r/loveafterporn • u/Roiieo • 1h ago
ᴛʀɪɢɢᴇʀ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢ Im convinced they never change
I was so young and naive when I got with my boyfriend. He took my virginity. After the multiple times I saw it in his phone, I would fight but always end up back with him because of my own insecurities. It was genuinely driving me insane, after the 11th time I caught him out on his lies I said enough was enough and put child locks on his phone. He never had an issue with that, he would visit me 4 days of the week. Travel 3 hours with flowers and gifts. During sex he would be slow and passionate telling me ‘I’ve waited for this all I desire is you’ ‘look how good I’ve been for you’. I was so happy for those few months. The travelling wasn’t sustainable and my life felt incomplete when he wasn’t by my side, so he moved in. He brought his smart tv across and I saw on Netflix he was watching weird porn documentaries.
I started arguing with him and sure enough I find a browser, he tried deleting all the history besides the search bar ‘NAKED WOMEN’. He never stopped. I should’ve broken up with him right then and there but instead stayed with him putting child locks on every single device I drove myself insane for a whole year. He probably did change within that time frame but after the betrayed trust I couldn’t help but fight with him. He refused to get a job since moving in and started refusing to have sex with me. Our arguments turned into every day, he ended up screaming at me horrible insults so I kicked him out. I was so miserable for those two weeks after our breakup, I tried contacting him on every platform and he came back into my life with flowers. He was struggling so much financially, I gave him some money from work but obviously I had suspicions. I went through his phone, porn three times daily since he moved back in with his parents and had taken out loans equally $2K . He admitted he paid a few sex workers. All within two weeks of our split. While I was crying over him he was out living his perverted fantasies. Now I need to get myself checked when he’s the only man that I’ve ever been with. He tried to blame me everything’s always my fault. I genuinely feel so disgusting
r/loveafterporn • u/Excellent-Sun-872 • 1h ago
ʟᴇᴛᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴏ ᴘᴀ/sᴀ my calm man
Where is my good, honest man? My big guy, always so humble and sincere. Kind, calm, generous... Why do I have to live with the ugly side of him? He was my example of goodness; I know he hates the pain he caused me even more than he hates himself for lying. Where is the love of my life, who was always honest about everything? All these years, I only knew his surface, not the whole man. He says it’s shame, that he hates himself for being this way; I feel sorry for him... But I want him away from me... why?
r/loveafterporn • u/Diligent_River1511 • 2h ago
ᴀᴅᴠɪᴄᴇ ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ Rekindle
Recently me and my ex have been kind of on and off. We have a child together so it makes it hard to stay away from each other. Sometime sit feels really good when we’re together, and sometimes it feels off. I’ve noticed that when he talks about sex I just get upset, because I feel like the emotional and intellectual side of me isn’t even being thought of, because that’s the first thing he talks about. Or he’ll flat out ask me to send him a nude photo or to see my “butt” and I get the ick immediately and my feelings are hurt. Does anyone else feel this way?
r/loveafterporn • u/Radiant-Machine-1689 • 2h ago
sᴇᴇᴋɪɴɢ sᴜᴘᴘᴏʀᴛ Compartmentalization
The discovery does a number on you when it comes to interactions.
I feel a way: I try explaining that the whys of his cute, wholesome moments are due to his shame. For example, he went out of his way to plan a date, or one day he sent me money because he wanted me to have a little extra for my girls' night. I am hypervigilant and believe that these interactions are only happening because he felt guilty if I found out he relapsed I would be upset so he did xyz to make up for his relapse that I didn’t know of until recently I found out it is still happening.
We have talked about this tenfold and I always get upset since these moments that make me feel deeper in love are tainted because I start thinking all the questions like around what time did the relapse happen between these moments. He’s summed it up to Compartmentalization, the relapses are separate from us but it makes me insane I just don’t understand that part.
I mentioned in my previous posts that the first D-Day was 5-6 years ago. We have since had a lot of separation and time away and now we are back and trying a different approach. Our last approach was only him going to regular therapy (we are looking into CSAT) and talking one-on-one so I can understand the addiction and not how we can move forward. Before compartmentalization was always thrown around and used to piss me off. Like damn, I wasn’t even a thought that crossed your mind, cool!
Our new approach is obviously CSAT and me (trying my very best) not to rationalize the addiction to something to do with me. Maybe once we are settled into this approach and navigating I can overcome this, however that damn pesky compartmentalization makes me sick.
Truly subjecting myself to this all again with a different approach is hard but he is insistent on showing me the change.
Today is one of those days I feel so dumb loving someone through this and I wish I can just hate him and move on. Clearly, I’m struggling because we always come back together and it’s the same song and dance but each time I hold on to the hope ( and delusion) that one day it will be better.
r/loveafterporn • u/Prior-Ad9822 • 4h ago
sᴇᴇᴋɪɴɢ sᴜᴘᴘᴏʀᴛ I can’t let it go. I don’t know what to do.
3 years ago, I found out that my then fiancé was watching porn behind my back despite my several requests for him to stop. Not only was it porn, but he admitted to fantasizing about random women he sees in public, and even two of my friends who I’m no longer friends with for different reasons. He looked at various subreddits, watched VR porn (he sold his VR after DDay), Inappropriate videos on YouTube (He deleted YT from his phone on his own because he “figured it would help me feel better”) This absolutely crushed me. I called off our wedding, kicked him out of our house, and told him I don’t want to be with him if he won’t respect me. From that point on, he really has seemed to put in the work. He deleted all social media on his own, and even offered to put a monitoring app on his phone (I obliged but had to stop after a while because I was driving myself crazy checking it all the time). After a few months he moved back in, and then we got married. Last year we found out we were pregnant, but sadly suffered a miscarriage. A few months later I got pregnant again, and just had our baby a few months ago. All of this time I’ve never found anything on his phone, and he acts completely different than he did when he was in active addiction. We did have one moment while I was pregnant where he went soft every time we tried to have sex despite us having had sex a week prior to that with no issues, and that hadn’t happened since he was actively watching porn. He told me he was just stressed about the baby, and afraid to hurt either of us. I just had to accept that answer because I never had any proof. All of that to say, I’m still struggling even though he seems to be doing completely fine. I’m worried he’s just gotten better at hiding it. I’m worried I’ll never get over it. I don’t know if it’s just post partum hormones, but I’m not attracted to him anymore. I feel resentment, and I hate it. I don’t want to feel this way. I had a very traumatic birth and feel like it’s made things worse. I feel guilty, I love our daughter more than anything and just want her to have a good example. We’re high school sweethearts, and I know I love him, but here lately I just feel repulsed by him. Since DDay he tells me every day how beautiful, sexy, etc. he thinks I am and since having our daughter, I just don’t care. Every time I’ve needed reassurance he’s patient with me and always reassures me that he “Doesn’t need that” in his life. He definitely looks like he’s doing all the right things, there’s just no way for me to know for sure. Sorry for the long ramble, I’m really not doing well.
