July 17, 2025 • 47 mins
What Happened When Your EX LEFT You For a “10”—Who RUINED Their LIFE COMPLETELY?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What happened when your ex left you for a ten
who ruined their life completely. Story one. My ex dumped
me over text after three years together. Her reason, You're
too predictable. Two weeks later, she was dating a personal
trainer who she proudly called her dream ten. I moved on,
got into therapy, traveled, rebuilt my confidence. Meanwhile, her new
(00:23):
relationship went insta official, fast, daily jim selfies, vacations, matching
outfits until it all unraveled. Turns out mister Perfect was
juggling multiple girlfriends, two of whom messaged me screenshots. He
was using her money, living in her place rent free,
and even got her to co sign a car. When
she caught him cheating with her cousin. No less, he ghosted.
(00:45):
She tried suing for the car payments but failed. Her
cousin blocked her, Her friends distanced themselves, and she lost
her job because she'd referred him there and he caused
major HR issues. She messaged me recently saying I was
the one who got away. I didn't respond, Karma already did.
Story two. We were engaged, wedding venue booked, dress spot.
(01:07):
Then she met Luca, an international DJ with a six
pack and an accent. She said she had to explore
her truth. I said, cool, explore it without me. She
flew to Ibiza with him, posted reels of beach sunsets
and mohidos. I quietly canceled the wedding, sold the ring,
and took a solo trip instead. Less than a year later,
I found out Luca got her pregnant, then vanished mid trimester,
(01:30):
not ghosted, vanished, passport, gone phone off, blocked her everywhere.
Turns out Luca wasn't a DJ. He was an Italian
scam artist with warrants in three countries. She gave him
access to her bank account.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
He drained it.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
She had to move back in with her parents at
thirty four, raising a baby alone, bankrupt and humiliated me.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I met someone kind, solid. We just got.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Engaged this time, no DJs story three. He left me
for a woman and he called a total ten even
set it to my face. She was younger, blonde, a
fitness influencer. He gloated for weeks on social media until
her followers noticed his presence a little too much. They
started dming me screenshots of his shady behavior. Turns out
(02:16):
he was piggybacking off her brand, replying to women using
her account, even selling her sponsored products under fake links
for his own profit. She found out during a live
stream mid promo. Someone commented, ask your boyfriend why your
venmo is linked to his mom's boutique. Her face turned white.
She ended the stream and deleted all content for a week.
They broke up. She went public about being manipulated and used.
(02:39):
He lost his job. She emailed his boss with receipts,
lost his side hustle, and was banned from multiple creator platforms.
Last I heard he was CouchSurfing and begging for freelance gigs.
I didn't reply when he sent I really messed up.
Story four. She dumped me after four years, saying she
met someone who understood her ambition. He was a real
estate guy rich which polished, took her on helicopter rides.
(03:02):
She said, I was sweet, but small town. Fast forward
eighteen months. I'm doing okay, steady job, new girlfriend, nothing flashy.
Then a friend sends me a TikTok of my ex
sobbing in a car, saying, never date someone just because
they flash wealth. Apparently, her new man used her credit
to fund fake properties. When the deals collapsed debt collectors
(03:23):
came knocking. She's now being sued for over ninety thousand
dollars in damages tied to forged documents she signed under
his pressure. Turns out she was legally liable for everything.
She tried to expose him, but he'd already left the country.
Her family won't help because they warned her from the start.
The comments on her video brutal. She deleted her entire
account within a week. Story five. I was with Jake
(03:46):
for nearly two years before he blindsided me, saying he
met someone way more exciting. I later learned she was
a model, literally gorgeous, wild energy, a ten by anyone's standards.
He flaunted their relationship for a while, posting photos acting
like he won some prize, until a few months later
I got an email from her, not him.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Her.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
She apologized for the way I was treated and confessed
she broke up with him after learning he was love bombing,
lying and manipulating her the same way he had with me.
But she got him back hard. She posted a public
story with a Google drive full of screenshots messages he'd
sent to multiple women, including some during our relationship. She
had hundreds of thousands of followers. The post went viral.
(04:29):
Jake's employer saw it. He was fired due to ethics
clause violations. His new lease was pulled. He deleted every account.
She and I never talked again, but her message ended
with he fooled me too. I just made sure no
one else would fall for it again. Story six. He
left me for his dental hygienist, no joke. We'd been
together for five years, lived together for two and one
(04:52):
day he came home and said, you've just become comfortable
with her. Everything feels alive. I remember standing in the
doorway holding upot costa spoon, blinking at him like he'd
lost his mind. She was objectively gorgeous, flawless teeth, duh bleach,
blonde hair, yoga instructor's side hustle. He moved into her
high rise within a week. I cried for months. Then
(05:13):
I focused on rebuilding, finished graduate school, traveled, met people
who saw value in my brain, not just my potential.
A year later, I ran into his cousin at a wedding.
He gave me the update I didn't know I needed.
Turns out the dental hygienist wasn't just seeing him. She
had a fiance she conveniently didn't mention when it all
blew up. She claims she felt pressured by my ex
(05:36):
to go exclusive. He started spiraling after she dumped him,
got written up at work for lashing out, missed payments
on his car, lost mutual friends who were disgusted by
how he treated me and her the cherry on top.
He reached out to me two years later through LinkedIn
with a job referral request, as if I'd ever vouch
for him. I blocked him instantly. I'm not his second choice.
(05:57):
I'm not his backup plan. I'm done. Story seven. When
my ex told me she was leaving me for someone
who was everything I'm not, I didn't argue we were
mismatched from the start. She was chasing glamour and I
was working two jobs to keep us afloat. Her ten
was a guy from Miami she met at a bachelorette weekend, Tall, rich,
drove a lambeau. Within weeks, she moved in with him,
(06:20):
quit her job, and blocked me on everything. I stayed silent.
I had no closure, but life has a way of
looping back. Two years later, I get a call from
her best friend. Turns out she was stranded in Miami, homeless.
Her ten had been funding everything through crypto scams and
shady crypto pyramid schemes. When things collapsed, so did the fantasy.
(06:41):
He dumped her the moment he saw trouble coming, kicked
her out, changed the locks, and moved on with a
new girl half her age. She'd been evicted, broke, and alone.
Her parents refused to help her. Fed up with the chaos,
her friend said, she's thinking of calling you. I told
her not to Bother story eight. We dated from high
school into college, thought we'd be endgame, but junior year,
(07:04):
she decided she deserved a glow up phase and dumped me.
After meeting a fashion photographer at a local runway gig.
He was flashy, older, traveled a lot, said he could
make her a model.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
She bought it.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Fast forward a year, she dropped out of school to
pursue modeling, moved into his condo, and started posting some
questionable content. A few old friends quietly unfollowed her, but
I still checked in out of curiosity. One day I
saw she was missing from social media completely. A week later,
one of her old roommates called me, asking if I
had her parents' number, something about legal stuff. I didn't
(07:38):
ask questions, but I found out later the guy had
lured multiple girls in under modeling contracts and was being
investigated for coercion and fraud. She testified against him, but
the damage was done. Her reputation was shredded. She tried
to get back into school but couldn't afford it. Her
family took her in, but she was never the same.
Her once vibrant energy was gone. I felt bad, but
(08:01):
I also remembered how quickly she tossed me aside for
someone with a nice lens and big promises. Story nine.
He left me six months after our baby was born,
said I lost my spark and he needed someone who
made him feel alive again. That someone was a gym
trainer named Crystal who literally competed in bikini shows. I
was broken alone raising a newborn. Meanwhile, he was flexing
(08:24):
on social media with her, posting couples workouts and protein pancakes.
It didn't last long. One morning, Cristel posted a long
rant about him cheating with her sister. She aired everything, screenshots, dms,
even a voice note where he called her a phase.
The video went viral on TikTok thousands of comments, she
(08:44):
gained followers. He lost his job because his workplace considered
the video reputational risk. He texted me a week later
saying he wanted to be a family again. I didn't respond.
My baby and I had already started a new life
and I was finally feeling alive.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Story.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
My ex dumped me on our anniversary. Over dinner. He
said he'd outgrown us and had met someone on his level.
That someone was a rich divorce a he met through
his job mid forties, owned three businesses and drove a Bentley.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
He moved into her penthouse.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
The next month, I heard through mutual friends he quit
his job to support her ventures. Nine months later, I
got a call from his sister. Apparently he'd been arrested fraud.
He was the face of one of her companies, and
she'd used him to sign off on sketchy loan docs.
She disappeared. He was left holding the legal bag, no prenup,
no trace of her, just a mountain of debt in
(09:37):
his name and a ruined credit score. I laughed, not
because I wanted revenge, but because he'd always told me
I was too naive to understand real ambition. Looks like
I was the grounded one all along. Story eleven. He
always said he wanted more than just a small town girl.
I thought he meant travel, ambition, things we could build together. Nope,
he meant ditching me for a glamorous Instagram girl who
(09:58):
wore designer clothes and flew first class just because he
ghosted me one day we were planning a weekend trip.
The next his profile picture changed to the two of
them kissing on a rooftop in LA. A year later,
I get a message from a mutual friend, you need
to see this. Turns out she faked her lifestyle. Everything
was rented, clothes, cars, even her followers. She'd maxed out
(10:19):
multiple credit cards using his name, promising to pay him
back when the sponsorship deal lands. It never did. He
was evicted from their overpriced condo, car repossessed, and his
credit score tanked to the four hundreds. The last I
saw he was working nights at a gas station and
selling used sneakers online. I almost felt bad almost Story twelve.
(10:40):
We were college sweethearts. Everyone said we were too perfect,
which should have been a red flag. He was the
golden boy football captain, straight a student, always smiling until
he met her. She was a transfer student, exotic, mysterious,
spoke four languages. He became obsessed and dumped me, saying
he needed something more cultured. They moved abroad together, France.
(11:03):
I think I deleted everything. It hurt too much. Three
years later I got a message from him, just hey,
do you have a minute curiosity? One we called. He
was in a psychiatric facility after a nervous breakdown. She
had been emotionally abusive, isolated him from his family, controlled
every dollar. She cheated on him with his best friend.
(11:25):
When he finally tried to leave, she reported him for
aggression and the French authorities detained him for days. All
charges were dropped, but the trauma stuck. He said, I
thought I left you for a goddess. Turns out she
was a storm. I wished him peace, but I never
looked back. Story thirteen. She left me after we got
accepted to the same grad school. I thought we'd be
(11:47):
building our future together. She thought we were better off
as friends, and within a month she was dating her
research mentor, tenured rich married. I was crushed, but kept
my head down. By year two, the scandal erupt turns
out he'd been involved with multiple students, and when she
found out, she tried to expose him, but he flipped
the script and painted her as unstable. She lost her assistantship,
(12:10):
her thesis was rejected due to plagiarism concerns probably planted,
and she was expelled. Meanwhile, I graduated with honors, landed
a fellowship. I walked past her one day on campus.
