We like to think when that special someone comes around, we'll have the emotional capacity to cherish our relationship. But for many couples, this is possible only partially.

For example, one survey revealed that 43% of Americans who are romantically involved have an online account their partner doesn't know about. Similarly, another survey revealed that 23% of U.S. adults who are Married, in a civil partnership, or living together are currently financially unfaithful to their loved one.

To learn more about how these things manifest in everyday life, let's look at a Reddit post by user u/Riptidecharger that asked people to share some of the dirtiest secrets they or their significant other refuse to reveal.

#1

Ok, so I found out my fiancé was wanting to ask me to marry him but wanted to get a super expensive ring for me so it was taking time to save up. I don't give a c**p about that type of thing. I'd marry him without a ring. That's not what's important to me. So I went to his mom and told her what I knew and she told me we should go look at rings together so maybe I could pick something less expensive so she could tell him we had been shopping and I had fallen in love with a ring that he could afford. I know, I'm sneaky. Anyway, I found an incredible ring that was normally $500 but on sale for $100. I bought the ring and she called him and told him what she did. He was so happy!!! He asked me to marry him on Christmas Eve and it was by far one of the best days of my life. He has no clue that I was involved in the purchase. So, he's keeping the secret that he doesn't know that I know.

EDIT: Thank you for the gold! I love you guys/gals!!! ?

Image credits: ZeusimusPrime

#2

When we were in the hospital for some weird pain that I had, uninsured, and the doctors thought it might be cancer, I lost it a bit. She was so brave for me.

But her mother called, she went into the bathroom to talk but she didn't know that the sound echoed pretty loudly into the room. I heard her break down, sobbing, telling her mom she didn't know how we were going to pay for treatment and that it looked really bad. I'll never tell her I heard her, but god it was heartbreaking.

When she came out you wouldn't even know she was even upset, she hid it so well. She sat right down and told me everything was going to be fine with such determination and such certainty. Literally took out her computer then and there and started making a f*****g spreadsheet of our finances to fit in cancer. I knew how much she loved me in that moment and how important it was for her that she was brave for me. I don't know why but I got so calm after that, I haven't broken down like that since, even with worse news. I guess she makes me strong... god, I f*****g love her.

**Edit:** People are wondering if it is cancer, unfortunately, yes I have stage 4 colon cancer (age 23).

Had some major surgery which removed: both ovaries, uterus, both fallopian tubes, cervix (they made me a new one??? Science, man...), appendix, a third of my colon, a spot on my liver, and around 20 lymph nodes.

Got a port put in and should be starting chemo next week. Unfortunately, there is no cure for colon cancer yet. My doc describes my situation as "treatable but not curable" but there are clinical trials and research being done, plus I heard maintenance chemo isn't too bad... So I'm going to fight like hell.

(Also by now, you may have guessed I'm a woman :) )

**Edit 2:** Hell yeah my girl and I are still together!!! We actually just celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary.

I, unfortunately, f****d up our anniversary plans (God, I just HAD to go and get cancer -.-) but we've celebrated in our own way and the docs said they can work my chemo around our honeymoon that we have planned in August :)

**Edit 3:** ok this is a lot of edits but I think this is important:

please **DO NOT IGNORE SYMPTOMS**

You know the only symptoms I had for stage 4 colon cancer? Three weeks of some bloating and then 4 days where I had some on and off sharp pain. That's it, and I already had two cysts on my ovaries the sizes of grapefruits. The doctors said that it probably started 6 months before that... That's 5 months of nothing, then some bloating and all of a sudden stage 4 cancer. (I got surgery less than a month later and my doc said my ovaries were the sizes of FOOTBALLS.... EACH)

I was hesitant about getting it checked out too because f**k medical bills. But my grandmother ignored her bloating, and when she finally let us take her to a doctor she found out on a Friday she had stage 4 ovarian cancer and the next Friday she was dead. I don't play around with my symptoms anymore.

(and guys out there, don't think this doesn't apply to you too, my brother had pain for a few days in his junk and my family ignored it. His girlfriend rushed him to the hospital and it was testicular cancer, he lost a ball. Don't be like us, don't lose a ball).