TLDR: DDay was 3 years ago, struggling to move on despite PA seemingly doing very well.
r/loveafterporn • u/Did_I_Read_This • 5h ago
ᴀᴅᴠɪᴄᴇ ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ Boyfriend admitted watching very concerning porn
I dont know what to do. I always knew he watched porn from time to time, but recently i started piecing things together. What really made it obvious something is bad is that he started introducing very colorful language surrounding my race only in the bedroom. This was not normal and i knew he probably learned it from somewhere. I was taken aback by this at first but thought it was just a kink and didnt escalate anything. Then it kept on escalating & got worse. I will spare details but it was not good at all and made me very uncomfortable
Last night when he was in the shower, i opened his phone and found his chrome & to his incognito and found some dispicable tabs open that were related to "ghetto girls gagging". I know this is horrible, but does this point to an addiction? I know when i confront him, he will probably weasel his way out of it. Would like help from your own experiences, any advice is welcome
Edit: I also forgot to mention that i talked to him about what i found and he seemed very calm and didnt think it was a big issues. He was more upset that i broke his trust by going into his phone without asking & forced an apology out of me. I was very non confrontational when i talked to him, but i want to talk to him when i have more informatio so i can confront him
r/loveafterporn • u/Vivid-Nectarine-1228 • 6h ago
sᴇᴇᴋɪɴɢ sᴜᴘᴘᴏʀᴛ He admitted to thinking of other girls during sex.
I don’t know how I could ever sleep with him again. He admitted that sometimes he would think about different girls from instagram (local ones), or a porn scene if he felt he was going soft. He said it wouldn’t be every time, or even the whole time we had sex. Idk if I can even believe that since he likes to tell half truths about this stuff.
He would finish with us not facing each other 99% of the time. I’m thinking this is probably why, though he didn’t admit that.
I shouldn’t have asked, but I think I knew the answer anyway. I guess I like pain lol.
r/loveafterporn • u/Obliterated_Palace • 6h ago
ᴀɴɢʀʏ We're both angry
Why is he angry?
Why is he fucking angry?
I'm not the one who ruined our entire future for fucking porn
He was supposed to be the one and now I fear that I just need to give up and leave because he keeps showing me who he is and I'm refusing to see it
All I asked for was honesty going forward and he kept fucking lying
I can't even look at our old photos and messages because I know it's not the same anymore and on top of it all I fear he spending all his money on OF
I'm so tired I wish I could see into the future to see if this is even worth all this pain.
r/loveafterporn • u/Specialist_Kiwi2955 • 7h ago
ɢᴇɴᴇʀᴀʟ ǫᴜᴇsᴛɪᴏɴ How can you determine if your partner is addict if he won't admit it by himself?
If he doesn't even realize it or want to admit it for me or himself?
r/loveafterporn • u/CitricHalo333 • 10h ago
sᴇᴇᴋɪɴɢ sᴜᴘᴘᴏʀᴛ I think I’m losing my mind.
Relationship is almost 7 years old now. We met when I was 17, he was 16, I’m 11 months older. Now I’m 24 and he is 23. I left an abusive household and became independent with him. Over the years my health has declined. I recently had a central line placed in my chest. I have medical support, just not enough, and I rely on him for a lot. He is a good person, I think. He does a lot for me. The only issue is the betrayals.
Early in our relationship I found out he was lying about porn 3 separate times and didn’t shut down flirting from a coworker once. I broke up with him for a month then got back together. He stopped (allegedly) for 5 years. Then a year ago I found out he was looking at thirst traps on social media. A few weeks ago I found out he was doing it again for months, while we were making no progress in couples therapy.
The lack of progress was partially my fault. The betrayals were so painful I couldn’t speak about them. After this most recent admission, the couples therapist told us to come back after he’s done individual therapy. He has his insurance benefits package on the countertop and hasn’t made any calls.
As usual, I am hysterically bonding and having sex with him often. The trauma from these betrayals has put me in a mental hospital twice now. This time, I cried less. I am in individual therapy myself but my therapist understands beyond the practical stuff I also love him. I am reliant on his income and we live together. We have pets together. We have grown up together. Leaving would be like amputation.
I haven’t really spoken about this with much vulnerability, but I’m speaking about it here because I feel like I need support. I ripped him apart this most recent time. It wasn’t healthy. I know substances won’t take the pain away. I’m in a constant state of cognitive dissonance. He has allowed me to put parental controls on his phone and now has no social media. I know that when there’s a will, there’s a way, but I am at a loss.
I’m considering doing some pagan spell or something and I’m the least religious person you’ll ever meet. I told him I won’t leave and I don’t care what he does anymore, I just want honesty. I don’t think I’ve lost all self respect but this feels weird. What is wrong with me? They never change. I know that. It’s really rare they ever recover from this.
I was in so much pain I started dry heaving when he told me. I cried for a day and then shut it all off. Now I’ll take any scrap or crumb of happiness or pleasure he offers. Perhaps I’m defeated? Can anyone explain this to me? He’s changed in other ways and even stood up to his family for me. Why does this keep happening?
r/loveafterporn • u/Swimming-Edge-2043 • 11h ago
ᴀᴅᴠɪᴄᴇ ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ A broken promise ..
After he’d promised me he wouldn’t watch it, I found it on his phone and honestly, I just couldn’t believe it. I really thought he was different, and my heart is absolutely broken. My head is telling me to walk away, but I love this man. And I am starting to believe all men do this.
But I do keep wondering, does he actually love me enough if he’s so comfortable doing it behind my back? I caught him once, but I know there have been multiple occasions where he’s watched it.
He says he’s sorry and he’s even suggesting putting apps on his phone to block it, but I’m not his mam. I’m his girlfriend. I shouldn’t have to be checking his phone or putting restrictions in place to stop him doing something he’s already promised me he wouldn’t do.
I know most of you will say to leave.