She looked like a shadow of the girl I once knew.
She avoided my eyes. Funny how karma doesn't knock, it
crashes through the ceiling. Story fourteen, My ex dumped me
(12:32):
after we both got laid off during the pandemic. Said
he needed someone with drive. I guess my depression and
unemployment made me too much of a burden. He started
dating as new ten a month later, an entrepreneur who
ran a startup that made artisanal protein bars. She had
over two hundred thousand followers and gave off girl boss energy.
They posted hustle quotes and yoga pics like their lives
(12:52):
were perfect. Cut to two years later. I'm working at
a stable firm, mentally healthier, finally thriving. Then I read
an article about a startup collapse. It was hers. They'd
been sued for mislabeling ingredients. Some customers hospitalized, FDA involved
investors pulled out. She blamed him since he handled logistics,
he blamed her branding. They turned on each other publicly.
(13:15):
She sued him for fraud, he countered with harassment allegations.
They both lost. Each ended up in debt, with ruined reputations,
and no one wanted to collab with them anymore. Story fifteen.
He always had a chip on his shoulder about not
being seen, so when a local actress started flirting with
him during a theater production, he latched on. Told me
(13:36):
he was leaving to be with someone who actually lives
life like a movie. She was magnetic, no denying that,
but dramatic unstable. Their relationship was all passion, no peace.
Within months, they had public fights. One time during a matinee,
she slapped him on stage. Audience thought it was part
of the script. He got fired from the production and
(13:56):
blacklisted from several community theaters. She moved to New York
or for an independent film. He tried following her, but
she ghosted him two weeks in. Turns out she had
a boyfriend there the whole time and was using my
ex for the free ride. He came back humiliated, broke
and sleeping on his cousin's Futon tried reconnecting, but I
was already writing my own script, one where I was
(14:17):
the main character, and he never made it past act one.
Story sixteen. My ex wife and I were married for
seven years. I was stable, boring, a corporate accountant with
no flare. She was restless, always chasing the next big thing, job, location, lifestyle.
Then came him, a wine distributor who lived in a loft,
drove a maserati, and played jazz piano just for fun.
(14:41):
She called him a real man who lives. She left
me in a blaze, said I lacked spontaneity and she
was done pretending to be a housewife. I gave her
the divorce without fighting, sold the house, split the assets,
kept my dignity. Two years later, I was in a
business meeting when one of the junior reps recognized my name.
Turns out she it was his ex girlfriend. She looked
(15:02):
at me and said, you dodged a bullet. She told
me everything. He cheated constantly, had a gambling problem, and
was banned from three upscale restaurants for starting fights. My
ex had sold her car to help cover his debts,
and even took out a personal loan in her name.
He left her after his distributor license got revoked for
tax fraud, left her with forty thousand dollars in unpaid
(15:22):
credit cards and a dog he never liked. She tried
going back to her old life, but no one in
her social circle respected her anymore. She'd burned bridges for him. Meanwhile,
I'd been promoted twice, started dating again, and bought a
new place. I still have no jazz skills, but at
least I sleep soundly at night. Story seventeen. I was
with Amy for four years. She was artsy, wild, unpredictable.
(15:46):
I was the opposite, logical, routine based, emotionally even keeled. Eventually,
she told me I killed her spirit. She'd fallen for
a tattooed musician who wrote songs about her soul. He
was the lead singer in a band that played local
v and had a minor TikTok. Following, she left me
and moved into his van, literally a van. I let
(16:06):
her go. She needed that chaos and I needed peace.
But chaos doesn't age well. A year later, I ran
into her brother at a book fair, ironic since she
always mocked my reading habits. He told me she was
back home, had shaved her head after a breakdown, and
was in therapy. Apparently the musician got her pregnant, then
bailed when the van got repolled. She miscarried alone in
(16:27):
a parking lot. He went back to his ex, who
also played bass in the band, and Amy had to
beg her parents to cover her hospital bills. She tried
messaging me once, said I was the safest place she
ever knew, But by then I'd fallen for someone kind,
grounded and real. Not everyone wants a wild soul. Some
of us just want stability that doesn't hurt. Story eighteen.
(16:50):
He left me for his coworker. They were in sales together,
always traveling for conferences. I knew something was off when
he started going to networking events in tight dress shirts
and cologne he'd never want. Before I confronted him, he
admitted it. Said she was ambitious, sexy and sharp. Said
I was too domestic. Fine, I let him have her.
Their love story went full speed, matching watches, photos on yachts,
(17:14):
even a podcast about high value relationships. He looked like
a man reborn, but not everything golden glows. Forever, she
had been using his income and connections to pad her resume.
Once she got hired by a fortune five hundred company
in another city, she dumped him in the coldest way
possible on their podcast's season finale. She didn't just break
(17:34):
up with him, she roasted him, called him emotionally stagnant.
Said she leveled up and needed someone who wasn't clinging
to hustle culture. The clip went viral, His clients dropped him,
his ego cracked, The podcast tanked. Last I heard, he
was selling solar panels door to door, living in his
cousin's basement, off social media entirely. Some people get used,
(17:57):
some people learn. He got both. Story nine. We were
together for three years. I was an aspiring novelist teaching
high school English.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
She said.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
She admired my depth, but when her business took off,
a vegan meal prep startup, she started acting different. Soon
she left me for a fitness influencer who looked like
a Greek god. He was all labs in fake deep captions.
She said he understood discipline and vision. They went viral
for a couple's cleanse. They even released a joint ebook.
(18:27):
Six months later, I got tagged in a Reddit ama
where people were exposing fake wellness influencers. Someone dug up
the guy's old scammy fitness programs and found out he'd
been reselling meal plans from YouTube. Her startup was complicit,
using false testimonials and expired ingredients. The backlash was swift lawsuits,
refund demands. She tried distancing herself, but screenshots told the story.
(18:50):
They were canceled everywhere, even local vegan cafes took down
her promo flyers. I quietly signed with a small publishing house.
That year, my debut novel came out, and in it
there's a chapter called Kale, Karma and Creatine. She'll know
it's about her story. Twenty He left me on my birthday,
said he was tired of being with someone who settled
(19:11):
for average. He had met someone who demanded excellence, a
fashion stylist who worked with celebrities. He packed his things
and walked out like he was the hero of some
romantic drama. I cried over takeout and rewatched old sitcoms
for days. Months past. I took the pain and poured
it into my photography hobby. Started in Instagram, slowly grew
a following, then booked a few gigs. Eventually, a tourism
(19:35):
brand asked me to shoot for them in Iceland. While
scrolling Instagram one night, I stumbled onto his page. He
was alone, No more fancy photos, no more rooftop champagne,
just blurry selfies and sad reposts. I clicked on her profile.
She'd gone full scorched Earth posted a video exposing him
for stealing money from her studio to buy luxury he
(19:56):
couldn't afford. She tagged everyone brands, photograph gras clients said
he tried manipulating her into giving him control over her business.
She called him a parasite. He deleted everything soon after. Meanwhile,
I came home from Iceland to my first gallery opening.
He didn't just leave me for a ten He left
me for someone with a spotlight and got burned under it.
(20:18):
Story twenty one. She left me two weeks after I
bought us a house. Said I lacked adventure and that
I was weighing her down with my stability. She'd been
secretly talking to a travel vlogger she met at a
rooftop bar. He was all over her feed Tan motorbike,
drone shots and Bali the kind of guy who wore
beads and said things like the universe provides. She sold
(20:39):
her half of the house back to me at a
loss and left for Thailand. Fast forward a year. I
get a message from her, Hey, I know you don't
owe me anything, but could we talk? Curiosity got me.
We hopped on a video call. Her face was pale
and she was sitting in a noisy, hostile kitchen. Turns
out he never paid for anything. He'd ask her to
use her card for flights, food, even visa fees. Said
(21:02):
he'd reimburse her when the next sponsorship drops.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
It never did.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
He cheated on her in Vietnam, left her passport at
a hostel in Laos, and finally abandoned her in Cambodia
after draining her bank account. She couldn't afford a flight home.
I sent her a list of local embassies, then I
hung up. Story twenty two. I was dating a guy
named Brent smooth talker, financial advisor, made decent money, lived modestly.
(21:27):
I genuinely thought we were building a future until he
went to a networking retreat and came back acting brand new.
He said he'd met a visionary, a woman who taught
him how to access the next level. Her name was Lyra,
former pageant queen turned crypto goddess. Her words not mine.
He dumped me via voice note. Then he quit his job,
(21:48):
sold his car, and moved in with Lyra to build empires.
Twelve months later, I saw a Twitter thread going viral
about a crypto cult that took people's money and mental health.
Guess who ran it. She'd recruited men, pumped them full
of self help nonsense, then funneled their investments into fake
DAOs and NFTs. Brent he lost everything. His parents had
(22:10):
to refinance their house because he took out loans in
their name. He's now back in our hometown, working at
his uncle's hardware store. Lyra disappeared from the internet last
scene in Dubai. Brent sent me a long apology. I
didn't even read past the first sentence, story twenty three.
We were together for almost five years, quiet, simple life, Netflix,
(22:33):
Sunday brunches, inside jokes. I thought it was real. Then
she said she wanted more intensity and broke up with me.
After meeting a poet at an open mic night, A
tall guy with dreadlocks, ripped jeans, and words like fire.
She said he saw into her soul. They moved into
a tiny apartment and started writing collaborative work. At first
they were the indie romance dream. Then it turned dark.
(22:56):
He was jealous, possessive, would edit her poems and a
que her of copying his lines. She stopped posting online.
Then one night she called her sister crying he'd burned
one of her journals, saying it betrayed their creative bond.
She left in the middle of the night with only
a backpack in her cat stayed with her mom for months.
She tried reaching out to me, asking if I'd ever
(23:18):
stopped believing in her. I never answered. Sometimes stability is
undervalued until it's gone. Story twenty four. My ex dumped
me at a funeral. Literally we were attending his uncle's service,
and on the drive home, he said he'd been seeing
someone else, someone more connected to the spiritual realm. Turns
out she was a reikie healer who read tarot cards
(23:38):
for dogs and posted moon rituals on TikTok. Her name
was Indigo, of course it was. He moved in with her,
adopted a vegan diet and started wearing crystals around his neck.
They opened a spiritual retreat in the desert. I tried
to ignore it until I saw a Reddit thread titled
I escaped a desert cult in Arizona. Guess who ran it?