You're life is worth so much more than whatever medical bills come up. We thought for a while we would have to pay out of pocket (and we did for everything when we were still in NZ) but thanks to the ACA I am covered now.

That doesn't mean things aren't still expensive, or that we don't need a real overhaul of the way we treat health insurance in the US, but god damn you are worth so much more than whatever you will owe. I know it's so f****d up, but if you learn anything from me, learn not to ignore your symptoms.

(Educate yourselves on your states laws and programs- sometimes under a certain age you get free healthcare (NY) and my insurance tried to lie to me about being covered because I'm married and it's because I knew (because my wife told me, obviously) that that's not true, I am not thousands in debt right now)

Love you all, take care of yourselves, and thank you so much for the love.

#3

I got pregnant the very first time my now-husband and I slept together. I was in my very early 20s and didn’t know him well, so there was no question that I'd have an abortion. I never told him about it because I never expected to keep dating him. It was the right call at that time in my life. We've now been together for close to a decade and have two amazing kids. He probably will never know because we’ve built such a great life together, and I think it'd be unnecessary to talk about it.

#4

Everybody likes snacks, right? Some of us like chips, others like fruit, or yogurt. Well, my wife likes croutons. Frozen croutons to be exact and she tries to hide it like an alcoholic hides bottles of vodka. Where does she hide the croutons? In the freezer. At first I'd put them in the pantry when we get home from the grocery store, but they'd always end up in the freezer. I'd be like, "Uh, hon, what's up with the croutons in the freezer?" and she'd act like she had no idea what I was talking about. Now here's the thing, I've tried them and now I'm addicted to them too. So now I openly eat cold croutons out of the freezer as a snack, and she tells me what a weirdo I am while she eats half the bag with me. No idea why she's embarassed to admit what a genius she is for discovering such an awesome snack. BTW, the best kind is Chatham Village garlic and cheese flavor.

Image credits: becash123

#5

When he's about to fall asleep he's completely honest. it was about 7 months in when he grabbed me and whispered into my ear "You're gonna be the mother of my children."

I told him and he was thoroughly embarrassed and he apologized. however I neglected to tell him that pretty much every night he would tell me that he loved me starting a month in.

I don't mind and I'm not trying to rush things and neither of us have any plans to jump into that sort of stuff right away but it's nice to know

Image credits: anon

#6

Her Caesar salad dressing. It's actually the best thing ever but even after two years she refuses to tell me what's in it. What she doesn't know is that I have secretly been watching her make it over the past few months. I have finally pieced it together and now I have the power!!

Edit: Everyone wants the secret recipe. But she has reddit, and I prefer life.

Image credits: DrJeXX

#7

My wife doesn't know that I know her secret. When we first started dating, it was long-distance. One time she visited me for four days, but I had to work during one of the days. While I was gone, she had to take a dump but clogged the toilet really badly. She couldn't get it to plunge and was freaking out, so she went to the kitchen and got a fork and a plastic bag and dug the turds out of the bowl and threw everything in the dumpster out back. She called her friend, panicking, and the friend thought it was hilarious. Years later, the friend told me all about it. I find it funny but don't want to embarrass her, so I'll never tell her that I know.

Image credits: pinsnneedles

#8

This is a past-tense secret, but my GF at the time decided to surprise me by buying a holiday to Brussels for us over my 30th Birthday. I accidentally intercepted the hotel conformation email, so decided it was a good time to propose, as I'd been considering it for about 6 months.

Act all surprised when she tells me, then when we're having dinner in the restaurant on the 1st night, I get down on one knee and propose.

Celebrating our 3 year wedding anniversary at the end of next month

#9

My wife dropped my iPhone in a Port-A-Potty toilet. Luckily it has been so used there was a large pile of s**t which gently held the phone above the liquid. She cleaned it off and gave it back to me. A year later I upgraded and gave her my old phone.

She insisted on purchasing a new cover even though I had a high-end OtterBox. I never understood why until one of the kids told on her.