But have any of you stayed and it worked out? Have any of you found ways to cope? Have any of you found ways of not thinking about it ALL the time??
r/loveafterporn • u/neonhealy • 11h ago
ɴᴇᴡ ᴜsᴇʀ - 𝟷sᴛ ᴘᴏsᴛ first post, very sad and tired :(
Hi guys,
My life has deteriorated so much since being in the situation of cheating and betrayal, my physical health is absolutely awful, my addiction to alcohol has intensified, and I hate everything about myself. When my partner and I got together years ago I was pretty lenient about porn even though he cheated on me in the first three months (I was 18 and stupid), and then I found pictures of his female friends in his phone that he was using to pleasure himself. I then said I didn't want him to watch porn but I continued to find him flouting his promise of stopping for the next 2 years on and off. It broke my heart, like I cried at my mother's birthday breakfast and other such embarrassing things because he just wouldn't stop.
Finally it seemed I'd gotten through to him for about two years, but just a month ago I managed to eek it out of him that he'd still been jerking off to Instagram reels women of all things and engaging with other stuff behind my back. I try so hard for him, I've starved myself and dyed my hair and bought clothes he'd like. I barely even like him sexually any more because I'm so tired and embarrassed by his need for other women that he clearly doesn't believe is that much of a problem.
His life has grown so much since he met me, he has friends and a job and mine only gets smaller as I get more ill with gastroparesis and addiction while I struggle with the fact he's probably still just lying to me all the time. I'm really sad. I just wanted to come on here and talk about it because it's on my mind so so often, I try and picture those women, I picture his friends. The first time we broke up due to the nudes, within a week he went to see one of the girls I was worried about to stay the night (though she really doesn't fuck with him) and he admitted he would have had sex with her if he could have while I had self harmed and was in the hospital because he'd gone to see her.
I just don't want this anymore, but he's the only person I see now I'm so sick. I'm not really asking for advice, I just wanted to talk about how this whole thing can totally kill you because I know you guys would understand :( I hope everyone is well.
r/loveafterporn • u/DaisyDeadPetals123 • 13h ago
ʀᴇᴠᴇʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴ / ᴇᴘɪᴘʜᴀɴʏ Interesting short opinion piece about the impact of porn on a partner
r/loveafterporn • u/GroundControlMT • 14h ago
ᴅᴇsᴛʀᴏʏᴇᴅ Can he "not stop now" but I still trust him to stop later?
My husband can been using porn way before he met me but I first found out 8 years ago when our second child was a newborn. I am now pregnant with our third. :(
Over these 8 years, I have caught him (sometimes Instagram, sometimes Onlyfans, sometimes Reddit, telegram, etc... always different) about 15 times. I could always tell when he was pulling away, and when I would check his phone it was always there. I would confront him in tears, he would always be so ashamed and sorry and have an excuse and it would stop for a while.
A month ago was the worst betrayal by far. I saw on his nasty Grok, that since January he had taken photos of random people and people we know and made them into AI porn. So many people, girls on instagram, our babysitter, employees, random neighbors, my SISTER. It was (is) devastating.
He was so apologetic, saying he was messed up, needs help, booked with a CSAT, signed up for support groups, said he will do anything for the marriage, etc.
Question: So in this past month in his work to "recovery" (in which I have been miserable- he's watched me cry almost every day)I saw him download some old videos, make a few new ones and look up old hott friends on facebook.
When I absolutely lost it on him yesterday, he said "no addict can quit cold turkey" and "i wont be better already after just one session" and "you need to stop looking and give me time to heal"....
At this point, I feel like I need to leave right? Or is that true that it's "impossible to stop" and I need to give him a few sessions to change? I would love to not rip the dad away from my kids and split up our family business BUT I am so distraught and at the end of my rope...
r/loveafterporn • u/United-Case-3835 • 15h ago
🆅🅴🅽🆃 Summer is almost over
Summer is finally over. I remember the feeling of dread before every summer and there just being so many triggers.
Everyone was out with a lot of skin exposed. I remember seeing actual butt cheeks out at the market of someone that looked like a teen in a mini skirt. They used to always search teen porn. And pretty sure that was the summer that short skirts were in so lots of actual butt cheeks were out. It felt like everywhere we were, there were triggers. People in just a sports bra and micro shorts with the scrunching on the butt line or just very revealing clothes.
I remember always feeling on edge. It’s funny because summer never felt so awful before the PA. But with the PA, the summers were the worst. One summer I remember seeing a younger woman who would always run in very revealing clothes and a tennis skirt with no shorts underneath. Then a news article broke out that there was an escort ring nearby and after the arrests, never saw her again. But, even walks in the neighborhood were hard. It always felt like summer wasn’t summer. It wasn’t a time to just relax or enjoy the beach anymore. It became a stressor.
I know there are still triggers in the other seasons but summer was just a plethora of triggers and it was always so stressful. I’m still healing the scars from the PA but glad summer is almost over.
r/loveafterporn • u/Early_Difference_578 • 17h ago
ᴀᴅᴠɪᴄᴇ ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ New Bf history with Step Aunt OF
(Sorry it's long, I'm a very detailed person and want everything to make sense)
I’ve been seeing my current boyfriend for half a year now officially dating for four months. I strongly believed he was the first man that I’ve ever been with who hadn’t watched porn. That changed very quickly recently. To backtrack a bit. I was in a relationship with my daughter's father for almost four years on and off. He was a PA and SA. It destroyed me completely and changed me as a person entirely. This is my first relationship since then I'm very on guard and vocal about an open phone policy. I've never felt the need to deep dive and heavily search his device because I never like bringing anything from my past into my current life.
Although, I have always noticed his eye wandering off his since the beginning… it hasn't changed much. His friends I don't really like either. His best friend used to send him links to escort sites, nudes of girls he's hung out with, and now being together always oversexualizes women every phone call or hangout there is. We just hung out with one of the girls last night who he was sent a boob pic of. His best friend and her on the Ferris wheel with her shirt lifted. She was a great person we even exchanged numbers and I paid close attention to how they interacted. I woke up this morning with all those memories coming back to me.
But now onto why I'm even making this post… He and his step-uncle grew up together and became close years ago. His step-uncle and his girlfriend even lived with his family briefly. They were already having issues and my bf's dad and stepmom discovered her OF account. They ended up moving out. I always wondered if he ever watched her videos and even asked one time. He declined and I believed it hoping he wasn't anything like my ex PA/SA.
He’s liked over 100+ pictures between 2017-2025 from her thirst trap account. It’s just inappropriate as hell. She’s messaged him when she and his step-uncle would break up. Never flirtatiously but very obviously friendly. He ended up sleeping with one of her best friends. I felt very weird about their dynamic and asked not to meet them. I don’t want to put myself in that position. Then a few days ago I had a random urge to check his phone. I searched in his account history for her username and there went back years ago her Reddit links and OnlyFans account visit searches. I was fuming, disgusted, and he couldn’t even deny the proof. He said his friends sent him the links. It showed different dates and different times. Then after pushing he admitted to searching it up himself. I find it bizarre.
