We love a good revenge story! From showing off their new spouses to living their best lives, these people spill the tea on how they got sweet, sweet revenge on their ex-partner. Take notes! Content has been edited for clarity.
“I Was Happy I Didn’t Marry The Wrong Person”
“Years ago, my girlfriend left me for a guy she met at work. At this point, we had been living together for about two years. I trusted her completely, and I never saw her leaving me coming. I was completely heartbroken when she left me.
Since we were together for so long, people thought we would marry each other sometime. Her mother always called us, ‘the couple who had everything.’ My ex-girlfriend and I had both finished college with our master’s degrees, and we had gotten good jobs to start our careers. Plus, we recently purchased a beautiful home. Both of our families wholeheartedly supported us.
Long-term relationships become routine, which is how things went with us. Our work week was tiring, and weekends were busy with taking care of the home. I was pleased when my ex began going out with her work colleagues without me. This gave me time to do things I wanted and hang out with my buddies.
I suppose I was blind to what was going on at the time. Looking back to the time when my ex-girlfriend started cheating on me is obvious now. Some of the lies she told and the excuses she made were unbelievable.
My ex would tell me things like, ‘I have to go out with some clients after work,’ or, ‘I have to stay home, I can’t travel with you,’ when I went out of town for the weekend.
During this time, she was telling her new partner about how our, ‘relationship wasn’t going too well.’
My ex moved out of the house, and she didn’t have a hint of regret. She had found who was better than me, or so she thought.
For the next month, all I could think about was getting us back together. We had so much, and we could have had so much more. I sent flowers to her work and called her, but she didn’t want to talk to me anymore. Instead of trying to talk to her afterward, I tried focusing on all of the bad aspects of our relationship. Sometimes my ex-girlfriend was demanding and moody, and she didn’t have very many friends to hang out with. I eventually got to the point where our getting back together was no longer something I desired.
Although we lived nearby each other, I avoided seeing my ex at all costs. As I still loved her, and part of me wanted her to be happy. I didn’t want to upset her new relationship with her boyfriend.
After about seven months, I saw her one evening when I was out with my friends. I hardly recognized her.
She was withdrawn, and she only managed to give a quick, ‘Hello,’ when I passed her.
Two weeks afterward, she came to my apartment to drop off a holiday card. We chatted for a while, and she told me that she and her new boyfriend had taken the vacation she and I planned. It hurt a bit, so I decided to retaliate.
I told my ex, ‘I was planning to go to Australia soon. You know, as we planned.’
She didn’t seem interested or seem to care.
I dropped a card off at her place on the holiday and found her crying, but she didn’t want to talk about it.
Around this time, I met a new girl. She was a friend of one of my previous exes. We got together after the holiday, and we spent as much time together as we could. The relationship between my new girlfriend and me was fun and easy.
However, I still wanted to travel to Australia. I quit my job, sold my car, and bought a one-way flight. My new girlfriend was happy for me, as she wanted to move to Australia one day, too.
When a friend of mine told my ex-girlfriend I was leaving town, clearly upset.
My ex sent me a letter stating, ‘If we were still together, I would come with you.’
Then I remembered this was the girl who would prefer watching television shows over going out when we were together. There was no way I was going to bring my ex with me.
So, I left for my trip to Australia a few weeks later. My new girlfriend quit her job and flew into Melbourne a few weeks later to meet up with me. We spent eighteen months traveling together.
We recently celebrated our twenty-fifth anniversary in July. We had three great children, and live on an acreage in Calgary, Alberta.
My ex? She married someone ten years after she left me. She had a couple of children when she was nearly forty, and she recently separated from her husband.
They say a life well-lived is the best revenge, but I never wanted revenge. I was simply happy I never married the wrong person.”
“I Should Have Apologized Sooner”
“In this situation, I was on the receiving end of the revenge.
I dated the perfect girl back in college. The similarities and love between us were so surreal, it made me complacent. I began fooling around thinking she wouldn’t find out, and I thought even if she did find out, she wouldn’t care.
I thought I could defend myself by saying, ‘I was only casually flirting,’ and she would take me back.