#10

My wife used to have an issue with wetting the bed when she was a teenager, and she thinks she's grown out of it. Now, when she wets the bed and I wake up first, I pee on the bed, too, and tell her it was all me.

Image credits: TheTangeMan

#11

My partner found a card in my car for a proposal to marry me...or so she thought. The card was actually meant for another woman I've also been dating for three years.

#12

He hides chocolate bars in his work bag. Bastard.

Image credits: wetowetobetobe

#13

Even though we had been married for 25 years, my wife and I always invented stupid private jokes between each other. I was lamenting the fact that we had fostered a Siamese cat from an adoption group, that eventually got adopted, and I really missed her. At one point, we were looking through the website of the local pound, and a Siamese came up named "Montague."

The photo that they took of Montague was epic. A classic Applehead Siamese, he was neutered, about five years old, and had horribly crossed eyes. Whoever took the photograph of him made him look both proud, distinguished, and adorably insane. Like some crazy dude that comes into the bar as a regular, claims he's the emperor of the United States of America, and everybody buys him a round because even though he is clearly crazy, he is also very charming. We started making up all the stories about Montague in a spoof of "The world's most interesting man." Week after week, we checked to see if he had been adopted, but nobody wanted a crazy looking cross eyed Siamese cat. Everyone at the pound said he was affectionate, and had been there for quite some time.

Sadly, this would be our last private joke together. My wife, who had a terminal illness, suddenly gotten much worse and passed away rather rapidly. We thought we had more time together, but she had sarcoidosis, and her lungs had already been weakened by repeated pneumonia, when she got the flu. Because she was on immunosuppressants for her condition, this is what did her in, she went into a coma, and died a week later.

My sister helped me with the funeral and taking care of a lot of things, including contacting everyone in her phone contacts on her cell phone. She asked me about why the Alexandria pound would be trying to contact my late wife via voicemail. Apparently, my wife had applied to adopt Montague as a surprise gift. She paid the adoption fee and had scheduled a visit to adopt him. But she died before the appointment date.

Sadly, my wife put it in her name only, and the people at the pound were pretty rude about it. Like to adopt Montague I'd have to pay ANOTHER adoption fee, and they were made that she didn't show up, and at the time it was chaos I couldn't deal with. My sister gave them an earful and they told her to go to hell.

That ended that.

I hope Montague eventually found a loving family.

Edit 1: This got a LOT of attention. Your support has been so amazing. I couldn't find any of the original pictures of Montague, BUT, my wife had made a few private in-joke Memes from one of his pound pictures (not a very good one, I am afraid). I put two of them here from Montague's "Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom" phase of our jokes.
http://imgur.com/a/9M8UE

Edit 2: Don't go after the pound, that was over 3 years ago, and I wasn't right in the head about my wife's passing. I am sure they have rotated staff. BUT I did get a Siamese rescue last year from a friend of mine who has a farm where people dump cats (long story). Here's some of HER pictures.
http://imgur.com/gallery/cLF2O

#14

The perfume I got my wife...I got it for her because it smells like my ex. For the record, it's because it smells awesome, but she wouldn't be down with that explanation. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm unhappy with her, but every time I try to bring it up, she ends up getting upset, and we just fight. I really care about her family, though.

#15

My boss got me into online gambling. I lost more than $500 incredibly quickly and have kept it a secret from my husband.

#16

I made out with my husband's older brother and sister while he was in the other room. I'll never tell him what happened.

#17

I've been married and divorced before, but my current husband thinks this is my first marriage. My first marriage occurred when I was young, and it only lasted about two years. I even lied on my new marriage certificate. I will take this one to the grave.

#18

My partner (female) of six years doesn’t know that, before we met, I (male) used to sleep with men. The experiences were very hot, and I reminisce about them often.

#19

"I've been lying to my husband about my eye color for our entire relationship. He has poor eyesight and couldn't originally tell that I wear ultra-realistic prescription color contacts. I've worn color contacts for about 10 years and only take them off to shower and to give my eyes a break. We've been married for five years now, and he still doesn't know that this isn't my actual eye color.