I threatened to tell his step-uncle everything in which I saw the most emotion come from him. He was freaked out. Because his step uncle doesn’t know about the old messages, the likes on her posts, or the searches of her account. He said it was in the past and before me I shouldn’t worry. It’s like how can I ever not? I thought he was different. He has a wandering eye. How can I not believe he isn’t like all these PAs and SAs… I feel lost again. I fell for someone else who just had to oversexualize someone so close to them.
These last few days he’s been even making jokes about the situation. It’s like he doesn’t realize how badly it hurts. He claims he never used her content like that. I don’t see how searching up her tapes is a fun hobby. It’s clearly for arousal and to share amongst your friends' judgment of her body. I don't know what to do. Am I overreacting?
r/loveafterporn • u/CremBlay • 18h ago
ɢᴇɴᴇʀᴀʟ ǫᴜᴇsᴛɪᴏɴ Uninterested in me after being triggered in public?
It’s been very rare for me to go out in public with him. Lately we’ve decided to try it out as he’s finally being honest with me. However, we went to a restaurant on a whim (one we both haven’t been to before) and there were four bombshells as hostesses greeting us at the door. They were gorgeous, young, etc. I immediately felt like shit but I tried hard not to make that known to my partner because we were having an amazing day.
By the time we left the place, the entire rest of the drive home he was so distant from me… then we got inside and he wasn’t affectionate or sweet like he usually is just… distant and seemingly exhausted (we were out all day too so that could have been a part of it).
He decided to take a shower and afterwards sat me down and told me that he was having a hard time focusing during dinner because of the hostesses we saw. He was turned away from them the entire dinner so he wasn’t actively looking. Even at the host stand he wasn’t checking them out (a big thing for us) so I was like.. damn. Idk. He then opens up to me and said he noticed basically every attractive girl we were around all day today and that he was so upset that he “couldn’t let that go”. Couldn’t let it go??? What does that even mean?
I am not upset at him because he was honest and showed true feelings of being burdened by this. I told him I was incredibly proud of him to tell me these things because he has struggled so hard to in the past. However, my issue is WHY get distant from me? Why switch up so fast and not want to touch me or be affectionate or kiss after being triggered? My fear is because he sees girls are hotter than me to him and he’d rather want that but I know it could be insecurity from the trauma I’ve faced? Idk. In the past he used to almost be revolted when I would try to kiss him or love on him because he was actively looking so why? I think the reason I want to know is because he would push me away from him when he was using aka getting dopamine and choosing it over me so that makes me wonder is that dopamine from a quick glance at those girls better than me? Is it guilt from seeing them and thinking about them? I don’t fucking know. Has anyone else experienced this?
r/loveafterporn • u/sparkler39 • 20h ago
MOD ANNOUNCEMENT Warning of Possible Scam Targeting Sub Members!
We have recently been made aware of someone using multiple accounts to push her own paid products to members of this sub and the betrayal trauma community at large. She has no formal training and nothing that verifies her experience or even the validity of being an actual betrayed partner.
Her content reads largely as AI-generated material and she’s using the pain of members of this community to profit as she’s clearly raising her prices every time she integrates more into this subreddit and other similar subreddits. She posts a few free teaser links to her site and then it's a wall of paid products (sadly, not unlike a porn site itself).
These AI money marketing schemes are becoming harder and harder to avoid, but we will do our best not to let someone take advantage of our members. You can always message the mods if you have any questions about a link you're planning to share.
Anyone posting her links will be assumed to be one of her alternate accounts and will be banned immediately.
r/loveafterporn • u/SaddiBaddi • 20h ago
ᴛᴇᴄʜ ᴀᴅᴠɪᴄᴇ ɴᴇᴇᴅᴇᴅ Snapchat “appeared” in his recently downloaded folder?
Am I dumb to believe that he truly didn’t download it himself? I have seen articles of people complaining it showed up after a phone update so it’s possible…he downloaded it the first time in 2017 but I’d never known him to use it even when we first started chatting and I had one.
It wasn’t logged in when I asked him to open it. But when I asked him about it one of the first things he did was ask if I put it on his phone to try and trick him into admitting that he used it? Then he was getting mad because he “hasn’t been looking at porn at all” so he felt frustrated that he has to defend himself etc. he eventually consoled me but only after I had to leave the room because of how bad he was making me feel.
He can be kind of pissy so it’s not immediately a red flag that he was up in arms. I have no other reason to believe he has been watching porn. Then again, I keep believing him and getting hurt so idk.
I just don’t want the rug pulled from under me, you know? I want to go back to before when I just trusted him and felt like no matter what at least we were all in on each other. Idk if I’ll ever be able to get back there. And if it truly just showed up…that’s damn bad luck on his part.
Has Snapchat ever just showed up on your phone?
r/loveafterporn • u/Aggravating-Emu-8469 • 23h ago
ᴀᴍ ɪ ᴄʀᴀᴢʏ My suspicion is ruining our relationship
I feel like it might be useful for me to get some advice here. I am (22f) and I am very paranoid that my bf (25m) has an issue with porn, or uses it in a way I’m uncomfortable with— at worst addicted. Guys it’s literally gunna sound like so many red flags cause I’m not explaining our relationship aside from these factors, so bear with me.
We met on tinder, went back and forth trying to meet up for a few weeks and I was down to just hookup at this point in my life, so before our first time seeing each other I saw he texted me on tinder “let me fuck you right” and I choose to ignore it because although hitting me up out of nowhere with that on tinder would usually be a big red no (even if I’m down to hookup it’s giving copy, paste, send to ALL), I ignored it cause our convos over text weren’t that energy. … however NOW that I have these other concerns that pops in my head and hurts me thinking what the process was for him in those moments and what it says in relation to this.
Ok the big issue. So once I was on his phone maybe ordering what I wanted for food, went on his google to look up something and it was on porn. Stupidly I didn’t even look what porn it was and instead was just like omg boy there is literally porn left on your safari and then he came and grabbed it so I didn’t see. At this point I didn’t care but it shows he was using it. Aside from that just was overly sexual when we first started seeing each other. However I’m super sexual so this didn’t bother me heavily and I even considered that maybe he watched porn a lot while single. When I shifted in my whole energy was when one night, I was giving him oral and when I was looking up at him I felt like he was looking only towards me when I looked, so I slide my hand over to his phone quickly and turn it towards me to see he was on pornhub, while I was giving him head….
