There’s something so magical about friendship. Having a partner in crime you can confide in when you’re stressed or go out on the town with when you’re celebrating makes life infinitely more exciting. But when we’re bonding with our besties over beers and sharing confessions about our childhoods, it’s hard to imagine there may ever come a time when we’ll want to rip off our matching necklaces or flush our friendship bracelets down the toilet.
Reddit users have recently been opening up about former friendships that they decided to end, so you'll find some of their most heart wrenching stories below, as well as interviews with the person who started this conversation and Corey J. Flanders, LMHC.
#21
When I was a single mom, I had a bartending job where I worked every Friday night until quite late. Another single mom and I had become friends after our kids did, and I knew she was a lot more financially strapped than I was. So I made a deal that on Fridays, she would pick my kid up and keep them until Saturday and I’d pay her. A couple of years later, my workplace shut down for remodeling, and I didn’t need her to babysit any more. She went off on me, saying she relied on that income, and how dare I take food out of her child’s mouth, blah blah blah.
Yeah, that was too much for me. No more friendship.
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86points
#23
After 17 years of being "Best friends" I finally figured out that she only kept me around to tear down my self esteem to make herself look better. She never considered anybody else's feelings in what she did or said. If you tried to make plans and she couldn't come, she would bully you into changing it or make a big deal of how you must hate her.
Worst part was she was related to some big wigs in town so if you pissed her off, good luck keeping or finding a job.
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69points
#24
Every time I mentioned a girl I was talking to or was even slightly interested in he would go out of his way to chat her up, ask her out or try to shag her. He even messaged my ex (who he didn't even know) on Facebook a week after we broke up trying to get with her. Weird, weird bloke.
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64points
#25
Because they were the biggest narcissist known to man. Some examples include:
1. Constantly referring to themselves as iconic, gorgeous, a legend, a celebrity
2. Posting 700 selfies with a filter everyday, clearly thinking people are obsessed with them
3. They would call me constantly just to talk about themselves. When I would speak, they would yawn or interrupt me, or just start texting on their phone and ignoring me altogether
4. They talked s**t about other people and were really nasty to strangers, acting very entitled
5. They had no empathy and did not take accountability for their nasty behavior. Nothing was ever their fault, they were perfect and it was everyone else who was the problem.
6. They were very shallow, vain, and only wanted to hang around pretty people
7. They used people to social climb
2. Posting 700 selfies with a filter everyday, clearly thinking people are obsessed with them
3. They would call me constantly just to talk about themselves. When I would speak, they would yawn or interrupt me, or just start texting on their phone and ignoring me altogether
4. They talked s**t about other people and were really nasty to strangers, acting very entitled
5. They had no empathy and did not take accountability for their nasty behavior. Nothing was ever their fault, they were perfect and it was everyone else who was the problem.
6. They were very shallow, vain, and only wanted to hang around pretty people
7. They used people to social climb
I can go on and on. But basically every symptom of narcissist personality disorder...they had.
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63points
#26
Old roommate. He backstabbed me with some harsh words all because of a girl. Then almost frontstabbed me with a knife while I was sleeping. Seemingly had a semi-sober moment in his drunken rage and took it out on my bedroom wall instead.
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61points
#27
I was fed up with walking on eggshells around him all the time.
Sunk cost had me sticking around in that friendship for way too long, but having the pleasure of knowing what actual great friends are like, I made the decision to pull the plug. I wish him well. I still want to see him eat, just not at my table anymore.
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59points
#28
She never wanted to talk about my problems and life, only her own. When I’d try to open up, she’d shut me down by saying the subject was “awkward.” The final straw was when I tried to tell her that I was experiencing PPD and I needed someone to listen, and she wouldn’t let me talk.
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58points
#29
Trauma dumping.
I became a therapist at some point and definitely wasn't qualified to deal with incest, SA, money problems, etc.
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54points
#31
They were unbelievably toxic and annoying to even be around. Ruined my reputation and my general self-being, and made me feel like s**t for something I wasn’t even at fault for.