Boy, I was wrong.
The girl’s parents never cared for me and had started to force her to marry someone of their choice. She had met a few guys but outright rejected them for me. As my confidence in our relationship grew, I began texting another girl from an online website.
The next day, I saw an e-mail in my inbox with the subject, ‘Why did you do this to me?’
The e-mail was coupled with screenshots of the texts from the websites. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my girlfriend knew the passwords to my social media accounts.
In my overconfidence, I forgot to delete my texts and was caught red-handed. Any other person would have apologized to their girlfriend, but I didn’t. I was a terrible person. I began blaming my girlfriend for invading my privacy and controlling my life.
My girlfriend and I kept fighting, and I never apologized to her. This went on for two more weeks, and I eventually started to break. I began to realize her importance in my life, and how much I needed us to be back together. However, it never happened.
Four months later, my sister texted me and explained, ‘Hey, did you know your ex was just at the house?’
My heart started pumping with joy, as I thought my ex came over to apologize to make amends with my family and me.
I replied to my sister, ‘I didn’t know my ex was coming over, but how great!’
My sister responded, ‘Have you spoken to her at all recently?’
‘No, I have been busy lately,’ I told her.
‘Oh, so you don’t know,’ my sister said.
‘Know what?’ I questioned with concern.
‘Your ex came over to seek our blessings,’ my sister explained, ‘she is getting married to another man.’
We were only separated for four months before my ex-girlfriend got engaged. I was completely heartbroken.
It was fabulous revenge on her part. I treated my ex terribly, and I knew she deserved better. There wasn’t a moment when I didn’t feel sorry about the way I treated her.
I wish I would have apologized to my ex sooner. Maybe then, she would have been mine today.”
“I Finally Found Happiness And Freedom”
“A couple of years ago, I finally filed for divorce from my husband. He was controlling and abusive, and my children and I had been through the worst
My ex-husband was a professional and a retired military officer. Everyone thought he was an upstanding man. I lost all of my friends and family when I filed for divorce.
The divorce wasn’t finalized for almost a year. My ex kept telling our family therapist he was serious about working on himself and our marriage. Finally, at one therapy session, both his therapist and my therapist met with the two of us. In one session, all of the lies and abuse came out, and my husband kind of just shrugged and admitted to all of it. After the therapy session, I called my attorney. I needed to go forward with the divorce.
My ex-husband didn’t hire a lawyer. In fact, he didn’t even bother to show up for court.
After court, tears were running down my face as my attorney and I walked from the courthouse back to his office.
My attorney looked me in the eye and said, ‘The best revenge is to live a good life. Just go on with your life and be happy.’
It was one of the best pieces of advice I had ever received. It drove my ex-husband crazy. He stalked my family and me for eight years, refused to pay my share of his military retirement pay for five, and took me to court six or seven times.
I continued to raise my kids and concentrated on my career. I bought a house. I became a grandmother to three beautiful children he was never allowed to see. The judge decided in my favor every time he took me to court.
My ex-husband passed away almost three years ago. The doctors said his heart just ‘gave out.’ He was only sixty-six years old. Less than a year before he passed, he had married for the fourth time.
I held my head high. I found happiness and freedom. I didn’t strike back at his ugliness. I always felt proud of it.”
“I Am Thankful I Found The Love Of My Life”
“When I was in college, I dated a girl I thought I might marry. She felt the same way about me, though we never planned on having a relationship in the first place.
Then one evening, my world came crashing down.
After having one too many drinks with a friend, he confessed he’d had an affair with my girlfriend while I was gone at boot camp.
‘Are you freaking kidding me?’ I screamed.
My friend replied, ‘Sorry, I just thought it would be right to let you know.’
I flipped out and began throwing bottles at my friend. For the first time, I finally understood how someone could become angry enough to fight someone else.
Instead, thankfully, I just took off. I roamed around for a few days and gave myself time to calm down and reason. Marriage never entered the conversation between my girlfriend and me again. We still saw each other occasionally, but never anything serious. I simply never trusted her again.
Interestingly, she and my friend never talked to each other again.
