 am

        Been there too.. almost Verbatim.

        • Wastedheart says

          April 17, 2014 at 8:26 am

          Me too. The husband(s) of his OW were “no prize”, idiots, weak, emasculated losers. Huh. Wonder what they think of my “prize”?

  126. Sandy says

    April 15, 2014 at 6:20 pm

    Oh I want to play!

    – we didn’t get married on the beach… We were married for 8 years already
    – I didn’t go to medical school
    – I didn’t have the emotional reserve for him

    Barf!

    • cheaterssuck says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:56 pm

      Well Sandy, I hope when you remarry you will remarry on the beach and send him the photos!

      Maybe it’s the 12 year old in me but when I read the crap that these fuckwits dole out to the people they supposedly love (or in my case “always loved and always will and I’ll never know how much”-gag me with a pitchfork please), it just makes me wish that everyone on this board would go out and do the exact things they whined about and make sure they know that you’re doing it now: for someone else!!!

      Ok…yeah that sounds like a 12 year old but it also sounds fun!!

  127. Uniquelyme says

    April 15, 2014 at 6:40 pm

    “I did it because we were having problems and it seemed the right thing to do at that time.” I just looked at him and thought, “I reproduced with this?”

    • Kelly says

      April 15, 2014 at 7:50 pm

      “I reproduced with this?”

      My constant query

      • Current chump says

        April 15, 2014 at 11:15 pm

        THIS exact thing almost daily (with a palm on my forehead)

  128. Jojo says

    April 15, 2014 at 6:58 pm

    We couldn’t reconcile because “I let a plant die in the record freeze”

    • BloomingRoseinWinter says

      April 16, 2014 at 12:44 am

      What is With these Arseholes and their PLANTS ???? !!!!!!!!!

  129. ChumpyLawyer says

    April 15, 2014 at 7:03 pm

    Besides making him feel like less than a man by going to law school instead of staying home and doing his homework so he could graduate from college (which he never did because he was too busy getting drunk), I was too selfish by working instead of staying home with our son (of course he wasn’t working, so I guess we should have just starved), but my favorite is after he hit me and I called the cops and took him to court he claimed he couldn’t trust me anymore. I guess he really needed to know that he could hit me and I wouldn’t call the cops and just take it like a good wife. Fuck that motherfucker.

    • Kelly says

      April 15, 2014 at 7:53 pm

      Oh wow, imagine his surprise that his wife, a lawyer, would employ the court system to protect herself from physical abuse! What are wives coming to these days? Who can these poor sausages TRUST?

    • FoolMeTwice says

      April 15, 2014 at 11:43 pm

      ChumpyLawyer, you are awesome.

    • BloomingRoseinWinter says

      April 16, 2014 at 12:43 am

      Distorted, Crazzy, Pieceof Shits Guide to finding the Love of Your Life..

      1. She Doesn’t Press Charges.

    • nomar says

      April 16, 2014 at 3:12 pm

      Because being in love should mean never having to enter a plea to the court.

      Dumbasses.

      • ChumpyLawyer says

        April 16, 2014 at 9:07 pm

        “Because being in love should mean never having to enter a plea to the court.

        Dumbasses.”

        Awesome!

  130. ChutesandLadders says

    April 15, 2014 at 7:10 pm

    I never got an excuse. From the day I caught him cheating, I ceased to exist in his world. I can only assume my usefulness was done when I realized what a complete sham he was as a man.

    • Kelly says

      April 15, 2014 at 9:19 pm

      The discard, Chutes, sign of a true malignant narcissist/sociopath, mine did almost the same. I know we’re lucky but in some ways it is the ultimate mindfuck. Where did my “husband” go? How did he disappear in an instant? I thought I’d title the story as “The Day My Husband Evaporated.”

      • Datdamwuf says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:16 pm

        I’m sorry but you are correct, you are so fuckin lucky, way better than the continued mindfuck you get when they want to keep you around and keep the AP.

      • LovedaJackass says

        April 16, 2014 at 10:47 am

        The “discard,” is such a good term. The danger of the discard is that it’s an engraved invitation to unravel the skein of fuckedupedness–because one minute you have a partner, and the next minute, they are gone. My Xpartner was putting on a “pick me” dance, by putting distance between us and changing the rules by which we operated, but on the surface there were plausible reasons for his behavior. Then he got caught and–discard.

        • ChutesandLadders says

          April 16, 2014 at 4:32 pm

          Same here. He didn’t drop me until the day I discovered he had been fucking his coworker.

    • NorthernLight says

      April 18, 2014 at 11:19 pm

      Mine left right away too. But he did squeeze in some “reasons” before he went straight to the OW.

  131. Marcie says

    April 15, 2014 at 7:32 pm

    three that come to mind:

    1) “you are emeshed in me” (therapist a-hole mindfuck)

    2) the classic, “You, do not know how to have fun” – meaning, “I like to go out and party and screw around and all you want to do is go to work, stay sober, make sure there’s enough money in the checking account to pay the bills on one income while you put me through 8.5 years of higher education, and raise our two young children.”

    and the best for last,

    3) “I married you for security”.

  132. Magical momma says

    April 15, 2014 at 7:37 pm

    I was told while having dinner (a few months after he left & was living with the Supertramp) at a restaurant we celebrated our first anniversary at , “you never liked watching porn with me!” Next month we will be officially divorced after almost 27 years married and 32 years together. He has dragged this out since last June. Gee, wouldn’t you think the Plaintiff would want to move his own case along? And want me to file a joint return for taxes. Ummmm no! I’ve already filed as a single person and took all the deductions and the kids as exemptions cuz I could and I did! Wait til the IRS hits him with a huge bill for raiding the 401k to spend on the Ho! Boo hoo, sucks to be you Mr. Magoo!

    • PattyToo says

      April 15, 2014 at 11:35 pm

      Hahahahaha
      That’s priceless!!!!

      • Lunachick says

        April 16, 2014 at 10:57 am

        Awesome!!

  133. jinx says

    April 15, 2014 at 7:47 pm

    This list comes at such a good time. Cheaters have absolutely NO imagination.

  134. Emily Longing says

    April 15, 2014 at 7:49 pm

    Because I was depressed, because I didn’t make enough money, because I wasn’t outgoing enough, because blondes have always turned him on the most

    • Meg says

      April 15, 2014 at 8:25 pm

      His failures were all MY fault. He lost two jobs in 1 year & then worked 1000 miles away. But “if I don’t have sex every day my testosterone level rises & I get too aggressive at work & then I get fired & it’s your fault, Meg” so he had to cheat & gee with OW1 he had 5 jobs in 6 years! I guess she wasn’t putting out! Crazy blame-shifting!

      • Meg says

        April 15, 2014 at 8:35 pm

        When I discovered he was telling me he wanted to come home & end his 8 year affair with OW1 but had a second affair of a year simultaneously going on with OW 2, I was to blame for that mess too. “OW1 was like having motor oil all over your hands. And you can’t get motor oil off with just soap & water (I guess I am soap & water in this cute analogy). But OW2 was like having Wesson Oil & you can clean motor oil off with Wesson oil & then soap & water could have easily cleaned off the Wesson oil.” So…whose hands are dirty here?

        • Kelly says

          April 15, 2014 at 9:25 pm

          I. Have. No. Words. Motor oil? Wesson oil? Are you fucking kidding me??

          You probably could have had him involuntarily committed with that one, Meg.

        • FoolMeTwice says

          April 15, 2014 at 11:45 pm

          Motor oil? Wesson oil? WTFingF.

        • BloomingRoseinWinter says

          April 16, 2014 at 1:27 am

          Soo..Having a SECOND Affair ON The Other Woman Was to Undue the First Affair…On YOU..

          umm..
          PLEASE Tell me he’s in a Padded Cell.
          He’s N U T S.