#20

He had always said he hates to cuddle at night because it gets hot/ it's uncomfortable/I hog the blankets/ect. However, when he thinks I'm asleep he'll scoot over and wrap his body around me. If I even make a move like I'm awake, he'll run back to his side and pretend it never happened. I think its freaking adorable.

Image credits: RockPrincess01

#21

My mom's friend won about $4.5 million in the lottery and didn't tell her husband for almost two years. He was a real blue-collar guy who just went to work and came home, and she was responsible for all of the finances. One day, she walked into his factory, told him she'd won the lottery, and said everything was paid off and that they were going to both retire. And they did. They are the happiest couple I've ever met.

#22

Found videos of my ex bending over, twerking and s**t, in my panties. Never told him.

And he creeps my reddit.

Hi Scott.

Edit: [Well, we did it reddit.](http://imgur.com/a/q0GfO)

Fixed the damn commas. There was no literal s**t lol

Double edit: totally awkward to explain to my current SO why I was on reddit constantly all night. Thankfully, he's the best.

#23

I cheated on my spouse with my coworker. Our marriage was already toxic and unhealthy, to the point where I should’ve walked away. I’m glad I left a few months after cheating, but I will never give them the satisfaction of being right about the coworker, especially when they had no proof other than us being friends.

#24

My husband thinks I finished my bachelor's degree. I didn't. I dropped out and faked it for the last semester. That was five years ago, and now we're married. I still haven't told him the truth.

#25

Back when I was first starting to make my artwork public, I had a kickstarter campaign to fund a tour. I had just started dating my SO, but he gave a relatively significant amount of money anonymously. He tripped up in selecting his "backer's reward"- an original piece mailed to his house. When I saw the address, I definitely didn't suspect his roommates were just super supportive of my art.

edit: When I read "worst secret", I thought it meant "most poorly kept" secret. Yes, we're still together, and I feel incredibly lucky for it. I said he gave a "relatively significant" amount. At the time, we were broke enough that I needed a kickstarter to fund my art. We're still pretty broke, but now I receive grants from the state council on the arts, the city, and residencies through various established arts organizations to fund my work...which is why I'd like to remain anonymous on here. Sorry, but support a local artist if you can! As for playing chess, I just lost a match to him this morning.

#26

I went through a six-month period of shoplifting. I wasn't in the best frame of mind, and I just couldn’t stop. One time, I got caught by security at Target, and thankfully, they let me go. It could have ended much, much worse. My husband would NOT be okay with that information, and I'll never tell him.

#27

I posed for Playboy when I was 18, and I kept it a secret from my husband for years. One day, I finally told him (it’s not something that comes up in conversation very naturally), and he had no problem with it.

#28

My spouse and I quit smoking together soon after we started dating in 2013, but I've been secretly vaping for almost two years now. I know it's absolutely horrible for me, and I think my husband would be really upset/disappointed if I told him, so I've been keeping it to myself.

#29

I’ve been married twice. My first husband and I got pregnant at 17, and my dad made us get married. We split amicably three years later, but we didn’t get divorced right away due to a lack of funds. We didn’t actually file the paperwork for another six years, which was a year after my second husband and I started dating. I never told him that I was married to someone else during the entire first year of our relationship.

#30

When I was single, I had an on-and-off affair with my married best friend for a few years. My husband always asks me if my friend and I have ever hooked up, but I always denied it. I’m not proud of it, but I’ll take that secret to the grave.

#31

A while ago, things got so bad finance-wise that we couldn't pay the bills for a month. My significant other was working 13-hour days, every day, and I wasn't getting any shifts at work. My parents couldn't help us, so I became a cam model. I earned over $100 in less than an hour, and it paid for our food that month. I only half-stripped, and I chatted a lot about innocent stuff, but I feel weird about it. I know my S.O. would feel totally betrayed, and I hate the fact that other men saw what only he should get to see.

Image credits: librarygirl

#32

At night, once I go to bed, he binge watches Gossip girl.