Indigo and her co pilot, my ex. They charged three
(24:01):
thousand dollars per guest. Promised enlightenment but ended up locking
people intents for ego cleanses. Multiple lawsuits followed. The local
sheriff got involved, Indigo skipped town. My ex arrested for
fraud and false imprisonment. He wrote me from jail, literally,
a handwritten letter, calling me his anchor to reality. I
(24:22):
burned it. Story twenty five. He said he wanted to
upgrade his life. I didn't fit his new image. He'd
gotten fit, bought expensive shoes, started reading books he never finished.
Then he met her, a beauty pageant coach turned influencer.
She had the looks, the attitude, and a fan base.
They became one of those TikTok couples who filmed themselves
(24:43):
brushing their teeth together. Every video had hashtags like number
Sign Power Couple and number Sign manifest success. But Fame's
a cruel friend. Her ex leaked DMS. She'd been using
my ex's rising star energy to promote her fake beauty
supplement line. She was still dating her x behind the scenes,
and bragged in texts about how easy it was to
manipulate my ex. His world collapsed. He posted a crying video,
(25:08):
saying he felt betrayed by everyone. She never responded publicly,
just wiped their videos and moved on. I sat back
and watched it all unfold. I didn't comment, I didn't gloat,
but I did smile quietly. Story twenty six. He broke
up with me during a weekend getaway I had planned
for our anniversary. Said he didn't feel challenged anymore and
needed to be with someone elite. He left me stranded
(25:30):
in the airbnb and flew back early because she had
invited him to some exclusive yacht party. She was a
fashion pr executive, the kind of woman who wore sunglasses
indoors and ordered twenty four dollar cocktails without blinking. He
instantly fell under her spell. I took the heartbreak and
started therapy, ran my first half marathon, got a promotion. Meanwhile,
(25:52):
they were the it couple for a minute. Gallipis brand
Collabs champagne brunches until her company launched a controversial ad
campa and she got publicly dragged hundreds of angry tweets.
Boycott's a full pr meltdown. In the chaos, She threw
him under the bus, said he'd helped advise the campaign
to seem diverse. His name got dragged too, even though
(26:13):
he worked in it. He lost his job. She dropped
him like a liability, and worse, their entire relationship had
been built on performative glamour. He reached out to me
months later and said, you were the only real thing
I had. Too bad he realized it after the glitter
blew Away story twenty seven. I was with Sarah for
almost six years. We had a quiet, fulfilling life. Then
(26:35):
she took a week in yoga retreat and came back
completely transformed. She met Celeste, the instructor. Celeste was magnetic.
Ethereal said she saw Sarah's energy being smothered by traditional masculinity.
Within a week, Sarah ended things and moved into Celeste's
healing commune.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
I was stunned.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
One minute we were planning to adopt a dog, the
next she was burning sage and posting about spiritual contracts.
Months went by, then I got a Facebook message from
her cousin check out this link. The commune was being investigated.
Celeste had allegedly been forcing members to sign over their
assets in exchange for ascension training. Sarah had given her
entire savings forty five thousand dollars. When she tried to leave,
(27:16):
they threatened her with energetic retaliation. She finally escaped after
hitchhiking to the nearest town. Now she lives with her sister, broke,
embarrassed and trying to rebuild. I don't hate her, I
just wish she saw value in real love over cosmic manipulation.
Story twenty eight. My boyfriend left me after landing a
role in a regional theater production. Said he needed a
(27:38):
partner who understood the artistic grind, not someone who worked
in hr. That partner was his new co star, an
actress who once had a speaking role in a shampoo
commercial and never let anyone forget it. She was stunning, loud,
and intense. They became inseparable. He bragged to anyone who'd
listened that she pushed him to act harder. Three months later,
(27:59):
she slapped him across the face. Backstage during intermission, he
missed his cue. The show went on without him, and
he was fired on the spot. Turns out she was
still in love with her ex husband, who was also
in the cast. Drama exploded, she walked off the show.
He tried to save face, but was blacklisted from every
theater in the region. He now runs a community improv
(28:19):
group in the back of a coffee shop and still
thinks he's famous. I caught one of his open mics
on YouTube. He quoted Shakespeare and cried about betrayal. It
was almost flattering, Almost story twenty nine. She told me
I wasn't passionate enough, that I was too comfortable with
the mundane. I thought she just needed space. Instead, she
moved in with her personal trainer, who she swore was
(28:41):
just a friend. He was chiseled, loud, always shirtless, even
at brunch. She started filming vlogs about their fitness journey,
monetizing every protein shake and hike. At first they went viral.
From toxic to Toned was their brand, But then came
the expose. Someone discovered her trainer had stolen transferm photos
from other clients and doctored results to sell bogus fitness plans.
(29:04):
Clients demanded refunds. He panicked and deleted everything. She tried
pivoting to self love influencer, but her comment sections turned
against her. Brands dropped her. One video leaked where she
screamed at a hotel staffer. It went viral for the
wrong reasons. The last thing I saw was her posting
a quote, not everyone deserves to witness your rebirth, girl,
(29:25):
No one wants to witness the crash either.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Story thirty. We'd been engaged for.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Six months, then she met Dorian at her law firm,
new associate, Oxford grad, French accent, perfect stubble. She said
he made her feel alive. She ended things abruptly, no explanation,
just moved out, returned the ring in an envelope. The
gossip trickled in over time. Dorian was charming but reckless.
He racked up client complaints. She defended him at first,
(29:52):
even took the fall for one missed filing. Then he
forged her signature on legal documents to push through a
shady deal. Internal review you caught it. She lost her job,
He resigned and disappeared. She tried tracking him down. He
had multiple fake names and international bank accounts. Now she's
rebuilding from scratch, taking temp work, and yes, she reached
(30:13):
out to reconnect. I didn't reply because I'm marrying someone
this fall, someone who builds, not destroys, someone who's not
chasing a ten but growing beside a ten inch character
story thirty one, My ex boyfriend left me because he
said I lacked social ambition. He wanted someone more driven,
more polished, more elevated. Two weeks later, he was dating
(30:35):
a girl from his MBA program who worked in luxury branding.
She was the definition of curated Instagram, perfect with luxury bags,
champagne weekends, and hashtags like CEO energy. He thought he'd
leveled up. They got engaged within eight months. She made
a grand post showing off a massive diamond and a
blurry photo of him down on one knee. I won't lie.
(30:56):
It's stung, but the wedding never happened. Turns out she'd
i'd been funneling money from her employer through fake invoices
to finance their lifestyle. She convinced my ex to form
an LLC so she could move expenses around. When the
audit hit, it all came crashing down. She got arrested.
He was implicated and sued by the brand. His name
trended on LinkedIn for all the wrong reasons. The engagement
(31:19):
was wiped from the Internet like it never happened. Meanwhile,
I quietly got promoted to department lead and started a
travel blog that now makes more than his old salary.
Polished doesn't mean permanent. Sometimes it just means slippery. Story
thirty two. My ex dumped me while we were still
on vacation in Mexico. One day, we were sipping Margarita's.
The next he was telling me he felt pulled towards
(31:41):
someone more emotionally vibrant. I flew home alone. He extended
his trip to hang out with a travel nurse he'd
met by the resort pool. She was spontaneous, free spirited,
tattooed from shoulder to ankle. I guess I looked beage
next to her. For the next few months, their Instagram
stories were pure chaos. Motorbike ride, jungle tricks, beach bonfires.
(32:02):
It almost looked fun until it didn't. She convinced him
to invest twenty thousand dollars into her healing retreat idea.
He drained his savings. She promised him co ownership. Instead,
she ghosted him, blocked him on everything, left town, and
deleted her accounts. The retreat never happened. He tried to
sue her, but realized all the transfers were voluntary. The
(32:24):
police shrugged, his credit tanked, and he had to move
back into his parents' basement. He DMed me six months
later with hey, I made a huge mistake. Yeah, buddy,
I know. Story thirty three. She and I were high
school sweethearts. I thought we'd last forever, but halfway through
college she broke up with me and started dating her
photography professor. Yes, professor. He was twenty years older, full
(32:47):
of mystery and artistic vision. She said he understood her
in ways I couldn't fast forward to graduation. She didn't walk.
She dropped out a semester early to tour with him
in Europe, but the fairy tale didn't last. He was married,
she found out after his wife confronted her in public
at a Berlin gallery opening. Drama exploded. He claimed my
(33:08):
ex was obsessed. She tried defending herself, but had no degree,
no job, no way home. Her parents refused to bail
her out again. She came back shattered moved into her
aunt's basement. Last I heard, she's working at a grocery
store and hasn't touched a camera in years. Meanwhile, I
earned my PhD, published a book, and now teach in
the same department he once did Funny How Things Flip
(33:31):
Story thirty four. He left me after a silent dinner
I'd made spaghetti. He came home from a work conference
with a tan and a new necklace. Said we'd grown apart,
that I was too linear and he needed someone spiritual
and cosmic. She was a sound healer who taught ecstatic
dance in Joshua. Tree, wore crystals around her ankles, and
spoken moon phases. He quit his job, moved into her yurt,
(33:55):
sold his car, lived off granola and kombucha. For a while,
they looked blissful until she announced she was starting a
commune and needed everyone's money to build a space of
infinite consciousness. He gave her everything, his savings, his watch,
even his grandmother's engagement ring meant for me ironically, Then
she ran off with a younger man and three of
(34:17):
the commune members. He had no house, no job, no car,
and a sunburn. Meanwhile, I renovated my apartment, got into
yoga myself minus the cult, and started dating a firefighter
who knows what reality is. Story thirty five. She left
me during the pandemic, said being quarantined with me showed
her how bored she was, that she needed more, more excitement,
(34:40):
more heat, more drama. Two weeks later, she started dating
a DJ from Instagram who used a skull.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Emoji in his name and wore rings on every finger.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
They lived like rebels, breaking lockdown rules, partying on rooftops,
making moody tiktoks with glitch effects. I stayed home, got
my degree online, focused on remote work. Night I saw
a live stream of her crying. Apparently DJ Skullboy took
out a business loan in her name to start a label,
never paid it, then fled to Mexico with someone he
(35:09):
met in Tulum. She was stuck with thirty eight thousand
dollars in debt and no legal recourse because she willingly signed.
I didn't comment, but I did enjoy my glass of
wine that night a little more than usual.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Story thirty six.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
She dumped me after we both got accepted into the
same PhD program, said she didn't want to limit herself
by being tied to someone average, and that brilliance needs brilliance.
He was a visiting scholar from Norway with multiple publications,
an accent, and a Nobel Prize mentor. She was obsessed.
They started dating and co authored papers. I kept my
(35:42):
head down and worked. I got no fellowship. She got
all the buzz until plagiarism allegations surfaced. She'd submitted a
joint paper where most of the citations were fabricated, and
her brilliant boyfriend had reused paragraphs from someone else's dissertation.