          • Meg says

            April 16, 2014 at 3:24 pm

            This is what a delusional toxic narcissist looks like! Crazy, selfish, mean but sane enough!

            • Marley says

              April 16, 2014 at 3:51 pm

              HA! My ex had an affair on his first AP too! I only found out about the first affair partner by taking his iPhone to an IT company to recover all the deleted text messages WITH his permission? Both of the OW were from his work! Boy was the first one shocked when I called her and told her about the other woman he was screwing from work! They all deserve each other!! Thankfully I am out!!!

              • current chump says

                April 16, 2014 at 4:13 pm

                Marley-can you say which IT company you take the iphone to?
                Just curious because I am collecting more evidence on my stbx to prepare for battle

              • Marley says

                April 16, 2014 at 4:22 pm

                Current chump I took it to a company called Datalab. But I am a chump from New Zealand so may be a bit far for you. If you google data recovery should give you a list of companies that do the same thing. They clone the phone and not only did I get the text messages, I found thousands of porn images of porn sites he’d visited…weeks prior he had told me he never watched porn!!

              • BloomingRoseinWinter says

                April 25, 2014 at 3:54 pm

                WHY don’t these Arseholes just ADMIT to the Porn ??
                There ARE Women out there who Don’t Care..Find one of THEM….Jeezzzzus.

              • nicolette14 says

                April 16, 2014 at 9:36 pm

                while my ex was cheating on me with the married ho-worker OW1 for over 3 years, she was fucking someone else too besides my ex and her husband, I found that out when I was digging and told him that and my ex wanted to know who it was that she was fucking, guess it hurt to find out he was being cheated on by the OW1 while he was cheating on me with her for 3 years. He thought he was so special and OW1 had only eyes for him. Poor poor baby. LOL!

            • Rally Squirrel says

              April 16, 2014 at 8:31 pm

              Meg, that was one of the most hilariously bizarre things I’ve ever heard. I was DYING laughing over here for a solid five minutes. Especially with the other responses. I’m so sorry you were married to such a fuckwit, but damn that was funny.

              • nicolette14 says

                April 16, 2014 at 9:41 pm

                I meant “OW1 had eyes only for him” lol, my bad.

  135. cheaterssuck says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:27 pm

    Let’s see:

    1. I didn’t get mad at him when he lost his wedding ring. The four of us (ex h, 2 sons and me) were outside raking leaves and his ring fell off into the grass. We spent the last three hours of day light looking for it and still couldn’t find it. We continued the search the next day to no avail. He was genuinely upset over losing it so it never occurred to me to berate him and throw a tantrum over something that wasn’t his fault…..who knew?

    2. He had been kicking around the idea of getting lasik eye corrective surgery because he was wearing glasses since he was a zygote and by the time he hit his 40s they were seriously thick and he was almost legally blind without them on. He comes home on a Friday night and announces he has surgery scheduled for the following Tuesday morning. That was my next scheduled day into work and I managed 25 people at the time. That week I had scheduled myself to deliver 8 performance evaluations. I told him it would be impossible for me to get that day off on such short notice and asked if he could reschedule it. He said “No, because he (doc) can’t do it for another 4 weeks and if I wait until then I won’t be able to ride my motorcycle right when the summer starts”. He loved my paycheck as long as it NEVER inconvenienced him in any way. He told me to just call in sick-everyone else does it.

    I told him I could drop him off 2 hours before the surgery and I would duck out after my last scheduled performance eval. but he would have to stay in post op for a couple of extra hours. He told me to forget it; he’d just find someone else. Then the poor sausage was at home alone crying because he couldn’t see. It.was.elective.surgery!!!

    I couldn’t believe he threw that in my face. Of course he completely forgot when I rearranged my entire schedule to get time off so he could get his moob reduction surgery! I had more than 5 seconds notice for that one.

    3. I never took him to the airport. I was usually too busy slacking…taking care of the kids or working 55 miles away from home.

    4. Our marriage was over anyway. Which was weird since we went to St. Thomas the month before his affair started and we hadn’t seen a divorce lawyer to my knowledge. That’s my fault too. I wasn’t psychic so I didn’t know our marriage was over or that he was unhappy. I knew I was unhappy because after his place of employment was sold and he decided to leave he went out every.single.night. for 3 months to drink with people he would never see again…you know because there is no such thing as phones, email, cell phones, social media, the internet.

    You know what’s weird though? I didn’t cheat.

  136. Waiting for Karma says

    April 15, 2014 at 8:51 pm

    It just said “I resented you”. More blameshifting from the King of Bullshit Hill.

  137. ChumpedTwice says

    April 15, 2014 at 9:54 pm

    The dumb fuck said “How did I know you weren’t already cheating.” Yep, he gave himself permission to cheat because he figured I was cheating.

    • KarenE says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:16 pm

      Noooo, he told himself you might be cheating, so he could give himself permission to cheat. Dumb fuck indeed.

    • BloomingRoseinWinter says

      April 16, 2014 at 12:29 am

      No that was his EXCUSE TO cheat..and he couldn’t in Good conscience cheat on a FAITHFUL woman. But who am I Kidding, They have Hardly a Conscience, at all, ANY of them.

      • ChumpedTwice says

        April 16, 2014 at 12:34 pm

        I didn’t get any other reasons or blame – ever. The dumb fuck did not blame my weight, child-rearing, or nagging, or anything else for that matter. To this day, if I ask him (I brought it up a couple of months ago) I still get the “how did I know you weren’t cheating too.” It was his excuse and his reason. Not once did he confront me about it or do any kind of investigation. And of course, I did not cheat on him. I’m a chump! I was faithful.

    • Sick of HER Chump says

      April 16, 2014 at 12:44 pm

      I heard that too. My ass of an ex actually said to me “you’re probably cheating too”…days after DDay. WTF?!?!? Took him days to come up with a reason and that was it????? Then he actually had the nerve to say “and how do I know the kids are even mine”. I hit the roof!!!! Bastard.

      • Kelly says

        April 16, 2014 at 5:11 pm

        Sick sick bastard

  138. Michelle says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:00 pm

    Let see:

    1. “Our marriage was over anyway”. Really because we were just at a fertility doctor when everything blew up and he encouraged that!

    2. ” we were never right for each other or supposed to be married”. Ok think he could have told me that after we lived together over 12 years, were married for almost 4 and had a wedding costing in the six figure range( another one of his grand ideas). I was the one who never cared about getting married, it was more his idea. I almost feel bad people gave us gifts bc I’ve had pairs of jeans last longer than my marriage.

    3. ” I don’t want kids and you need to find someone who can give you kids”. Ok great thanks for texting me that from the waiting room of the fertility doctor while I was making the IVF appointments. He later told me that was a lie but his OW told him to text me that, which is great bc OW is now 6 months pregnant, but she didn’t tell him until she was 13 weeks along and oh yeah and we still aren’t divorced yet.

    4. ” you were sad all the time”. Oh sorry I had a miscarriage, couldn’t get pregnant again and my father died unexpectedly in less than 6 months. Oh yeah and I was sad bc I thought you were having an affair with your coworker/now baby mama. But I must have been being too sensitive and paranoid. Hahaha.

    5. “I never loved you”. Well thanks for telling me that now. I only wasted over a decade of my life.

    The list could go forever.

    • Datdamwuf says

      April 15, 2014 at 10:25 pm

      nope, all our lists are finite because we don’t have to hear it any more. The years are not a complete waste, eventually you will feel this truly. This time next year you’ll feel way better Michelle, Jedi Hugs!

      • Michelle says

        April 15, 2014 at 10:49 pm

        Oh thank you. It’s been almost 2 years of insanity but it will end soon.

        Oh and I forgot my favorite ” if your father hadn’t died and/or you hadn’t lost the baby then none of this would have happened”. Once again it was all my fault.

