Offline
Recently found out my husband of 35 years is having sex with other men. He had been texting constantly and disappearing for stretches of time, and I asked him about it. His response was that there was no secret texting and was not and had not been anyone else. I did not believe him or trust him, so I signed into his phone, which I feel bad about - hate being the suspicious wife. What I found was beyond my worst suspicions - he has been posting videos on Tango and Grindr, and texting and chatting with multiple men using the most graphic and explicit language and pictures. The worst of it is that he has invited men he met online into our home for sex, and has a date set up there for tomorrow afternoon. The timing of this discovery is terrible as our oldest daughter is getting married this summer and I do not want this to overshadow what should be one of the happiest times of her life. I thought I could get through this without confronting him until after the wedding, but am finding I cannot tolerate the idea of him bringing these men into our home. Really struggling with how to handle this without a huge blowup. I am a mess right now.
Offline
SickatHeart,
You are in shock.. Breathe. I know the feeling after snooping and discovering stuff beyond your worst fears.. It's like getting hit by a bus. Know that it is not your fault..there is nothing you could do to make him do this.
You're probably right about not confronting him right now or waiting to see if you can handle it until the summer when your daughter gets married. Know whichever you decide this is not your fault. he would have ruined things for your daughter.
Take a breath..do not do anything rash just yet. Be kind to yourself. Build your support system with small steps each day. Maintain status quo for now as you process this and build your support system.
You need time to build strength.
It is difficult... they do invite the cheating into our homes...its a physical violation of us. I say keep calling tomorrow afternoon or be home to ruin his plans.. you may be able to do that for a day. Know that its not forever.
An sincere warm e-hug (virtual but authentic)
Offline
Is there any way to tell him that you've caught him red handed without drama. Tell him you don't want his indiscretion to take away from the excitement of your daughters wedding. Ask him to stop bringing people into your home. It's not mentally healthy for you to endure coming home knowing something has been going on.
Don't feel bad checking on him, you shouldn't have to be but clearly he wasn't deserving of your trust. You're gut told you something was off, if you ignored it and did nothing than where would you be in 5, 10, 15 years?
If you don't anticipate continuing in your marriage then I suggest protecting yourself financially. If you have joint assets than maybe prepare to secure them before you tell him you know.
So sorry for you that you are here. We're all here for the same reason so you have our support. Take care.
Vicky
Offline
There are two routes you can go here. Well, there's probably several, but two that I see that would be my only options if I were you.
Option I wouldn't choose, and why:
1. Confront him outright about what you know.
Reaction a) Strong opposition and poor treatment (TO you, not by you), which will add to stress during this time leading up to your daughter's wedding.
Reaction b) He admits to everything, brings out the explanations about how he's been soooo tortured, and then promises that he'll be better. This may last for a few months - maybe through your daughter's wedding.
With either reaction, he can start moving around / hiding money, spreading lies about you in anticipation of a future blow up, and getting a jump on the legal process. If you do go with confronting him, make sure you're ready to move forward immediately on the same.
Options I'd choose from:
1. Let him know in a very emotionless, firm way that you do NOT want any more people in your home while you're out. He will suspect that you know. But if he starts asking, "What does that mean?", you just repeat. It means that I think it would be disrespectful of you to have people here while I'm out, and it would make me very, very angry to find out that you continued after I told you to stop." He's going to be defensive, ask when he's had people over, etc. Just keep repeating, "I am just saying that I don't want that. Is that understood? Yes? Good." Then walk away.
This won't necessarily stop him from misbehaving, but it will probably ensure that he'll keep it out of your home. Warning: he WILL go and lock down all his accounts, thinking that's how you found out. Or he might become paranoid about one of the neighbors having said something to you. Do not confirm or deny anything. Just let him know that you don't want it happening. PERIOD.
Now, he will most likely not admit to anything because you're not openly accusing him of anything. But he will try to twist the argument to "What, you don't TRUST me?" Gasp. Just repeat - "Hear me: I don't want anyone here when I'm not here. Capishe?" He will play a victim to your distrust. Don't fall for that bullshit. Just keep your mouth shut and keep reiterating your stance on people in the house. He will go one of two ways after that - he'll either play the "poor me - for having such a distrustful wife" card, or he'll get.... mad. Mean. More vague then ever. Disappear lots. Fine. You're just trying to keep the peace until the wedding.
