Sad bride (stock image).Photo:tonefotografia/Getty
tonefotografia/Getty
A divorced woman is reflecting on the moment she knew her marriage was doomed.
“My husband ruined our wedding day,” the woman captioned a now-viral video posted onTikTokon Nov. 25, 2024. She said that the story has “haunted her” for 11 years, and now feels compelled to share it because she’s witnessed countless other women in similar situations.
More than a decade ago, the woman and her boyfriend of four months decided to go to a magistrate to get married because she didn’t want the attention that comes with having a big wedding. After they were wed, “everything was good” and the bride was “very happy.” That was until the groom opened his mouth and uttered two words that she would remember forever.
The couple “had been married [for] about 60 seconds” when the judge noted that he loved officiating weddings and would be even happier if they came back to see him in 10 years to update him on their relationship.
Stock Wedding Image.Rubberball/Mike Kemp/Getty
Rubberball/Mike Kemp/Getty
The bride agreed to see him, joking, “Hopefully I fit in the same dress.”
“My husband of about 70 seconds did not miss a beat, and he said ‘or smaller,'” the woman continued, noting that those two words later led to a fight.
She scanned her husband’s face for context clues, but he wasn’t laughing.
“I died inside and I froze like a statue. I just felt like I couldn’t even breathe,” the TikToker recalled. It felt like the beginning of the end of their relationship — and it was.
“My heart just broke,” she continued. “I looked at the judge and he was floored. He said, ‘Son, you just got married.’ And that’s when I was like, oh, I’m not crazy. My intuition is correct. I am not crazy. This is bad.”
Flash forward to the week of their tenth wedding anniversary, and the man asked for a divorce.
The woman initially stayed in the marriage due to “psychological abuse” and “gaslighting” from her husband.
Stock Wedding Image.Getty
Getty
“He convinced me that I was crazy and dramatic, and I’m none of those things actually,” she said. “He hated my guts from the beginning. Hope this helps.”
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“Recent widow. 33 years. I thought it was just me. Carried so much shame for decades — hid it all. Free now and hope I can get at least one year of a good life,” one person commented, with another soon-to-be divorcee adding, “I cried in the bathroom before walking down the aisle. Shouldn’t have done it. Divorcing now after 16 years.”
TikTok users also said that the poster didn’t need to defend the reasons why she stayed in her marriage, but argued that if people were more educated on the warning signs of toxic relationships then they could avoid them.
“Lifelong educator here. Can we PLEASE teach healthy relationships in high school!” one person commented. “If people knew about love bombing, gaslighting, triangulation, etc, they could avoid so much pain and misery!!!”
source: people.com