        • BloomingRoseinWinter says

          April 16, 2014 at 12:18 am

          Hon..I’m Soo sorry you lost the baby…

          Brightest side, given the circumstances..
          You’ll never have to look at your child and see THAT arsehole..
          and nothing is stopping you from Totally going on with YOUR life..No Anchors to the past with him…No kids HE can use as an Excuse to try and push you around anymore. The Innocent child was spared His bullshit.
          When it’s right for YOU to have a Baby with a GOOD man, you Will.

          There are Many women I’ve Heard say, ” If I woulda Known THEN, He was such an arsehole, I Wouldn’t have Had mine ” ** because I woulda left Beforehand**. You’ll Never find yourself saying that… Not with Him.

          With Me, I find myself saying Thank Heaven ONLY Because of my Daughter. EVERYTHING ELSE with him was a Total WASTE.

          Michelle, I know it hurts now… But when you’re Totally Free of him,
          I Promise you will know it was All for the BEST.

          NONE of that shit was Your Fault (( HUGS))

    • Doop says

      April 16, 2014 at 10:13 am

      Michelle – sorry to read your story that so closely echoes my own. Recurrent pregnancy loss, fertility treatments, he “wasn’t feeling anything but didn’t want to cheat” so went to a body rub provider, or, as I like to call her, the Professional Masturbator. He became an alcoholic, I asked him to leave to figure out what he wanted. He moved in with the PM. At least he was getting it for free and no longer spending marital assets on her services. He eventually moved on to the latest OW…knew her 5 weeks, impregnated her. The Blessed Event (living proof that life is not fair) arrived one month after the divorce was finalized. I’m approaching meh, but my heart aches when I am reminded that another good person is subjected to the same horrendous treatment, especially in such sad times when dreams are dying.

      • Current chump says

        April 16, 2014 at 11:59 am

        Michelle & Doop-so incredibly sorry to read that you have had other bad experiences other than a cheater that I have had. It’s like living a series of tragic events where you wonder what else is coming next. I had multiple miscarriages with STBX & that last one was an ectopic rupture where I had to have emergency surgery & almost died. I lost half of my lady parts & was told that I had a slim to none chance of ever having a child. Yet for some reason fucktard stbx insisted on still trying with a fertility specialist & I did end up having my son (who I my one absolute blessing in my life) the pregnancy was extremely difficult for me & did require some hospital stays. I was alone a lot during the pregnancy & after my son was born. I thought he was working a lot & recently found out he was going to bars, etc with his friends (oh, and the massage parlors & hookers, etc) My brother in law recently told me that he felt bad for me because stbx only had a baby with me was so that his parents could be grandparents. AND so that he can show-off our son to everyone-it makes him look like a good guy & dad when he really sucks.

        These guys are seriously fucked-up and we truly are better off without them.

        Michelle & Doop-please don’t think that your dreams died…….they just evolved into better, more real ones. Big hugs!!!

        • Doop says

          April 17, 2014 at 9:02 am

          Thank you CurrentChump! Glad you got your miracle, and sorry for what you’re enduring. They do suck.

  139. ca11i0pe says

    April 15, 2014 at 10:59 pm

    Because I didn’t go back to school. What going to back to college (while taking care of his autistic son and two young children with minimal support from him) has to do with landing in some chick’s vagina, I have no idea.

    And he didn’t even tell me that he was that upset/disappointed about me not getting my degree the first place. I now see that was a bullshit excuse for an incorrigible cheater to give to a chump, but man, did I swallow it whole then.

    I was so desperate for an explanation, any explanation, for why the father of my children and the man I’d spent the last decade with would do this to me that I would have believed him if he’d said cheating was the new custom of his people or that the full moon had gotten ahold of his dick and made him have unprotected sex with a stranger.

  140. Deb says

    April 15, 2014 at 11:08 pm

    “we grew apart you felt it too right”

    “I only live for the future I don’t care about our family or past”

    “I thought you would be happy for us”

    • SheChump says

      April 15, 2014 at 11:18 pm

      “I thought you’d be happy for us”. ?? good grief.
      Now I’ve really heard it all.
      I don’t even know how you’d process that, Deb.

      facepalm I guess. Or push him out a window.

  141. BloomingRoseinWinter says

    April 16, 2014 at 12:04 am

    I didn’t play Games.
    FARMVILLE…
    What a fucking Idiot he is…Lost a Good, REAL Woman for Virtual Plants & Animals…for Other Idiots who felt the Same Way.
    Arsehole Preferred a FAKE life, instead of a REAL one. P A T H E T I C.
    I Know he was Using It as a Means to an End TO cheat, finding others who Don’t have Anything Better to do with their Time, either, and as a Cover for what was Really going on. It was his IN.
    And he actually tried to tell me I was Jealous of the GAME…
    Moron..it Wasn’t an Inanimate Object that pissed me off… It was that he placed it above other Important things..and cheating on me whilst he was At it..
    Middle -Aged Guy, with THOSE kinds of “Priorities”. Talk about a ” Man” – Child.

    • BloomingRoseinWinter says

      April 16, 2014 at 12:23 am

      I guess Technically they were ” Animated”..but you get the Drift..
      That shit has no SOUL.

      • nomar says

        April 16, 2014 at 9:41 am

        BRW, replace “FARMVILLE” with WORLD OF WARCRAFT and you have my story. “Fake,” “Pathetic,” and “Middle-Aged . . . Child” pretty much cover it. Though I’d add “stupid” because of how much they ultimately lost. Game Over, Cheater-Trons!

        • BloomingRoseinWinter says

          April 16, 2014 at 11:49 am

          Nomar..
          As far as I’m concerned, If someone Tends to what’s Important, Takes Care of what Matters, and actually Accomplishes something, they Don’t have Time to Do Stupid OR Wrong shit.
          They Go OUT of their Way to Fuck Up and Avoid what’s REAL, Thus causing More Problems, they ” don’t have the Time” to Fix..in the REAL World.

          Fucking Grown up Children.
          At least READING helps you Learn something..
          Playing Chess works your Brain…
          You know, it Actually Serves a Purpose…besides Running Away from Reality.

          • nomar says

            April 16, 2014 at 2:22 pm

            Agreed. I think many folks addicted to video games (not everyone who plays, just those who are addicted) loved the games so much because real life felt so difficult and disappointing to them. Leveling up your virtual character was so much easier than finishing a college degree, disciplining the kids, building a business, WTF-ever. So that traded real life for the pixelated version.

            • BloomingRoseinWinter says

              April 16, 2014 at 3:16 pm

              Aye..Cheater’s don’t DEAL…they Avoid.

  142. oldchump says

    April 16, 2014 at 12:25 am

    1. You look like an Eastern European peasant (whatever that means)
    2. I don’t want you to touch me with those hands (I have always had short nails – just can’t grow them and I worked hard to keep the garden nice – otherwise they are ok)
    3. You manipulated me into marriage (not sure about that – but as I remember it he proposed to me to my amazement a week or so after we met)
    4. You made it very clear you wanted children (well yes, we had that discussion and he was free to say what he wanted but clearly didn’t – see below)
    5. We have to put up with our son (when we go to stay with him)
    6. Our daughter never pays for anything – later I found she had lent him 000’s.
    7. If I had met OW two years later (after he had jilted her three weeks before their planned wedding) I would have married her and it would have worked
    8. You would like her (OW)!!!

    Now he rarely contacts his son or daughter. He emails me when he is not with OW but this is less and less. And he definitely sees the 25 year old in the mirror – instead of his 70 year old self.

    • KarenE says

      April 16, 2014 at 7:12 am

      Hey, I look like an Eastern European peasant, with the corresponding hands!! (Can’t get the nails to grow out, short stubby fingers ….) We are FINE people!