Now - option 2 is to say nothing and start gathering your forces for war. That means acting like nothing's wrong, but visiting a lawyer, gathering financial information, documents, etc. It means standing in the war zone before he realizes there's going to BE a war. Personally, I'd recommend this route, but very much understand if you feel like you can't stand to deal with strangers in your house while acting normal. So,.... go to a different bedroom. Stay up one night later than normal and fall asleep on the couch. Then when you get up, go to a different bed so you don't wake him. Do this until it's normal for you to sleep in a different room. At least you'll have the balm of knowing that he's not sullying your sheets that you're lying down in after an afternoon tryst.
Or you could just say that you heard there's burglaries in the neighborhood, and you'd feel safer if he got cameras that record outside activity - and would like some cameras pointed at and recording the doors, at the very least. That'd scare him. Lol.
Personally, I'd have a difficult time doing ANY of the above options. I'd go to my daughter and tell her that I am so sad because I think Dad's gay. Then tell her what you've found. Then let her blast him herself. Take him right out of the wedding for being a douche. Then start your new life. But that's just me. I understand why that's not an attractive option to most. I just find that having a giant distraction (getting ready for the wedding) is great for helping get me through tough times. I almost never do one big bad thing alone - it's always mixed in with something super wonderful. Evens it all out. Lol.
I wish you the best -
Kel
The other route you can
Offline
SickatHeart wrote:
I cannot tolerate the idea of him bringing these men into our home.
You are absolutely right.. You cannot and you should not.
It's one thing to know about this happening afterwards, but to know about an event that is upcoming. That is beyond torture. I had this happen as well.. I overheard my ex making plans for a "rendezvous" with her lover (on my birthday no less) and I had a huge panic attack. I could not tolerate it.. I would not have been physically able to survive that evening knowing what my wife was doing at that time. So i confronted her about and made her cancel her plans. It did cause more stress, but it also fixed the situation. She understood that I would not tolerate that behavior and I didn't have to try to endure that pain.
I know that your daughter's wedding is very important to you.. but let me ask you this question:
What do you think your daughter would tell you 5 years from now? Would she tell you that she was happy that you endured such incredible torture for her sake to keep it a secret and keep her in the dark? Or would she tell you that she wouldn't want you to suffer that for her? I suspect the latter to be true. I'm sure she loves you very much and she would not want you to endure such pain. What happens if you have a heart attack from the stress? That's a real possibility by the way.. please understand the real physical impacts of such emotional pain.
SickatHeart.
I'm so sorry that you are in this awful situation. I'm so glad you found this place and reached out for help. Please understand that none of us are professionals, so we can't give you professional advice. But we have lived through what you are dealing with and we can share your pain, share our compassion with you, and share our thoughts and advice based on our similar past experiences.
Please feel free to post as much as you like.. just writing out the words in your heart is great therapy. You are free to express yourself in any way you wish.. no worries at all.
Please know that you are in shock (as Rob said). This isn't metaphorical.. This is real, live, shock.. the kind of shock that can cause real physical sickness. Please consider taking some steps to protect yourself:
1.) Please go see your Dr. asap. Get checked for STD's and consider requesting medicine for anti-depression and anxiety and some sleeping meds to help keep the adverse symptoms at bay.
2.) Please stop having sex with your husband.. again STD risk, and you need to unwind yourself emotionally from him so that you can think more clearly.
3.) Please Please Please find a support network.. We are here for you always.. but we are just "fictional" people on the internet. You need family, close friends, a therapist and perhaps a local SSN group so that you have real live people to talk with and get hugs from. (I know you don't want to burden your daughter.. but perhaps it would be best?)
4.) Take things a day at a time. Don't overload yourself with stresses over things you can put aside until another day. If you feel overwhelmed.. take time for yourself. If you are still working full time, consider taking some time off.
