NEED TO KNOW
A woman secretly spent $100,000 of money meant for her and her spouse’s future, the spouse claimed on Reddit
The spouse divorced her as a result and now wonders if they overreacted in doing so
“I can’t stop thinking about what our future would’ve looked like — now it’s just a closet full of overpriced fabric,” the spouse wrote
After a woman secretly spent $100,000 on designer fashion, her spouse filed for divorce. Now, they’re wondering if the split was an overreaction.
Still reeling from their wife’s “shopping addiction,” the spouse shared their side of the events that led the marriage to implode on Reddit. More specifically, they shared a post in the “AmIOverreacting” forum, where they asked fellow users if they went too far in filing for a divorce.
The couple “got lucky with an inheritance and parlay” that “was supposed to be our future – house down payment, retirement, you know, adult s—,” the spouse wrote. But their wife had other purchases in mind.
“Instead,” they said in the post, “she went full shopaholic.”
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A stock image of a couple arguing
Their definition of “full shopaholic?” She spent $100,000 of the inheritance in two years, and kept her purchases hidden throughout. “At first I didn’t even notice,” the spouse wrote. “She’d come home with new stuff and I’d be like ‘cool new dress’ without thinking much about it. Then the credit card bills started rolling in.”
The spouse tried to intervene, they claimed in the post. “We had a talk,” they wrote. “Then another. Then therapy.” But, in the end, “Nothing worked.”
Still, they stuck around — until yet another one of the wife’s secrets came to light. “The final straw,” the spouse wrote, “was finding out she had a secret storage unit just for all the clothes that wouldn’t fit in our closet anymore. Some still had tags on!”
The issue, per the spouse, was not that their wife spent the money — it was the fact that the money was meant for their future together. “I’m not controlling – she can spend her own money however she wants. But this was OUR future she was literally wearing away,” the spouse wrote. “We’re talking $4k purses, designer shoes she wore once, custom s— I can’t even pronounce.”
“I tried everything before going nuclear,” they continued. “But when I suggested selling some of it to recoup losses, she had a complete meltdown.”
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A stock image of a person holding shopping bags
Now, the spouse has filed for divorce. Their wife is “staying with her sister who thinks I’m the devil,” they wrote in the post.
Given that the spouse’s parents can’t even agree on whether they made the right choice — their dad is supportive, while their mom “says ‘in sickness and health’ includes shopping addiction” — they decided to ask Reddit users to weigh in, they said.
“She keeps texting that she’ll change, but I just don’t believe it anymore,” they wrote. “And honestly, the trust is gone. I can’t stop thinking about what our future would’ve looked like – now it’s just a closet full of overpriced fabric.”
“So,” they concluded the post, “am I [overreacting] for walking away from someone who couldn’t stop shopping even when it destroyed our future?”
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In response, users echoed the spouse’s story, recalling other situations in which shopping addiction caused relationships to end. Several others said that because the spouse failed to mention the source of the “inheritance,” they are unable to properly assess the situation.
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A stock image of a couple arguing
Meanwhile, the top-voted comment declared that if the spouse, as they stated in the original post, feels that they cannot trust their wife anymore, “the relationship is,” in fact, “over.”
“Yeah man, trust is definitely the thing I can’t get past. After finding that storage unit, it’s like I don’t even know who she is anymore,” the spouse wrote in response. “She swears she’ll change but also gets defensive when I mention selling anything. Classic addict behavior I guess?”
“The thing that kills me is imagining what that money could’ve been. Our first house. Travel. Maybe even kids someday. Now it’s just… clothes. And debt,” they continued, adding that they “appreciate the straight talk.”
“Sometimes,” they finished, “you need internet strangers to confirm you’re not crazy.”
Read the original article on People