      My ex never said anything about not having wanted the kids, but for SURE he should never have had any. No time for them, no patience, and clearly resentful of the fact they took part of my time and attention away from him. Only one baby allowed in the house – him!!

      • Michelle says

        April 16, 2014 at 8:36 am

        I got the “I think you would like her (OW)”. I responded by saying I didn’t think so because I don’t like morally bankrupt people and that’s why I don’t like him either.

        • BloomingRoseinWinter says

          April 16, 2014 at 11:51 am

          THIS.

  143. Charlotte says

    April 16, 2014 at 1:40 am

    Apparently I walk too fast!
    Yup, no matter how much I slowed down for him, I walk too fast – and that’s why he left?

    • bogie says

      April 16, 2014 at 8:36 am

      I’ll bet you couldn’t walk away fast enough from that !

    • Eilonwy says

      April 16, 2014 at 11:52 am

      Hey, I walk too fast too–according to my EX! (Not always–it took me more than a decade to walk away from him).

      I think this one translates in narco-speak to “I’d prefer a spouse to trail 3 steps behind me as a reflection of my dignity. Kind of like Diana was supposed to do with Charles (a man of my own stripe when it comes to fidelity). When you walk fast, I sometimes feel a wisp of insight–I realize that you want to help one of our children or get dinner started or get to work on time. I don’t like feeling insight, even for a moment. I prefer to believe that everyone will always wait for me and be pleased to be allowed to do so. Because I am important.”

  144. TammyTakeTwo says

    April 16, 2014 at 2:29 am

    My soon-to-be ex recently revealed that he first started pulling away from me when I wouldn’t support him going on a second tour to Afghanistan with his militia unit…5 years ago. Note this is after 5 additional previous military tours in Cypress and the Balkans as part of his 27-year military career and our 28-year marriage. And also that I didn’t support him through his PTSD counselling after he fell apart because of all the operational tours he’s been on. Refer to reason number one. This also forced him to seek intimacy with an old high school friend. I guess no one said it had to make sense, right?

    • KarenE says

      April 16, 2014 at 12:54 pm

      So let me get this straight, Tammy, he cheated because you encouraged him to take care of himself, rather than risking his mental health by doing a second tour in Afghanistan???? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense ….

  145. George says

    April 16, 2014 at 4:31 am

    I never got a reason other than he made me feel special. I did get that while she loved me, she was not in love with me. Also she pointed out that the only reason that she married me was that she was afraid that no one else would ask. Most of it was denials – she was not cheating on me, she never did that, she was not doing that, she never said that she wanted to leave me and the kids for him (although they discussed it at length in their emails to each other), and that she does not remember that, I’m sure I never said that, I don’t think that I ever did that, and I was not a Christian then.
    My personal favorite was the phone call that I got at work where she said that she had sent me an email by mistake, and could I just delete it without reading it first?

    • Datdamwuf says

      April 16, 2014 at 12:24 pm

      poor thing hit send to the wrong part, we really are interchangeable parts to these assholes.

  146. Shadowfire says

    April 16, 2014 at 5:06 am

    “I was desperate because you were sick, could only get better by seeing a doctor in your home country and you wouldn’t go without me” – as a reason for being a lying cheating dumbass.

    Heaven forbid you actually help your partner through an illness, or even move with them as planned to said country. No one dragged you in chains to the embassy to get your residence permit.

    “I only married you because I thought I could change you to what I wanted”

    This is a mindf*** on a level all its own, this one will take quite a while to get over (if possible).

  147. David says

    April 16, 2014 at 5:14 am

    She destroyed our family because…

    I played too many video games (going out to strip clubs would have been preferable?)
    I chewed too much nicotine gum (guess it would have been better if I’d smoked)
    I was too impatient when trying to teach her how to use a computer
    Ten years before, when walking around Boston, I refused to go to Harvard Square (we’d had a wonderful time, and at that point I was exhausted)
    Ten years before, I “wouldn’t let her” buy leather seats for our new car (at the time we did not have much money)

    And how should I have “known” she was so unhappy in our marriage (despite ten years of her telling me how happy she was, verbally and in stacks of cards, notes and letters?) that she destroyed our family? “Because of that time I cried.”

    • nomar says

      April 16, 2014 at 9:37 am

      Dude, my family was broken up by a cheating wife addicted to video games (WoW mostly) but even I can tell you your wife was WAAAAAY effed up. Stuck at about 8 years old emotionally, I’d say.

      Also, though it’s only my own personal theory, I think that the length of time a cheater reaches back in time to find grievances to justify cheating is often about how long they’ve been cheating. That is, once they start cheating, they start hoarding small slights to explain how they were “forced” into their shitty choices. Which is to say I wouldn’t be surprised if your cheating ex (like mine) was cheating for a decade or more.

      Sorry you had to go through this, but I have no doubt your life will get much, much better (like switching a game from Expert to Easy mode).

      • Nain says

        April 16, 2014 at 9:57 am

        Wow – coolest theory ever. So not going to high school prom with him is proportional to 40 years of cheating. Makes….perfect…sense.

        I KNOW we in Chump Nation attempt to do the very best with the info we have. And when we get more info, we do better. : )

      • Eilonwy says

        April 16, 2014 at 11:56 am

        I agree. This theory makes all kind of sense.

        • Datdamwuf says

          April 16, 2014 at 12:27 pm

          which would explain why my ex said he never loved me. I discovered that he fucked my room mate before he even moved in. This is why she told me she didn’t want to live in a 3 person household and moved out the week before he came to live with me. If only I hadn’t been so blind.

          • BloomingRoseinWinter says

            April 25, 2014 at 3:24 pm

            Bloody HELL.. There are Literally Many Millions of people in the World…WHY do they HAVE to FUCK Someone you KNOW..Someone you’re CLOSE To ?! THAT shit makes it SOO Much WORSE..Cause it’s DOUBLE the Betrayal. Straight up ZERO Respect, Rub your FACE in it, Torture.
            You should NEVER have to pickmedance Against a “FRIEND.”

      • Kelly says

        April 16, 2014 at 5:10 pm

        Love your theory Nomar, and I think it’s correct Nomar

      • nicolette14 says

        April 16, 2014 at 5:35 pm

        WOW nomar! I think you are right on target!

    • ANR says

      April 16, 2014 at 10:37 am

      “I chewed too much nicotine gum.” Ha! This bothered my cheating wife, too. So she started fucking a smoker.

    • BloomingRoseinWinter says

      April 16, 2014 at 11:57 am

      Ok..David , Who said you Had to play Video games OR Go to Strip Clubs…
      There ARE Other Things in Life…REAL life, right in Front of You..and they Actually have Feelings of being Rejected..Unlike your Comp or Game Console.

      Nomar and I BOTH get this.

      I’d recommend Seriously, you Hook up with a Chick with Your SAME Habits, who won’t Care…but you do these things WITH her More than Without Her.

      • Datdamwuf says

        April 16, 2014 at 12:30 pm

        My ex bought me a MMO because he wanted me to get off his back about playing all the time. I liked it and used the audio to play with others, had a great time. So when he got tired of that game the problem was that I played too much. you cannot win with a fucked up lying asshole. He wanted me to stop playing late at night and go to bed because I was interfering with his 1am sexting and sex phone calls.

        • BloomingRoseinWinter says

          April 16, 2014 at 2:51 pm

          Yea, See, He didn’t LIKE the tables Turned on Him too Much, Did He ?

      • nomar says

        April 16, 2014 at 2:31 pm

        BRW, I agree. I’ve never seen any video game half so interesting as whatever’s within 30 feet of my front door. Real life *rocks*. But I understand some people enjoy video games and wouldn’t begrudge them that so long as it doesn’t have an anti-social effect. I like the idea of coupling up with someone with similar interests (video games, birding, gator wrestling–whatever bakes your potato).