A review board got involved. He was expelled for the
program and banned from academic publishing in the US. She
(36:03):
lost her grant and her reputation. She emailed me once
said she regretted everything, not just academically. I graduated with
honors and got invited to teach at an Ivy League school.
Sometimes brilliance is quiet, but it lasts longer. Story thirty seven.
He left me after I miscarried, said he needed fresh energy,
someone who reminded him of possibility.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
It broke me.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
She was a yoga teacher turned motivational speaker. Every post
was a pastel square with affirmations incursive. They started a
podcast called Healing Forward. It gained traction. I stayed silent, grieved, rebuilt,
focused on my art. A year later, a listener accused
them of stealing her trauma story word for word on air.
(36:47):
Screenshots surfaced, then more people came forward. Turns out she'd
been collecting followers stories and repackaging them as her own
breakthrough moments. The fallout was swift. Sponsors pulled out forms,
demonetized them. She released a tearful apology video. He tried
to defend her and only made it worse. They broke
up shortly after. He deleted the podcast and went dark
(37:10):
on socials. Meanwhile, I had my first gallery show. It
was themed around resilience. The centerpiece was a sculpture called
Empty Cradle. It sold for eleven thousand dollars. Story thirty eight.
He always said I was too low key, that I
didn't know how to shine. So when he met a
reality TV contestant at a local bar, he was starstruck.
(37:30):
She was loud, sarcastic, had three million followers and a
brand deal with an energy drink. He left me without blinking.
Within two months, he was in her stories, tagging brands
and calling himself a content consultant. They moved to la
and rented a condo for appearances. It worked for a
while until her management dropped her for breaching contracts. She'd
(37:53):
been trash talking competitors and faking promo metrics. Brands pulled out,
her following dropped by hundreds of thousands. She blamed him
for mismanaging her image. He got kicked out of their apartment,
unfollowed by her fans, and mocked on Reddit for being
just another clout chaser. Last I heard, he was trying
to start a YouTube channel called from the Ashes. The
(38:13):
only video up had seventeen views. Story thirty nine. She
told me she didn't want to settle into a routine
at twenty eight, that life was meant to be spontaneous.
Then she started dating a magician, yes, a literal magician,
stage name Lucian the Mindbender. He was tall, wore velvet suits,
and claimed to manifest energy into matter. She followed him
(38:34):
on tour and became his assistant. They even got matching tattoos.
I thought it was a phase, but it turned into
a lifestyle. She posted videos of herself being sawed in half,
emerging from smoke, blindfolded on rooftops. Their audience grew niche
but obsessed. Then mid performance in Vegas, his big finale
went wrong. He accidentally set off a real fire. The
(38:57):
venue sued, sponsors vanished. Turns out he didn't even have
a license for pyrotechnics. He filed for bankruptcy. She tried
to salvage their YouTube brand, but without his tricks, no
one cared. She sent me a message that said, do
you still do quiet nights with tea and documentaries?
Speaker 2 (39:13):
I didn't respond.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
I was busy putting my daughter to bed with someone
who makes the real kind of magic story forty We
were high school sweethearts. Everyone assumed we'd get married. Then
she went viral on TikTok for a silly dance video
and got a modeling contract out of nowhere. Within months,
she told me I no longer fit her brand. He
was a personal stylist from Miami, ripped and tanned, with
(39:36):
a blue check mark and a jawline you could sharpen
knives on. She moved into his penthouse and began posting
daily photoshoots. Her captions became increasingly shallow. Then came the implosion.
A fellow influencer exposed her boyfriend for cheating with his
own intern. More allegations surfaced, manipulative behavior, shady past, revenge
posts from ex's brands distanced her contract ended quiet. When
(40:01):
she tried going solo, no one was interested. Her numbers
dipped fast, comments turned brutal. She posted a tearful logging
off for mental health video. But the Internet never forgets Meanwhile,
I graduated med school and proposed to my girlfriend of
two years, who doesn't care about filters or followers. Sometimes
the algorithm buries you. Story forty one. He left me
(40:23):
after a decade together, said he wanted fireworks, not flickers.
I was crushed. We'd grown up together, built a home,
planned kids. He said he needed someone who woke him up.
That someone was his new coworker, young, stylish, and ten
years younger. A self proclaimed emotional anarchist. He moved into
her high rise, traded our warm home for led lights
(40:46):
and rooftop parties. Her social media showed filtered perfection. I
went no contact, started over from scratch. Two years later,
I got a Facebook message from his sister. She asked
if I had a minute. He was in the hospital, burnout, malnourished,
and under investigation. Turns out she was emotionally abusive, controlled
(41:06):
what he ate, tracked his phone, and accused him of
cheating if he so much as looked up. When he
lost his job due to missed deadlines, she dumped him.
Now he's back in his hometown, living with his parents,
trying to piece his life together. He wrote me a
letter saying you were the fire. I was too blind
to feel the warmth. But I didn't need to write back.
Some endings don't deserve a PostScript. Story forty two. She
(41:29):
was my fiance. Four months before our wedding, she met
someone on a destination bachelorette trip, a guy from a
yacht crew, tanned, tattooed, thick accent. She said it was
love at first sight. Canceled everything and moved to Italy
with him. I lost deposits, dignity, and nearly my mind.
Her Instagram became a travel diary, luxury dinners, beach walks,
(41:51):
Mediterranean sunsets. She posted captions like found my forever with
no shame, But fairy tales don't last forever. He wasn't wealthy.
He was a crewman who worked for cash and hopped ports.
After three months of paradise he got arrested passport fraud
and smuggling charges. She had no visa, no money, no
backup plan. Italian authorities deported her. She had to move
(42:13):
back into her parents' garage. I saw her last month
at a cafe. She tried to catch my eye. I
turned away, not out of bitterness, out of peace, because
I finally got my forever with someone who never needed
a yacht to feel real love. Story forty three. We
dated through college, broke up six months after graduation when
she said she'd outgrown me. Her career was exploding in
(42:35):
fashion pr and I was still working at a bookstore
while applying to grad school. She met him at a
launch event a famous hairstylist, Blue check Mark Private Parties.
She called him a dream wrapped in diamonds. They moved
in together in Manhattan. Their life looked like a Pinterest board.
Then came the lawsuit. He was under federal investigation for
laundering money through fake salons. She claimed she had no idea,
(42:58):
but she'd signed. Contrast, her name was on invoices. She
lost her job, her reputation, her friends. A year later,
I got an anonymous email with an apology, typed in
a plane dog file. It had her initials. Meanwhile, I
just signed a book deal writing fiction. Yes, but nothing
I could invent ever matched her plot twist Story forty four.
(43:20):
He left me after we spent a year saving for
our wedding. We were two weeks from signing a venue
contract when he sat me down and said, I need
more intensity. Her name was Dasha, a performance artist with
a cult follower. She once painted her body gold and
stood in the middle of traffic for art. He was mesmerized,
said she made him feel something primal. They moved into
a warehouse loft, had wild art parties, started a joint
(43:44):
project called Love as Chaos. Six months later, she lit
his car on fire, not metaphorically, she torched it as
a ritual.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
Burning.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
Cops got involved. She got a slap on the wrist
because it was part of her process. He got stuck
with the insurance mess, lost his job, and had to
sell his belongings to pay off her debts. She moved
on to another artist, someone more aligned with her spirit.
He texted me the day she left, you were quiet magic.
I traded you for noise. I never replied. I just
(44:12):
poured a glass of wine and lit a candle. Not
for him, for the girl I used to be who
almost married a fool. Story forty five. We were long
distance for two years. I thought we were solid until
he came back from a music festival and said he
met someone who lived in color while I lived in Greyscale.
Her name was Willow, a fire dancer with rainbow dreads.
(44:33):
She sold handmade crystal rings and lived in a converted bus.
He followed her across states, said he finally felt awake.
They lasted seven months, then the bus broke down in
the middle of nowhere. She told him it was the
universe testing them. He maxed out his credit card fixing it.
A week later, she told him she was polyamorous now
and had fallen in love with a banjo player from
(44:54):
New Mexico. He messaged me from a Greyhound terminal at
three am, saying you were right. She never looked back.
Neither did I. I was too busy planning my next
solo trip to places where people don't confuse chaos with freedom.
Story forty six. She broke up with me because I
was too predictable. We'd been together for five years. I
(45:14):
thought we were saving for a house. She said she
needed someone who challenges her spark. A month later, she
moved in with a startup founder she met at a
tech conference. He was flashy, custom suits, nft, nonsense, flew
her out to Dubai for their second date. They launched
a YouTube channel called Scaling Love Lots of airport shots,
tech talk, morning routines. She posted things like sometimes the
(45:38):
universe breaks you to rebuild you better until the rebuilding stopped.
Turns out his startup was a house of cards, fake testimonials,
inflated revenue, investor fraud. The SEC got involved, FBI showed
up at their apartment. He fled to Portugal. She was
left behind, implicated in fraud because her name was on
the company's Shopify account. She tried to pivot to coaching,
(46:01):
offering spiritual recovery sessions for three hundred dollars per hour.
Nobody bought it. Last I saw, she posted a story
from a sublet with a caption, you never really know
people I do now Story forty seven. He dumped me
the night before his birthday, said he needed to feel
young again. I'd planned a surprise party. Instead, he said
he was leaving me for someone he met at a
(46:23):
fitness boot camp. She was an adrenaline junkie, rock climbed, skydived,
called herself a dopamine seeker. He said I was too safe,
boring a planner. They started doing YouTube stunts together, documented
everything from mud runs to bungee jumps. They even attempted
a couple's survival challenge in the desert. That's when things unraveled.
(46:43):
She insisted they go off grid, no GPS, no backup plan.
He got heat stroke. She left him to test his
inner resilience. He was found two days later by hikers,
hospitalized and dehydrated. She ghosted him. He moved back in
with his mom, started posting Sam had acoustic covers on Instagram. Meanwhile,
I just finished climbing Kilimanjaro with a tour guide who
(47:05):
respects safety and adventure. Funny how boring people survive things
Story forty eight. She left me for an actor, not
a famous one, just a guy from a regional vampire
web series with a decent jawline. She said, I didn't
understand the intensity of love. He wrote her poetry in cursive,
bought her a fake sword, called her his muse. She
(47:26):
moved to Vancouver to live with him and immerse in
art for months, Her feed was full of moody, black
and white selfies with cryptic captions. Then she disappeared. A
friend told me she'd come home after he cheated on
her with a fan at a comic con. Not only that,
but she'd also paid for his rent, headshots and a
short film he never finished. He claimed she was emotionally
(47:46):
distracting him from the craft. She emailed me said, I
think I mistook drama for depth. I didn't reply. I
was too busy finishing a screenplay of my own, one
with a happy ending.
