We were in a relationship for 13 long years before finally getting married in February last year. Through thick and thin, especially after my father passed away, he was my emotional anchor. He lived in Australia, so we did long distance for two years before marriage, and even for eight months after tying the knot, until I moved to Australia to be with him.
But everything changed the moment I stepped into his world. I’ve always been a little chubby something he never commented on in all our years together. But suddenly, just two months before our wedding, he started picking on my weight. He’d compare me to the women in Australia, making backhanded remarks like, “Look how fit girls are here… why can’t you be like them?”
After marriage, the taunts only got worse. He started mocking my body, made me feel ugly, and began regretting marrying me just because I didn’t meet his shallow beauty standards. I used to be playful hugging him, teasing him, biting him affectionately. One day, after a small argument, he snapped and beat me with his slipper like I was garbage. I was in shock.
I cried for days, unable to process how the man I loved for over a decade could turn into a monster overnight. As if that wasn’t enough, his father called me shortly after the wedding not to bless me, but to humiliate me. He had the audacity to say our wedding wasn’t up to their “standards,” complaining that he didn’t receive a ring or a grand gesture as the groom’s father.
He even said we should’ve gone for a court marriage if we couldn’t afford a proper one. My mother and I did everything on our own after my dad’s death, and yet all they saw was what they didn’t get. Now, my husband mocks my mother’s appearance too just because she’s overweight like me. He doesn’t enjoy intimacy, doesn’t speak of love, and avoids any conversation about the future.
When I mention separation, he stays silent, but finds ways to break me down emotionally every single day. I’m stuck, isolated in a foreign country, with no support, no affection, and no respect. The man who once claimed he loved me has now reduced me to a joke in his life.
Question: What would you do if you were stuck in a similar situation?
Option 1: Divorce
Option 2: Stay with him
Option 3: Try marriage therapy