I thought my life was great. I had a husband who loved me, two beautiful kids, and a happy family. But everything fell apart when I accidentally heard my husband in therapy. I learnt lies that would destroy our 12-year marriage from what I heard, which changed everything.
For now, my name is Colleen and I’m still putting my broken life back together. When my husband Michael told the truth, it exposed a web of lies and deceit that shocked me. He had three families: one secret family in one state, and one secret family in another state. I was lying when I said I knew the man I thought I did, and our whole life together was a show.
The more I tried to accept the truth, the more I saw that I had been living in denial. I could have seen the signs, but I decided not to. It all made sense now: Michael’s frequent business trips, his distant behaviour, and his new desire to go to therapy.
Being let down hurt the most, though. How could the man I trusted and loved lie to me so completely? I thought my whole life was a lie, and I didn’t know if anything we had was real.
As I dealt with what happened after Michael’s statement, I knew I had to do something. If my husband lied to me all the time, I couldn’t stay in the marriage. I filed for divorce, and even though it’s been hard, I know it’s the right thing to do.
Now that I look back, I see that I didn’t see the truth. I was so caught up in how perfect we seemed that I didn’t notice the danger signs. But now I understand that beauty is only a thought. And sometimes, all it takes is one phone call to break the image and show what’s really going on.