What happened when your ex left you for a ten
who ruined their life completely. Story one. My ex dumped
me over text after three years together. Her reason, You're
too predictable. Two weeks later, she was dating a personal
trainer who she proudly called her dream ten. I moved on,
got into therapy, traveled, rebuilt my confidence. Meanwhile, her new
(00:23):
relationship went insta official, fast, daily jim selfies, vacations, matching
outfits until it all unraveled. Turns out mister Perfect was
juggling multiple girlfriends, two of whom messaged me screenshots. He
was using her money, living in her place rent free,
and even got her to co sign a car. When
she caught him cheating with her cousin. No less, he ghosted.
(00:45):
She tried suing for the car payments but failed. Her
cousin blocked her, Her friends distanced themselves, and she lost
her job because she'd referred him there and he caused
major HR issues. She messaged me recently saying I was
the one who got away. I didn't respond, Karma already did.
Story two. We were engaged, wedding venue booked, dress spot.
(01:07):
Then she met Luca, an international DJ with a six
pack and an accent. She said she had to explore
her truth. I said, cool, explore it without me. She
flew to Ibiza with him, posted reels of beach sunsets
and mohidos. I quietly canceled the wedding, sold the ring,
and took a solo trip instead. Less than a year later,
I found out Luca got her pregnant, then vanished mid trimester,
(01:30):
not ghosted, vanished, passport, gone phone off, blocked her everywhere.
Turns out Luca wasn't a DJ. He was an Italian
scam artist with warrants in three countries. She gave him
access to her bank account.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
He drained it.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
She had to move back in with her parents at
thirty four, raising a baby alone, bankrupt and humiliated me.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I met someone kind, solid. We just got.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Engaged this time, no DJs story three. He left me
for a woman and he called a total ten even
set it to my face. She was younger, blonde, a
fitness influencer. He gloated for weeks on social media until
her followers noticed his presence a little too much. They
started dming me screenshots of his shady behavior. Turns out
(02:16):
he was piggybacking off her brand, replying to women using
her account, even selling her sponsored products under fake links
for his own profit. She found out during a live
stream mid promo. Someone commented, ask your boyfriend why your
venmo is linked to his mom's boutique. Her face turned white.
She ended the stream and deleted all content for a week.
They broke up. She went public about being manipulated and used.
(02:39):
He lost his job. She emailed his boss with receipts,
lost his side hustle, and was banned from multiple creator platforms.
Last I heard he was CouchSurfing and begging for freelance gigs.
I didn't reply when he sent I really messed up.
Story four. She dumped me after four years, saying she
met someone who understood her ambition. He was a real
estate guy rich which polished, took her on helicopter rides.
(03:02):
She said, I was sweet, but small town. Fast forward
eighteen months. I'm doing okay, steady job, new girlfriend, nothing flashy.
Then a friend sends me a TikTok of my ex
sobbing in a car, saying, never date someone just because
they flash wealth. Apparently, her new man used her credit
to fund fake properties. When the deals collapsed debt collectors
(03:23):
came knocking. She's now being sued for over ninety thousand
dollars in damages tied to forged documents she signed under
his pressure. Turns out she was legally liable for everything.
She tried to expose him, but he'd already left the country.
Her family won't help because they warned her from the start.
The comments on her video brutal. She deleted her entire
account within a week. Story five. I was with Jake
(03:46):
for nearly two years before he blindsided me, saying he
met someone way more exciting. I later learned she was
a model, literally gorgeous, wild energy, a ten by anyone's standards.
He flaunted their relationship for a while, posting photos acting
like he won some prize, until a few months later
I got an email from her, not him.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Her.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
She apologized for the way I was treated and confessed
she broke up with him after learning he was love bombing,
lying and manipulating her the same way he had with me.
But she got him back hard. She posted a public
story with a Google drive full of screenshots messages he'd
sent to multiple women, including some during our relationship. She
had hundreds of thousands of followers. The post went viral.
(04:29):
Jake's employer saw it. He was fired due to ethics
clause violations. His new lease was pulled. He deleted every account.
She and I never talked again, but her message ended
with he fooled me too. I just made sure no
one else would fall for it again. Story six. He
left me for his dental hygienist, no joke. We'd been
together for five years, lived together for two and one
(04:52):
day he came home and said, you've just become comfortable
with her. Everything feels alive. I remember standing in the
doorway holding upot costa spoon, blinking at him like he'd
lost his mind. She was objectively gorgeous, flawless teeth, duh bleach,
blonde hair, yoga instructor's side hustle. He moved into her
high rise within a week. I cried for months. Then
(05:13):
I focused on rebuilding, finished graduate school, traveled, met people
who saw value in my brain, not just my potential.
A year later, I ran into his cousin at a wedding.
He gave me the update I didn't know I needed.
Turns out the dental hygienist wasn't just seeing him. She
had a fiance she conveniently didn't mention when it all
blew up. She claims she felt pressured by my ex
(05:36):
to go exclusive. He started spiraling after she dumped him,
got written up at work for lashing out, missed payments
on his car, lost mutual friends who were disgusted by
how he treated me and her the cherry on top.
He reached out to me two years later through LinkedIn
with a job referral request, as if I'd ever vouch
for him. I blocked him instantly. I'm not his second choice.
(05:57):
I'm not his backup plan. I'm done. Story seven. When
my ex told me she was leaving me for someone
who was everything I'm not, I didn't argue we were
mismatched from the start. She was chasing glamour and I
was working two jobs to keep us afloat. Her ten
was a guy from Miami she met at a bachelorette weekend, Tall, rich,
drove a lambeau. Within weeks, she moved in with him,
(06:20):
quit her job, and blocked me on everything. I stayed silent.
I had no closure, but life has a way of
looping back. Two years later, I get a call from
her best friend. Turns out she was stranded in Miami, homeless.
Her ten had been funding everything through crypto scams and
shady crypto pyramid schemes. When things collapsed, so did the fantasy.
(06:41):
He dumped her the moment he saw trouble coming, kicked
her out, changed the locks, and moved on with a
new girl half her age. She'd been evicted, broke, and alone.
Her parents refused to help her. Fed up with the chaos,
her friend said, she's thinking of calling you. I told
her not to Bother story eight. We dated from high
school into college, thought we'd be endgame, but junior year,
(07:04):
she decided she deserved a glow up phase and dumped me.
After meeting a fashion photographer at a local runway gig.
He was flashy, older, traveled a lot, said he could
make her a model.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
She bought it.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Fast forward a year, she dropped out of school to
pursue modeling, moved into his condo, and started posting some
questionable content. A few old friends quietly unfollowed her, but
I still checked in out of curiosity. One day I
saw she was missing from social media completely. A week later,
one of her old roommates called me, asking if I
had her parents' number, something about legal stuff. I didn't
(07:38):
ask questions, but I found out later the guy had
lured multiple girls in under modeling contracts and was being
investigated for coercion and fraud. She testified against him, but
the damage was done. Her reputation was shredded. She tried
to get back into school but couldn't afford it. Her
family took her in, but she was never the same.
Her once vibrant energy was gone. I felt bad, but
(08:01):
I also remembered how quickly she tossed me aside for
someone with a nice lens and big promises. Story nine.
He left me six months after our baby was born,
said I lost my spark and he needed someone who
made him feel alive again. That someone was a gym
trainer named Crystal who literally competed in bikini shows. I
was broken alone raising a newborn. Meanwhile, he was flexing
(08:24):
on social media with her, posting couples workouts and protein pancakes.
It didn't last long. One morning, Cristel posted a long
rant about him cheating with her sister. She aired everything, screenshots, dms,
even a voice note where he called her a phase.
The video went viral on TikTok thousands of comments, she
(08:44):
gained followers. He lost his job because his workplace considered
the video reputational risk. He texted me a week later
saying he wanted to be a family again. I didn't respond.
My baby and I had already started a new life
and I was finally feeling alive.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Story.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
My ex dumped me on our anniversary. Over dinner. He
said he'd outgrown us and had met someone on his level.
That someone was a rich divorce a he met through
his job mid forties, owned three businesses and drove a Bentley.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
He moved into her penthouse.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
The next month, I heard through mutual friends he quit
his job to support her ventures. Nine months later, I
got a call from his sister. Apparently he'd been arrested fraud.
He was the face of one of her companies, and
she'd used him to sign off on sketchy loan docs.
She disappeared. He was left holding the legal bag, no prenup,
no trace of her, just a mountain of debt in
(09:37):
his name and a ruined credit score. I laughed, not
because I wanted revenge, but because he'd always told me
I was too naive to understand real ambition. Looks like
I was the grounded one all along. Story eleven. He
always said he wanted more than just a small town girl.
I thought he meant travel, ambition, things we could build together. Nope,
he meant ditching me for a glamorous Instagram girl who
(09:58):
wore designer clothes and flew first class just because he
ghosted me one day we were planning a weekend trip.
The next his profile picture changed to the two of
them kissing on a rooftop in LA. A year later,
I get a message from a mutual friend, you need
to see this. Turns out she faked her lifestyle. Everything
was rented, clothes, cars, even her followers. She'd maxed out
(10:19):
multiple credit cards using his name, promising to pay him
back when the sponsorship deal lands. It never did. He
was evicted from their overpriced condo, car repossessed, and his
credit score tanked to the four hundreds. The last I
saw he was working nights at a gas station and
selling used sneakers online. I almost felt bad almost Story twelve.
(10:40):
We were college sweethearts. Everyone said we were too perfect,
which should have been a red flag. He was the
golden boy football captain, straight a student, always smiling until
he met her. She was a transfer student, exotic, mysterious,
spoke four languages. He became obsessed and dumped me, saying
he needed something more cultured. They moved abroad together, France.
(11:03):
I think I deleted everything. It hurt too much. Three
years later I got a message from him, just hey,
do you have a minute curiosity? One we called. He
was in a psychiatric facility after a nervous breakdown. She
had been emotionally abusive, isolated him from his family, controlled
every dollar. She cheated on him with his best friend.
(11:25):
When he finally tried to leave, she reported him for
aggression and the French authorities detained him for days. All
charges were dropped, but the trauma stuck. He said, I
thought I left you for a goddess. Turns out she
was a storm. I wished him peace, but I never
looked back. Story thirteen. She left me after we got
accepted to the same grad school. I thought we'd be
(11:47):
building our future together. She thought we were better off
as friends, and within a month she was dating her
research mentor, tenured rich married. I was crushed, but kept
my head down. By year two, the scandal erupt turns
out he'd been involved with multiple students, and when she
found out, she tried to expose him, but he flipped
the script and painted her as unstable. She lost her assistantship,
(12:10):
her thesis was rejected due to plagiarism concerns probably planted,
and she was expelled. Meanwhile, I graduated with honors, landed
a fellowship. I walked past her one day on campus.