In my senior year of college, I met a beautiful woman who was just as beautiful on the inside. It was hard for me to trust people at this point, but this woman was different. I somehow knew she was absolutely the ‘one.’
And she has been the one for the past forty-five years.
My wife and I saw the woman who had an affair with my friend a couple of years ago. She never got married and didn’t have a partner. Perhaps revenge was her seeing what might have been in a relationship with me. Though honestly, I didn’t care about her anymore.
I am thankful every day I found the love of my life.
The best revenge for a broken heart is to love again.”
“Living Is The Best Revenge”
“I once dated a guy for three years. A couple of years back on my birthday, he confessed he had been married to another woman for the last eight years.
I thought he was kidding, but he wasn’t being funny. Worst of all, he told me on my birthday. I cried for hours and hours, and I even cried outside of the restaurant where we went to celebrate my birthday.
My boyfriend yelled, ‘Please don’t leave me! I love you, and I never want to lose you.’
I didn’t believe a word he was saying, and I was equally angry at the woman he married.
I composed myself and kindly told my boyfriend, ‘Get out of the house. Now.’
He argued, ‘Don’t make me leave now. It’s late, I don’t want to leave now.’
I shoved him out and replied, ‘Good luck,’ and never looked back.
A few months later, my now ex-boyfriend messaged me, ‘Seeing your face still troubles me. Why don’t you love me anymore? I am so sad and broken without you.’
Unlucky for my ex-boyfriend, he had to see my face every day because we worked in the same office. Him seeing me smiling, laughing, and happy every day was the best revenge.
Years later, I invited my ex-boyfriend to my wedding. He came to the wedding, and I told him how in love I was with my husband. I told him how I couldn’t believe we dated, and how I could never picture being with him anymore.
Talking about revenge, well, living is the best revenge.”
“The Person Who Leaves Always Comes Back”
“My friend, ‘Matt,’ and his girlfriend, ‘Kate,’ were in a relationship for four years. They went to the same college, and Matt was very caring to Kate.
However, in the last days of their relationship, Kate didn’t like Matt’s way of being protective of her. Kate began giving importance to his other male friend rather than Matt and began ignoring him.
Matt was extremely serious about his and Kate’s relationship. He tried everything to win her love back and make her feel special. Kate didn’t care about Matt at all.
After losing all of his self-respect for Kate, Matt finally decided to move on. It took him a while, but he did.
Similar to many other stories, the person who left always comes back.
Matt had just graduated from college, and he started building a busy professional life. All of the sudden, Kate came back. Matt tried to ignore Kate similar to how she treated him, but it didn’t work. She was persistent in getting back together with him.
Eventually, Kate got pushy and bothered about Matt not wanting to get back together with her. She figured since Matt used to care about her, he would always love her. This wasn’t the case. Matt had already moved on, and he didn’t want anything to do with Kate anymore. Finally, Kate realized what she had lost when she began treating Matt so poorly.
Matt’s revenge was behaving as if nothing had happened. He ignored Kate while he focused on building his dream life. When you ignore an ex, it only makes them want you more and realize their mistakes.
Just remember, karma doesn’t leave anyone.”
“He Cheated On Me With Another Woman”
“My ex-boyfriend cheated on me with another woman, so obviously, we broke up. Since we lived in different cities, I would receive updates about him from mutual friends.
One fine day, he called me and explained, ‘I hate my new girlfriend. She is so controlling over everything I do. You were the best I could ever get.’
Frankly, it did make me miss my ex-boyfriend a little bit. But then, I remembered he was telling me about the woman he cheated on me with, and was currently still dating. I couldn’t get back with my ex-boyfriend, even if I wanted to.
Call me crazy, but I was so madly in love with him, I considered trying to win my ex-boyfriend back. I missed him so much. His calls to me continued, but I never had the heart to tell him how much I missed him. I gave him a shoulder to cry on, and I only hoped he could sense I still loved him.
Fast forward a few years later, I got married to ‘the man,’ and he made me realize was. The ex-boyfriend was in touch with me on and off, which ‘the man,’ knew about.