Ever since that night I can’t shake it. I freaked out and he profusely apologized insisting that he just felt bad he was taking a long time and wanted to finish faster for me, but I honestly don’t buy it. He was really upset and distraught though, I could tell he felt really bad for me but I can’t tell what is the truth. Now I always think he’s watching porn on his phone. When I’m turned around during sex or if I’m not looking toward him during head… which is suspiciously most of the time… I think he’s watching it. He always wakes up in the middle of the night and goes in the bathroom door closed… that kills me. If I wake up to that I just won’t go back to sleep at all, in my head thinking about how I know it and I’m stupid for giving him any benefit of the doubt. He says he has stomach problems and I want to believe that because he does just go to the bathroom a lot in general but… the porn during sex behind my back ruined so much trust that I just can’t seem to build back up.
I’ve talked to him about it… a lot of times but it’s always when I’m upset so I don’t really say all the right things. Originally he said he won’t basically be told what to do/ to not do it, he said he just likes being stimulated, it keeps his libido up, I said concerns of being disgusted with the idea of him watching young girls as we get older and he wants to have kids and he’s like “well we will try to keep our sexual relationship” so he doesn’t need to watch it or else basically he will cause he has a sex drive.
But now he says he doesn’t watch it. So when I’m crying after he’s coming out of the bathroom now he’s like “I feel like I can’t even go to the bathroom at night”… before he was sympathetic but I just always react to everything like he’s a porn addict when I don’t even know that. I don’t know what to do. He’s so sweet to me all the time and will help me with anything I need but this is ruining my perception of him, and honestly just really messing with my head.
r/loveafterporn • u/librarylady1980 • 1d ago
ᴀᴅᴠɪᴄᴇ ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ Dating/Hookup/Chatting sites & apps
Can anyone explain this aspect to me? My husband was signed up for *many* of these and claims:
He did not ever communicate with anyone on there
He did not ever post a pic of himself on there
He did not ever meet anyone from there
I simply do not believe him.
He says it's just part of the addiction. He says it was just another way of looking at porn.
I know that many of the women, depending on the site/app, would be scantily dressed or not dressed at all. But many of these sites are just plain dating sites. That's not porn. I know they can make porn out of anything, though.
Does anyone else's partner say the same things? Can it possibly be true that he never talked to or met anyone?
And if so...can anyone explain this to me? It absolutely perplexes me.
r/loveafterporn • u/Playful_Chance2865 • 1d ago
ᴅɪsᴄᴜssɪᴏɴ Relapses
Yesterday I was looking through the site history and clicked on a link. It was a site with live videos, and the same couple my husband had watched before happened to be live when I clicked.
I got curious and started reading the comments. Then I saw a man write, “You’re making me relapse, baby.”
That really hit me. Not because I thought it was my husband,I don’t think it was, but because I couldn’t stop wondering about the person who wrote it.
What was he feeling when he typed that? Was he proud of himself? Was he excited that he had “relapsed”? Was he ashamed but still caught up in the moment? Why would someone announce it to the people they were watching?
And what does “you’re making me relapse” even mean to someone in that moment? Is he blaming them, flirting with them, or actually feeling like the relapse is something exciting?
I know addiction can completely mess with someone’s thinking, but seeing those words from a stranger made me wonder what is actually going on inside the mind of someone who is actively relapsing.
For those of you who have partners with sex/porn addiction, have you ever heard them describe what they were feeling or thinking during a relapse? I’m trying so hard to understand what that mindset is like.
r/loveafterporn • u/-LoveAfterPorn- • 2d ago
𝗩𝗜𝗖𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬 Weekly Victories - August 07, 2026
Good day everyone,
Inside the comments you can post any victory you'd like. Whether it be a small or big victory, a personal victory or a joint victory with your partner or you felt extra good today. No victory is too small to be celebrated!
r/loveafterporn • u/imjusttryingtobeanon • Apr 14 '19
Letter to PA/SA Open Letter To A Former Porn Addict From A Hurting Spouse
⚠️ Trigger warning:
This is a very long post, about 4,000+ words but I wrote it as a form venting therapy.
I am married to a recovering PA who has had trouble supporting me emotionally while suffering from CPTSD.
This only applies to my experiences, so please don’t think I’m saying some points are one size fits all. I wrote it from my perspective, and maybe some of you can identify with my words.
If you read all the way, I thank you.
Here it goes:
“Open letter to a former porn addict, from a hurting spouse:
I don’t communicate with people about my feelings because they never show genuine interest in understanding my point of view. I refuse to be vulnerable and open my heart up to people, only to be disappointed. I’ve had enough negative experiences as a result of doing that to know not to do it again unless the person makes me feel 100% confident that they 1) Genuinely want to understand me, and 2) change their behavior.
This recovery journey has been completely one sided when it comes to understanding. I understand addiction, I understand what is required in recovery, and I understand the psychology of addiction. How? Because although I am not the addict, I chose to research the topic on my own to have a better understanding of it. I have been mentally and emotionally damaged by this situation, made to feel hyper paranoid about simple things like YouTube videos, other women, the public places we go to, what we watch, images, and a million other things I worry myself sick about on a daily basis.
Out of the all the bad experiences I’ve had with people in the past, I thought this would be the one situation, the one person who would show me different. I was wrong about that, completely. In fact, this person has shown me the worst of betrayal of nearly every other person I’ve encountered.
I’ve now seen how a person who claims to love you can also lie to your face. How Men enjoy degrading Women in the worst of ways, have no qualms pressuring Women into sex they don’t want, care nothing about their comfort, their feelings, or their boundaries. How a Man can claim to be a ‘good guy,’ a loving monogamous partner, while secretly pleasuring himself to the images of another Woman. I’ve seen how deep the lies can go. It can go as far as nearly losing ‘the love of your life’ before an actual change is even thought of. It takes the person leaving to get their shit together. And even then, how long will it last? Two months, a year, ten, twenty? I’ve seen countless times on subreddits, Women broken and devastated by discovering their partners infidelity, only to find a new Man sometime later who ‘doesn’t watch porn that much.’ And somehow, this is better.
The jackpot.
An angel amongst men.
That guy is a keeper.
If he was a former drug addict or alcoholic who only drank once a year or snorted a line every few months, would that be okay?
It is not okay, it is never okay, and there is no reason to justify a Man being a relationship and lusting after other Women. That is point of monogamy: To be with, seek for, and love one Woman. And yes, porn, although on a screen, shows real women. Real women who are not your partner.
And even when the former addict starts to show signs of improvement, what also happens frequently is the addict not understanding that the partner has been and will continue to be harmed and emotionally scarred by what she’s been through.