She looked like a shadow of the girl I once knew.
She avoided my eyes. Funny how karma doesn't knock, it
crashes through the ceiling. Story fourteen, My ex dumped me
(12:32):
after we both got laid off during the pandemic. Said
he needed someone with drive. I guess my depression and
unemployment made me too much of a burden. He started
dating as new ten a month later, an entrepreneur who
ran a startup that made artisanal protein bars. She had
over two hundred thousand followers and gave off girl boss energy.
They posted hustle quotes and yoga pics like their lives
(12:52):
were perfect. Cut to two years later. I'm working at
a stable firm, mentally healthier, finally thriving. Then I read
an article about a startup collapse. It was hers. They'd
been sued for mislabeling ingredients. Some customers hospitalized, FDA involved
investors pulled out. She blamed him since he handled logistics,
he blamed her branding. They turned on each other publicly.
(13:15):
She sued him for fraud, he countered with harassment allegations.
They both lost. Each ended up in debt, with ruined reputations,
and no one wanted to collab with them anymore. Story fifteen.
He always had a chip on his shoulder about not
being seen, so when a local actress started flirting with
him during a theater production, he latched on. Told me
(13:36):
he was leaving to be with someone who actually lives
life like a movie. She was magnetic, no denying that,
but dramatic unstable. Their relationship was all passion, no peace.
Within months, they had public fights. One time during a matinee,
she slapped him on stage. Audience thought it was part
of the script. He got fired from the production and
(13:56):
blacklisted from several community theaters. She moved to New York
or for an independent film. He tried following her, but
she ghosted him two weeks in. Turns out she had
a boyfriend there the whole time and was using my
ex for the free ride. He came back humiliated, broke
and sleeping on his cousin's Futon tried reconnecting, but I
was already writing my own script, one where I was
(14:17):
the main character, and he never made it past act one.
Story sixteen. My ex wife and I were married for
seven years. I was stable, boring, a corporate accountant with
no flare. She was restless, always chasing the next big thing, job, location, lifestyle.
Then came him, a wine distributor who lived in a loft,
drove a maserati, and played jazz piano just for fun.
(14:41):
She called him a real man who lives. She left
me in a blaze, said I lacked spontaneity and she
was done pretending to be a housewife. I gave her
the divorce without fighting, sold the house, split the assets,
kept my dignity. Two years later, I was in a
business meeting when one of the junior reps recognized my name.
Turns out she it was his ex girlfriend. She looked
(15:02):
at me and said, you dodged a bullet. She told
me everything. He cheated constantly, had a gambling problem, and
was banned from three upscale restaurants for starting fights. My
ex had sold her car to help cover his debts,
and even took out a personal loan in her name.
He left her after his distributor license got revoked for
tax fraud, left her with forty thousand dollars in unpaid
(15:22):
credit cards and a dog he never liked. She tried
going back to her old life, but no one in
her social circle respected her anymore. She'd burned bridges for him. Meanwhile,
I'd been promoted twice, started dating again, and bought a
new place. I still have no jazz skills, but at
least I sleep soundly at night. Story seventeen. I was
with Amy for four years. She was artsy, wild, unpredictable.
(15:46):
I was the opposite, logical, routine based, emotionally even keeled. Eventually,
she told me I killed her spirit. She'd fallen for
a tattooed musician who wrote songs about her soul. He
was the lead singer in a band that played local
v and had a minor TikTok. Following, she left me
and moved into his van, literally a van. I let
(16:06):
her go. She needed that chaos and I needed peace.
But chaos doesn't age well. A year later, I ran
into her brother at a book fair, ironic since she
always mocked my reading habits. He told me she was
back home, had shaved her head after a breakdown, and
was in therapy. Apparently the musician got her pregnant, then
bailed when the van got repolled. She miscarried alone in
(16:27):
a parking lot. He went back to his ex, who
also played bass in the band, and Amy had to
beg her parents to cover her hospital bills. She tried
messaging me once, said I was the safest place she
ever knew, But by then I'd fallen for someone kind,
grounded and real. Not everyone wants a wild soul. Some
of us just want stability that doesn't hurt. Story eighteen.
(16:50):
He left me for his coworker. They were in sales together,
always traveling for conferences. I knew something was off when
he started going to networking events in tight dress shirts
and cologne he'd never want. Before I confronted him, he
admitted it. Said she was ambitious, sexy and sharp. Said
I was too domestic. Fine, I let him have her.
Their love story went full speed, matching watches, photos on yachts,
(17:14):
even a podcast about high value relationships. He looked like
a man reborn, but not everything golden glows. Forever, she
had been using his income and connections to pad her resume.
Once she got hired by a fortune five hundred company
in another city, she dumped him in the coldest way
possible on their podcast's season finale. She didn't just break
(17:34):
up with him, she roasted him, called him emotionally stagnant.
Said she leveled up and needed someone who wasn't clinging
to hustle culture. The clip went viral, His clients dropped him,
his ego cracked, The podcast tanked. Last I heard, he
was selling solar panels door to door, living in his
cousin's basement, off social media entirely. Some people get used,
(17:57):
some people learn. He got both. Story nine. We were
together for three years. I was an aspiring novelist teaching
high school English.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
She said.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
She admired my depth, but when her business took off,
a vegan meal prep startup, she started acting different. Soon
she left me for a fitness influencer who looked like
a Greek god. He was all labs in fake deep captions.
She said he understood discipline and vision. They went viral
for a couple's cleanse. They even released a joint ebook.
(18:27):
Six months later, I got tagged in a Reddit ama
where people were exposing fake wellness influencers. Someone dug up
the guy's old scammy fitness programs and found out he'd
been reselling meal plans from YouTube. Her startup was complicit,
using false testimonials and expired ingredients. The backlash was swift lawsuits,
refund demands. She tried distancing herself, but screenshots told the story.
(18:50):
They were canceled everywhere, even local vegan cafes took down
her promo flyers. I quietly signed with a small publishing house.
That year, my debut novel came out, and in it
there's a chapter called Kale, Karma and Creatine. She'll know
it's about her story. Twenty He left me on my birthday,
said he was tired of being with someone who settled
(19:11):
for average. He had met someone who demanded excellence, a
fashion stylist who worked with celebrities. He packed his things
and walked out like he was the hero of some
romantic drama. I cried over takeout and rewatched old sitcoms
for days. Months past. I took the pain and poured
it into my photography hobby. Started in Instagram, slowly grew
a following, then booked a few gigs. Eventually, a tourism
(19:35):
brand asked me to shoot for them in Iceland. While
scrolling Instagram one night, I stumbled onto his page. He
was alone, No more fancy photos, no more rooftop champagne,
just blurry selfies and sad reposts. I clicked on her profile.
She'd gone full scorched Earth posted a video exposing him
for stealing money from her studio to buy luxury he
(19:56):
couldn't afford. She tagged everyone brands, photograph gras clients said
he tried manipulating her into giving him control over her business.
She called him a parasite. He deleted everything soon after. Meanwhile,
I came home from Iceland to my first gallery opening.
He didn't just leave me for a ten He left
me for someone with a spotlight and got burned under it.
(20:18):
Story twenty one. She left me two weeks after I
bought us a house. Said I lacked adventure and that
I was weighing her down with my stability. She'd been
secretly talking to a travel vlogger she met at a
rooftop bar. He was all over her feed Tan motorbike,
drone shots and Bali the kind of guy who wore
beads and said things like the universe provides. She sold
(20:39):
her half of the house back to me at a
loss and left for Thailand. Fast forward a year. I
get a message from her, Hey, I know you don't
owe me anything, but could we talk? Curiosity got me.
We hopped on a video call. Her face was pale
and she was sitting in a noisy, hostile kitchen. Turns
out he never paid for anything. He'd ask her to
use her card for flights, food, even visa fees. Said
(21:02):
he'd reimburse her when the next sponsorship drops.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
It never did.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
He cheated on her in Vietnam, left her passport at
a hostel in Laos, and finally abandoned her in Cambodia
after draining her bank account. She couldn't afford a flight home.
I sent her a list of local embassies, then I
hung up. Story twenty two. I was dating a guy
named Brent smooth talker, financial advisor, made decent money, lived modestly.
(21:27):
I genuinely thought we were building a future until he
went to a networking retreat and came back acting brand new.
He said he'd met a visionary, a woman who taught
him how to access the next level. Her name was Lyra,
former pageant queen turned crypto goddess. Her words not mine.
He dumped me via voice note. Then he quit his job,
(21:48):
sold his car, and moved in with Lyra to build empires.
Twelve months later, I saw a Twitter thread going viral
about a crypto cult that took people's money and mental health.
Guess who ran it. She'd recruited men, pumped them full
of self help nonsense, then funneled their investments into fake
DAOs and NFTs. Brent he lost everything. His parents had
(22:10):
to refinance their house because he took out loans in
their name. He's now back in our hometown, working at
his uncle's hardware store. Lyra disappeared from the internet last
scene in Dubai. Brent sent me a long apology. I
didn't even read past the first sentence, story twenty three.
We were together for almost five years, quiet, simple life, Netflix,
(22:33):
Sunday brunches, inside jokes. I thought it was real. Then
she said she wanted more intensity and broke up with me.
After meeting a poet at an open mic night, A
tall guy with dreadlocks, ripped jeans, and words like fire.
She said he saw into her soul. They moved into
a tiny apartment and started writing collaborative work. At first
they were the indie romance dream. Then it turned dark.
(22:56):
He was jealous, possessive, would edit her poems and a
que her of copying his lines. She stopped posting online.
Then one night she called her sister crying he'd burned
one of her journals, saying it betrayed their creative bond.
She left in the middle of the night with only
a backpack in her cat stayed with her mom for months.
She tried reaching out to me, asking if I'd ever
(23:18):
stopped believing in her. I never answered. Sometimes stability is
undervalued until it's gone. Story twenty four. My ex dumped
me at a funeral. Literally we were attending his uncle's service,
and on the drive home, he said he'd been seeing
someone else, someone more connected to the spiritual realm. Turns
out she was a reikie healer who read tarot cards
(23:38):
for dogs and posted moon rituals on TikTok. Her name
was Indigo, of course it was. He moved in with her,
adopted a vegan diet and started wearing crystals around his neck.
They opened a spiritual retreat in the desert. I tried
to ignore it until I saw a Reddit thread titled
I escaped a desert cult in Arizona. Guess who ran it?