Image credits: cakeisgrape

#33

He spent a ton of money on bruins tickets this year. Whenever he got tickets to a match he claimed he got them for free through work or downplays the cost but I know he paid for them. I don't really mind since he can spend his money how he wants, but it's funny to me that he thinks I wouldn't realize he's spending a few hundred bucks every time he goes to a game

#34

She waits until I sleep to steal my pillows

#35

A girl I dated a few years back had just graduated with her bachelors so I took her out for a night on the town. Her and our friends got absolutely demolished and since this was before Uber, I volunteered to be DD. So around 2am she's tanked, we head out and she wants krystal burgers. Very adamant about that, so I stop by Krystals and order a steamer pack so I can have some too and then have leftovers. She eats somewhere around 8, I get her home, get her into her bed and she immediately passes out. I am sitting next to her watching some TV when I smell something. I notice that she has just s**t herself. She is one of those people who would be so ashamed of herself if anyone found out so I just... left. I called her the next day and told her I dropped her off, got her some water and headed home. Never mentioned her s******g herself or anything so to this day she thinks she did it in her sleep after I left. I could have stayed and helped her clean it up and I probably should have, but she would have cried over that and avoided me sporadically for weeks.

#36

Her ex is in town and she is secretly meeting him behind my back.

I know this because her location is always shared with me due to her habit of forgetting where her phone is.

Edit: Wow! I was expecting to have this comment ignored cos I was late to the party but wow!

Anyway. I am going through the questions you guys have and I will answer them as I read them.

I will certainly update everyone once I decide what to do.

If she still loves him, I don't want to step in the way. I am waiting for her to come clean to me on her own and if she does, I won't tell her I already knew. What hurts me is that she is indeed cheating on me.

She is being extra affectionate. She's putting more effort into her appearance. She's more interested in my schedule than ever before but never expressing I should come home soon.

The app we have is find my friends on iPhone. Instead of asking of her whereabouts, we share our location with each other. Also so in case the phone is missing somewhere, we know where it is.

I know where the ex is living and I can see that she's there very regularly.

I am going to give her some time to come clean. For the sake of our child and our 8 year marriage.

Edit 2: All right, thank you everyone for your support and well wishes. I truly appreciate it.

Some people were not too impressed with my patience and mistook it for being a cuck, I understand where you're coming from. I'm not an impulsive person. It is a strength and a weakness.

I'm seeing a lawyer on Friday to plan my next steps. I'm depressed and miserable and it is not a very great shape to be in.

Once again, thank you everyone.

Image credits: barrbill

#37

He has been hiding he's autistic from me for ten years. (Should clarify it's a long running on again off again thing between us but even when it's off we were still good friends) He suffered abusive therapy and because of it thinks hiding his autism is the most important thing. Except that's like trying to hide an elephant in a bathroom, and he's not always super high functioning. So it's always a weird charade of me pretending he's not autistic while busting my a*s to gently handle that.

I have no idea how to talk to him about it. I know he has a formal diagnosis. He was so traumatized from institutional medical abuse in the name of therapy that even mentioning it or acknowledging it can cause him to have a meltdown. He thinks if I knew, I wouldn't love him anymore, but I've known for YEARS and I still love him. I like him just how he is, I just want things to be easier and less scary for him, and I don't know how to help most of the time because he won't admit the problem.

#38

She is hiding baseball tickets for when my favorite team comes into town. She is waiting to give them to me on my birthday.

Image credits: anon

#39

I found out she had a credit card she had charged $2200 to. I confronted her for hiding it, and she admitted it and we paid it off...that's the stupid part, we had the money in the bank. Her brother is in prison and he manipulates her into sending him money. She agreed not to do that anymore. The other day, I drove her car and there was an invoice stuck down between the console and parking brake lever. She has another credit card. I opened it and discovered she owes $1800 on that one. She doesn't know I know...yet.