        • BloomingRoseinWinter says

          April 16, 2014 at 2:48 pm

          That’s Exactly it, Nomar… So long as it doesn’t Mess with your REAL life.

          Similar Interests, Similar Priorities…You can’t Walk the Same Path, in the Same Stride With Someone Walking in the in the Opposite Direction, hoping to wind up at the Same Destination. It’s Hard to be Close to someone who’s a World Away in LaLaland, when Your feet are Firmly Grounded in This thing called LIFE..

          Get lost in your Fantasies TOGETHER, unless of course you’re Looking for a Lifetime Apart, After the Game is Over..

  148. lindadanette says

    April 16, 2014 at 5:59 am

    My husband and I took in a 13 year old boy whose father was gravely ill. For 2 years I raised a juvenile delinquent (state’s words, not mine) because my husband thought it was the “Godly” thing to do. When D-day came, I discovered that he had started multiple affairs with his co-workers shortly thereafter. He said that he “didn’t feel important” anymore, poor sausage. Funny thing is, he still felt important enough to go on mission trips with our church and take credit for the grueling work of steering a disturbed young man towards the “right path”. Makes me sick to think about it. He left that work to me, and I took care of that child as if he were my own. My ex was still screwing me as he was screwing me over… there is a special place for these guys, there must be.

    • Kelly says

      April 16, 2014 at 5:01 pm

      My constant prayer is that such a special place for these guys exists, lindadanette.

  149. sweetsunny says

    April 16, 2014 at 6:44 am

    I’m a mom of five. At one point I had 3 under 3 plus a five year old. I was a Navy wife and moved our household 9 times in 10 years. Some of my pregnancies were complicated because I have a special type of morning sickness that lasts from conception to birth and I needed IV fluid treatments and heavy meds. I still managed the kids, laundry and house. He just had to cook the last couple of weeks.
    When my mom asked to hear his side of the story, he said,” I felt unappreciated.”
    He told me that his mistress, “listens to him.”

    • Chump Lady says

      April 16, 2014 at 7:51 am

      Oh fuck him sweetsunny!

  150. Amy says

    April 16, 2014 at 7:01 am

    The only reasons I ever got were:

    1. I liked to read
    2. I saved for retirement

    I *think* the reading bothered him because I’d do it when he was playing video games, and therefore I wasn’t praising his awesome gaming skills.

    The retirement one has me scratching my head. He still got everything he wanted (I made a lot of money) — and he sure didn’t mind taking half of it in the divorce!

    • BloomingRoseinWinter says

      April 16, 2014 at 2:20 pm

      Gaming ” Skills”…
      If You’re not making $$ and building a LIFE off of the GAME, such as a Technician or Designer, I’d say you’re Avoiding Life and Pretty Lacking in REALITY Skills.?

      Why don’t these Gaming Addicts Stick to their OWN Kind, Instead of Bitching about how Unfair it is that We have Other things to do than sit and stare at a Screen making Zero Progress at Anything with a Greater Purpose than Avoidance and Time-Wasting.
      Your Life is Made up of your Activities and Priorities..SAD they’d rather GAME theirs Away.

      • Amy says

        April 17, 2014 at 8:01 pm

        I didn’t have a problem with him gaming (or even with the thousands of dollars I spent on it every year for him since he was in school and had no income) since I like to read, which arguably serves no greater purpose either.

        I just didn’t want to have to watch him and praise him for beating new levels, etc. I wanted to pursue one of my own hobbies. I would never think to have him watch me knit and praise me for this great pattern I chose, how even my stitches are, etc.

  151. KitKat says

    April 16, 2014 at 7:15 am

    Some of the gems I got:

    1. “I’m striving for perfection and you are not.” So it guess that’s why in the last three years you have pissed away all your retirement savings on a business, ran said business into the ground due to your drinking, almost died from the drinking, and then bankrupted us. Perfectly awesome for me!

    2. “You are holding me back.” If you mean our relationship makes it hard from you to bang your ex-porn star coworker GF anywhere else besides the office, then yeah, I totally understand how you’d feel that way.

    3. “All you care about is saving money and eventually retiring. I’m more interested in enjoying the journey.” Huh?

    4. “You never follow through with anything. I’ve been trying to get you to follow the paleo diet perfectly for the last year.” I weigh less than I have in years right now. (I’m on a special diet after all). “But yesterday you ordered a soda with lunch.”

    5. “This existence with you is average, and I am above average.” Definitely an above average fucking prick.

    • BloomingRoseinWinter says

      April 16, 2014 at 12:13 pm

      Show him you CAN Follow Through with Leaving his Arse Soo Far Behind, He can’t even Imagine you anymore.
      Let him Go on to His “Above Average ” partner with Underaverage Self-esteem to Put up with That shit.

      When my ex, JUST got done showing ” his Arse” cause one of his Fuck-ups from the Past, he Denied, Showed up, and Blew up his Bullshit, he looked at me and asked ” WHY don’t You DO Something ” I Looked at him and Said ” I’ll DO Something….I’m LEAVING your Arse “.

      DECIDE with your FEET.

  152. Lucky says

    April 16, 2014 at 8:09 am

    “I’m leaving to be with ‘twu wuv’ because we only had a small wedding so it is not like we were really married” (after 24 years).
    Not quite the closing of a boodstore….

  153. Lucky says

    April 16, 2014 at 8:10 am

    Oops bookstore

    • KarenE says

      April 16, 2014 at 12:58 pm

      After his first affair, my ex actually started to say ‘well, we weren’t even marr…’ Stopped when he saw the look on my face – I think he knew I was going to rip his head off if he completed that sentence! Because, ya know, being married or not, big or small wedding, on the beach or not, that makes ALL the difference, totally justifies cheating! Little things like honesty, commitment, caring, those are irrelevant ….

      • nicolette14 says

        April 17, 2014 at 8:28 am

        KarenE,

        my ex said that to me, ONCE and never repeated that again because I did rip his head off! But here is the thing, when I said “ok, if its ok for you to do it then I should do it too” his answer “if you ever cheat on me we are done!” really??? do you see the double standard here? Its ok when they cheat but its not ok if we do, they cant handle being cheated on…and that was just another excuse, I had found he cheated on his first wife while married for a year, living together for 4 years. He cheated on her while they were married so when I brought that up, he says “it was in the beginning.” They were living together for 4 years, 1 year married, how is that in the beginning? Its all excuses and justifications of a low life cheater, nothing more nothing less…

  154. blue says

    April 16, 2014 at 8:16 am

    Yesterday I got an email from XH saying that he was sorry for all the pain he caused me and didn’t want to lose the marriage (funny’ this comes a few days after the court ordered him to pay me some $). In his “apology,” he still has to say, “You neglected me,” and “I gave you everything.” Also, “I was weak.”

  155. jinx says

    April 16, 2014 at 8:33 am

    He told me “The devil is busy” translation “The devil made me do it.” Yes he went there…

    • Chump Lady says

      April 16, 2014 at 8:37 am

      Idle hands are the Devil’s playground!

  156. Chump Lady says

    April 16, 2014 at 8:36 am

    I just want to say — OMG this thread is EPIC!

    Who knew the blameshifting vein I was tapping into?

    We all have Andrew G. Marshall to thank. He drove us to it, really.

    • Nain says

      April 16, 2014 at 11:18 am

      You place just a “schunch” behind my fella in snort out my nose funny. Really. : )

  157. newlife says

    April 16, 2014 at 11:25 am

    “the dog barks too much” and “You just don’t GET it”.

    Yes, blame it on the dog. I didn’t get it. Until I did! And now the dog sleeps on the bed.

  158. newlife says

    April 16, 2014 at 11:27 am

    “the dog barks too much” and “You just don’t GET it”.

    Well I finally got it. And now the dog sleeps on the bed.

