Here Are The Most Shocking Secrets And Stories About Marriage, Affairs, And Weddings So Far This Year
In 2022, readers have shared with us a lot of shocking and heartbreaking details about their relationships: moments that broke up weddings, regrets about having affairs, reasons people fell out of love, experiences from people who married young or married the popular kid, and things people regretted learning about their partners.
Lifetime
Here are some of the most unforgettable stories:
1."I married when I got pregnant, but my husband became abusive. So what did I do? I had an affair with another man for 12 years. I was having sex with my husband and my lover. I had three children, whom I truly believed were my husband's. During our divorce, the DNA proved two of my three children were not my ex's biological sons. It was a shit-show."
"I regret lying. I regret having an affair. All three of my children have disowned me, and I do not blame them."
—Anonymous
2."I worked at a music venue in the Detroit area that was also a popular wedding reception location. Came into work one week in the fall, when pretty much every weekend is booked solid with weddings and noticed Saturday was open with no one scheduled. Talked to the wedding planner, and she told me the groom canceled. Odd. Spoke to the wedding planner's younger brother, who was our head barback. He told me that the groom, excited about the wedding, left work at lunch on Friday, bought a nice bottle of wine, and headed home to surprise his bride-to-be."
"Except he was the one in for a surprise, as he walked into his new house to hear sounds coming from their bedroom. He walked in to find his bride in bed with another man...his dad. We tried to talk him into doing a big fuck you party because we'd never fill the space and there was no refund, but he declined."
3."My biggest regret is having children. I graduated in 1991, and we were married in July of the same year. Hubby and I were happy in our marriage, however, having our first baby when I was 20 and our second at 21 wasn't a good idea. We went on to have a total of six kids. Of those six, only three still speak to me. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't have kids at all."
—Anonymous
4."My wife was on dialysis for three years before her first failed kidney transplant. I gave her one of mine, which she still has, but I was certain she wasn't going to live. My coworker was there for me; I fell in love."
"I was terrified of being alone. I wish I could take it all back. My 'friend' got really possessive and told my wife. My life has been pretty bad since then; my wife forgave me, but it will never be the same. The hurt is still there — it never goes away, nor does the guilt I feel."
5."First of all, if you've never been to a Jewish wedding, the way it goes is, first they have the reception (with the bride and groom in separate rooms), then the ceremony, then the family goes away to sit for pictures while the guests sit down to eat, then the bride and groom come in, and the dancing starts. In between the ceremony and the pictures, though, is what's called Yichud, which approximately means 'isolation together' — the bride and groom lock themselves in a room and are observed by two reliable witnesses outside the door to have stayed there long enough to have consummated the marriage (although nobody actually does it there: it's considered déclassé)."
"After the Yichud, the bride came out and announced, 'Sorry everyone, the wedding's off. We'll be getting a divorce, and we're returning all the gifts...except for the bedroom set, where I caught my new husband trying it out with my sister last week.'
So, what makes this noteworthy? Well, think about this. She knew about the episode before the wedding. Why'd she go through with it? Because under Jewish law, if you've once been married to a woman, even after divorcing her, you aren't allowed to marry her sister at any time until your first wife has died. By going through with the ceremony, she in effect locked her sister out of ever being able to get together with her soon-to-be-ex."
6."My husband was the good-looking, athletic guy with a great sense of humor who all the girls adored. I was the petite blue-eyed blonde cheerleader he chased all four years in high school. We ended up getting together after graduation and were engaged six months later. I should have kept running from him as I did in school. He’s now an addict who is verbally and emotionally abusive, and he’s a compulsive liar. He’s very jealous and has accused me of having an affair with every man I’ve ever worked with, all without any merit whatsoever."
"I teach high school English, and he is jealous of my male students because he claims he 'sees the way they look at me.' I’m happy to say that he’ll be getting served with divorce papers very soon. God help the woman who takes my place, because he can’t do anything for himself. He’s never paid a bill, made his own doctor appointments, etc. He’s exhausting. He’s also that guy who likes to tell our son what a stud he was in school and how he eventually got the girl he wanted. While we were dating, he portrayed himself as the man he thought I would see as husband material; however, I quickly saw it was all an act, shortly after we married. If I had it to do over, I would leave the country to avoid him. The only good thing to come out of our marriage is my son."