Image credits: anon

#40

My (soon to be) ex-wife met another guy about a year and a half ago. She was so bad at hiding it that I thought she WANTED to get caught. Posting romantic stuff on her Instagram when we hadn't been romantic in a long time. Confronted her, lied even with solid evidence. A few months later stuff starts disappearing from the house, pretty obvious that she's moving out. Then we started to have no money every month(and I have a pretty okay job), realized she was stealing money basically by paying her bills twice a month with 3-4x the minimum payment and not paying mine. Let it go on for a bit and finally confronted her, she doesn't admit to it. I finally just pull my check from our joint account and she says she's leaving but is going to be homeless. The next day she had changed her facebook back to her maiden name and had a picture of her and the other guy at their new place. I don't know if this counts.

#41

I've been married for seven years, and I've faked every single orgasm with my husband. I always take care of myself afterward, so as not to upset him. I've even lied about not liking it because I just want it to end.

#42

She had sex with my boss before we knew each other, before I had been hired into the company. I'm not mad about it or anything, everyone has a past but she carefully dances around ever coming into my work now and I'm careful not to bring him up.

#43

I was sleeping with the rabbi who married my husband and me. My husband is Jewish, and I'm Catholic, so his family rabbi wouldn't perform the ceremony. I called my previous boyfriend, who happened to be an Orthodox rabbi, to perform the ceremony. My husband's family never figured out how I managed to find a rabbi to perform our ceremony.

#44

When I was engaged, I was at a friend's wedding and fooled around with another guy. I told my fiancé that the other guy and I only kissed in a random, drunken moment. In reality, we did A LOT more than just one kiss. Now, after more than 10 years of marriage and several kids later, I still feel guilty about it.

#45

My biggest secret is that I'm only staying married to him for financial reasons. We've been together for 15 years, married for six of them. Our lives are so intertwined that it wouldn't be easy to untangle them. Plus, he doesn't really know how to take care of himself and doesn't make enough to support himself on his own. I make twice as much as him (and have done so the entire time we've been together) and pay all the bills and take care of everything. The cherry on top of this is that I'm also having an affair with his close friend. That wasn't planned, and it's just sex, but it's really the only thing keeping me from just running away from everything right now.

#46

I know she looks at my reddit

#47

His affair. I knew for 3 weeks before he left (to look after his allegedly sick dad) and for 2 weeks after before I told him I knew. He said last week he's ended it and sees what he has missed but I know he's still sleeping and living with her whilst messaging me. Basically what he just did to me - I'm his wife, we were together 12 years. He just can't stop lying. He may be genuinely remorseful right now but I can't get past his deceit.

Update. - sorry if my comment was confusing and thank you for all the replies. I found out in December, he was cruel and miserable throughout and nearly ruined Xmas for the kids. I suggested he go visit his 'sick dad' at NY and slammed that door right behind him. Took time off work (I was main earner then) and rearranged my life to take care of the kids and get a job with flexible hours. I'm happier. Kids are doing well. He's the one struggling now.

#48

A week before I married my wife, I got really drunk with my best friend (a man, like me), and we ended up making out and giving each other BJs. During the whole ceremony, we kept exchanging awkward glimpses. We've never discussed what happened with each other. I never told my wife (or anyone), but I still think about the experience and get all hot and bothered.

#49

She smokes when I'm not home, I know this because I always move the router to the window where the signals best, when I come home the router is in a different position away from the window, I put it back without her knowing and call her out for smoking, she has no idea how I keep finding out!

#50

She says she doesn't want children.

I know that she actually does want children, and that she's not capable of having them, due to stumbling upon some medical records.

#51

They're bi. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So am I.

#52

I've slept with all three of my wife's sisters multiple times, and she doesn't know about it yet. I also have a secret child with her oldest sister. She'd kill me if she even heard a rumor about it.

#53

Ex-girl. She had a fairly large scar on her back and was incredibly self-conscious about it. She wouldn't even take her shirt off the first time we had sex. When I asked her about it, she said she had fallen from her horse when she was young.

Fast forward a little and I'm out finding her a birthday present and have enlisted the help of her friend. I pick out a sexy singlet and her friend just looks out me like I'm stupid. Apparently the scar on her back, which the singlet clearly revealed, wasn't from a fall, but an abusive ex-boyfriend who had pushed her onto his motorbikes exhaust pipe and burnt her.