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53points
#33
I couldn’t keep propping him back up. I love the guy, but he’s gotta live his life. I got him jobs, moved him in with me several times, he ate my food, used my wifi, drank my booze, and just quits on everyone. I’m good homie. I’ve got mouths to feed.
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48points
#34
They got a new job and almost immediately their personality shifted. They started getting randomly paranoid, sharing memes and constantly talking about incredibly racist stuff, and not wanting to go to certain areas. Even though we'd just been there weeks before, all of a sudden they were rampant crime areas. It became impossible to have a conversation with them without it becoming some rant about how his rights were gone and the world was terrible.
Maybe it was always there, but it felt like one day, they're my friend that I've known for decades, and a few months later I'm dealing with a delusional wannabe survivalist.
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47points
#35
After 15 years, I was still on friend probation. She was still deciding whether she would continue to be my friend or not. Every once in a while she would ghost me. And she wouldn't communicate, but would do passive-aggressive things to try to hurt me so I would get mad enough to say something and THEN she would tell me what was wrong.
I realized I would have never treated her like she was treating me, and I deserved better.
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47points
#36
He used to tell me all about taking advantage of opportunities and "not being an angel" and praising the idea of being selfish.
I didn't realize he was warning me.
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46points
#37
Friend was always kind of snarky, but their life got screwed up, I hung in and helped as best I could, including lending money(repaid). Helped them avoid some bad consequences of avoidant behavior. They became really b****y, mean and even stole some stuff. After a while, they realized I stopped visiting, declined requests to get together and pushed back hard on rude, unpleasant comments. Now they're polite, but I've moved on. We have friends in common; I don't tell others about the bad behavior. I understand that depression and anxiety can make people irritable, but it went way too far.
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43points
#38
It's been 10+ years since we've left high school. They still have the same mentality now that they did then.
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42points
#39
She went full maga. You’d disprove something, she’d just charge off on the next nonsense. She can make up s**t faster than you can disprove it. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.
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42points
#40
She was abusive. Yes, I was her friend between the ages of 11 and 16, so I know this sounds extreme, but she actually displayed all of the signs of an abuser. She manipulated me and lied to me, gaslit and guilt-tripped me constantly, called me names sometimes and insulted me, would turn all my friends against me if she perceived any wrong from me, straight up bullied and alienated me for a year, took advantage of me and guilt-tripped me some more when I started having trauma responses around her, and then would flip to a nice and caring friend at random, especially when I'd pull away, and suck me right back in. Eventually an altercation happened where I was in gym class while injured without a doctor's note, and she yelled at me for not participating in the game to her satisfaction (i.e. running full-speed like everyone else) because my injury was hidden under my clothes, and accused me of lying even though the gym teacher himself okayed me taking it easy as long as I was participating. Then she hunted me down after class and told me we were gonna have to have a serious talk because my behavior has to stop like a disappointed parent scolds their child and made an insult to my intelligence. (I'm really insecure about that because I'm autistic, and anyone who knows me knows to never go there.) Then she strung me along with fake apologies and c**p when I got really upset and then turned around and made it out like I was the one who was causing trouble and didn't want to fix what happened.
I couldn't take it anymore. We sat down a little over a month later and ended the friendship. The last time I spoke to her, she tried the whole guilt-tripping me for avoiding her and talking down to me like a parent does their child, and I flatly informed her that I don't think she knows me anymore and walked away. She tried harassing me via text and email (I had her blocked on social media so she couldn't try that) and it fell through because I didn't respond.
I'm 24 now. I've been through worse, and I've grown up. I've managed to heal, and distancing myself from my classmates really really helped. If you're reading this and know who you are, I know that I was toxic too. I was young and immature and dramatic and didn't treat you so good either, and I'm sorry. I hope you're well, and I hope you got therapy and learned how to properly treat people with love and respect. But I will never forget how you treated me, I was already going through enough without your bologna, and I wish you never moved to town. I hope to God I never have the misfortune of ever laying eyes on you again.
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39points
