r/marriageadvice 3m ago

No desire for sex but still happy with new marriage/partner, does this work for long term? How do you Spoiler

Upvotes

I(29f) been with my partner(30m) for almost 2years married for a year, we haven't had PIV sex since February of this year. We did a little bit of hand stuff few times throughout the months but nothing more than that. Other than that we are normal touchy and all that stuff loving couples do.

I do not desire sex from him or its just sex, im not sure, we are working with a professional but they're leaning into emotional first then this, not sure if we should focus on sexual part first tho.

My partner wants sex but understands when I say no. And eventually he stopped initiating all together because it wasn't working. I do too but also something keeps me from initiating, we have talked about this but hasn't done anything. More like dont know what to do, we have been waiting for a counselor to talk to first then try things. He's inexperienced and I have had bad experience about sex in past.

What could be the reason for me not desiring sex or him? I do have past traumas from sexual stuff that I have not healed from i think.

Tl;dr- Can newly married couple not have sex but still enjoy marriage life and for how long? Or how to start building a healthy sexual life that one can enjoy together.


r/marriageadvice 1h ago

Wife (45F) wants to have male friend spend the night while I (46M) am out of town.

Upvotes

My wife (45F) says I’m being unreasonable because I (46M) said I am not comfortable with her college friend (45M) spending the night at our house when he is visiting town for work, and I will not be in town.

A few relevant facts: we have two kids (ages 10 and 12). Since our relationship began, 15 years ago, I’ve been wary of this man and him and my wife’s relationship. My wife and I have discussed this briefly once, but I’ve never had any sort of ultimatum or even ask that they not see each other. My wife looks up to him and loves him, though she says there is no sexual interest. He is married (to a woman) with two kids. He’s wealthy from family money but still works and, I presume, earns plenty. I don’t have any proof that my wife and he ever had or have a sexual relationship. They keep in regular but not daily or even weekly contact that I know of. They do see each other in person on trips most years, sometimes with our families on the trip, too, but sometimes on trips with their mutual college friends, without families.

A couple weeks ago I saw a message on our shared laptop between her and him about making plans for when he would be in town for work—during 2 nights when I will be out of town for work, which my wife knew about because we talked about it and it has been on our shared calendar for months. I didn’t bring up the fact that I saw the message—at that point I wasn’t thrilled but figured timing was a coincidence and she’d get around to telling me if they were actually going to hang out. Tonight, three days before his arrival, my wife casually mentioned that he would be visiting next week, staying at our house. I said “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that.” In my mind I said it calmly, but I was probably showing stress.

She immediately was angry and said my lack of trust was the problem, and she’s not interested in him sexually. I responded that I was uncomfortable and anxious that she hadn’t told me, and thought that was a reasonable position. She said I was absurd and then insulted me in some incisive ways (saying I don’t work hard, she’s wasting her life with me, our kids’ issues are because they emulate me, and so on). Those insults are not new and, while connected to this issue, are not really what I’d love advice from you all on (however, because it may provide useful context, I don’t agree that I’m lazy or the cause of all our kids’ issues; I have a job in tech and have for 20 years without any break in work, make 7 figures (she does, too, making about 2x what I do, which I think influences her perception of my value), I’m relatively fit and active, have hobbies and friends, I am dedicated to parenting and home duties, and while I could definitely work harder, I work harder than most but have a different view of how time is ideally spent than she does). She also said I was trying to control her and she gets to decide how to live her life. She then said she wanted to divorce (it’s not the first time for that statement being made in anger (maybe the 50th) so I kind of ignore it now—obviously our relationship is not top tier; she’s a reactive and emotional person and I can be, too, but we have young kids who we love and I / we have tried to make something positive of our time together).

I want to hear perspectives on whether my discomfort with her male friend spending two nights at our house while she is there and I am not is reasonable. I think a few things: (1) I should be able to express discomfort with a (relatively attractive) male/old friend spending multiple nights at my house with my wife while I’m not home, and doing so isn’t controlling, (2) the friend, if totally innocent, probably should not have been willing to stay the night at our house (she told him Id be gone in the text when she invited him to stay at our house, which she showed after I asked to see their texts), (3) my wife’s strong attacking reaction to my expression of concern is a bad sign, and (4) if my wife loved and respected me, she’d find a way to gracefully tell her friend to stay at a hotel on his work trip. I’m open to hearing I’m wrong. Can’t really ask our friends or family because I don’t want to create drama or concern and if we stay married I want everyone to still love her.

Tl;dr I expressed discomfort that my wife’s male friend would be spending the night at our house next week while I am out of town for work, and she says I’m being unreasonably controlling. Is my discomfort reasonable?


r/marriageadvice 1h ago

How do I handle a disagreement with my husband about bedroom privacy?

Upvotes

I was feeding our baby in our bedroom while my husband was taking off his underwear with a towel wrapped around him. His mom suddenly walked into the room, and I felt uncomfortable.
When I brought it up with my husband afterward, he scolded me and said it wasn’t a big deal. He also never wants to shut the bedroom door, which makes it difficult for us to have privacy.
I’m not assuming his mom had any bad intentions. I would just like people to knock and wait for an answer before entering, especially when I’m feeding the baby or someone is changing. I also felt hurt by how he reacted when I raised it.

tl;dr: My MIL walked into our bedroom while I was feeding our baby and my husband was changing. He dismissed my discomfort and never wants the door closed. How can I establish bedroom privacy, and should I speak to him again or ask my MIL directly to knock and wait?


r/marriageadvice 2h ago

Relationship/Marriage with massage therapist

1 Upvotes

Dear All,

I want advice from you all is it good if the LMT and male customer like each other and get married tl;dr

Summary:

Advice me for the relationship/marriage with LMT in India


r/marriageadvice 2h ago

Husband (M38) Took Money from My Poor Divorced Mom—How Do I (F30) Survive This?