7."A couple weeks before the wedding, Groom called Bride and said he was coming over. They needed to talk. When he got to her apartment, he broke down in tears and confessed that he was in love with someone else. He loved her but couldn't marry her because he didn't love her in the way a bride deserves. There was much crying and shouting over it all, but eventually, the bride recovered from the news enough to ask him who he was in love with. 'Well,' Groom said, 'It's [Bride's brother].'"
"The wedding was definitely off at that point. Now, five or six years later, Groom and Bride's Brother are married and happy. I lost contact with Bride shortly after her wedding plans went tits up, so I'm not sure if she ever forgave the boys for that one."
8."She gave me her phone to look for an address and make a restaurant reservation for our seven-year anniversary. Someone sent her a video on WhatsApp, and the next message said, 'Tomorrow again?' Now, I am not one of those people who normally checks my partner's phone; I don't like that. But I was curious and clicked on it. It was a full two-minute video of her cheating on me with two men. Needless to say, there was no anniversary dinner."
9."When I left my spouse for the man I had an affair with, my son didn't talk to me for two years. I had such a difficult time with that. My partner also left his wife; his daughter blamed me for years for being a home-wrecker. She would never talk to me or be around me whenever there were family functions. The relationship with my partner ended because I found out that he cheated on me."
"Too many loved ones were hurt by our actions. My son and I are close again, but after all the pain I caused in my family, I made a promise to myself and God that I would never again pursue a relationship with a man who was married."
—Anonymous
10."I have a friend who met the supposed love of her life, but he was already married. He gave her the same old storyline: His wife was 'crazy' and not affectionate, but his kids were young so he couldn't leave. She fell for it, and they started sleeping together. A few years passed, and she decided to get married to a new guy — even though she was still sleeping with guy #1. Of course, the marriage went south, but she was gonna stay with her husband to make it work for the kids. Meanwhile, guy #1 kept telling her he was going to try and work it out with his wife."
"Oh, and he may have given my friend an STD because his wife was cheating. So, my friend left guy #1, divorced her husband, and is now married for the third time to a guy 10 years younger. It was a wild ride from start to finish."
11."I met my now-husband when we were 16. I was smitten, but as an awkward teen, I had no idea if he felt the same. We remained friends, graduated high school, and then life took us in different directions. We both went on to marry and start families with other people. One day, 20 years after meeting, I found my high school crush on Facebook. I friended him, and I was immediately flooded with the feelings I had for him when we were teens."
"He was recently divorced and starting over. I quickly unfriended him after a friend who could see how I felt about him threatened to tell my husband. I was devastated. After many years of unhappiness and a loveless marriage, I was despondent. Then, at one of my part-time jobs, there he was — my crush. I immediately felt 16 again. We fell right into sync, and I succumbed to how intense my love was for him. I told him how I felt, and he felt the same. We had a secret affair for six months until my husband found out; we immediately divorced. That was 10 years ago. I have now been married to the love of my life (truly) for the last eight years. Would I do it again? Absolutely. Hands down, the best thing to ever happen to me."
—Anonymous
12."College friend was to get married to a guy she had only known for four months. She found out where the bachelor party was and wandered in to find the groom getting head – from the best man."
–[deleted]
13."I met my ex-husband when I was 22, and he was 19. We got married at 24 and 21 and had our son two years later. He changed when I got pregnant and was really unsympathetic about my pregnancy symptoms. After our son was born, he called my postpartum depression 'attention-seeking.' Instead of helping me bond with our son, he just took over; it always felt like our son was his, and I was just lucky my ex 'lent' him to me."
"We split when our son was three, and my life since then has been a whirlwind of custody battles, court dates, and having to constantly fight to see my son since my ex hates sharing him. My son is nearly 12 now, and I so regret marrying his father before I truly realized the kind of person he was."
14."He said that he’d stop being attracted to me if I removed my breast implants. He’s a great guy and does love me, but he said that he likely wouldn’t consider me as beautiful as I am now because he’s a boob guy."
15."While working the night before a wedding at a hotel, the staff and I heard a loud scream from upstairs. Cue the bride screaming, sobbing, and shouting, 'The wedding's off!!!' while storming out. She was followed by the groom, stark naked, covering his nether regions with his hands, and apologizing profusely. Turns out she caught her mother and the groom hooking up. Safe to say we had an easy shift the next day as we didn't have a wedding to cater for."