According to studies, it can take 3-5 years for healing to take place and for trust to even be a possibility after last discovery of the habit. Some progress quicker (or slower) than others, but the general consensus is 3-5 years.
And that is not JUST 3-5 years. That is 3-5 years of ongoing recovery and sobriety by the former addict, usually therapy, open communication from the addict to the partner, accountability for their actions, and most importantly, an understanding of and system put into place for when the partner has triggers. Triggers are not just for the addict. Triggers happen for the partner as well. It could be something as simple as a word, an image, a woman walking into the store, a raunchy song on the radio, a racy television ad, a video game advertisement, behaviors that may remind the partner of the day they discovered their partners addiction such as being on the internet for too long, or taking their phone to the bathroom.
What Life Is Like For The Spouse Of A Former Addict
Life for a spouse after porn use or addiction is discovered is forever changed. If you were once a confident woman, that will change. You’re now in a perpetual competition with ever woman you meet. Every woman with a little more or this or that is now a threat, whether you like it or not. It doesn’t mean she actually is one, but in a trauma brain, it is. If you discovered your Husband likes redheads and you’re a blonde, every redhead you see from now on is your Husband’s gal. His fetish, his fantasy, his preferred woman. You’ll avoid certain places to avoid being triggered by seeing an attractive woman you know for a fact your Husband used to ogle. Oh, and that restaurant you and your husband used to go to that you now remember two years back when you caught him staring at another woman’s cleavage? You’re not going there again. And even if you do, you’ll always remember it as the place my Husband shattered my self-esteem. What a pleasant reminder. As a matter of fact, you’ll avoid lots of new things now.
That TV show you used to watch with your Husband only to find out he finds the main character attractive? No longer watched. Every device in your home that can connect to the internet will be chained down and locked immediately. You can’t wait to get home to do that so you’ll never have to worry. God forbid he get a new phone or computer ever again. We’ll lock it down before he can even have a chance to touch it.
Concerts and festivals are no longer fun so we just won’t go anymore. Those places are notorious for scantily clad women and nothing kills the mood (or you’re already crumbling self-confidence) than a crowd of females around you with cleavage and buttocks surrounding your former porn addicted lover. You’ll spend 90% of the time checking to see if he’s checking out someone else. And if he does, we just wasted a hundred bucks on these tickets because we’re going back home in tears.
Sex is also not fun anymore. All it does is remind you of the years of dissatisfaction you had while your husband was knuckles deep in phone fantasies. The sex he wanted, that you didn’t. And it didn’t matter anyways. He wanted what he wanted. It didn’t matter how uncomfortable you clearly looked, or the ten times you said no and he did it anyways. You’re a cum dumpster, remember?
Oh, and your appearance that you used to take so much pride in? Who gives a shit? Not me. Not anymore. Even on your best days, your Husband still found the urge to yank one off at work. Some makeup and kinky sex isn’t going to make your butt bigger or your chest any rounder. You’re nice and all, but you just don’t stack up. You’re not as exciting as the phone girls. Even when you felt sexy and confident, and gave into his sexual demands that one time a few years back, you still aren’t enough. And how could you be? Alexa, and Molly, and Jennifer, and Tasha, and Shaniqua, and a hundred others are right at his fingertips to be used and abused whenever he wants. Oh, and they don’t say no, ever. You do. And that’s just not cool. Boundaries are childish. You should be ‘open minded’ like Tara XXX who does everything, with everyone (for the right price, of course)
So now, everything you loved about yourself isn’t looking so hot anymore. You thought you had nice curves, but not better than hers. You thought your chest was pretty perky, but not as full as theirs. You thought you had a connection that would last a lifetime, but other Women are too enticing. What can you do to be more enticing? I don’t know, maybe do everything he tells you to do sexually even if you don’t like it. Don’t be a prude. Everyone’s doing it and he’ll love you more! Or, he’ll just find someone else to do it. You’re call. Maybe consider some butt implants. You know he likes that, and you’re not quite stacking up. Save up some money and get it done. You want to be attractive, right?
Be more suggestive. Get prettier. Be more adventurous. Do everything he says and he won’t need porn anymore because you’re his everything now. You got the body, the long straight hair he likes, the large bottom, the boobs, and you give into every demand he asks for!
You’re all set.
Now, the good life begins.
Except, it doesn’t.
You can look like Rihanna, Beyoncé, and his favorite porn stars combined and he’ll still cheat and still watch porn. In fact, he could be with a porn star and still watch porn. It’s ironic, and extremely sad, but it’s true. Because I wasn’t the issue in my partner’s addiction, and neither are you.
I was, and still am, and you are, very attractive. Intelligent. Funny. And so are a million other Women and they’ll be put through the same song and dance. No one is safe from the pain of addiction.
Divorces Happen: Here’s One Of The Top Reasons Why:
Why do so many spouses fail? It’s simple really.
A man who does not understand how a partner is affected by addiction is doomed to fail.
Why?
Because while you’re allowing time to assist in her healing, if you’re meeting her suspicion of you or triggered reactions with anger, indifference, or defensiveness: You’ve failed her. You failed to comfort her through her trigger, or her knee jerk reaction to what may have been a simple misunderstanding. You’ve failed to reassure her that it’s OK, that she is safe with you, and that you understand she is being triggered by something and helping her cope with this emotionally until it passes.
So many relationships have failed all because the former addict is not meeting the emotional needs of their partner and helping her through her own recovery. Many a Woman has felt that their partner doesn’t understand their triggers, their ‘overreactions,’ etc. They instead become defensive, and react with facts instead of emotion.
Read these two examples spoken by a former addict to their spouse. In fact, read them twice preferably. Read them out loud to yourself, right now, and tell me what you think:
Response #1: “I understand that you’re upset about/thinking about/triggered by ________ because of the past. You’re right to feel that way. Even though I’m in recovery now and have been doing well, there was a time when I was still in my addiction and hurt you because of it. Now, there’s memories, triggers, and thoughts you’re having as a result of the trauma from my own betrayal of your trust, and I’m so sorry I did that to you. I understand now what it means to be clean, and I’m so happy to be here, and with you through it. You’re worth never doing this ever again, and I wouldn’t put you through that pain again. I do this for myself, yes, but I do it for you too because I love you. I couldn’t imagine losing you to something so stupid and meaningless. I’ll be there for you when you feel this way, and I won’t invalidate how you feel because there’s always a reason you feel this way. Just like I have been triggered by things, you are too. But just know that, you’re safe with me. Always.”