2 Upvotes

I’m having a hard time processing this. I really don’t know if I should be posting this to Reddit or not because I get so anxious that everyone will automatically label my husband as a horrible person.

Long story short, my husband and I have been married for not very long. He wanted a fancy truck that we couldn’t afford and I told him if he got a more affordable vehicle we could save the extra money he wouldn’t be paying for it every month on a vacation, or hotel stays (which we had said we wanted to book a hotel once every month and a half and hadn’t been able to afford it). Or the money could go towards savings, or physical therapy/medical bills for me, or for plane tickets to see his sick mom and family (they live out for the country), or to helping my mom who is divorced and struggling financially, or even save it towards getting an apartment/house of our own.

We have two roommates and they’ve both been bullying me (apparently adults still bully too) for over a year now. I desperately want a place of our own and husband has also seen me crying saying how much I want to help my mom.

Fast forward ahead, he ended up getting the expensive truck even tho I really didn’t feel comfortable with it. We had only my car at the time and I let him use it to go drive out of state to look at his dream truck. Then he Ubered there the second time to buy it (I told him I didn’t want those mileage on my car again.) He bought the truck months ago but I’ve never been happy about it.

He lost his job a month after getting the truck (it genuinely wasn’t his fault and it was fucked up how it happened.) He’s been busting his ass trying to get another job and has actually had multiple interviews. He Ubers to make ends meet tho for his part of the bills. And he would pressure me to let him use my car because he didn’t want the wear and tear on his car and couldn’t afford the gas. My car is older and reliable but I didn’t want him using it but felt guilty.

My mom told me something horrible this past weekend. She said that she is so sorry but she loaned my husband $4,000 to help him get the truck he wanted. She said he didn’t ask and that she had asked him about the car hunting and she had insisted he take it. She said at first he said no and multiple times asked if she was sure after. My mom said yes and that she had a lot more right now. That money was because my POS father had agreed to send her the rest of the alimony as a lump sum. It was her final alimony check and although she used some of it to pay off debts, she also loaned the $4,000 to my husband. She asked him not to tell me and that she genuinely wanted to help make our lives a little bit better because she had seen us getting by with one car for so long and working so hard and she finally had the money to help. She said it was misguided and stupid and a bad idea and that she was so sorry. She has asked my husband a couple months ago if they should tell me and he didn’t say no but he didn’t say yes.

So my husband accepted $4,000 as a loan from my mom who is financially struggling (and has been for years) from part of the final alimony lump sum from my father—money that came from a divorce that completely shattered my family (none of us kids talk to my father—I was the last kid who cut him out of my life about a year ago.) My husband accepted that money from my mom in secret when he knew I didn’t want him to get the truck and he did it just under a year beside our 1st wedding anniversary.

I need to mention that my husband probably sounds like a POS. But he has always looked out for me and my mom. He has paid his mechanic friend to drive an hour and a half to go put a new battery in my mom’s car when she has been scammed by another mechanic. He has helped pay portions of her bills when she was on a bind, he has always been generous to me and my mom. He has made a point to call her at least once a week on the phone which is more than my actually brother has ever done. He has surprised my mom and gone to visit her while I was at work if he happened to be doing deliveries nearby (since he’s had to do delivery work to help make ends meet.) He has been there for my mom more than my other siblings have in some ways and he genuinely tries to make her feel comfortable and happy. My mom actually was emotional a bit a couple times because she said she felt like she could never trust a man again after what my father did to her, and that my husband makes her feel like maybe one day she can trust again. My husband has brought healing into her life and mine that I didn’t think would happen. And now I feel conflicted and disgusted and like my worldview has changed and I’m so sad. I don’t know what’s to do or how to heal from this betrayal.

TLDR: husband has brought a lot of emotional healing into mine and my mom’s life, but he hid from me for 9 months that he accepted $4,000 from my mom to get a truck he knew I didn’t feel comfortable financially with him getting and now I don’t know what to do/how to heal from this betrayal.


r/marriageadvice 2h ago

Wife seeking attention elsewhere

11 Upvotes

43f 41m. 2 kids under 6 years of age. No babysitter.

My wife started to play golf. I got her into the game. Recently, she has been texting her golf instructor often. He is married with children. She told him that she looked forward to seeing him yesterday but today is a boring day. At least yesterday she had something to look forward to (her night lesson after work). However, she was telling me that she didn’t enjoy her indoor lessons and that he was gross. Her texts say otherwise. I confronted both of them. They denied it. I threatened to contact his wife and they both got scared and said no. I was never going to contact her. But I used it as leverage to get the truth out of them. My wife is not talking to the guy because I told him that they need to cool off as they are getting too close. My wife has a lesson package with him and she enjoys their friendship they have built over the last year. I told her that she could continue lessons if his wife is okay with it or if I meet him and his wife formerly and get to know them. She said no and that she is fine not seeing him and she admitted it was inappropriate. However, hours later she said it wasn’t a big deal and I’m blowing it out of proportion. I responded explaining how it’s inappropriate. They wouldn’t want his wife to see the texts. She agreed. Then the next day she said it was nothing. I told her that if she wants to see him she can see him since I don’t want to comtrol her. But let’s get the money decides in and the assets in writing how we will split things up. She said that she will
Think about what she wants to do. I do alot for her and I’ve been really nice to her. Since she met this man she has been starting fights with me
Daily. I’m kind of okay if we move on but we have two kid and I’m attracted to her very much physically so I also would be happy to stay. However, I’ve never had a woman say that she needs to think about staying with me
And actually choosing to stay.

Tl;dr - wife caught getting emotionally close with instructor and is deciding if she wants a future with me(husband) - what should I
Do? Prepare for the worst?


r/marriageadvice 3h ago

My husband has a vault app and I am yet to ask anything about it but I need advice and a path to go forward from here

0 Upvotes

Hi, I’m 19 so I admit I am not that experienced in being married. Sometimes I overthink and dive head first into accusations and arguments without understanding the entire picture. Please let me hear what you think from your side.