One morning, I called my ex-boyfriend up. He was a little low, as his then-girlfriend refused to spend the holiday with him. Instead, she chose to go to some destination with one of his male friends.
When I called my ex, I told him, ‘Thank you for cheating on me, and thank you for breaking my heart. If you wouldn’t didn’t, I would have never met my husband. I never would have known what true love is, and I never would have realized the respect I deserve. Thank you for pushing me away.’
This was almost two years ago, and it was the last time we spoke. My ex never contacted me again after this conversation.
Living well and letting your ex know about it is the best revenge.”
“I Never Thought I Wanted Revenge”
“My first long-term relationship ended with my ex-girlfriend cheating on me. We had been together for four years and I was broken by our breakup. I thought I was going to marry her.
I blocked my ex from every form of contact I could think of.
It took a while, but I picked myself up and got back out the only took three months for me to meet the girl of my dreams, and we are now married.
Less than a year after we broke up, the ex got back in touch with me by calling from a mutual friend’s phone.
She explained, ‘I know I made a mistake. I wanted to be happy with you, and I have never stopped thinking about you.’
I calmly replied, ‘I was happy with you, but you broke my heart. Now, I am happy in a new relationship. I am grateful for the good times we had, but I don’t need to speak to you anymore. Please don’t contact me again.’
Before I hung up, I heard her crying into the phone.
I never thought I wanted revenge, and it was never on my priority list. However, when I was put on the spot and essentially forced to talk to her, what I said to my ex was close enough to revenge.
I always thought if someone broke my heart, I wasn’t supposed to be with them, anyway. When my ex saw me happy with another woman, it was enough revenge for me.”
“I Went Through A Very Dark Time”
“My ex-husband left me for another woman four months after the birth of our son.
One day, he announced, ‘I have been having an affair. My girlfriend is pregnant, and I’ll be going to live with her instead.’
At this point, we had been married for ten years. I thought my ex-husband was the love of my life. I went through a very dark time, and I struggled to hold it together for the sake of our children.
I was single for five years before meeting the man who is now my second husband. I was extremely angry at my ex-husband, but time slowly healed my wounds and I no longer hold resentment towards him. Now actually get along just fine. My ex-husband and his new wife had a daughter who was exactly a year younger than our son, and the two children were best friends.
A few months ago, his wife cheated on him and kicked him out. At the time he left me, I had wished he would have to feel what I was feeling, so he could understand everything he put me through. However, when it happened, I felt no satisfaction at all.
I sincerely wanted my ex-husband to be happy, partly because it would be better for the children. It’s natural to feel angry and hurt when you have been betrayed by someone you love, but resentment hurts the person feeling it most.”
“I Am Still Married And Happy Today”
“I met a boy when I was nineteen years old in college. We began talking, and shortly after, we started dating. This was a long time ago, back in the late eighties.
A couple of months after our relationship began, I found out he was cheating on me with a cheerleader. I found out around the holiday season, and I was heartbroken. I decided to confront him about it, and I broke off our relationship.
Even after I broke up with him, he still dropped off all of his holiday gifts to me. I called him and told him to take them back, but he wouldn’t. His parents insisted he give the gifts to me. I took the gifts I got for him back and pocketed the cash.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago. My parents were at an event, and they met a couple. Can you guess who?
It was my ex-boyfriend’s parents!
As it turned out, he married the cheerleader. A year into the marriage, he cheated on her (go figure). He got caught again, and his wife divorced him.
I had since gotten married, too. My husband is a wonderful man, and we have been together for over thirty-two years.
I am still married and happy today. My old ex-boyfriend is not. And that’s my revenge.”
“My Broken Heart Was A Catalyst To Something Better”
“When I was young, I wasted far too much time pining over what might have been. Being older and wiser, I figured out I needed to let bad relationships and events in the past go.
My best revenge was to go on, live a fulfilling life, and strive to be the best version of myself. I had to open my heart to new possibilities in my career, home, and love life. It was scary at first, but I was eventually glad I did it.
I always believed Iw my destiny in life until I was sent in another direction. It wasn’t the direction I chose, but I learned how to embrace the journey.
My broken heart was a catalyst to something better.”