5.) Do not feel guilty or blame yourself for anything. This is not your fault. You didn't cause this. Your husband has a same sex attraction and most people believe that is genetic (how he is wired). Don't even think that you are to blame here.
We'll be here to support you.. please continue posting.
Offline
I second Kel's reply on the letting the cat out of the bag. I know it's not for everyone, but for me, the minute I found out some unknown person was in my house and my bed, all bets would be off and cats would be flying out of bags.
I'd also like to touch on something Kel mentioned, which is security cameras. After the divorce and moving in to my own home, even though I have an alarm system, I was still sometimes a little uneasy. I know lots of people think of Texas as all friendly and such, but I have to say, the only time I see neighbors out and about is if they are taking groceries out of a car - then they quickly run inside, never to be seen again for another month. I often feel like if some shit went down I'd basically be all alone to protect myself. So I started looking into security cameras. I found that they all had their good and bad points. Most were too expensive, most had some sort of monthly fee, and most required some knowledge of how to set up tech gadgets, of which I have zero. Until....I found a little camera on Amazon called Blink.
Now...before anyone goes postal, please note that I am NOT saying to hide it inside your house. That would also be very difficult since it has a flash bulb that turns on if it's triggered in the dark (although they are about to come out with an outdoor, night vision one that doesn't need light, but I digress). For $99 ($169 for two), I got this cute little package of cameras and a base that plugs into the wall and connects to your wifi. I put AA batteries in the cameras, downloaded the Blink app, typed in the serial number of the cameras and my wifi password, and I was done. If you can download an app to your smart phone, you can do this. It took me about 20 minutes for two cameras and most of that was just waiting for the app to download and putting in batteries.
Technically they are indoor cameras, but everyone I know has them outside. As long as you have a cover on your patio or porch that will protect them from the rain and direct sun then you're good to go. But like I said, they are coming out with a much more rugged, outdoor version that can go inside a bush if you so desire. I also know people who have them inside and aimed at their doors. That's all fine and good except you don't know who is lurking until they get inside and I want to know before...not after someone breaks in.
I've had mine for about 4 months. There is no monthly fee and the recordings go right to your phone so even if someone grabs the camera and throws it away, it's too late, you already have the footage. You need no other explanation than "there has been some suspicious activity in the neighborhood and I want some cameras for safety". No one should question that. You have every right to want to know who is lurking around your house. Get one for every door you have (that's covered) or wait until the outdoor version is released in a few weeks. They can not record thru glass so they have to be outside IF you want outside footage. If you don't have an Amazon account you can get them on the Blink website (www.blinkforhome.com). In fact, just yesterday some idiot kids literally drove their car INSIDE of my open garage, almost hit my car, and then peeled out. I took the video, made screen shots, and forwarded the pictures to my neighborhood app. I'm sure their parents have grounded them by now. Cameras.....it's a beautiful and (now) inexpensive thing. I believe you can have as many as seven on one system.
And that is my public service announcement for today!!
Offline
Sickatheart - I feel so sorry for you, what a shock to discover such goings on by your husband. I find myself wondering what you did.
I think it depends on the relationship you had/have with your husband whether you can keep this information secret until after your daughter's wedding, not sure I could have to be honest, while the Summer isn't too far away, it's a very long time to hold in such information. What sort of relationship does your daughter have with him? Would she be able to take this information on board? Would you be able to keep it between you and him and keep your children out of it until after the wedding? So many things to take into account.
I think the advice to get your financials in order whether you say anything or not is very good advice. I'm sure your head is spinning continuously, you don't know which way is up! I also think you definitely need one or two "go to" friends, friends who'll let you talk, scream, rant and rave, whatever works best for you to get your head around this.
Warmest wishes and please take care of yourself, that's very important!
Offline
Thanks to all who have replied - receiving support from people who have been there is soooo helpful. I have a very good friend who is completely in the loop and has been very supportive, and found a therapist - first visit later this morning. I am confident she will help me sort out the best way to move forward in the short term. Still torn, but realistically don't think I can hold this in for another 4-1/2 months so need to find a way to talk about it and sort out some resolution without it becoming a big shadow on all the great things in store for my daughter - and the rest of the family.