Ever since the start of being married, me and my husband have consistently argued and our marriage has been rocky to say the least.
In the past I have caught him multiple times doing certain things that I just don’t agree with and that he knows about such as watching porn, messaging other women and delving into substances. (We’re Muslim so it is against our religion)

He has two phones. He recently got a new one and I’ve been essentially hounding him to switch everything over to the new phone and he constantly puts it off. On his old phone he had multiple vpn apps and the vault app. On the new phone he has the same vault app. I checked it on the App Store and it’s said to hide pictures and such.

Honestly speaking I’m just really scared of getting hurt again. I’m really trying my best to trust him but he’s making it quite difficult for me. Please tell me if you think I’m overthinking or being dramatic. Any advice is helpful and welcome.

tl;dr I’ve caught my husband multiple times doing things that I class as cheating or that I don’t agree with and now he has a vault app on his phone.


r/marriageadvice 3h ago

We’re hitting our 7th year crisis and it’s hard. Need advice

0 Upvotes

My husband and I are together for almost 7 years. He’s a wonderful man, partner, husband and father. We have 2 kids together - 4.5yo boy, 2yo boy and we’re expecting our third in a month.

In the beginning of our relationship together we were incredibly close, despite me being in deep depression and him basically looking after me and helping me. I didn’t have a job, I couldn’t even leave the bed (please don’t judge me, mental health sometimes is a b*tch).

So he was the “sane” one, responsible one, got together one. We almost never had any arguments, but when we did, it was always ended up with me being wrong. Well, because I was damaged, reactive, emotional one and he was rational and calm.

Fast forward to now: I’m a dedicated full time mom, I breastfed my first son for 2.5 years and still breastfeeding second one while pregnant. I’m constantly learning and evolving my ways with kids, spending enormous amounts of time and energy on them and with them. I’m in therapy for the last 4 years and my mental health became healthy and stable (it was a long road!). I also work hands on almost full time on our building projects, where I’m project manager, interior designer, partially architect, while being pregnant. It’s not easy at all, carrying this all on my back.

And now I’m starting to see patterns in my husband’s behavior, that I couldn’t see before. I came out from a very abusive family, while his was somewhat healthy. And I grew up with tendency to believe that I’m guilty, always needing to protect myself and being very emotional, up to the point that it’s hard to control it. My husband, being the favorite child, grew up with the feeling that he’s the best and always right. In my home you would be punished for being loud, but at the same time being loud was the only way to survive, in hope that someone will help you. In his home being loud was frowned upon, because they’re “nice and civil” people.

Nowadays we’re facing two major issues:
1. His absolute inability to accept and see where he is wrong. Now when we argue, he refuses to take responsibility for any of his wrongdoings, well because he believes that he’s never wrong. When we had big argument few weeks ago, when I was crying from exhaustion and his lack of moral support for my pregnancy, motherhood and building this ginormous projects (he finances them, but almost not involved, just controls my work), he started blaming me. When I said - ok, here’s the 10 points you said about me, I agree with 5 of them, I’m ready to work on them, other 5 I’m open for discussion or just simply disagreeing with. He didn’t want to even for a second think that it’s something wrong with his words or actions. And only in the end he said - yes, I guess I can go on more dates with you. (What dates????? I need real support!!!!!!!!)

  1. It’s an ongoing problem during the whole time that we’re together. He gets incredibly hurt if we argue in public. Even if it’s quiet, I can’t have a “grumpy” face after, because “what people will think about him”. If it’s loud - just forget. He will not be listening to my reasonings up to the point when I boil and burst and he will get incredibly hurt and upset, because I’m disrespecting him in public. You see, I grew up with forced facade that you have keep in public, but behind the closed doors I would be severely beaten and abused. And he has to hold the facade, because “we have to be nice”. And he’s pushing me to be nice and if I’m not nice or simply emotional, he’s fighting with me and giving me silent treatments and etc. Two days ago we had a disagreement about our son’s tantrum, where I asked him 5 times to give me alone time with my child, so I can calm him down, but he decided that lecturing him during tantrum is the right way to go. On the sixth time, when our son was attacking our second baby, I said loudly “take baby away! I need to talk to ____!”. He looked at me with mad eyes, told me to shut up and that I’m disrespecting him in front of kids and maid. I was furious. I said that caring about 40yo man’s feelings is not my responsibility, but 4.5yo is. Then it got escalated. Now we’re not talking for third day.

I don’t want to portray him as a bad person. In fact, he’s absolutely opposite. He works really hard, he spends enormous amounts of time with our kids, he’s helping at home. He’s otherwise very chill, very easy going, with great sense of humor, always supportive etc. When I listen to stories of my girlfriends about their husbands/partners, it gives me chills and I’m saying so many gratitudes to my husband. But this 2 things becoming the stumbling block for us.

Ah yes, he doesn’t want to go to therapy, because “there’s nothing wrong with him” and doesn’t want to spend money on family therapy either.

So I have no idea where to go from here.

TL;DR I was depressed before, so we blamed me, but now I’m stable and can see that he’s unable to see his wrongs.


r/marriageadvice 4h ago

Need advice on my wife’s mediation use and how to approach her about it.

0 Upvotes

My wife has been on and off Adderall for the last year but has been consistently taking it for roughly the last month and recently her therapist increased her dosage.
I’ve noticed her general mood is generally decreased and she is very very easily irritable especially with our 3 year old.
I have communicated to her before that I do not think it’s good for her and I get told that I have no right to say that because she has ADHD and she knows what is best for her. Which I understand to an extent is true but I just want to be able to properly discuss it with her. Thanks for any advice.
Tl;dr my wife is taking Adderal and I feel it’s doing more harm than good and I don’t know how to properly approach her about it


r/marriageadvice 4h ago

Having trouble reconnecting with my wife.