  159. Hollywood Chump says

    April 16, 2014 at 12:34 pm

    disclaimer: This was a boyfriend, not a husband: “Because of your rigid schedule, we don’t see each often enough. How can you expect me to be alone so much?” Fast forward to us spending twice as much time together, after massive gymnastics on my party, all weekend every weekend: “We are seeing each other too much and it’s freaking me out. So I want to see other people during the week.”

    • BloomingRoseinWinter says

      April 16, 2014 at 2:35 pm

      What the hell is he, a ” Goldilocks ” DragQueen ?!

      Shame on YOU, Hollywood, See you Failed to Provide the Perfect Temperature of his ” Porridge ” at the Perfect time ;);)

  160. Patsy says

    April 16, 2014 at 12:52 pm

    Apart from his complete assert, the most hurtful and frustrating blame shifting is what I get from friends.

    The ones who tell me how nice he is, and how I must move on. Whilst they choose him because suddenly he is doing all the things I begged him to do for 22 years, like be friendly and make an effort.

    And the ones who tell me ‘you know what your problem is? You can’t forgive’. Like, if I just forgave him, we could carry on being married as normal.

    It is falling down the rabbit hole. Everyone assumes normal, and so I must be the problem.

    • nicolette14 says

      April 17, 2014 at 8:19 am

      Patsy,

      I got the same thing..‘you know what your problem is? You can’t forgive’ and its old news and now its in the past, he loves you and there is nothing he wouldn’t do for you. You will never find anyone who loves you as much as he does, just saying…I said “oh yeah he loved me so much that he couldn’t keep it in his pants from day one, so he can go screw someone else for couple of years behind my back now, but if and when I find out in the future, after he is done so it would be ok, it would be old news?”

      Yep we are the problem because we cant forgive.

      • BloomingRoseinWinter says

        April 25, 2014 at 4:15 pm

        When Their ” PASTS ” Fuck with EVERYTHING and FUCK UP Everything in Your Present AND Future.. It’s ALIL HARD to Forgive.

        The Problem is NOT OUR ” Unforgiveness ” It’s THEIR Nonstop Fuckups.

        • nicolette14 says

          April 25, 2014 at 5:33 pm

          agreed.. I find it funny, just because I had found about his cheating on me later, that he was fucking this and that whore, for so many years behind my back, lying to me everyday for years, while telling me that I am “his one and only”, but he is not fucking them anymore, they are done, they were skanks and he is not currently fucking anyone now (yeah whatever, how could you be so sure, got a lock on his dick?), he fucked up, he was confused (about what?) and made some mistakes, SO its all in the past and therefore the fact he cheated on me repeatedly is old news? that kind of mentality just kills me!!

          and “he loves you and there is nothing he wouldn’t do for you. You will never find anyone who loves you as much as he does, just saying…” I hope NOT!! I don’t need that kind of love lol!!

          Forgive him? for betraying me, lying to me, risking my health, humiliating me, emotionally and mentally abusing me with his gaslighting daily, using me for financially? NOT in a billion fucking years!!!

          PS: his mother was telling me the same thing, especially how much he loves me, the old news thing and the bitch was covering his ass and knew the whole fucking time what he was doing with the first OW for over 3 years, the married ho-worker and hangout with her and her best friend daily, while telling me every chance she got that she was so happy he had found a wonderful, beautiful, good woman like me! and now I am the problem, because I just cant get over it and forgive him! well she can kiss my ass too!!!

    • bogie says

      April 17, 2014 at 8:47 am

      I got that too. Even the one that “would never talk to him again” in August, suddenly she had to hand deliver Christmas presents to him. And she has gone over to see him several times since (I know, because she tells me she is going over there when she leaves my place).

      Well, she just can’t stay mad at him forever now can she? He is being really nice and giving her firewood and acting like his old self so I shouldn’t hold a grudge. Never mind that she still loathes her cheating XH and I discontinued being his friend the moment I found out about his cheating.

      Sure, I know he has a lot of charisma, but STF?

  161. Patsy says

    April 16, 2014 at 12:53 pm

    ass-ery! (which are the usual: she didn’t mean anything, I did it because you let me down.

    • KarenE says

      April 16, 2014 at 1:02 pm

      This one kills me; ‘she didn’t mean anything’. So you completely destroyed your children’s intact family, gave up your day-to-day contact with your kids, hurt and betrayed me yet again, leading to the end of our relationship, and completely turned your own life upside down (none of our family friends will speak to him, even some of his own family won’t!, he of course has way less money …) because of someone who didn’t mean anything?????????

      That’s a special special kind of stupid.

      • BloomingRoseinWinter says

        April 16, 2014 at 2:30 pm

        THIS…
        and it’s by FAR the WORST and Least Comforting.

      • Nain says

        April 16, 2014 at 2:47 pm

        NOOOO question this comment is the specialist stupid, confoundingly craziest – top of the “Yertle the Turtle” heap from the king of all he surveyed.

        I too was told, “I don’t love her, she’s just someTHING to do! Ummm…yeah…

        • BloomingRoseinWinter says

          April 16, 2014 at 2:56 pm

          Something to do…UGH…. like I’ve said, GET a LIFE !!! How Bout ya Get with your WIFE..THAT’s SOMETHING..and you know what, There’s HONOR in it !!!

      • nicolette14 says

        April 17, 2014 at 8:34 am

        I heard that too, yet they went to great lengths to cover, hide, put a lot of effort to secretly talking, meeting, fucking and risking EVERYTHING for someone “who didn’t mean anything”

        yep, you are right “That’s a special special kind of stupid.”

  162. Deb says

    April 16, 2014 at 1:11 pm

    “you just don’t get it”

    “you ruined everything” I heard this peach right after hearing it was none of my business how long this had gone on

    “na na na na I’m not listening” it is a 3 year old or what?

    “your husband told me he “had one of those” woman telling me what he said when asked if he had a wife, I was ONE OF THOSE, like on a shelf I guess, only with him 30 or so years I am one of those, those thingies up there

  163. zyx321 says

    April 16, 2014 at 1:32 pm

    She was interesting…

    (Never mind that exH freely admits that my profession is as interesting as it gets!)

    • BloomingRoseinWinter says

      April 16, 2014 at 2:26 pm

      Dungbeetles find CRAP Interesting….
      What was His Point about running to a chick that would service someone who’s Taken ?

  164. DeltaGirl65 says

    April 16, 2014 at 1:39 pm

    All these Blameshifting stories reminded me of the weirdest blameshift of all that happened to me during my divorce. And it didn’t even come from my X.
    About 9 months in to my divorce, I get a call from the OW’s XH. Their divorce had just been finalized a month or two before. He said, “Delta, I need to warn you that you might be getting a call from the police.” Why on earth, I asked. He told me that his new girlfriend had been getting threatening anonymous letters in the mail. The threats had escalated and they had called the police, who then questioned OW (she was not happy her X had moved on, even though she was the one who had left him for my prize of a husband.) She told the police that I (as in me, DeltaGirl) had been sending the threatening notes to her X’s girlfriend. So her X was calling me to give me a heads up. “Let me get this straight,” I said. “I am accused of sending hate mail to my husband’s mistress’s ex-husband’s new girlfriend, who I have never even met?” Yes. “Well,” I said. “You tell your girlfriend that I WILL send her a letter. If you two get engaged, I will send an invitation to host her bridesmaids’ luncheon.”

  165. BloomingRoseinWinter says

    April 16, 2014 at 3:09 pm

    Oh..and call ME Crazzy, but I Placed PEOPLE on a Higher plane of Importance than Dogs, Plants and Trashpicking ** both Literally and Figuratively**
    GEE what was I Thinking ?!

  166. Katy Left says

    April 16, 2014 at 3:33 pm

    My cheating ex-husband told me that during the 6 days hospice came to be with my dying dad, I was “totally checked out.” And when my siblings all arrived, “you STILL didn’t want to go out with me and sat with them instead, even when it wasn’t your shift!”

