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Husband Wants Open Marriage Despite Wife’s Refusal, Backpedals When Wife Finds Someone Better
Have you ever played a game with someone who insists on adding a complicated new rule they just invented? They swear it will make everything more fun and exciting. You’re skeptical, but you go along with it just to keep the peace.
Then, in a glorious twist of fate, that exact rule is the very reason they lose the game spectacularly. This is karma, fate, and schadenfreude all working at once. One woman’s husband recently introduced a new ‘rule’ to their marriage, and he is definitely not enjoying the final score.
More info: Reddit
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The person who insists on changing the rules of the game is often the one who ends up losing
Image credits: Drazen Zigic / Freepik (not the actual photo)
After a year of relentless pressure, a wife finally agreed to her husband’s demand for an open marriage
Image credits: creativeart / Freepik (not the actual photo)
While her husband’s dates fizzled out, she found a deep and meaningful connection with a new man
Image credits: Gary Barnes / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Panicked by her success, her husband tried to shut down the very arrangement he had begged for
Image credits: Thirdman / Pexels (not the actual photo)
She refused, left her husband, and is now happily engaged to her new partner
Image credits: Working-Psychology57
Her husband is not taking the split well, trying to tarnish her reputation and paint her as a cheater
This story begins with a husband who, after discovering polyamory on Reddit, became a relentless evangelist for open relationships. For a solid year, he begged his wife to join him on this journey to enlightenment, brushing off her suggestion that they should just divorce instead. Finally, worn down by his non-stop sales pitch, she gave in, and they established a set of rules for their grand new experiment.
At first, things seemed to go according to his plan. He went on a few dates that fizzled out, but he was happy. There was just one unforeseen side effect: their own intimate life nosedived, mostly because she found it profoundly unattractive that he’d immediately start swiping on Tinder after they were intimate. Then, she met Mark in a drawing class, and the entire dynamic of the game changed.
While her husband was still striking out, she and Mark felt “deliriously happy” and fell “so in love.” Suddenly, the architect of this grand experiment realized his plan had a fatal flaw: it was working much better for her. He demanded they close the relationship, but she refused to give up Mark. Her husband had a full-blown meltdown, and she knew the marriage was over.
She left her husband and is now happily engaged to Mark, but there’s a problem. Her ex, the man who literally begged for this arrangement, has launched a smear campaign, telling everyone in their small town that she’s a cheater. The man who wrote the rules of the game is now flipping the board over because he lost, and she’s the one paying the price for his hypocrisy.
Image credits: Photographer Liam Gillan / Pexels (not the actual photo)
The husband’s initial request clearly defined their arrangement as polyamory, not just an open relationship, making his later outrage completely hypocritical. As licensed therapist Ashera DeRosa explains, an open relationship is typically one primary couple exploring intimately with others, while polyamory involves forming deep emotional and physical relationships with multiple partners.
His accusation of cheating is not only hypocritical but factually incorrect based on the definition of consensual non-monogamy. The experts at Hello Prenup say that for an open relationship to work, it must have “open & honest communication, transparency, and agreement/consent,” otherwise, it’s just infidelity. The wife followed these rules perfectly. She had her husband’s enthusiastic consent, so she should be in the clear.
Ultimately, the husband’s reaction is a classic case of wanting to change the rules after losing the game. Dr. Marie Murphy notes that even with an explicit agreement, one partner can feel the other “cheated” when an unspoken expectation is violated. The husband likely assumed he would be the one to benefit most from the arrangement. When his wife found a deep, loving connection and he didn’t, he felt a sense of betrayal.
Do you think the wife is in the wrong, or are you applauding her for finding more love? Let us know in the comments below!
The internet was split, with many saying she took advantage of the situation and others imploring her to leave town to save her reputation
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What do you think ?
Ellinor she/they/elle 2 months ago
People who want to cheat or just sleep with other people needs to stop calling themselves "Poly". Poly relationships are based on love, trust, communication and partnerships. In a Poly couple you are all dating, not just sleeping around and changing partners every week. That's an open relationship (and it's also based on trust and communication).