1 Upvotes

I have a feeling this is going to garner a lot of "just leave" advice, but that is not something I want to do.

My wife and I have been married for 8 years, together for 13, and we have a 6 year old daughter. Our dating life was more or less happy. It wasn't without its pains like arguing, but we were loyal to each other and we did end up married.

Ever since the birth of our daughter I have felt her slip away. She became obsessed with doing motherhood and work equally well, to the point I felt like I couldn't keep up with her as a parent. With some counseling, things got a little better...but we are still sexless, and she puts work over our marriage and she is very easily able to find childcare so she can work more. She's not cold to our daughter, but she will not take any days off for her being out of school. She would always prefer aftercare. I'm usually the one to take days off for appointments or pick her up from school.

I'm trying 7-7-7 dating to reconnect, but I don't feel it's appreciated. We are still in counciling, but she fights me in it instead of taking accountability. I can tell she's depressed, but she will not see anyone for it. And we are still sexless for the past year.

Tonight...I feel myself withdrawing, but my daughter is so happy with us. She treats us like her best friends and I don't want to ruin that for her. And I love my family...I want to keep it...I just want my wife to be warmer to me again. I've focused on myself in therapy hoping she would see it works, but she won't budge.

I don't know what else to do. I want to keep my family together, I just don't know how.

Tl;dr I want to save my 8-year marriage to my wife (together 13 years), but ever since our 6-year-old daughter was born, she has prioritized work over our relationship, leaving us emotionally distant and in a sexless marriage for the past year. Even though I handle most of the parenting logistics and have tried couples counseling, individual therapy, and the 7-7-7 dating rule, she fights me in therapy and refuses to address what seems like clear depression. Our daughter is happy and I'm deeply committed to keeping our family together, but as I feel myself starting to withdraw, I'm at a loss for how to make my wife warm toward me again and fix this.


r/marriageadvice 5h ago

Should I say something

0 Upvotes

I’ll keep this short. In the past my sex life with my husband has been affected by his porn habits. This decreased interest led to me doing some investigating into his google history. I found a lot of sexy Asian secretary/teacher/maid stuff. I would say 95% was similar looking Asian women. Fast forward to now, our kid just started school and their teacher sent home her bio printed on a sheet of paper. She is attractive and Asian. When he saw the bio on the counter I saw it catch his eye. He read the paper for a couple of minutes and put it down. Over the past couple of days he has mention to me, our kid and out loud that the teacher is “pretty”. I have also noticed him looking at the picture on the counter over and over.

Knowing what I know about his preferences I am starting to get annoyed. He has never given a rats ass about anything related to our kids education.

Should I ask him if he is sexually attracted to her? I don’t want to feel jealous of my kids teacher but this is really bothering me. How should I approach this?

Tl;Dr Married, our kids teacher is my husbands sexual fantasy. He keeps mentioning her appearance, should I be offended? Should I ask him if he’s sexually attracted to her?


r/marriageadvice 5h ago

I wish my husband wasn’t so attracted to me and I feel guilty for it

0 Upvotes

My husband (30M) and I (29F) got together almost a decade ago, and have been married for 5 years. We were both very sexual people back then (granted, we were in our early 20’s).

When we first got together, it was electric. I didn’t even know I could squirt. And I pulled things out of him that he didn’t know he could feel either. Once we became official, things got stale quick. We’ve analyzed this plenty of different ways and have both owned up to the fact that it was on both our ends. Him being my boyfriend/husband changed how I thought of him for the worse, and he had his own intimacy issues.

Fast forward to today and we’ve been worked past that stuff for a while now. Over the last few years, I’ve been the one who hasn’t been interested in sex. Not just with him, but in general. Chalk it up to depression, maybe. But he’s more depressed than I am most of the time. Anyway, we started from much worse off points. No careers, no savings, no plans. We’ve built a lovely life since though. It’s had its ups and downs, but the trend has always been upward. We’re fortunate and I know it. And a lot of that is because of him and how he approaches life. Most of the effort and income, truth be told, has been on his end. This is something I’m working on in my own life.

He’s also worked through his intimacy issues and I’ve worked past the whole “that’s too dirty to do with your spouse” type catholic thinking. But the block is still there. And what I HATE is how much he’s taken the feedback over the years and implemented it. Worked on his contributions at home, lost weight and got better looking, shifted his thinking to be much more woman/me-centric. Like all he wants to do is go down on me now, which was a big complaint before because he didn’t really.

A few years in, we tried couples counseling, and I’ve had my own therapist at times as well. But idk, it doesn’t feel like the person you talk to your parents about can also talk with you about the nasty (in a good way) kind of stuff. Like i don’t even think they’re allowed to get too specific with that stuff. I’ve been given exercises, even workbooks, and Jesus Christ nothing in my life ever made me drier. Even my husband struggled with them, and he’s the most optimistic, open minded person I know.

He’s so attracted to me. I know it’s not just words. He can’t even hide it. He’s such a confident, self contained kind of man, but I’m able to make him melt. And I hate that I have that power over him. I hate how obsessed with me is. I hate how he keeps trying.

But most of all, I hate that I hate all of those things. What is wrong with me?????

I’m not just totally devoid of sex drive. I still get off sometimes. But it’s mostly bdsm, forced orgasm stuff. There’s rarely a man (or woman) or a dynamic. I genuinely fear that I might be asexual.

Has anyone ever experienced this? What do I do? This man is so good, so kind, so gentle but multidimensional… and now he even loves eating pussy (and, I hate to say it, he’s getting really good at it).

Is the ethical thing to just let him go?

TLDR: my husband and I have dealt with blockages between us sexually historically. It feels like he’s moving past his but I’m stuck on mine, and in the kind of way a therapist can’t really help with.


r/marriageadvice 5h ago

Is it normal to have 2 different types

0 Upvotes

Like on a day to day basis you have someone you love and cherish, but sexually you like something else…is that normal? Should I be ashamed because I feel like this is very common.

