🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
A woman has sparked attention online after revealing her refusal to attend her husband's friend's wedding, as she doesn't believe it will last.
The anonymous woman shared her dilemma to popular forum Mumsnet, asking users to wade in with their views.
According to the woman, her husband's childhood friend is set to marry the mother of his children this fall. "We received a save the date card a few days ago and I told [my husband] I won't be going due to the fact their whole relationship seems like a joke," she wrote.
The couple, named David and Laura, have been on-again, off-again for 14 years and he "leaves her for another woman he has met" only to come back when that ends. "This has been going on for years now," wrote the woman.
"I have been in the background on more than one occasion when my husband has had the phone on loudspeaker and David is discussing in detail stories about his cheating. My husband has told him it's wrong and he doesn't agree but David laughs it off and doesn't care," she added.
David recently married another woman who he had only known for four months, in a marriage which lasted just six months due to an affair. "When they separated, he again ran back to Laura. He has been with her for around 18 months now and although he is a prolific cheat, he hasn't actually left her for someone else,"
"My husband is very annoyed at me for saying I don't want to go because it's his childhood friend and he says we have to," she summarized. "My argument is, he goes for months at a time without hearing from this friend and the wedding is a joke and won't last so what's the point?"
The anonymous woman's issue with her partner's friend is far from rare, and according to studies it's one that can have prolonged effects in a relationship. A 2017 study found a correlation between a husband's disapproval of a wife's friends and an increased rate of divorce across a 16-year period.
Luckily for this woman however, the same wasn't found for a wife disliking her husband's friends, which appeared to have no effect.
For the internet, many were left split over the woman and her views on the situation—some decided that the legitimacy should not concern her while others suggested that she should not support it.
"You're not going to affect the outcome, except perhaps by making it worse. Just go and enjoy the free food," recommended one user.
"The wedding may be a triumph of hope over experience but I'm always in favor of being optimistic. Maybe the short lived marriage to Ms Right(for now) has finally made David see the error of his ways and that he'd been with the really right one all along," noted another user. "This could have been written about one of my cousins, he married twice before he realized he had known his perfect match for years, the 12th Anniversary just passed."
Others however agreed with her argument, writing: "Your husband has very poor taste in friends. Why should you have to suffer it?"
"His behavior makes a mockery of marriage. You don't have to endorse that by listening to him make promises he clearly has no intention of keeping," wrote another. "Weddings are time consuming and expensive. Why waste either your time or money."
The woman summarized that despite suggestions otherwise, "it certainly won't be a fancy wedding with hotels and free drinks so there's not even that to persuade me unfortunately."
"Part of me thinks they won't even make it down the aisle before he leaves her again anyway," she wrote.
If you have a similar family dilemma, let us know via life@newsweek.com. We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
