"Hasn't Worked in 15 Years" – The Ex You're Glad You Didn't Start a Family With

My ex pampered me financially, but emotionally he fell short and acted like a big kid. Even though I loved him, I made the tough call to leave. A few months later, he called to say he’d invested all his money in a new cryptocurrency that turned out to be a scam—and now he had nothing. I helped him out with a small transfer, quietly feeling I’d made the right choice. That was three years ago, and he’s still just paying off debts.

The cool guy who was into extreme sports and every risky stunt turned out to have a surfer girlfriend in Portugal and a snowboarder girlfriend in Switzerland. I cried over him for a whole year. Then he messed up one of his stunts and, at 29, ended up in a wheelchair.

She was a bold, carefree beauty who made my friends green with envy. But her wild side came with drug use and intense mood swings, which I eventually couldn’t handle. Everyone thought I was crazy for breaking up with her, but I knew it was the right move. Ten years later, I saw her on the street—so worn down I wouldn’t have recognized her if her friend hadn’t called her by her silly nickname. She was in such a bad place, she didn’t even recognize me.

We were together for a year. He was quiet and withdrawn, but I sensed something was off. I met my now-husband and we broke up, but he didn’t seem too affected. Later, a mutual friend told me he went to prison two years after for a fight in a parking lot where the other person was fatally injured.

We met in college. He was half Lebanese and very handsome. His mom adored me, and we got along well. We only broke up because he wanted to spend a few years in Lebanon studying and working, while I stayed home to continue my studies. Twenty years later at a reunion, I heard he married a Hungarian woman, had a daughter, but when the marriage fell apart and she wanted a divorce, he fled to Lebanon with the child—and she never saw them again.

It was a short relationship that didn’t work at all, but he was incredibly handsome. He didn’t want to break up and even asked me to marry him, but the chemistry and sex just weren’t right. Years later, we met again—he was married by then. He told me he only wanted to marry me to hide the fact that he was gay.

He was a kind, quiet guy who got involved in politics and changed—becoming angrier and full of hate. He often ranted and spoke harshly to his mom and me. I had enough and left. A few years later, I heard he died after a bar fight where he was stabbed.

My ex wanted to be an actor, which I found super sexy at 20. He never had money but recited beautiful poems that swept me off my feet. He broke my heart when he left me for another girl. Fifteen years later, I learned he’s still trying to be an actor, still unemployed, has a child, and they live with the mother.

We stayed together for two years after college but broke up because he wasn’t ready to settle down. At our 15-year reunion, I heard he wasn’t there because he’s in a facility, suffering from severe schizophrenia.

She pushed hard for a baby, but I wasn’t ready, so she left me—and it hurt. Two weeks later, she had a new boyfriend, broke up with him six months later, and quickly moved on again. She got pregnant by her fourth boyfriend, but they weren’t together when she gave birth. Now, as a single mom, she’s tried to reconnect with all her exes—including me. I realized she’s addicted to relationships.

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