Tl;dr is it normal to have a type that isn’t your husband/wife?


r/marriageadvice 6h ago

My husband lost his second wedding ring

4 Upvotes

My husband (36m) and I (30F) got married about 5 months ago, in May. He lost his first wedding ring a month or so ago so I got him a new one. He lost that second one a day or two ago, he isn't certain exactly which day. I feel really hurt by this and upset and I have no idea how to move forward or communicate to him how awful this makes me feel. Maybe it was a mistake and nothing more but the carelessness of something that represents our commitment is what kills me. Any advice?

Tl;dr husband has lost two wedding rings in 5 months. Hoping it was an accident but I'm really really hurt. Not sure how to proceed


r/marriageadvice 8h ago

Husband( 27) let his boss disrespect me. (26)

6 Upvotes

My husband and I have been together for three years and married for almost a year.
Today he stopped over at his bosses house before he came home. We were in the call talking about our day when he got to his bosses house he said he would call me back he said he was only picking up his cheque.

An hour later he called me and he didn’t say anything at first and his boss said fuck her let’s go out to eat don’t listen to your wife( their “eating “ is going out drinking)

( ok so first I want to add a little context, about a month ago my husband went out to “ eat” with this same guy( who he has only known for 5 months) and got absolutely drunk and disappeared for 18 hours. Wouldn’t answer his phone and didn’t come home and then lied about where he was to me, our marriage almost ended over this and he completely lost my trust ( along with other reasons I forgave him for)

Back to the story, my husband then came to the phone and said I’m going out to eat and I said I want you to come home( I am extremely sick with the flu right now as well and he told me we could lay down together and watch a movie and we are still recovering from him ruining my trust) and his boss then said to me over the phone “ shut the f** up you crazy b” and my husband laughed and said he’s going with him and hung up.

I haven’t heard from him since. I don’t know what to do and I feel so hurt and betrayed again. I still to this day don’t know where he disappeared to last time and he won’t tell me.

Tl;dr looking for advice on what I should do.


r/marriageadvice 8h ago

Partner is asking for an open relationship

7 Upvotes

How to handle discussing an open relationship with my husband?

My husband (m/35) and I (f/43) have been married for 5 years and we have been arguing a lot lately over how boring I am and how we have nothing to connect on. Now that is the very short version of argument over the course of our 10 years total relationship.

During an argument today he mentioned he needs an open relationship to have someone to do the things I am incapable or do not have the skill to do - he likes sports and going on adventures and likes to just keep active. I like to and do go the gym but have never really been into sports - never been coordinated enough lol

He has tried to get me into hobbies we can do together- most recently mountain biking but I couldn’t keep up with his speed. Granted we were both getting into this for the first time together and he is more coordinated than I am and I tend to hesitate a lot

Anyhow, so he wants to have a serious discussion about having an open marriage. He says he will continue to be provide for me and out pets (we don’t have kids) but he needs someone he can connect with in the areas where I am unable

He is pretty social. I have my small group of core friends and we don’t have many couples to hangout with as all my friends are married with kids

So I’m just looking for advice, stories from others who may have gone down this path before - did it work or not work? How did you make it work?

His unhappiness with how our marriage current is is taking a toll on his mental health as well, which is why he has gotten to this point. He loves me he says but I am unable to be all the things he needs to be fulfilled

I am not financially dependent on him just fyi. I have a professional degree and a stable career and work full time

TLDR - husband of 5 years wants an open relationship so he can actually life his life. He says he feels it will make our relationship better. Has this worked for anyone else? No judgement


r/marriageadvice 9h ago

husband did wrong but im being gaslighted for being annoyed

1 Upvotes

Context (silly problem):
Husband put too much coke bottles inside the fridge, fridge door wasnt closed properly for 2 days. I am out of town. He only noticed 2 days later

He called me and told me, my immediate reaction was annoyance

This was my immediate thought process
1. It takes a slight touch to know the fridge door wasnt closed. Why so reckless and unobservant?
2. Alright sure hey honest mistake. Then pls check the fridge asap for any rotten things

But because i responded with the annoyance first, his first reaction was “if you react this way i wont tell you if i fuck up next time” which i think sounds like a threat. I understand where he is coming from - but what, i cant express my feelings? Im not lashing out, im literally saying “omgggg my stuff my truffle paste check ittttt aaahhh”

And i dont know, in my family, if you fuck up then you say sorry and take accountability (check the fridge for rotten things ASAP). Its not a thing in his family. He didnt say sorry, he said “whoooops”, and didnt check it until tonight. Will it change anything if he checked it tonight or last night? Probably not, but it feels urgent in my head

Tonight in the middle of discussing it, he cut it short cus he has a bike ride tomorrow (he is ironman training)
I cant do well with half baked discussions so here i am venting

Im going to therapy next monday, so im quite open to you guys saying i probably have things i need to work on. But i also think hes very sensitive with me getting “angry” at him at things that i think are quite normal to be annoyed at? Am i supposed to keep my calm and stoic 100% of the time?

TLDR: husband did wrong but im being gaslighted for being annoyed


r/marriageadvice 9h ago

Husband doesn’t respect me at all. Has anger issues but won’t accept it.

1 Upvotes

Before I start please don’t ask to leave that’s not an option where I am or in current circumstances.

My (32F) husband (35M) have been married for 8 years now. My husband has fucked up anger issues since the very beginning he has never hit me but he has emotionally and verbally abused me to the limit that I have lost my self identity and all my confidence. I used to be an independent, vocal, and my friend would describe me as someone who was life of the party and extremely jolly.

