Relationships,CouplesJUL 17, 2026

Wife's Fears Come True After She Meets Husband's Ex Wife In The Hospital

Rugilė Žemaitytė and Rokas Laurinavičius

If you ever played the game "is it cheating if," you know that people's understanding of fidelity can vary wildly. Still, you wish that by the time you're married to someone, the two of you have worked out the rules—which is what this woman thought until her husband's ex had gotten into the hospital.

He reassured her time and time again that he only wanted to care for her, but as time went on, the woman began to feel there was more emotional intimacy than her partner admitted. And after meeting the ex herself, she realized she was right.

This woman and her husband couldn't stop fighting over how much he — or they — should help his sick ex

Image credits: Getty Images / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

He was calling her jealous and insecure for not wanting him to get personally involved

Image credits: The Yuri Arcurs Collection / Magnific (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Amibengweird

Usually, when people keep in touch with their exes, it's because they still have feelings for them

In two studies, Lindsay Rodriguez and her colleagues surveyed young adults in romantic relationships to determine how often they communicate with their exes, why they maintain contact, and what that says about their current relationships.

The first study found that about 40 percent of participants kept in touch with an ex. For the vast majority (over 90 percent), this communication began within a couple of months of the breakup and continued at least once every couple of months.

Most people didn't communicate with their exes very often, but a small subgroup—13 percent—had contact with an ex several times a week.

The more serious the current relationship (e.g., married or nearly engaged vs. dating), the less likely participants were to have contact with an ex.

However, continued communication with an ex was unrelated to how serious the relationship with that ex had been. Instead, participants' feelings about their ex and about the breakup predicted whether they stayed in contact: people were more likely to communicate with exes they still had feelings for.

They were also more likely to stay in touch with exes if they felt the breakup had been more positive—characterized by mutual understanding and a lack of nasty behavior.

Of course, the "compatibility issues" cited by this woman's husband could mean a whole lot of things, but if you care about your current partner, you should understand why, in a situation like this one, their alarm bells are going off.