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Post published by aoisakurachan

Hey there,
I'm the wife of a suspected porn addict. I'm pretty frustrated and upset, because I have my suspicions but I feel like I can't talk to anyone about it. I DO need a judgement free place to just get some advice.

So let me give you some background before I get into my question. It's a bit of a book, so I do apologize.
I have loved my husband for 10 years, we've been married for 5. At the very beginning of our relationship, my husband (then boyfriend) allowed me to use his old laptop, and I came across an absolute enormous amount of porn. This upset me, but I figured at the time he'd been a single man until recently, I can understand. I explained to him that porn had no place in a relationship with me. He agreed to stop and I thought at the time that was going to be the end of it.

Fast forward to the end of 2016. I happened to remember he used to watch porn. Why it struck my brain, I have no idea. I asked him, " are you still watching porn?" to which he replies," I will neither confirm or deny." I simply said that for his sake, I hope he wasn't. Fast forward again to March 2017. I had the day of and my husband left his private computer on. He never had a lock on it so everything he had on his computer, I could see just by walking into the room. I had come into the room and had noticed his computer was on. I went to turn it off, and found thousands of porn videos he'd downloaded. I'd opened one just to make sure the title was what I thought it was. Yep, it sure was. I was especially upset that he downloaded these videos EVERYDAY. Anywhere from 4-8 videos per day! I was crushed and ended up texting him at work about it just loosing my mind. He came home, we argued, I told him it was the a kin to cheating, he said I was making a mountain out of a mole hill, yada yada yada. It ended by him promising that he'd delete it all and he'd stop watching it.

A few months later, same thing. New videos, and everything. The only days he didn't have new stuff downloaded was when we were on vacation. Again, I freaked out, told him I was leaving him, he came home early from work and again we argued. I accused him of lying and being addicted to which he again told me he'd stop because he thought he could stop when ever he wanted. I told him he'd have to prove it. Of course part of it was me trying to convince myself not to leave him because "this time, he'll change." I watched him delete his cash of videos, but checked the next day and noticed he "forgot" a few. I kept an eye on them to see if they'd been watched and the "last watched" thing didn't move. Finally, a few months later, I noticed one new video had been downloaded. Porn, ofcourse. I'd left the house leaving a "it's porn or me" letter saying that if he chose to stay married to me, he had to go to rehab and do some marriage counciling. He agreed. After that I continued to keep an eye on his computer and never found anything new. I started trusting him again.
Almost all of 2018, I can honestly say I had almost regained full trust until I noticed in late 2018 he was starting to show the same behavior he did before. Staying up late (he's also a huge gamer so this wasn't a glaring red flag), lack of interest in sex, lack of interest in interacting with me. He was looking at 4chan and Reddit a lot on his phone again (his alternative to downloading porn and also his main trigger).

The biggest red flags were that he'd put a lock on his computer, he'd NEVER had a lock on his computer and the other was.. and sorry if this is a TMI... but usually even after not having sex for a few weeks he'd only last maybe 10 minutes. We'd not had sex since November 5th. Today was our first time in MONTHS. He took forever to finish and seemed disinterested half way through.
I am terrified he's watching porn again and the idea of confronting him again just makes me anxious right down to my bones. Especially because I know he won't tell me the truth.
My biggest question is, am I over reacting? Am I putting a problem there that really isn't there? What do I do? How can I even tell he's lying or telling the truth? I've asked this on Reddit and was only told that I should mind my own business or that if I'd put out more, he wouldn't need porn. I desperately need some help and not judgement. I feel so alone. My therapist just encourages me to divorce him.
Thank you for reading my exceedingly long post. I do appreciate any advice.
Trappist more_vert
Trappist
Welcome! There is help here. You might repost in “rebooting in a relationship” for more input?: https://www.nofap.com/forum/index.php?forums/rebooting-in-a-relationship.14/
aoisakurachan likes this.
aoisakurachan more_vert
aoisakurachan
Thanks, I'm pretty new as you can tell
Trappist likes this.
ccml more_vert
ccml
My partner watches porn and I'm "ok" with it, but I do think it would be amazing for him to try going without it, and that it would make our sexual life better. In my case, though, I don't think it's my business, and I'd rather leave that decision up to him. But I'll introduce him to NoFap soon.
I think your partner's journey to a porn-free life would be much easier and stress-free if he could decide to leave porn for his own good, rather than only out of pressure. Since it seems to be a real addiction, it would be good if you could think together why he's so attached to it, how his life would be better without it, and talk it nicely.
ccml more_vert
ccml
Porn isn't condemned by the large of society, so we telling our partners that it's a terrible thing, or that it equals cheating, will just make us sound like we are exaggerating, and create unnecessary tensions in our relationships. This is my humble opinion.
Pjco more_vert
Pjco
Porn is incredibly dangerous to a relationship, and I would agree with you to say that it is a form of cheating. Anything which you would otherwise want to know that he’s keeping secret is cheating.
aoisakurachan likes this.
Pjco more_vert
Pjco
I just finished reading the book “The 7 principles of making marriage work”. I’ve learned so much. Perhaps rather than confronting him, you could get a copy of the book and start to read/work through the exercises therein in the spirit of wanting to get the absolute best out of your relationship.
aoisakurachan likes this.
Pjco more_vert
Pjco
If you do “catch” him again, I also recommend the book “Out of the doghouse”. It clearly defines cheating, is an easy read and full of open questions of reflection.
aoisakurachan likes this.
Pjco more_vert
Pjco
If porn is a real problem or something he feels he “needs” in his life, and you are able to make some compromise, perhaps something like “makelovenotporn” is something you could watch together, so it’s not something that is hidden.
aoisakurachan likes this.
Pjco more_vert
Pjco
One of the biggest things I’ve learned about sex/intimacy is a change of mindset that every positive interaction as a form of foreplay, rather than looking at sex as just intercourse. Something I learned from the “I do podcast” - something else you could listen to/share together.
aoisakurachan likes this.