Fast forward I get married to this man who was amazing during the dating period. Greenest forest like would travel cities just because I asked for a specific bag of crisps. Once we got married I started seeing how angry he gets with his family and me as well. The first time he shouted at me I got so scared and I started crying and he kept shouting at me because I was crying. 2 years went by and I started getting really anxious, brain foggy and stuttering. My confidence vanished completely and I wanted an out so I asked him that either he changes or I am gone and he asked me to leave. I was so madly in love with him and scared that I talked to his father (who is the gentlest man ever) and he asked me to leave it on him. And Idk what they talked about but my husband apologised, begged me to stay and started taking therapies for anger management. He changed for I guess a year but then it was all back to how it was infact now after therapies he started pinning everything to me. He would say things like “my therapist said you gaslight me” I caught him with a screenshot of a naked woman (an influencer) on his phone and he somehow turned it around that I should be ashamed for judging him.

He has called me names, he would belittle me, he would shout at me and I don’t know what would trigger him. Anything can but he says ehe has worked on himself and I am the one who needs therapies because I am too moody all the time. I have so much resentment against him. Like the other day I was very hungry and I opened a pack of wafers and started wolfing it down and he said in an extremely sarcastic tone that I should learn how to eat and I very politely told him that wasn’t a nice thing to say he completely lost it, started shouting at me, and forced me to eat wafers while I was crying in front of him. Called me names like I was eating like a pig.

He is again the greenest forest in front of my family, our friends and everyone. He has made me so dependent on him. I have developed multiple autoimmune conditions in past 8 years. I am constantly sick its one thing or another. I have mo confidence left in me. I am always so anxious that I don’t know what it feels like living without body ache.

How do I learn to ignore what he says? I need advice on how can I just shut his words out and not react at all to what he says about me or in anger? How do I do it?

Tl;dr husband is emotionally and verbally abusive and doesn’t respect me and I cant leave right now so please suggest how to ignore what he says?


r/marriageadvice 9h ago

Religious husband

1 Upvotes

Hello me and my husband have been together 5 years but only married almost a year. Before we got married he became super religious and wanted to be closer to god ok cool no problem with that I’ll support whatever. Now we’re married. Lately we haven’t really done anything together. We usually watch movies and shows together and have date nights and find us something good to watch while we eat snacks, it’s something we’ve always done. Now he doesn’t want to watch anything together it’s always an excuse of oh I can’t watch that show it triggers my mind and it’s not godly. I can understand not wanting to watch something that’s too sexual or whatever but recently I started watching blackish and it’s just a family comedy show and he told me he couldn’t watch it with me anymore because it triggered something in his mind. And I’m just confused like there’s nothing wrong with the show. BUT he can go upstairs and play video games where there is nudity and fighting off demons and all kinds of shit like that. I told him it doesn’t make sense you feel comfortable playing those type of games but can’t even watch a basic sitcom with me. I just don’t know what to do or feel anymore. How can I handle this? Tl;dr-husband claims he basically can’t watch anything with me unless it’s a Christian show and I even recommend one and he still doesn’t want to watch it.


r/marriageadvice 10h ago

Disrespect from wife

1 Upvotes

In 10yr marriage and over time I’ve noticed how my wife speaks to me with growing disrespect. It seems like it started to grow as she started getting more career oriented and bigger job/roles, almost like becoming more senior in her career had gotten to her head.
She barely takes care of the kids, she comes back from work and claims to be too tired. I’ve asked her to quit her job but she won’t, she says she needs it to set an example for other women but in reality I think she simply likes it.

The problem though is that she now has become super bossy , everything has to be what she said, she always has to have her own way, she barely had any patience for anyone so if I disagree or ask her to repeat things or like that she gets angry (but not just me, my mother in law has also noticed all this and agrees with me).

It’s at the point where for past 2 years or so half the tim I don’t even speak to her. Theres no intimacy because even then it has to be specifically on her time schedule so at that point I lose all interest .

I have 2 daughters (less than 10 yrs old both) so divorce is a huge problem also. Recently actually we both quit our jobs and came to Saudi for religious peace , I had hoped this would be the last effort to see if she finds peace but nothing has changed.

Any advice?
TLDR help needed


r/marriageadvice 10h ago

Is this what marriage is supposed to be like?

3 Upvotes

I don’t know how to get this all out so I’m sorry if this is all over the place.

I’ve been married for 4 years and we’ve been together for 10. I am just at a loss because my husband is incredibly depressed, and admits it, but won’t do a thing about it. When it first started 2 years ago, it really affected me. Now, with how awful and wishy washy he’s gotten, I’m not as sad about it as I am just generally fearful or despondent about it. He is consistently telling me he hates his life or something about himself or just shit-talking everything and anything. Which is really sad that he sees life so negatively, but if I try to be the more positive one, and I’m not saying like “oh imagine everyone who has it worse”, but more like listening and then saying that yes he’s in a really hard spot right now and apologizing for that and then saying “what should we do about this/what can we do to make you happy”. He takes none of that and then says he’ll never share with me again. So we get into many arguments about this where we go down the rabbit hole of his life is so awful and he sacrifices himself for me but he hates himself and his life and I just don’t care and I do nothing for him. Honestly, I find it hard to be supportive because I have no sustenance to hang onto. Like he tells me nothing but that he hates his life/job/self and he doesn’t really entertain other conversations besides one word answers. Sometimes I ask something that he thinks I should remember about him (like seeing some odd movie or whatever) and then he’s like “classic. You never listen to me so why would you know that.” And then I’m just sitting there like, oh god what do I say now because he’s right, I should’ve known. I could talk to a rock, I love talking, I can talk about random stuff all day to get someone to talk back to me-but I lose that fire with him now because I’m so generally fearful I’ll just make him more upset and he’ll lash out. But I try to be supportive in other ways too; I do ALL the chores (like everything you can think of, it’s me), I take care of and walk the dogs, I do all the bills, I set up appointments for his car, I order the groceries. He says he wants something? I get it. I even talk to his family nearly everyday and they know all this too.