    • KarenE says

      April 18, 2014 at 8:16 am

      THAT must have really shown you how much better off you are and will be without him. Sick fucker.

      • BloomingRoseinWinter says

        April 25, 2014 at 3:36 pm

        Agreed,Karen..

  167. chumptacular says

    April 16, 2014 at 3:42 pm

    I just remembered this epic blameshift that happened during D-Day number 1.

    I had gone out to the movies with friends and we were having a coffee afterwards when I got a call from XH. He had been drinking at the local Legion and had “rescued” a homeless man who had gotten into a fight. He was calling to inform me that he had set this man up on our downstairs couch (thank God the kids were both at friends houses for sleepovers) and was asking me to make this man something to eat when I got home. The best part – he had gone back to the Legion to continue drinking! I told him that I was not comfortable being in the house alone with this strange (violent) man.
    Needless to say, I spent the night with friends and in the morning picked up my kids from their sleepovers and went to my parent’s house and ended up staying for the weekend.

    XH stopped coming home shortly afterwards and staying with an unemployed woman he also met at the Legion. He also stopped going to work. He quit his 100k a year job to hang out with his new drinking/fuck buddy.

    When I confronted him, he got furious and yelled “you left me first!”

  168. FLBright says

    April 16, 2014 at 3:47 pm

    Holy Cow!! This has been EPIC. I’ve clearly been away too long. What great comments from all. Mine boiled down to one that I saw repeated here again and again:

    “You chose the children over me!!”(read like a 3 yr/o having a tantrum) – He is referring to his 3 daughters that he adopted with his first wife. I suggested maybe they should come to live with us full-time when the oldest arrived for our weekend with a black eye, bloody nose, and fingernail scratches down her arm.

    “I went to massage parlors so I WOULDN’T cheat on you!!” Uh… thanks?

    And my favorite: When I was devastated about our marriage ending he said to me, “I don’t know what you’re so upset about, you got a few nice vacations out of it.”

    What a group of survivors we are. I hope I don’t sound trite in any way, but I am so, so proud and impressed by all of us. Thank you again to Tracy/CL for bringing us all together. What a huge gift.

    • current chump says

      April 16, 2014 at 4:26 pm

      I still can’t fathom how many men like my stbx frequent these massage parlors (or hooker palaces as I have come to call them) pay for sex and then don’t consider it cheating? WTF! So disgusting! And these places get raided by the cops. Gah!

      I know you can’t waste time figuring out “crazy” but I hate the constant almost daily reminders as these places are EVERYWHERE here in southern California.

      I want to drive a Formula 1 race car to the land of Meh

      • FLBright says

        April 17, 2014 at 7:58 am

        Current Chump – I’ve noticed several of your posts and that we have this shitty thing in common. I’m so sorry. I’m not sure where you are in your process, but I promise you, you do stop noticing the “hooker palaces” as much eventually. I discovered this horror in May 2011 and spent the next 18 mo in false reconciliation. I decided to divorce Oct. 2012 and divorce was final July 2013. In December 2013 I moved to a new city, and I can say I have not been caught up short by the sight of one. You WILL get the Meh, and you WILL stop noticing these places eventually. It does subside. Big Hugs and hang in there. I am SO glad you found your way here.

      • BloomingRoseinWinter says

        April 25, 2014 at 3:41 pm

        You know what…I Was a L.M.T. and I HATE those Bitches who pose as Masseuses…who are Actually Whores.
        It Gives the Whole Profession as a True Massage Therapist A BAD Reputation.
        L.M.T.s work damn HARD for our Licenses…and WE get the Calls from Those ASSHOLES EXPECTING Something ahem ” Extra “.
        NASTY..ALL OF THEM.

    • Lyn says

      April 16, 2014 at 8:47 pm

      FLBright, your ex’s comment about “getting a few vacations out of it” reminded me of what happened to my good friend. Her husband took her to Las Vegas to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. Turns out the whole time they were there, he was texting his OW. When my friend found out she asked her husband why he bothered taking her to Vegas when he was having an affair and planning to leave her. He told her “I wanted to give you the full 25 years.”

      • FLBright says

        April 17, 2014 at 7:39 am

        Crazy-ass shit. Mentally ill. These BPD’s are amazing…

  169. TooHappy says

    April 16, 2014 at 4:29 pm

    The most ludicrous was when he complained to me that he didn’t have any “good” stories to tell about how horrible I was when he dates new women. He said all he could do was tell them that I was too happy and positive all of the time and that was just annoying. He wished he had something better to discuss when they were sharing their bad “ex” stories. Yep-he left me and our kids because it was just too happy of a home-no one to wallow with him in his hipster negativity. Since I’m so “happy” all I did was laugh when told me that one…

    • Kelly says

      April 16, 2014 at 4:50 pm

      ~Since I’m so “happy” all I did was laugh when told me that one…~

      Unbelievable, but I love your response TooHappy

  170. current chump says

    April 16, 2014 at 4:35 pm

    Thanks Marley-I’m a US chump so NZ would be a bit of a trek for me. I already have all the porn/hook-up sites and images. I need the text messages & I just can’t get them because of the “my Hidden Folder Pro” app that is on his Iphone. It shows phone numbers but no messages. I have run the phone numbers & a few are unknown with no name attached to them and the main number (for a woman i think might be OW or hooker palace) always has a recording that says “caller not accepting calls now”.

    I’m trying to get all the leverage I can for the custody battle.

    • nicolette14 says

      April 16, 2014 at 4:54 pm

      if the recording is saying “caller not accepting calls now”. its usually a prepaid phone and more than likely there is no minutes on it OR your number could be blocked on those numbers so that’s the message you will get. Try http://www.spydialer.com/

    • Marley says

      April 16, 2014 at 4:56 pm

      Current chump if you call an IT company it is amazing what they can do and recover! They can crack any password too! Call around and I am sure someone can crack the app or get the password for it so you can recover what you need!

      Good luck and my thoughts are with you!!

  171. current chump says

    April 16, 2014 at 5:06 pm

    Thank you Nicolette14 & Marley-these are great tools that I didn’t have before!! Wish me luck!!
    Big hugs!

    • nicolette14 says

      April 16, 2014 at 5:33 pm

      You are very welcome and remember smart phones are like computers. Cheaters think they are smart, because they use aps like “my Hidden Folder Pro” and delete their texts what not, however just like computers everything is saved on a hard drive, nothing is really permanently deleted. Only way you cant recover anything, 1-if the phone has severely water damaged, 2-broken into itsy bitsy pieces with a hammer or 3-burned to crisp- BUT if these things are not done to that phone, everything can be recovered from these phones and I mean everything!!

      I wish you all the luck in the world and big hugs right back at you!!

      PS: bury his ass in court!!!

  172. ChumpyLawyer says

    April 16, 2014 at 9:06 pm

    OMG I just remembered the biggest reason. Wait for it….”You traded in the car.” No seriously, he said that my decision to trade in the car (which we both discussed and he agreed to) some how destroyed our lives and spiraled into his need to have parking lot sex with some other guys wife. LOL

  173. TodoVa says

    April 16, 2014 at 11:55 pm

    DDay#1 happened during my pregnancy with our youngest in 2006. High risk since day one, pre-term labor at 30 weeks. So heaven forbid, I get the medical attention I need, “attention” being the key word. He said he didn’t feel important because all the attention was on me and our unborn child…and golly gee, he had to have an affair. Our daughter was born at 30 weeks, stayed in the NICU for 3 months before she was able to come home and he felt “rejected”. I should have left him then…

    Fast forward to last year, jan2013 (DDay#2, urghhhhhh), I ask him why he would ever do this again, his exact words: “It was a dare”. Apparently his friends dared him to go over and woo this girl at a “working dinner” he was having with clients. He thinks he is the life of any party, attention whore that he is, and he took them upon the dare. My response: “WTF, are you 5yrs old?”