Tabitha 2 months ago (edited)
“Men overestimating their market value”. Hilarious. Seems like the guys who propose and push polyamory to try to sell the concept to their wives are either already cheating and want to assuage their guilt, or planning to cheat anyway but don’t want to look like the bad guy. Same goes for the men who are already cheating, who then totally blow up their lives and divorce their wives in favor of their side pieces. Then, well, their initial “adventure” fizzles quickly, and the next ones they try fizzle too. Maybe the initial one doesn’t fizzle, but the side piece is a nutjob who makes his life miserable, robs him blind, or traps him with a baby. They then look at their wives/ex-wives, the women they insinuated weren’t enough for them by divorcing them or pushing to open the relationship in the first place, becoming very very popular, and dating many wonderful, successful, attractive, nice men, maybe even engaged to a man who is a hundred times better than they are, and suddenly they want to reconcile or otherwise return their relationship to the way it was. Yeah sure. You wanted out, or you to open it so you could be with your side piece or cheat without guilt, but always thought you would have the fallback of the little wifey/ex-wifey sitting at home pining for you, waiting to welcome you back with open arms when you’ve either gotten the cheating out of your system or your side piece dumps you. Only she isn’t. She’s livening a much better life with a much better man than you ever were. Boo-f*****g-hoo for you, a*****e. You’re in the FO part of FAFO. Hope the FA was at least fun for you, because that’s now all you’ve got left, after grossly overestimating your market value, and grossly underestimating her market value.
Lee Gilliland 2 months ago
It does show that pattern. Strange that people used to think a woman after 25 stopped maturing and started aging, it certainly didn't turn out that way.
Load More Replies...
Enlee Jones 2 months ago
Same old situation: Guy thinks he's all that and a bag of chips, demands an open relationship, and expects to go out and bang supermodels while Gal sits at home reading "Twilight" fanfiction and waiting for him to decide she's good enough to be graced with his presence. Then it always ends with the Gal finding someone better and leaving or Gal refusing to close the relationship because she's having the time of her life getting laid three times a day by her boyfriends.
person (i think) 2 months ago
I forgot what a fun expression “all that and a bag of chips” is! 😆
Load More Replies... Ellinor she/they/elle 2 months ago
People who want to cheat or just sleep with other people needs to stop calling themselves "Poly". Poly relationships are based on love, trust, communication and partnerships. In a Poly couple you are all dating, not just sleeping around and changing partners every week. That's an open relationship (and it's also based on trust and communication).
Tabitha 2 months ago (edited)
“Men overestimating their market value”. Hilarious. Seems like the guys who propose and push polyamory to try to sell the concept to their wives are either already cheating and want to assuage their guilt, or planning to cheat anyway but don’t want to look like the bad guy. Same goes for the men who are already cheating, who then totally blow up their lives and divorce their wives in favor of their side pieces. Then, well, their initial “adventure” fizzles quickly, and the next ones they try fizzle too. Maybe the initial one doesn’t fizzle, but the side piece is a nutjob who makes his life miserable, robs him blind, or traps him with a baby. They then look at their wives/ex-wives, the women they insinuated weren’t enough for them by divorcing them or pushing to open the relationship in the first place, becoming very very popular, and dating many wonderful, successful, attractive, nice men, maybe even engaged to a man who is a hundred times better than they are, and suddenly they want to reconcile or otherwise return their relationship to the way it was. Yeah sure. You wanted out, or you to open it so you could be with your side piece or cheat without guilt, but always thought you would have the fallback of the little wifey/ex-wifey sitting at home pining for you, waiting to welcome you back with open arms when you’ve either gotten the cheating out of your system or your side piece dumps you. Only she isn’t. She’s livening a much better life with a much better man than you ever were. Boo-f*****g-hoo for you, a*****e. You’re in the FO part of FAFO. Hope the FA was at least fun for you, because that’s now all you’ve got left, after grossly overestimating your market value, and grossly underestimating her market value.
Lee Gilliland 2 months ago
It does show that pattern. Strange that people used to think a woman after 25 stopped maturing and started aging, it certainly didn't turn out that way.
Load More Replies... Enlee Jones 2 months ago
Same old situation: Guy thinks he's all that and a bag of chips, demands an open relationship, and expects to go out and bang supermodels while Gal sits at home reading "Twilight" fanfiction and waiting for him to decide she's good enough to be graced with his presence. Then it always ends with the Gal finding someone better and leaving or Gal refusing to close the relationship because she's having the time of her life getting laid three times a day by her boyfriends.
person (i think) 2 months ago
I forgot what a fun expression “all that and a bag of chips” is! 😆
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