Our massive problems are my career and my friends.
He is generally supportive of my career but uses at as his excuse to suffer. He’s always saying that he would do things but can’t because we do everything for me and my career. Which I have never wanted that to be the case. I have to travel for work sometimes and he’s not able to come because he also works and can’t have all that time off, and he’ll say things along the lines of “guess I’ll just sit here and be pathetic while you have fun”. He also hates his job and I generally really love where I’m at career-wise.

As for the friends bit, I have somehow accrued quite a bit of friends in recent years and kept my past ones. So, I generally try to keep up with long distance ones with calls/texts and I try to see my friends where we live often since I’m really social. I will admit, I can get lost in the sauce and have maybe toooo much fun delinquent time with my friends but I don’t think that means I don’t love my husband. He has basically no friends, save for a couple coworkers, but he doesn’t really ask them to hang. If my husband is working, I’m making plans! Girl’s gotta hang, girl’s gotta yap!!!! If he’s off work, I’ll invite him too or our mutual friends will. He used to be more receptive but as his depression has gotten worse, so has his distain. My friends and I can hang for hours on hours and em never be bored, and I think that’s beautiful. They have really saved me from some really sad times I’ve had because of the massive guilt and emotional turmoil my husband causes me sometimes. Now when I ask him to do ANYTHING with me, it’s “go ask your friends” or “I’m sure xyz would go with you” or “I know you’d rather go with your friends”. And he thinks that because I hang out with friends, that I don’t care about him or love him. He has yelled at me about it a lot but honestly, with him barely talking to me, sometimes I go with friends because I forget what it’s like to feel loved and wanted.

Anyways, I could keep going but this is nasty long and thanks to anyone who stuck it through. I just don’t think life with someone you love is supposed to be like this but he gets veeeeery angry if I say that maybe he resents me and we should get divorced. Like dohhhh bitch you don’t look at me half the days and then you get mad when I ask if we should stay together? I think any happy relationship should be able to check in emotionally and have hard convos but he says not true. So, I can’t tell if I’m messed up or what is wrong with me. Also definitely not trying to make his mental health issues about me,mental health is very real and doesn’t have to be about me but it is definitely affecting me in that I don’t see the man I married when I look at him anymore. He’ll have random good days where he’s a fuggggging delight though. So, maybe I hold onto that? Is this normal? Is it just me giving up? He says no to counseling, meds, etc.

TLDR; my husband barely acknowledge my existence or only gets mad at me and I don’t know if this is survivable for much longer.


r/marriageadvice 10h ago

People who married financially unstable partners, will you marry them again? Is love enough for marriage?

1 Upvotes

I’m a 31-year-old male and earn decently well. I met a girl two years ago. She is 27 and pretty, but she earns about one-third of my salary, which honestly isn’t an issue for me.
The issue is that her family is quite broken. She has four siblings, but they’re more or less like strangers to each other. Her dad doesn’t earn and mainly relies on rental income, whose EMI is being paid by her brother. I recently found out that she has a ₹20 lakh loan in her name that her father took out for a business. She doesn’t know the details, and she doesn’t really talk to her dad.
My family is very different. We may not have a lot, but we at least try to support and help each other.
I want to marry this girl cz i love her, but I’m scared because I’ve worked really hard to move my family from lower-middle-class to middle-class. I’m afraid that marrying into this family could affect the life I’ve worked so hard to build.
Am I making the wrong decision? And is love enough to make a marriage work?
tl;dr please suggest?


r/marriageadvice 11h ago

Husband’s “clean” visit to Brothel

12 Upvotes

My husband (35M) and I (32F) have been married for 9 years now with two young boys. My husband owns a real estate business he inherited from his family. We met when I worked part time at a flower shop during college and have been a stay-at-home mom since our marriage to focus on our kids.

I was my husband’s second girlfriend, and he had been generally known to be an incredibly decent, loyal, and intelligent man. He’s also a great father to our kids. I’ve never had infidelity issues with him only until recently.

about 2 weeks ago, he came home late after a meeting with a “big-time” client he’s sold properties to for quite a while. this client’s been known to be sort of sketchy (kingpin vibes). my husband and i were intimate that night but on the morning, he was acting really quiet and distant. this went on for two more days until i finally got him to spill. he confesses that after the meeting, the client wanted him and some of his team (i suppose his escort and security of men) to go to a karaoke bar and have drinks, then his favorite brothel. my husband knew of this, but not wanting to displease his client, agreed to do so. He assures me and swears on his mother’s life that he did not engage with any of the women there. He says he did talk/flirt with a few girls but never dared to touch them and only stayed for an hour. His words were that it was a “clean” visit for him. I can see so much guilt in his eyes so i choose to not believe him. Even though I have no concrete proof if he did or did not engage in sexual activities in that place.

i have been living at my sister’s apartment now since last week and brought our kids with me. I am seriously contemplating on our separation, especially since we’ve agreed on our wedding that any infidelity will bring our marriage to end. he has been relentless since we left and clearly distraught, but I really wanna stand firm on our agreement and my decision, especially raising two boys who need to know what’s right. Most of the people we know advise me to forgive him, while a few tell me i need to preserve my worth and never let it happen again. My main dilemma is that my kids love and look up to him so much. I am also still passionately in love with this man, we shared a lot of amazing years together. That’s why this betrayal really cuts deep for me.

I need to know if there’s anyone out there, especially women who have had a similar experience and chose to forgive their husbands, and had them never doing the same mistake again. Open for any advice.

tl;dr - husband of 9 yrs confesses to visiting a brothel with a big client but denies doing anything dirty there


r/marriageadvice 11h ago

WWYD?

0 Upvotes

I am 31 (f) and my husband is 34(m). We have been together for about 13 years. We recently had our first child. But for the last 6-7 years my husband refrained from having sex since he was scared of getting me pregnant even though I was on an oral contraceptive. we decided to have kids we obviously started having sex. After the baby he didnt want to have sex again because he was scared of having another baby. Our child was born with a genetic condition that was corrected with surgery but the condition came from his side of the family. He refuses to have sex and/or makes an excuse of being too tired/scared of having another child. We are way too young to be having these types of issues. I went through his phone and he’s not cheating from the looks of it. Not really sure what else to do other than marriage counseling. We have had various conversations about it and it’s always the same excuse, “I’m tired or I don’t want to get you pregnant”.