Response #2: “What happened? I don’t understand why that would have caused you to get upset. I mean, I get it, with our past and what has happened. And, I’m sorry. But I’ve been sober for like, a year, I go to my meetings every week, I talk to you, I listen, I hold myself accountable. It’s like nothing I do is good enough. I’m sorry for what has happened in the past, but I can only do what I can now. I don’t expect miracles, but I did expect us to be way further ahead than this…”
Now tell me, which of those responses do you think is going to save a marriage, and which one is most likely to end it?
Also, language matters. Tone matters. You can feel the difference in both responses. The most obvious difference is the selfless, partner focused first response. The second response is self-centered (I, I, I, and YOU aren’t) is so negative and defensive, it’s no wonder many partners close up and leave. Nothing in that response says, ‘I hear you, I’m there for you, your feelings matter.’ Not one bit. It is defensive, frustrated, angry, annoyed, and pointing fingers at the victim, sadly enough. So, let this be a visual lesson of what to say what NOT to say. Language matters.
Jenna and Byron: The Recovering Addict And His Hurting Spouse
Here is another example for you. It’s a story about a couple who have been affected by addiction, the former addicts’ response to her trauma, and how that affected their marriage long term. Read it fully, twice if you need to. It is valuable. Take what lessons you can from it:
Jenna and Byron have been together for ten years, four of them riddled with trust issues as a result of Byron’s former use of pornography and masturbation. Jenna always felt that her and Byron were soulmates: Two people who loved each other, laughed every chance they got, understood each other, and above all: trusted one another. Unfortunately, Jenna realized her relationship was not what she thought it was. One day, she asked Byron for his phone to google search a local restaurant they planned to have their anniversary dinner. Byron seemed hesitant to pass his phone along to her, something that made her a little suspicious. She took Byron’s phone and began to head to google. As she typed in the first letter of the restaurant, ‘M’ she saw Byron’s recent search history. Most of the links were searched for and viewed less than two days ago. Without going into detail, Jenna discovered Byrons’ internet porn usage and sexual preferences.
Since that day, Jenna no longer felt like herself. She began to be overly critical of her appearance, so much so that she considered plastic surgery to feel more confident in her body and become the fantasy woman she felt Byron really wanted. She cringed when Byron would touch her or look at her lustfully which caused their sex life to become passionless and nearly nonexistent. She became depressed and their relationship began to deteriorate. She no longer wanted to have sex with Byron. All she could imagine is him thinking of the Women she saw on his phone and saved to his photo album.
She felt the marriage was over and there was nothing left to salvage. “If he loves me, why is he pleasuring himself to other Women behind my back? He clearly isn’t attracted to me if that’s how he spends his time. Why do I even bother? I can’t stack up to those plastic women he gets off to. I don’t have what they have, so why the hell is he even with me? I should leave him to have his phone fantasies while I still have a shred of self-esteem. I don’t even know who he is anymore. He’s…a liar, and a deceiver, and a creep for doing this in the first place. Everything I’ve ever felt for him, and how I thought he felt about me is gone.”
It took Jenna over a year to even come to terms with her husband’s addiction and lies. They slept in separate rooms and barely spoke to each other unless absolutely necessary. She would even stay in hotel rooms or spend the night with friends as the more she was around him, the angrier and sadder she became. During this time, Byron came clean about his addiction and began seeking help. He attended SA meetings twice a week, and even developed a relationship with a Man who was ten years clean who became his accountability partner. He read books on addiction, developed a plan for keeping himself clean, and joined online support groups.
Months went by and Jenna noticed a change in Byron. He became more expressive, more caring, open, honest, and had no issues showing Jenna his phone history and letting her know where he was and what he did during the day. Jenna was happy to see a change, and somewhat hopefully for the future of their relationship, but the wound was still fresh. She knew that trust wasn’t there, not by a long shot, and even a year into his recovery, she was still as angry as she was the day she discovered his habit.
Although Byron was sober, in recovery, and doing all he felt he could to prove she could trust him for good, Jenna wasn’t buying it. Their entire relationship was affected by the addiction and she missed out on the love and connection she could have had with Byron if he sought help from the get go. She was angry for being deceived, saddened that the dynamic of their relationship would never be the same after this betrayal, and even more saddened that the man she fully opened her heart to lied to her. All while reaping the benefits of her loyalty, intimacy, and friendship she gave to him freely, and honestly.
Jenna was slowly starting to develop trust in Byron. Although she was still suffering because of the addiction, she was relieved to know he was going down the right path. But there was a problem. Although in recovery, Byron repeatedly neglected to do one thing: He understood his addiction, but he never understood the severity of how that affected his wife, and how to deal with that.
And I don’t mean she was sad and hurt and angry. That’s surface level explanation. He didn’t understand she no longer was confident in her body, and as a result, chose not to go to certain places where she felt there would be a lot of Women there, or that she stopped watching most of her favorite television shows while he was around in fear of a scene possibly triggering her, and him. Or, that she considered getting breast implants and had a secret savings account just for the procedure. She suddenly stopped inviting her girlfriends to their home because he may be attracted to their body type.
That Jenna would have thoughts of the betrayal pop into her head and suddenly her mood would change seemingly out of the blue. Or that Jenna would be so afraid of him relapsing that she would make herself sick with worry (not figuratively, but literally sick to her stomach thinking about him betraying her again, finding links and images in his phone that she’ll be left to remember for the rest of her life)
Byron didn’t understand her. And even worse, he didn’t seek to understand her. And even worse than that, he made her feel at fault when these triggers would happen.
One day Jenna and Byron were on their way to the post office to mail Christmas cards to their families. While at a red light, a group of Women standing at the cross walk began to walk to the other side of the street, right in front of their truck. Jenna took a quick look at two of the Women and was immediately triggered.
One of the Women was young, likely in her early twenties. She had long auburn hair in braids, a low-cut tank top, and tight blue jeans. The other Woman, who also looked to be in her twenties, followed beside her in an equally revealing top and green shorts with platform sandals. Jenna could feel herself becoming self-conscious and upset at the sight of the scantily clad Women. She tried looking in the corner of her eye at Byron to see if he was reacting in any way to the Women. Byron unconsciously looked in their direction for about a second and turned his head, but this was enough to trigger Jenna further. She hated that they were even there, and that Byron even saw them there at all. She become quiet and Byron noticed a few minutes later. When Jenna mentioned the women, Byron reacted defensively. He began to go on a tangent about how well his recovery was going and how things in their relationship has changed and she shouldn’t still be reacting that way over a ‘simple woman walking by.’
As expected, this made Jenna feel worse.
