While we all make mistakes, there are some people who seem to specialize in hurting others and not taking accountability.
From spreading rumors to wrecking friendships to cheating on romantic partners, they have an endless list of excuses for why they did what they did without ever really taking responsibility for it.
Redditor LegalShower1190 asked:
"What excuse did your partner give you after cheating on you?"
Believing the Grass Is Greener
"He said, 'I thought I could do better.' We'd been together for over 25 years."
- Unbelievable-27
"My husband said the same thing. We were together for 27 years."
- crazygirlinthehall
Projection, Projection, Projection
"He said, 'I figured you were already sleeping with someone else.'"
"I wasn't."
- man_of_the_mountain
"This literally just happened to me today in a way. My fiancée and I broke up last year, and I thought it was mainly us drifting apart."
"I found out today she was cheating, and when I asked her about it, she confessed it was because she thought I was cheating on her anyway."
"Bullet dodged, I guess."
- RudeTheories
Chemical Imbalances
"She said, 'I forgot to take my depression/anxiety medication for the last week... I think I was hallucinating.'"
- supermandrew_8
"For the record, I've actually seen that happen. I worked in behavioral health."
"A woman came in during a manic episode and was hallucinating. She thought every man was her husband. We found her in the shower with another patient. She was mortified when she became balanced again and realized what she had done."
- slappy_mcslapenstein
Okay, Ross.
"We were on a break."
"But we were not. She just said she wanted to go to her hometown because she missed her family and childhood friends and having a little me time would be fun. I don't know in what world that even indicates a break."
- Superb_Bench9902
"That's like saying you're on a diet between lunch and dinner, lol (laughing out loud)."
- Zeikos
The Real Relationship
"She said, 'We were just hanging out, I don’t even like him.'"
"But she was with him at a hookah lounge at 2:00 AM after saying she was too tired to come over to my house."
"Within the same week of us breaking up, they went 'Facebook Official,' and the comments were all like, 'It’s about time you two got together!' and s**t like that. At least they didn't even last half a year, lol (laughing out loud)."
"I found out from a friend of mine who’d hang out with the other guy that they’d go on small road trips when I was at work 'with a group,' and they would Snapchat each other a lot."
"It definitely hurt a lot finding out slowly as time went on how deep it went."
"The funny thing is, that friend and I stopped hanging out a couple of months after that. I guess he wanted to stay friends with the other guy and continued to hang out with the new couple. So I peaced out, and he never reached out."
"I'm over it now, the friendship and the relationship and the cheating."
- AskingAlesana
The Epitome of Mental Gymnastics
"He said, 'I thought you knew?' What a bulls**t excuse."
"Looking back, he probably was high. He turned it into this whole thing about how he thought I was so smart that I just must have KNOWN he was cheating, and since I wasn't angry since I had to have known, I must have been okay with it."
"The mental gymnastics of it all."
- Marlowe_Case
Just Priceless
I've experienced this a FEW times, but these are my 'favorites.'"
"He said, 'She’s so much like you, it didn’t feel like cheating.'"
"He said, 'It’s your fault you found out. I did nothing wrong. I tried to keep you from knowing so you wouldn’t be hurt.'"
"'You weren’t in town, what was I supposed to do?'"
- idontevencarebear
"What does he MEAN, 'What was I supposed to do?' as if cheating is the only thing someone can do when bored."
- IIIYam6038
Definitely Not Therapy
"'My psychiatrist told me to.'"
"Yeah, sorry, but no doctor is going to recommend that you cheat on your partner of seven years."
"12 years later, and it still kills me inside."
- tootaflute
Too Drunk Not to Cheat
"That they had been drinking and made a dumb mistake."
- Toematoes
"Isn't 'being drunk and making mistakes' due to alcohol making it so you ignore consequences or don't think things through or something? Like, something about alcohol not actually making you do things you haven't thought about doing sober, just making you too inebriated to consider consequences or something like that?"
"Like if I was a regular at a bar and secretly always wanted to slap the bouncer but didn't because I'd get banned, wouldn't getting super drunk make me not think about the 'but I'll get banned' part?"
"If that's how alcohol works, people don't cheat by 'making mistakes while drunk.' They had always considered cheating, but the alcohol just removed the barriers they placed while sober."
"(I have next to no knowledge or experience with alcohol so if all of this is just objectively wrong ignore me entirely.)"
- Tuskor13
Still Counts
"She said, 'It's a girl. I'm not into girls, but I was curious.'"
"Nah, that still counts."
- azraelce
"I know, right?! I went through the same thing with an ex-girlfriend."
"It took about a week to untangle myself from that mess. She managed to cheat again during that week, but with a guy this time, and assumed we'd just hit a rough patch and could work it out."
"I had been adamant and very clear since I found out about the first cheating that this was the end and that I wanted nothing to do with her."
"Like nah, girl, I value myself more than your nonsense. I cut all ties and contact. She's tried to reach out through various methods over the years and I've never replied to her."
- SweetPotatoMermaid
What Is 'Real'?
"I have a scar on my tummy from a Caesarean section, and he said he wanted to see a real woman's body."
"I gotta say that affected me for a long time."
- Plus_Data_1099
"What a pure evil comment to come out with. That scar brought a child to the world and is a real example of a real woman."
"Scars are your story and what makes you, you. That's far more beautiful than a 'perfect' body."
"Glad you've done better for yourself."
- Th0mX
"Of all the things to criticize a C-section scar for, 'not being a real woman' is so... baffling? Don't get me wrong, obviously, it's awful regardless, but like... a C-section? Not a real woman???"
- Womblue
Just Such a Good Time
"She said, 'I wanted to have the whole high school experience. His relationships only last a few months so we can get back together then.'"
"She said, 'I wanted something else.'"
"She said, 'I was having a good time in Vegas and I didn’t want the night to stop. Also, I don’t love you anymore, but we live together so I didn’t know how to break up with you,' after going to a friend's birthday party in Vegas and then being very cagey and vague about the trip when she got back and I asked how it was."
"Three separate relationships."
- throwaway3145267
The Power of Manifestation
"It was my fault. Somehow it was always my fault."
"I know it was just what he would try to use as an excuse, and I didn’t fall for it."
"Ultimately, I didn’t care after a while, and that’s when I manifested he gets one of his other women pregnant so I could leave him, and he would leave me alone."
"Just FYI: manifestation works, lol (laughing out loud)."
- Jskm79
Superior
"They said, 'You're too good for me.'"
- Chemical_Savings_360
"My wife is definitely way too good for me... which is why I do my best to not f**k up and make it last as long as possible before she realizes it and leaves me for someone better."
"And if any of you tell her, I will hunt you down and catch you like a fish!"
- thepumpkinking92
Some of these reasons were heartbreaking, but most of them just left us shaking our heads in wonder at the mental gymnastics these people went through to cook up these excuses.
Sometimes it's just easier to be honest and say you've made a huge mistake, but the easiest thing would be to end the relationship before the cheating ever even happens.
@jman42/Bluesky
@SecretaryBurgum/X
@Doug Ellin/X
@evanrachelwood/Instagram