16."He was the one who had the six-pack, the one all the girls swooned over. Very popular. I was not. I saw him after just leaving high school, and we started going out. God knows why we got married in our early 20s — I guess we thought it was just what happened next? He never grew up. All he wanted to do was constantly play online games. He would get home from work, walk past me to the spare room, go straight online, and play until the early hours. Get a bit of sleep, then go back to work."
"Same thing, again and again. Never wanted to go anywhere. Just wanted to game. Eventually, I gave him an ultimatum. He chose the game. From what I gather, he’s remarried to someone else we went to school with and has two kids now. I was told she had to give him an awful lot of ultimatums before he eventually grew up."
17."I had a coworker who was dating and became engaged to her manager's brother. Another coworker noticed she kept going off with the security guy a lot (he was also in a relationship). Eventually, it came to light, and they left their partners for each other and are married now. Her manager refused to ever work a shift with her again."
18."A week before his wedding, a friend of mine walked in on his dad having sex with his fiancée. The next day, in a fit of rage, he trashed their room and in the process found explicit love letters between his fiancée and his recently married best friend (and best man) in her underwear drawer. The letters were as recent as the past week. The wedding was cancelled. Whenever I ran into him at a bar, I made sure he never had to buy his own drinks."
19."Red flags were all over the place, but my mother was so incensed that we were 'living in sin' that I went ahead and married the POS to get her off my back. It took seven months and several PIs, but we finally caught him."
"He was screwing around on me two weeks after our wedding. During that time, he also stole some of my jewelry to give to his side pieces."
20."I found out he spent hundreds on webcam women. He apologized and said he wouldn't do it again but didn't consider it cheating. A few months later, I discovered several OnlyFans subscriptions, and he said they were old. We've been together for three and a half years. He's been talking about buying me a ring to propose for about a year and a half now...I'm still waiting."
21."I suffered a head injury that made it hard for me to do some basic things like bake/cook. After some time, I finally tried baking again. He saw the dirty dishes while I was in the middle of cleaning up. He got angry and screamed at me about how inconsiderate I was, dirtying dishes and leaving them."
"I was making him his favorite dessert. I have never sobbed like that before. Instead of being proud of my progress, he said some of the worst things I’ve ever heard. That’s the moment I woke up. It took some time, but I left him not long after. My divorce was final earlier this month."
22."One of my cousins was getting married. I’ll call her H. Well, the groom and another cousin of mine, R, hooked up in the women’s bathroom AT THE CHURCH. They were discovered when the bridal party walked in to start getting ready. H, the bride, started freaking out, screamed at the groom, called off the wedding, and then got in a brawl with R. The groom and R took off together after that. Since my aunt and uncle had already paid for everything, the rest of us had to go through a very awkward reception, with H’s mother screaming at R’s mother and my grandmother trying to referee."
"H got completely plastered and puked all over the leftover food in the buffet. I’m not too fond of weddings since all that went down."
23."I married the popular guy. We didn’t go to the same schools but met when we were 30. He was extremely charismatic and likable, but he was used to having everything handed to him and done for him. He constantly spoke about how, prior to me, he was always with hot girls and how he basically settled for me (I know I’m pretty, but I’m also overweight). He didn’t seem to realize that while he was in shape in high school from playing sports, he ballooned up as an adult. We divorced earlier this year."
"He’s already living with potential wife number three; his first wife and I have bonded over how terrible he treats his spouses. He’s 35, but he doesn’t think he has behavior that needs to change because he spent his whole life hearing he was the best."
24."My marriage wasn’t going well. I actually started a company in another state just to put distance between us, and I would travel back and forth. I reached out on a couple of dating apps and thought it would be fun to have dinner or a movie with someone, but it became much more very quickly. The affair was incredible and fun; sexually, it was everything I could have imagined."
"While home for Thanksgiving, I decided to confess my unfaithfulness to my spouse. She took it extremely hard but asked that we not make any life-altering marriage decisions until after the holidays and that I not see this other person. That required me to tell my lover I was still married, and that was tough. She was devastated as we had spent many months developing our relationship, only to have it blow up. For this, I was truly sorry. My marriage has remained intact, though it’s still a work in progress, and my spouse has tried to forgive me. To me, my affair is still a good memory, but because of the pain it caused to my spouse and others, I would not do it again."
