Warning: Some sensitive content ahead.
Not all love stories end with a happily ever after and not all marriages last. It's a sad fact of life: You win some, you lose some.But what happens when you've been someone a while and you get married only to find out that the person you married is somehow so much more different than the person they pretended to be?
It's something worth thinking about and sadly, there are many people out there who've experienced this, especially on a short timeline.
People shared their stories with us after Redditor LittleFuzzyThings asked the online community:
"People who separated/divorced within one year of getting married: When did you know it was a mistake?"
"Lots of other stuff happened..."
"When he choked me against a wall at a party. He was mad that I laughed at another guy's joke. People were passing by us but just kinda looked and kept going."
"Lots of other stuff happened but it took me a while to "wake up" and break away. I was in denial for too long."
SenexProxy
Sorry to hear nobody stopped. That’s absolutely awful.
"I knew it was over..."
"I knew it was over when she started a fight at my brother's funeral because female attendees were giving me hugs as part of condolences."
[deleted]
This is so inappropriate it's not even funny.
"I knew a week after I got married..."
"I knew a week after I got married when he slammed my head into the wall “because he saw me looking at a man” at an ice cream shop. I’m from the US, and got married in England. This dude changed completely right after we got married. A couple of weeks later, I had to get out of there and come back to the US."
shirleysensei
This is horrifying. Glad you made it out!
"I was blindsided by it."
"I was blindsided by it. We lived together for a year about an hour from my hometown. We relocated, upon her request and desire, to my hometown prior to our marriage so that when we had kids, it’s best to be close to family. We had a house we loved, a dog we loved, jobs we both loved working in...or so I thought. Married in October."
"She goes to visit her sister over the next Labor Day weekend and I can’t attend due to work. Comes back the Tuesday after Labor Day and tells me she’s living a lie and someone else’s dream and she needs a divorce. I had no idea."
"Divorce finalized in January. She married some dude that her sister was friends with, and she met on that trip I was unable to attend, this September."
"Life is wild, sometimes."
War_Hammer85
"When he said..."
"When he said my son's suicide attempt interfered with his (ex's) birthday party."
ersu010762
Excuse me? What?! I hope you ran far away after that.
"Honeymoon."
"We dated for 5 years but on the honeymoon we had a big argument over my liberal use of sunscreen. She refused to wear any because of ‘chemicals’ and I liberally use it due to my ginger skin. We seriously argued over this for a good hour and she refused to even go into the pool with me because of sunscreen chemicals."
"After a scuba adventure with her she could hardly walk because she got so burnt on her legs whereas my skin didn’t change."
"She then tried to convince me that it was all my fault because I didn’t force her to wear the sunscreen and that the honeymoon was ruined."
"It was then I realized I picked the wrong person. After a few more psycho arguments (mad at me because of something in her dreams, mad because I didn’t remind her to bring an umbrella....)"
"I had to call it quits. I can’t stay with someone who constantly blames me for their own problems. Luckily no kids and I got back everything I brought into the marriage."
fukenheimer
"When I found out..."
"When I found out she was sending snapchats to a co-worker. Turns out she was sleeping with him. We got divorced, I met the girl of my dreams, we just had our first kid together two weeks ago."
Astrorockettexans
Glad to hear this story has such a happy ending!
"She went out..."
"She went out for girls' night and met a new friend named Nicole at a bar. Started texting her a lot, then going to hang out now and then. We had a baby at home and she kept trying to go hang out with this girl from another town over with no last name whom I was not allowed to meet. His real name was Wesley."
[deleted]
And here I thought she was just going to turn out to be a lesbian.
"Her running off..."
"Her running off with a guy she met in rehab was a pretty solid clue that it wasn't meant to be."
MisterPhister
Yeah, you might be on to something.
"A cousin of mine..."
"A cousin of mine divorced her husband after six months. She knew when we had to pick her up from her home after a recent domestic assault. That day, we packed up all of her stuff and never let her go back."
[deleted]
I’m happy that you guys could be there for her and help her get out. Hope she is doing well now.
If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse, there is help out there.
The National Domestic Violence is one such resource. Safe Horizon is another. Even if you just need someone to talk to, it's worth it. Trained professionals can help you get the footing you need.
Have your own experiences with abuse? Have tips to share to help others who might be in similar situations? Feel free to share them in the comments below.