    He continued this “dare” for 4 months before I caught him. Since then, I’ve talked to him like the 5 yr old that he is and use it against him every chance I get!!!! When I served him with divorce ppwk, I told him to find a good lawyer bc I didn’t know of any 5yr olds that could read legal documents. My oldest daughter has even used it a few times herself when they talk. Gotta love teenagers….she’s got better ones than I do.

    Divorce will be finalized April 28…12 days in counting. YAY!!!

    Oh, and I use the word DARE a lot now, I mean a whole lot! His little story made me vomit (literally), but I turned it around soon after and now he looks like he wants to hurl very time I use it or sees it. I hand-wrote the word on several post-it’s and put them around our house. He didn’t “dare” question my actions.

    He saw them for a whole year before he finally moved out jan2014. Since then, I’ve taken the ones down from inside the house but put one out on the front door….so he can see it every other weekend when he picks up the girls. Big bright neon pink sheet….

    Hence, my name/handle on this forum: TodoVa – Spanish for “ANYTHING GOES”. Just try me buddy, I DARE you!

  174. Glasto says

    April 17, 2014 at 7:25 am

    Gosh, being human was a crime? I find these ‘reasons’ given by all your cheaters really dispiriting. Is it permissible to be less than perfect in relationships?

    • KarenE says

      April 17, 2014 at 8:44 pm

      Sure it is, Glasto, if you’re in a relationship with someone with some character, some integrity, some honesty. Someone who recognizes the value and rewards of long-term commitment, someone with a heart and some empathy ….

      You know, someone like us Chumps!

  175. nicolette14 says

    April 17, 2014 at 9:21 am

    oh ok. Thanks jinks.

  176. singed says

    April 17, 2014 at 7:15 pm

    Ooohh, I am just catching up on posts from the last week and I think I have one that will hopefully make my fellow chumps smile. When my STBX and I first got married, his parents wedding present to us was a $3,000 vacuum. I will admit, I kind of snickered at the sexism, the randomness, the starving kids who could have had hundreds of meals instead of me getting a $3,000…VACUUM… So, after 5 years of several affairs, I heard many, many stupid blame-shifting excuses. But the best was: “You laughed at my parents for buying us the vacuum!”

    • bogie says

      April 18, 2014 at 5:38 am

      Ooh, that is a good entry – made me laugh!

  177. Tinkerbell says

    April 17, 2014 at 7:44 pm

    “that’s another reason I’m leaving you, because you don’t believe in psychics,”

    WTF…..

  178. Verity297 says

    April 19, 2014 at 6:38 am

    Mine had exclusive use of our driveway for his works van, a cooked meal every night and as much sex as he could manage….

    His blame-shifting…

    “You don’t like gardening, the kids ignore me, and too many arguments”…. this last one always makes me smile…. I haven’t had an argument with anyone in the 3 years since he left. 🙂

    • Next says

      April 19, 2014 at 3:21 pm

      You’re doing so well Verity297!

      Mine also blamed all the arguing and better to have two parents that weren’t together arguing all the time…was news to me, we didn’t argue as I was too scared to and tried to keep the peace! Now I am so angry and argue all the time. Why am I so snarky he says? WTF do you think FF!!

      • Verity297 says

        April 21, 2014 at 2:44 pm

        Anger is hard to deal with, Next and SO draining….

        I tried to use it constructively…. that said, I smashed a fair few of his treasured flower pots along the way … 🙂
        It’s ok… he has 3 allotments now and last time I spoke to him, he was bragging about his 300 potato plants… * shrugs shoulders*
        Now he complains that I won’t speak to him…. yes, why do you think! WTF!!

        • BloomingRoseinWinter says

          April 25, 2014 at 3:50 pm

          You know WHY these Arseholes like Gardening soo Much ??
          If you Learn a Couple Tricks, you Can Manipulate Plants to do Whatever you Want them to…and They don’t Have Emotions…Unlike, say PEOPLE.

          • BloomingRoseinWinter says

            April 25, 2014 at 4:03 pm

            NO Disrespect to CL About Gardening .. SHE knows what’s Important. Don’t mean to step on any other Chumps here who Garden, Either.. It’s just a Real Tender Spot with me. The Ex treated his Plants like his Babies, and Babies like DEAD Plants.

  179. Southamericanchump says

    April 20, 2014 at 10:31 am

    Two days ago I had the last conversation with my STBX …marriage of 14 years with 3 OWs….His blameshifting highlights were:

    “I needed to feel like a man” (meaning he was not getting enough sex at home…as if he even tried, I was the only one who initiated and I got tired of that, especially because I was criticized permanently on everything I did)

    “I stopped being your priority when the kids were born” (and I evidently stopped being his, when he would party every other Friday with his group of “friends” from where he got all his OWs from)

    “I am a discursive communicator while you are an intuitive one” (meaning that I would have to go through grueling “make up” sessions to talk about what ever he was upset about, he called them “conversations” and accused me of not being good at “talking”…but for me they were one sided monologues that were used to point out what a failure I was…I got tired of trying to argue my way to some dignified place because I would usually lose, so I preferred to either let him have his way or take the silent non-confrontational route …which meant I was “passive-agressive”…Too complicated!! How lucky not to be in that again—no wonder I sleep better now!)

    “you get what you want”

    “you didn´t want to have anal sex”

    “you stopped using miniskirts” (I am 47…)

  180. Wow33 says

    April 22, 2014 at 5:29 am

    After gas lighting me for 6 months after d- day, I pulled myself emotionally away from him and did not talk much to him. I needed to make myself better so I went to counseling. Weeks later on our first counseling session together he was angry that I was not talking to him!!! What an idiot!! We also had to go to a family party that summer , by then I filled for divorce, he told his Aunt that we are getting a divorce because I stopped talking to him,,… Nothing about that he had an affair. I made sure his Aunt knew the exact reason and they where schlocked. They all thought we where the perfect couple. He seems so nice.

  181. ScarlieC says

    April 23, 2014 at 5:44 am

    1. You always put mushrooms and other fresh veggies in dishes you make! (Yes, I don’t do the whole warm up fridge/freezer food, cook out of a box thing like his mother did).
    2. You’re too focused on the baby, it’s not going to harm him if I drink all your milk (yes, Chumps, it was boobie milk).

    But the best was this one…

    “You didn’t die.”
    I was sick and suffering. I was diagnosed with PCOs and other hormonal imbalances after a year. It must have been so hard on him dealing with me being sick and in pain, so hard that he decided I was going to die and that he was allowed to console himself with lots and lots of prostitutes (which he stole money of me for) and 1 night stands.

  182. Anne M says

    May 16, 2014 at 1:07 pm

    When I (stupidly) asked if I had done something to cause him to cheat, he told me very matter-of-factly that I’d gained too much weight and had “gotten fat”, and that he’d always wanted me to cut my hair very short (like a boy), whereas I wear it long and layered. Also, my boobs were too big–he told me he prefers women with “totally flat” chests. I’ve been 5’8″ tall with very slender bone structure and between 110-115 pounds since my freshman year of high school. I wear a size zero or double zero. I am very fit and healthy, but I can’t gain weight even when I’ve tried. Yet I was too fat, curvy and womanly for this wackjob…so I laughed in his face, and I just kept laughing. And frankly, I’m still laughing.

  183. Leslie Smithers says

    November 12, 2014 at 8:03 pm

    He was stressed with running a business and having three kids. So he traded in us for a new woman with two kids- one with special needs.

  184. Dd61999 says

    January 15, 2018 at 11:51 am

    We went broke. So she said, “our marriage failed because I wanted to start logging all expenses in the check book ledger”

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