We ended on good terms, and I never told her I knew. I hope she is doing well.

#54

It was an ex of mine.... Sometime into the relationship I find out I'm just the guy she's using to cheat on the other dude who she has been dating before me... It crushed me cause she was the first girl I really loved and did absolutely everything and anything for her. Kept the relationship going without letting her know and then tipped off the other dude and confronted her and broke up with her on the same day that dude broke up. She deserved it... But I never really fully moved on.. It's been years and haven't had a relationship after that...

Edit: I didn't know reddit was such a nice place, thank you for all the great advice and positive thoughts. While nothing's going to change overnight I will remember everything you'll said and I will focus on other greater things in life and hope to move on. All your comments are appreciated. Thank you.

#55

I've never told my husband that I absolutely HATE the three kids he has from his previous marriage. I've despised them since the moment I met them. I can't stand them. They literally disgust me. They are NOTHING like him.

#56

She's been studying abroad for a year and is planning on coming home 5 days earlier to surprise me

Edit : Wow didn't imagine that many ideas coming out of posting this!
Now I'm definitely gonna do a surprise party, just have to look in to the details!

Edit2 : the plan so far :

Day 1 : romantic night and evening at my place, I feign surprise

Day 2 : Surprise party at her place with her closest friends

#57

I knew for a year and a half about my engagement ring and never told him until after he proposed. He was not so good at hiding.

#58

So this is slightly different from the actual question, but I have a feeling I will never find a better place to tell this, so here goes. My grandmother got remarried when my dad was in middle school, after divorcing my bio grandfather, this was in the late 70's. Anyway, StepGrandpa (SG) was a 'cool dad' for a while, at least up until my dad and his older brother got into college. After that he started going off the emotional deep end( read: angry and borderline abusive). For a long time, both SG and grandma were in the (redacted for privacy) business. My dad and uncle both became attorneys and went to work at what was now the family company. Anyway, many years later, my dad and uncle are no longer working with SG and grandma, and my mother manages most of the company. One day, a business associate quietly pulls my mother aside and says that they saw SG in public with a much younger man. She tells my father and uncle, who do some digging around and find out he had used company funds to buy cars, apartments, etc for multiple 20 something men (he was in his early seventies). They are understandably shocked, and they all go over to my grandma's house when SG is not there to break it to her.

Her response? "Oh yeah, I've known that for years."

She had suspected he was gay before they were married, but nobody talked about that sort of thing at the time or in her family. She knew about the affairs, and she had a public health worker come to her front door to inform her he had HIV, and give her a test as well. She declined to tell anyone this for close to fifteen years.

Anyway, they managed to convince her to divorce him, which took ages and ages. So, that's probably the worst secret that's ever been kept in my family.

TL;DR: step grandpa (a*****e) was gay, embezzling money, and brought home HIV. Grandma knew for decades, and didn't feel the need to do anything.

Edit: no, unfortunately, my grandma didn't keep his secret because she was kind and nonjudgmental. She kept it because she is super shallow with no forethought and cares way too much about her precious reputation.

Edit number two: I have absolutely no sympathy for SG. I respect the fact that he was uncomfortable coming out, but he had every opportunity to quietly divorce my grandma and move on with his life, since she already knew. Also, he was always mean and vindictive, even when I was a child. The reason the public health worker showed up to their house is because he was given thirty days to inform her of his diagnosis and he didn't. Also, there's that whole embezzlement/theft part. Real class act all around.

#59

My ex made up a person and spoke to me as them. We met when we were quite young and were both pretty weird... I put it down to insecurity and wanting to look like she had cool friends (I was a little older). I never let on that I knew because it would have been super embarrassing for her and this was literally the start of the relationship.

She made up quite a few stories about this guy and I got a few emails from "him". She didn't realise that changing the name of the account didn't actually change the address, which was fully visible.

#60

I *know* she ate those cookies.

#61

He's going to propose to me, he just doesn't know it yet, or that I exist. Yet.


Edit: Thanks for all the marriage proposals. You're all my internet husbands now.