Indigo and her co pilot, my ex. They charged three
(24:01):
thousand dollars per guest. Promised enlightenment but ended up locking
people intents for ego cleanses. Multiple lawsuits followed. The local
sheriff got involved, Indigo skipped town. My ex arrested for
fraud and false imprisonment. He wrote me from jail, literally,
a handwritten letter, calling me his anchor to reality. I
(24:22):
burned it. Story twenty five. He said he wanted to
upgrade his life. I didn't fit his new image. He'd
gotten fit, bought expensive shoes, started reading books he never finished.
Then he met her, a beauty pageant coach turned influencer.
She had the looks, the attitude, and a fan base.
They became one of those TikTok couples who filmed themselves
(24:43):
brushing their teeth together. Every video had hashtags like number
Sign Power Couple and number Sign manifest success. But Fame's
a cruel friend. Her ex leaked DMS. She'd been using
my ex's rising star energy to promote her fake beauty
supplement line. She was still dating her x behind the scenes,
and bragged in texts about how easy it was to
manipulate my ex. His world collapsed. He posted a crying video,
(25:08):
saying he felt betrayed by everyone. She never responded publicly,
just wiped their videos and moved on. I sat back
and watched it all unfold. I didn't comment, I didn't gloat,
but I did smile quietly. Story twenty six. He broke
up with me during a weekend getaway I had planned
for our anniversary. Said he didn't feel challenged anymore and
needed to be with someone elite. He left me stranded
(25:30):
in the airbnb and flew back early because she had
invited him to some exclusive yacht party. She was a
fashion pr executive, the kind of woman who wore sunglasses
indoors and ordered twenty four dollar cocktails without blinking. He
instantly fell under her spell. I took the heartbreak and
started therapy, ran my first half marathon, got a promotion. Meanwhile,
(25:52):
they were the it couple for a minute. Gallipis brand
Collabs champagne brunches until her company launched a controversial ad
campa and she got publicly dragged hundreds of angry tweets.
Boycott's a full pr meltdown. In the chaos, She threw
him under the bus, said he'd helped advise the campaign
to seem diverse. His name got dragged too, even though
(26:13):
he worked in it. He lost his job. She dropped
him like a liability, and worse, their entire relationship had
been built on performative glamour. He reached out to me
months later and said, you were the only real thing
I had. Too bad he realized it after the glitter
blew Away story twenty seven. I was with Sarah for
almost six years. We had a quiet, fulfilling life. Then
(26:35):
she took a week in yoga retreat and came back
completely transformed. She met Celeste, the instructor. Celeste was magnetic.
Ethereal said she saw Sarah's energy being smothered by traditional masculinity.
Within a week, Sarah ended things and moved into Celeste's
healing commune.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
I was stunned.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
One minute we were planning to adopt a dog, the
next she was burning sage and posting about spiritual contracts.
Months went by, then I got a Facebook message from
her cousin check out this link. The commune was being investigated.
Celeste had allegedly been forcing members to sign over their
assets in exchange for ascension training. Sarah had given her
entire savings forty five thousand dollars. When she tried to leave,
(27:16):
they threatened her with energetic retaliation. She finally escaped after
hitchhiking to the nearest town. Now she lives with her sister, broke,
embarrassed and trying to rebuild. I don't hate her, I
just wish she saw value in real love over cosmic manipulation.
Story twenty eight. My boyfriend left me after landing a
role in a regional theater production. Said he needed a
(27:38):
partner who understood the artistic grind, not someone who worked
in hr. That partner was his new co star, an
actress who once had a speaking role in a shampoo
commercial and never let anyone forget it. She was stunning, loud,
and intense. They became inseparable. He bragged to anyone who'd
listened that she pushed him to act harder. Three months later,
(27:59):
she slapped him across the face. Backstage during intermission, he
missed his cue. The show went on without him, and
he was fired on the spot. Turns out she was
still in love with her ex husband, who was also
in the cast. Drama exploded, she walked off the show.
He tried to save face, but was blacklisted from every
theater in the region. He now runs a community improv
(28:19):
group in the back of a coffee shop and still
thinks he's famous. I caught one of his open mics
on YouTube. He quoted Shakespeare and cried about betrayal. It
was almost flattering, Almost story twenty nine. She told me
I wasn't passionate enough, that I was too comfortable with
the mundane. I thought she just needed space. Instead, she
moved in with her personal trainer, who she swore was
(28:41):
just a friend. He was chiseled, loud, always shirtless, even
at brunch. She started filming vlogs about their fitness journey,
monetizing every protein shake and hike. At first they went viral.
From toxic to Toned was their brand, But then came
the expose. Someone discovered her trainer had stolen transferm photos
from other clients and doctored results to sell bogus fitness plans.
(29:04):
Clients demanded refunds. He panicked and deleted everything. She tried
pivoting to self love influencer, but her comment sections turned
against her. Brands dropped her. One video leaked where she
screamed at a hotel staffer. It went viral for the
wrong reasons. The last thing I saw was her posting
a quote, not everyone deserves to witness your rebirth, girl,
(29:25):
No one wants to witness the crash either.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Story thirty. We'd been engaged for.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Six months, then she met Dorian at her law firm,
new associate, Oxford grad, French accent, perfect stubble. She said
he made her feel alive. She ended things abruptly, no explanation,
just moved out, returned the ring in an envelope. The
gossip trickled in over time. Dorian was charming but reckless.
He racked up client complaints. She defended him at first,
(29:52):
even took the fall for one missed filing. Then he
forged her signature on legal documents to push through a
shady deal. Internal review you caught it. She lost her job,
He resigned and disappeared. She tried tracking him down. He
had multiple fake names and international bank accounts. Now she's
rebuilding from scratch, taking temp work, and yes, she reached
(30:13):
out to reconnect. I didn't reply because I'm marrying someone
this fall, someone who builds, not destroys, someone who's not
chasing a ten but growing beside a ten inch character
story thirty one, My ex boyfriend left me because he
said I lacked social ambition. He wanted someone more driven,
more polished, more elevated. Two weeks later, he was dating
(30:35):
a girl from his MBA program who worked in luxury branding.
She was the definition of curated Instagram, perfect with luxury bags,
champagne weekends, and hashtags like CEO energy. He thought he'd
leveled up. They got engaged within eight months. She made
a grand post showing off a massive diamond and a
blurry photo of him down on one knee. I won't lie.
(30:56):
It's stung, but the wedding never happened. Turns out she'd
i'd been funneling money from her employer through fake invoices
to finance their lifestyle. She convinced my ex to form
an LLC so she could move expenses around. When the
audit hit, it all came crashing down. She got arrested.
He was implicated and sued by the brand. His name
trended on LinkedIn for all the wrong reasons. The engagement
(31:19):
was wiped from the Internet like it never happened. Meanwhile,
I quietly got promoted to department lead and started a
travel blog that now makes more than his old salary.
Polished doesn't mean permanent. Sometimes it just means slippery. Story
thirty two. My ex dumped me while we were still
on vacation in Mexico. One day, we were sipping Margarita's.
The next he was telling me he felt pulled towards
(31:41):
someone more emotionally vibrant. I flew home alone. He extended
his trip to hang out with a travel nurse he'd
met by the resort pool. She was spontaneous, free spirited,
tattooed from shoulder to ankle. I guess I looked beage
next to her. For the next few months, their Instagram
stories were pure chaos. Motorbike ride, jungle tricks, beach bonfires.
(32:02):
It almost looked fun until it didn't. She convinced him
to invest twenty thousand dollars into her healing retreat idea.
He drained his savings. She promised him co ownership. Instead,
she ghosted him, blocked him on everything, left town, and
deleted her accounts. The retreat never happened. He tried to
sue her, but realized all the transfers were voluntary. The
(32:24):
police shrugged, his credit tanked, and he had to move
back into his parents' basement. He DMed me six months
later with hey, I made a huge mistake. Yeah, buddy,
I know. Story thirty three. She and I were high
school sweethearts. I thought we'd last forever, but halfway through
college she broke up with me and started dating her
photography professor. Yes, professor. He was twenty years older, full
(32:47):
of mystery and artistic vision. She said he understood her
in ways I couldn't fast forward to graduation. She didn't walk.
She dropped out a semester early to tour with him
in Europe, but the fairy tale didn't last. He was married,
she found out after his wife confronted her in public
at a Berlin gallery opening. Drama exploded. He claimed my
(33:08):
ex was obsessed. She tried defending herself, but had no degree,
no job, no way home. Her parents refused to bail
her out again. She came back shattered moved into her
aunt's basement. Last I heard, she's working at a grocery
store and hasn't touched a camera in years. Meanwhile, I
earned my PhD, published a book, and now teach in
the same department he once did Funny How Things Flip
(33:31):
Story thirty four. He left me after a silent dinner
I'd made spaghetti. He came home from a work conference
with a tan and a new necklace. Said we'd grown apart,
that I was too linear and he needed someone spiritual
and cosmic. She was a sound healer who taught ecstatic
dance in Joshua. Tree, wore crystals around her ankles, and
spoken moon phases. He quit his job, moved into her yurt,
(33:55):
sold his car, lived off granola and kombucha. For a while,
they looked blissful until she announced she was starting a
commune and needed everyone's money to build a space of
infinite consciousness. He gave her everything, his savings, his watch,
even his grandmother's engagement ring meant for me ironically, Then
she ran off with a younger man and three of
(34:17):
the commune members. He had no house, no job, no car,
and a sunburn. Meanwhile, I renovated my apartment, got into
yoga myself minus the cult, and started dating a firefighter
who knows what reality is. Story thirty five. She left
me during the pandemic, said being quarantined with me showed
her how bored she was, that she needed more, more excitement,
(34:40):
more heat, more drama. Two weeks later, she started dating
a DJ from Instagram who used a skull.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Emoji in his name and wore rings on every finger.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
They lived like rebels, breaking lockdown rules, partying on rooftops,
making moody tiktoks with glitch effects. I stayed home, got
my degree online, focused on remote work. Night I saw
a live stream of her crying. Apparently DJ Skullboy took
out a business loan in her name to start a label,
never paid it, then fled to Mexico with someone he
(35:09):
met in Tulum. She was stuck with thirty eight thousand
dollars in debt and no legal recourse because she willingly signed.
I didn't comment, but I did enjoy my glass of
wine that night a little more than usual.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Story thirty six.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
She dumped me after we both got accepted into the
same PhD program, said she didn't want to limit herself
by being tied to someone average, and that brilliance needs brilliance.
He was a visiting scholar from Norway with multiple publications,
an accent, and a Nobel Prize mentor. She was obsessed.
They started dating and co authored papers. I kept my
(35:42):
head down and worked. I got no fellowship. She got
all the buzz until plagiarism allegations surfaced. She'd submitted a
joint paper where most of the citations were fabricated, and
her brilliant boyfriend had reused paragraphs from someone else's dissertation.