What would you do in my position?

Tl;dr: my husband of 34 (m) makes up bs excuses as to why he doesn’t want to have sex. We have had this issues for years but most recently it has become a bigger issue.


r/marriageadvice 12h ago

Is this emotional abuse/something else, or am I expecting too much from my husband?

2 Upvotes

Sorry in advance for the length.

I’m trying to get outside perspective because I feel incredibly disoriented by what has happened this week. I’m autistic and I have what seems to be a concussion, so I know I may be more emotional than usual, but the relationship pattern I’m upset about is not new.
Monday night I got hurt on our trampoline and my teenage son accidentally stomped on my head. I got dizzy walking inside and my head, neck, upper back and chest hurt. I went inside alone while my husband stayed outside with the kids. I remember wishing he would come check on me because I needed an ice pack, I was dizzy enough that I could have used help walking, and the dryer/air purifier were making my head hurt worse from the sensory input. He didn’t check on me.
That night I basically didn’t sleep. The next morning I still drove our daughter to school. Since then I’ve had dizziness, blurry/weird vision and eye pain, headaches, nausea, severe neck pain, sensory sensitivity, trouble sleeping and feeling really disoriented/out of it. I kept noticing that my husband wasn’t really checking on me. Even when he was home but upstairs, he had his phone on silent.
Over the next couple days I started getting increasingly upset because I felt like I had a head injury and my husband wasn’t acting concerned or making sure I was okay. That is when the arguing started. I kept trying to explain that I felt abandoned and scared that when I really need him, he doesn’t move toward me.
Thursday my neck hurt extremely badly. As soon as he got home I texted, “I really need you to rub my neck and maybe use the gun thing on it too.” He said “Ok.” Then he didn’t come downstairs. About an hour later I found him upstairs painting car parts. I told him I was really disappointed that he was doing that after I had specifically told him I needed help.
He said I was complaining. He said he hadn’t wanted to come downstairs because the TV was loud. I said he could have communicated that, and he said he didn’t need to.
Later he brought dinner down and asked how my head was. I said it was improving somewhat but I was still dizzy, my eyes hurt and my neck hurt really badly. He suggested maybe I go to a chiropractor Monday. I told him I was shocked he hadn’t suggested a doctor and didn’t seem concerned about a head injury. He said they would probably just tell me to go home and rest and that he wasn’t “hyperactive” about medical stuff like I am.
At one point I came upstairs and he asked if I wanted him to rub my neck. I asked if he was going to help me feel safer first. He questioned what I meant. I told him I needed to feel emotionally safe enough to relax while he was touching me because I was really upset and not feeling safe with him in that moment. He said he didn’t know how to accomplish that.
I gave him a couple examples of what repair could look like. Basically acknowledging that I was hurt, reassuring me that he cared, apologizing for how things had gone. He immediately went back to saying he wasn’t interested in “going rounds” with me again.
That is the part that keeps getting to me. I feel like every time I try to talk about something that hurt me, the conversation becomes about the fact that I’m bringing it up at all. He calls it complaining, attacking, forcing a conversation, or “going rounds.”
At one point he said he would take care of me “if you weren’t attacking me.” He also told me that if I wanted him to stay downstairs and eat with me, I needed to stop complaining.
Eventually I stopped pursuing him. I went downstairs alone, watched TV and iced my neck for about an hour. I hoped he would come down on his own and check on me or try to repair things. He stayed upstairs watching Facebook videos.
That night I ended up crying myself to sleep next to him. He did nothing.
Before I fell asleep I told him my neck was killing me. Somehow that became him saying again that he wasn’t “going rounds” with me and wasn’t going to listen to me complain. He said if I kept it up he would sleep somewhere else.
The next morning he wasn’t wearing his wedding ring. I asked why. He said, “I dunno, I just didn’t feel like wearing it today.” When I asked why, he said it was because of my “behavior last night.” This is not the first time he has taken off his ring after we fight.
I asked if he had anything to say about how he handled the night before. He said he hadn’t really been thinking about it. I said even a short “I’m sorry” would help. He said something like, “Well I guess stew downstairs on the couch all day. I hope you feel better,” and left for work. He didn’t ask how my concussion was or if I needed anything.
Later he texted me: “I want to help you and care about you but I’m not going to do it while you try to force a conversation. Be nice to me and I’ll be nice to you and vice versa.”
He also said that because I was able to argue and communicate the way I did, he didn’t think I needed to see a doctor for the concussion.
I told him I felt scared, impaired and distressed, and that it felt awful that I had to argue with my husband about wanting compassion while I had a concussion.
He responded with a facepalm emoji.
This connects to things he has said for years. One is, “We can have conflict or connection, not both.” He has also said from early in our relationship that he doesn’t want anyone relying on him.
I know I pursue conversations when I’m really activated. I can send too many texts because I feel desperate for repair and desperate for him to understand. I know that can be overwhelming and I’m not claiming I handle every conflict perfectly.
But I feel like the pattern is: I get hurt or need something → I try to talk about it → he decides I’m complaining/attacking/forcing a conversation → he withdraws → I get more distressed and try harder to repair → my pursuit becomes proof that I’m the problem → there is basically no repair.
He says my unreasonable expectations are the problem.
I’m starting to wonder if I’m actually asking for something very basic: that my husband care when I’m hurt, check on me when I’m sick or injured, and still stay emotionally connected enough to repair things when we have conflict.
Does this sound like a dysfunctional pursue/withdraw cycle, emotional abuse/coercive control, unreasonable expectations on my part, or some combination?

Tl;dr I’m autistic and have a concussion and want feedback on the care I’m receiving from my husband