—Anonymous
25."At the bachelor party in Vegas, the groom hooked up with a woman and gave her his cell phone number so they could continue the party that night. The bride-to-be was sitting at home with the iPad, getting all of the iMessages from the woman. She canceled the wedding that day."
26."We volunteered to foster kittens. Seeing how little patience he had with those innocent little fluff-heads made me see him from a different perspective."
"I remember the exact moment: He got angry at a kitten for not wanting to play with him and how it was hiding under the couch. I kept saying to him, 'She's scared, just leave her alone. She's allowed to hide until she feels safe.' And it was like, damn...that's me. The very next day, I started planning my escape. I never left him alone with the kittens we fostered, and I gave the animal shelter a heads up so he wouldn't be on their foster list anymore. Got rid of my man but ended up adopting a kitten."
27."I fell head over heels for a guy in college and would’ve done absolutely ANYTHING for that relationship. Meanwhile, he was lukewarm about me, and I didn’t have enough life experience to know that that was unhealthy. He was in a frat, and basically, all the brothers (including him) had slept with this woman who used to hang around the house. The whole frat would make fun of her and say awful, dehumanizing shit about her. They treated her like an inside joke. My ex said more than once that she was basically a sex worker."
"Meanwhile, a different brother would have sex with her every other weekend. It really made my blood boil that they would dehumanize her like that, and then turn around and have sex with her. I always tried to defend her. Anyway, after we graduated, when we’d been together for four fucking years, I found out my ex had been cheating on me. With this fucking woman who he'd compared to a sex worker. I really thought I was going to die when I found out, that the grief was going to swallow me whole."
28."After years and years of trying, I found out I was pregnant. I miscarried, and I was completely devastated. He acted like he couldn't care less."
"The absolute final straw was later that year, on what would have been our due date. He caught me crying, and when he asked what was wrong, I told him. He rolled his eyes and said, 'My god, aren't you over it by now?' Our divorce should be final by the end of next month."
29."When my husband was on baby duty (our son was three weeks old) and I woke up to our son screaming and crying. My husband was completely passed out due to Xanax and red wine."
"I grabbed our child away from him and started yelling about how irresponsible he was. Instead of apologizing, he flipped out on me and said I was a bad mom. In that moment, I knew I could never trust him with our child, much less any others that he insisted he wanted. Love was out of the question."
30."There was a joke going around that students from a certain university (ours) were bad at giving head. I laughed and said, 'Oh, that’s absolutely not true. Look how happy you get when I do it!' He proceeded to look at me and say, 'Yeah, but you remember that one girl I told you about, who I hooked up with two years ago? That head was god-tier. You have a lot to live up to.' I saw red. To this day, I can’t and won’t give him head."
"I love him, and he apologized, but every time I think about it now, I always wonder whether or not he was thinking about that other girl every time I did it for the first six months of our relationship. It hasn’t really left me, and I don’t think it ever will."
31."I got married at 25 and divorced at 26. We were together for two and a half years before we got married, and looking back now (I'm 31), I should've seen the red flags."
"He was controlling in the 'I love you, so you should do this' type of way. He drank a lot and blamed me for his drinking. I always felt like the babysitter, having to make sure he wasn't saying anything embarrassing or insulting to my family and friends. It was a lot on me and still slightly affects my anxiety. Therapy has helped in the past few years, and I'm now in the best relationship ever."
32."I think the straw that finally broke it for me was when I was being released from the hospital after the birth of our daughter. He couldn't be found because he was on a train to Florida with his girlfriend and her husband's tax refund check."
33.And finally, "He walked out on me two months after I was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer. When he finally called me, he had driven halfway across the country and wasn't sure when or if he would be back."
"He knows that I have no family to support me. Nine years together with almost no fighting, and our marriage was over. Since then, he doesn't answer my phone calls and barely responds to important texts, unless it is to inquire about our divorce papers. I'm not sure if I've fallen out of love with him or if I'm just telling myself that so I don't break into a million pieces."
Do you have any shocking or heartbreaking relationship stories? Share your experience in the comments below.
Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