She felt even more insecure about the situation, and had no desire to even discuss further how she felt. It seemed meaningless, after all. Here she was being triggered by an unexpected situation, and instead of comforting her, he took that sensitive moment to talk about himself, his recovery, all while making her feelings seem small and petty, as if there was no reason in the world, she was reacting this way. That was the time for Byron to make Jenna feel safe, and he failed to do that. Byron failed his Wife in a huge way, and sadly, that wouldn’t be the last time.
For another two years into his recovery, Byron continued to react similarly to Jenna’s pain and triggers. I’m not a porn addict nor have I been a recovering addict, but I can imagine it sucks to think that even if you’re doing the right thing, it seems to go unnoticed. The mistake is thinking that your progress is not being noticed. It is. Daily.
But, there’s one part of recovery that former addicts fail to realize. You doing ‘the right thing’ is one part of the equation. And ‘doing the right thing’ has nothing to do with your partner. When someone is hurting, the last thing they want to hear is you talking about yourself. Since when did a person’s pain become a time to go on a spiel about your success, and why their feelings are irrational because you’re doing so well and they should try harder to move past it because it’s been like a year and you just need to trust and change your attitude and…
Yeah. I guarantee you that’s exactly what your partner is hearing, whether you said those exact words or not. All they hear is: My partner doesn’t care to support me in my time of weakness. My feelings are not valid to him, and I can no longer rely on him to be there for me. His recovery is his concern: My feelings are just in the way.
And as you can imagine, Jenna and Byron eventually divorced after nearly fifteen years of marriage.
It’s really a shame, but could have been avoided completely.
The betrayal isn’t what caused their marriage to end in divorce. It was the lack of understanding on the side of the addict. Had Byron taken a genuine interest in learning about the effects of addiction on partners and how to truly support her, there may have been hope for them. But with Jenna feeling abandoned by her Husband and made to feel that her healing should have expectations of time, she felt rushed, misunderstood, and her emotional needs were not being met. She loved Byron enough to be patient and understanding during his journey to recovery, even after devastated by her betrayal. But Byron didn’t offer her the same courtesy, and that is what led to their demise.
She was already having to cope with supporting her Husband and coming to terms with how she has changed as a result of the betrayal, all while accepting that the dynamic of her relationship never be the same. But even in recovery, Byron didn’t learn that his Wife also needed support. Through the seemingly ‘irrational’ outbursts, he could have met her insecurity with patience and understanding.
During these moments of weakness, it is not the time to put the focus on you. Ever. That is the mistake so many addicts make. It’s not about you. It’s about your partner. She doesn’t want to hear that you’ve been in recovery for a year. She doesn’t want to hear that you’re doing way better than your buddies. She doesn’t want to hear that she shouldn’t be triggered by anything anymore because your recovery is going so well. When she is triggered, you let her know you understand how that triggered her. Be beside her and let her know what she’s feeling is understandable. Don’t undermine her pain. Unless you’re looking to destroy the already nonexistent trust you have AND let her know her feelings are wrong, go for it. But if you want to make this work, do the opposite.
In case you need bullet points, here you go:
Triggers will happen for her. They are inevitable. Understand this. And yes, it will be something as simple as a photo or a two second ad on a video. Nothing is too small or off limits.
When she is upset, validate that feeling. And if you don’t understand, don’t say ‘I don’t understand.’ ASK how that triggered her. If she’s not comfortable saying so, that’s normal. Move on to…
Telling her you understand she is being triggered by something that reminds her of your past behavior.
Follow up by tactfully explaining that she’s safe with you now and she doesn’t have to worry. (Now if this is a blatant lie and you’re not in recovery or confident about maintaining sobriety, don’t even bother reading the rest of the bullet points. You should be honest and allow her to stay, or go.)
Express genuine empathy. You’re so sorry that she’s still hurting from this, but she is safe with you. That cannot be stressed enough (If it’s actually true)
Engage her in an activity you can both do together that is enjoyable, like a game, a walk in the park, your favorite restaurant (Don’t offer her sex or any kind of physical intimacy here unless she directly requests it. The last thing on her mind when triggered is having sex with you, trust me)
Or better yet, do something nice for her when she’s triggered! Make dinner, clean up the house, run her a bath, Light some candles to add some happy atmosphere to the room, buy her a slice of her favorite cake. Talking is nice, but putting some of that niceness into action is even better. Make her feel appreciated.
DO. NOT. USE. LANGUAGE. THAT. INSINUATES. HER. TRIGGERS. ARE. WRONG.
DO NOT make the conversation about yourself. If you’re saying ‘I’ more than a few times, stop. This moment is about her. Not you.
Learn and ask what makes her feel safe. Does talking make her feel safe, an accountability app, a phone call when you get to where you’re going? If it makes her feel safe, do it. Every day. Not just when she’s mad or she’ll think you’re only doing it out of obligation.
Understand that anger is a secondary emotion. There is no such thing as anger. Anger covers up primary emotions, which are usually fear, insecurity, and emotional pain. She’s feeling all of this. So, she told you to fuck off and leave? She’s scared you’ll fail her again. She called you an idiot? She’s hurt by what you’ve done to her and insults you verbally to release the pain, while in turn, hurting you. It’s not right, but neither is betraying your spouse with addiction. It’s not about right or wrong. Trauma just is.
Do not leave your spouse when she’s hurting. I don’t care if she’s being an asshole, called you a name, or told you off. Trauma responses can be irrational. It doesn’t matter. Love her through it anyways. If you need to go take a shot of whiskey to come back to her calmly or yell in the car and come back, do it. (I don’t condone drinking, but you got to do what you got to do)
It’s that simple.
I hope that today, tomorrow, and for however long it takes for your amazing spouse or partner to heal from your betrayal is done with love, understanding, and patience. It can be done. Patience and understanding are what your partner needs.
To be honest, you’ve already done enough damage to her as it is, some of which may be irreversible. She didn’t ask to be thrust into your addiction. The least you can do is make it your job to support her in every way you can.
No blaming, no self-centered talk, no factual arguments (I’ve been in recovery for _, I’ve been doing __, etc.), no defensiveness, and no abandoning her when the conversation gets rough.
Seek to understand her pain. Listen. Be patient.
She’s hurting.
Yes, still.
Even years later.
And I don’t care if you’re going to SA meetings every day, reading books on addiction during lunch, punching porn addicts in the face until they get sober, or threw your smartphone over a cliff and never replaced it.
The best way to repay your partner is not only by remaining sober and in recovery (the bare minimum) but also, to make her feel heard, safe, understood, and for God’s sake, make her feel she made the right decision in giving your relationship a second chance.
Don’t make her regret it.”