A review board got involved. He was expelled for the
program and banned from academic publishing in the US. She
(36:03):
lost her grant and her reputation. She emailed me once
said she regretted everything, not just academically. I graduated with
honors and got invited to teach at an Ivy League school.
Sometimes brilliance is quiet, but it lasts longer. Story thirty seven.
He left me after I miscarried, said he needed fresh energy,
someone who reminded him of possibility.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
It broke me.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
She was a yoga teacher turned motivational speaker. Every post
was a pastel square with affirmations incursive. They started a
podcast called Healing Forward. It gained traction. I stayed silent, grieved, rebuilt,
focused on my art. A year later, a listener accused
them of stealing her trauma story word for word on air.
(36:47):
Screenshots surfaced, then more people came forward. Turns out she'd
been collecting followers stories and repackaging them as her own
breakthrough moments. The fallout was swift. Sponsors pulled out forms,
demonetized them. She released a tearful apology video. He tried
to defend her and only made it worse. They broke
up shortly after. He deleted the podcast and went dark
(37:10):
on socials. Meanwhile, I had my first gallery show. It
was themed around resilience. The centerpiece was a sculpture called
Empty Cradle. It sold for eleven thousand dollars. Story thirty eight.
He always said I was too low key, that I
didn't know how to shine. So when he met a
reality TV contestant at a local bar, he was starstruck.
(37:30):
She was loud, sarcastic, had three million followers and a
brand deal with an energy drink. He left me without blinking.
Within two months, he was in her stories, tagging brands
and calling himself a content consultant. They moved to la
and rented a condo for appearances. It worked for a
while until her management dropped her for breaching contracts. She'd
(37:53):
been trash talking competitors and faking promo metrics. Brands pulled out,
her following dropped by hundreds of thousands. She blamed him
for mismanaging her image. He got kicked out of their apartment,
unfollowed by her fans, and mocked on Reddit for being
just another clout chaser. Last I heard, he was trying
to start a YouTube channel called from the Ashes. The
(38:13):
only video up had seventeen views. Story thirty nine. She
told me she didn't want to settle into a routine
at twenty eight, that life was meant to be spontaneous.
Then she started dating a magician, yes, a literal magician,
stage name Lucian the Mindbender. He was tall, wore velvet suits,
and claimed to manifest energy into matter. She followed him
(38:34):
on tour and became his assistant. They even got matching tattoos.
I thought it was a phase, but it turned into
a lifestyle. She posted videos of herself being sawed in half,
emerging from smoke, blindfolded on rooftops. Their audience grew niche
but obsessed. Then mid performance in Vegas, his big finale
went wrong. He accidentally set off a real fire. The
(38:57):
venue sued, sponsors vanished. Turns out he didn't even have
a license for pyrotechnics. He filed for bankruptcy. She tried
to salvage their YouTube brand, but without his tricks, no
one cared. She sent me a message that said, do
you still do quiet nights with tea and documentaries?
Speaker 2 (39:13):
I didn't respond.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
I was busy putting my daughter to bed with someone
who makes the real kind of magic story forty We
were high school sweethearts. Everyone assumed we'd get married. Then
she went viral on TikTok for a silly dance video
and got a modeling contract out of nowhere. Within months,
she told me I no longer fit her brand. He
was a personal stylist from Miami, ripped and tanned, with
(39:36):
a blue check mark and a jawline you could sharpen
knives on. She moved into his penthouse and began posting
daily photoshoots. Her captions became increasingly shallow. Then came the implosion.
A fellow influencer exposed her boyfriend for cheating with his
own intern. More allegations surfaced, manipulative behavior, shady past, revenge
posts from ex's brands distanced her contract ended quiet. When
(40:01):
she tried going solo, no one was interested. Her numbers
dipped fast, comments turned brutal. She posted a tearful logging
off for mental health video. But the Internet never forgets Meanwhile,
I graduated med school and proposed to my girlfriend of
two years, who doesn't care about filters or followers. Sometimes
the algorithm buries you. Story forty one. He left me
(40:23):
after a decade together, said he wanted fireworks, not flickers.
I was crushed. We'd grown up together, built a home,
planned kids. He said he needed someone who woke him up.
That someone was his new coworker, young, stylish, and ten
years younger. A self proclaimed emotional anarchist. He moved into
her high rise, traded our warm home for led lights
(40:46):
and rooftop parties. Her social media showed filtered perfection. I
went no contact, started over from scratch. Two years later,
I got a Facebook message from his sister. She asked
if I had a minute. He was in the hospital, burnout, malnourished,
and under investigation. Turns out she was emotionally abusive, controlled
(41:06):
what he ate, tracked his phone, and accused him of
cheating if he so much as looked up. When he
lost his job due to missed deadlines, she dumped him.
Now he's back in his hometown, living with his parents,
trying to piece his life together. He wrote me a
letter saying you were the fire. I was too blind
to feel the warmth. But I didn't need to write back.
Some endings don't deserve a PostScript. Story forty two. She
(41:29):
was my fiance. Four months before our wedding, she met
someone on a destination bachelorette trip, a guy from a
yacht crew, tanned, tattooed, thick accent. She said it was
love at first sight. Canceled everything and moved to Italy
with him. I lost deposits, dignity, and nearly my mind.
Her Instagram became a travel diary, luxury dinners, beach walks,
(41:51):
Mediterranean sunsets. She posted captions like found my forever with
no shame, But fairy tales don't last forever. He wasn't wealthy.
He was a crewman who worked for cash and hopped ports.
After three months of paradise he got arrested passport fraud
and smuggling charges. She had no visa, no money, no
backup plan. Italian authorities deported her. She had to move
(42:13):
back into her parents' garage. I saw her last month
at a cafe. She tried to catch my eye. I
turned away, not out of bitterness, out of peace, because
I finally got my forever with someone who never needed
a yacht to feel real love. Story forty three. We
dated through college, broke up six months after graduation when
she said she'd outgrown me. Her career was exploding in
(42:35):
fashion pr and I was still working at a bookstore
while applying to grad school. She met him at a
launch event a famous hairstylist, Blue check Mark Private Parties.
She called him a dream wrapped in diamonds. They moved
in together in Manhattan. Their life looked like a Pinterest board.
Then came the lawsuit. He was under federal investigation for
laundering money through fake salons. She claimed she had no idea,
(42:58):
but she'd signed. Contrast, her name was on invoices. She
lost her job, her reputation, her friends. A year later,
I got an anonymous email with an apology, typed in
a plane dog file. It had her initials. Meanwhile, I
just signed a book deal writing fiction. Yes, but nothing
I could invent ever matched her plot twist Story forty four.
(43:20):
He left me after we spent a year saving for
our wedding. We were two weeks from signing a venue
contract when he sat me down and said, I need
more intensity. Her name was Dasha, a performance artist with
a cult follower. She once painted her body gold and
stood in the middle of traffic for art. He was mesmerized,
said she made him feel something primal. They moved into
a warehouse loft, had wild art parties, started a joint
(43:44):
project called Love as Chaos. Six months later, she lit
his car on fire, not metaphorically, she torched it as
a ritual.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
Burning.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
Cops got involved. She got a slap on the wrist
because it was part of her process. He got stuck
with the insurance mess, lost his job, and had to
sell his belongings to pay off her debts. She moved
on to another artist, someone more aligned with her spirit.
He texted me the day she left, you were quiet magic.
I traded you for noise. I never replied. I just
(44:12):
poured a glass of wine and lit a candle. Not
for him, for the girl I used to be who
almost married a fool. Story forty five. We were long
distance for two years. I thought we were solid until
he came back from a music festival and said he
met someone who lived in color while I lived in Greyscale.
Her name was Willow, a fire dancer with rainbow dreads.
(44:33):
She sold handmade crystal rings and lived in a converted bus.
He followed her across states, said he finally felt awake.
They lasted seven months, then the bus broke down in
the middle of nowhere. She told him it was the
universe testing them. He maxed out his credit card fixing it.
A week later, she told him she was polyamorous now
and had fallen in love with a banjo player from
(44:54):
New Mexico. He messaged me from a Greyhound terminal at
three am, saying you were right. She never looked back.
Neither did I. I was too busy planning my next
solo trip to places where people don't confuse chaos with freedom.
Story forty six. She broke up with me because I
was too predictable. We'd been together for five years. I
(45:14):
thought we were saving for a house. She said she
needed someone who challenges her spark. A month later, she
moved in with a startup founder she met at a
tech conference. He was flashy, custom suits, nft, nonsense, flew
her out to Dubai for their second date. They launched
a YouTube channel called Scaling Love Lots of airport shots,
tech talk, morning routines. She posted things like sometimes the
(45:38):
universe breaks you to rebuild you better until the rebuilding stopped.
Turns out his startup was a house of cards, fake testimonials,
inflated revenue, investor fraud. The SEC got involved, FBI showed
up at their apartment. He fled to Portugal. She was
left behind, implicated in fraud because her name was on
the company's Shopify account. She tried to pivot to coaching,
(46:01):
offering spiritual recovery sessions for three hundred dollars per hour.
Nobody bought it. Last I saw, she posted a story
from a sublet with a caption, you never really know
people I do now Story forty seven. He dumped me
the night before his birthday, said he needed to feel
young again. I'd planned a surprise party. Instead, he said
he was leaving me for someone he met at a
(46:23):
fitness boot camp. She was an adrenaline junkie, rock climbed, skydived,
called herself a dopamine seeker. He said I was too safe,
boring a planner. They started doing YouTube stunts together, documented
everything from mud runs to bungee jumps. They even attempted
a couple's survival challenge in the desert. That's when things unraveled.
(46:43):
She insisted they go off grid, no GPS, no backup plan.
He got heat stroke. She left him to test his
inner resilience. He was found two days later by hikers,
hospitalized and dehydrated. She ghosted him. He moved back in
with his mom, started posting Sam had acoustic covers on Instagram. Meanwhile,
I just finished climbing Kilimanjaro with a tour guide who
(47:05):
respects safety and adventure. Funny how boring people survive things
Story forty eight. She left me for an actor, not
a famous one, just a guy from a regional vampire
web series with a decent jawline. She said, I didn't
understand the intensity of love. He wrote her poetry in cursive,
bought her a fake sword, called her his muse. She
(47:26):
moved to Vancouver to live with him and immerse in
art for months, Her feed was full of moody, black
and white selfies with cryptic captions. Then she disappeared. A
friend told me she'd come home after he cheated on
her with a fan at a comic con. Not only that,
but she'd also paid for his rent, headshots and a
short film he never finished. He claimed she was emotionally
(47:46):
distracting him from the craft. She emailed me said, I
think I mistook drama for depth. I didn't reply. I
was too busy finishing a screenplay of my own, one
with a happy ending.
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