People Are Sharing Why They Ended Their Marriages After Over 20 Years

This Redditor shared that they had a huge argument that should've made them call off the wedding.

But since the venue was booked and invitations were sent out, they went along with it.

"Parents divorced after 22 years when my mother cheated. Dad felt bad and hurt but acknowledged he might have been part of the problem (emotional distance) so he wanted to work through it with therapy and stuff. She agreed to work through it and then cheated again a week later. The divorce was messy..." -u/TheVBnerve

When this man's wife left him after 20 years, he couldn't figure out why. Then, he went and lived with this Redditor who discovered that he's a closet alcoholic, he's lazy, and he stalks his daughters who don't want to see him.

"We were very independent/separate from the beginning. Very different views on raising kids, roles of mother vs father, money, etc. When we had children, it was my job as the mother to raise them, do all things domestic, and work full time outside of the house." -u/my_kingdom_for_a_nap

This woman put in 20 years trying to handle her husband's drinking. But instead of getting better, he just kept getting worse. Sadly, 120 days after the divorce, the husband died.

"Married as teens. He had multiple affairs during our 20 year marriage. It's sad really; I trusted him completely and was quite devastated to find out he essentially had another life outside our marriage." -u/Laceyfromcali

"My ex completely took me for granted, was dependent on me for everything, never met my needs in any way. The last 10 years I was just trying to get through it for our childrens sake but eventually I couldnt keep up the charade any more." - u/thrway111111

This Redditor shared that their aunt and uncle were best friends their wholes lives. They got married and raised three girls.

When the youngest was 18, the aunt asked for a divorce. Now, the Redditor's dad swears that they are better friends than before they were married.

"My parents were together for almost 30 years and then my mother and I found out my father had married another woman.... My parents aren't legally divorced because of sharia law complications but needless to say we haven't seen him since." -u/razzleberrii

"When the children finally left home I knew I had earned my freedom, if you asked him what was wrong he'd reply that I kicked him out for no reason, but frankly I should have done it when the children were tiny." - u/masha1901

This Redditor summed it up pretty well: "She likes opera while I like camping. She was pursuing her spirituality while I'm an atheist." And so on and so forth.

"We turned in to room mates that slept in the same bed at night. We stopped talking / communicating and basically did our own things even when we had time off together." - u/SmellsLikeAsparagus

Change is inevitable when a couple has been together for 20 years. But if they're not growing together, they're growing apart.

For this Redditor, their husband became an "unemployed white power angry conspiracy theorist man."

"Parents separated after 25 years of marriage. They never took time to take care of their relationship, it was all about the family. When the last kid left the house, and they faced only each other for the first time, they called it quit. And other stuff for sure." - u/elispell

This Redditor's wife would leave him and their three kids every five to 10 years whenever she was restless. They'd separate and she'd always come back since he made more money.

"I did everything I could to make it better but you can only do so much if the other half won't meet you halfway. I'm 37 and I finally realized I would be happier alone than live like this another day." - u/Meiune

"He was emotionally flat which made me incredibly lonely. Tried too long to find a solution, but in the end, he wasn't going to change and I needed more. Of course it's WAY more complicated than this, but for me, this is what it boils down to." - u/anothermochaplz

This one happened to this Redditor's parents. Since their dad was gay and never admitted it, he had multiple affairs over the years. The dad finally divorced the wife to be with his boyfriend.

"It was never going to work, I was extremely unhappy and settling for so much less than I need, want, or deserve. There was a history of abuse in the relationship. A lot of issues of all kinds.. financial, his family, his irresponsibility, his untreated mental health issues, my anger issues, his anger issues." -u/jaysjami