Woman Accuses Her Husband’s ‘Work Wife’ of Ruining Their Marriage

The old saying goes, “Happy wife, happy life,” but one upset woman is claiming her husband isn’t quite living by that mantra.  

Amy, 31, revealed on Reddit’s “TrueOffMyChest” forum on Feb. 9 that she’s at her “wit’s end” with her husband, 32, his “work wife,” 30 and “his complete inability to see what’s happening” among the three of them. 

“I need to know if I’m going crazy here,” she wrote. “Where do I even start? Three years ago, my husband Mark started working with Sarah. At first, I tried to be welcoming. I invited her to our BBQs, included her in group outings and genuinely tried to be friendly.”

“Big mistake,” Amy emphasized, before recalling, “She spent the entire time making backhanded comments about everything from my career (‘Oh, you’re just a yoga instructor? How … peaceful.’) to my cooking (‘I guess not everyone can master basic seasoning.’).”

More recently, in January, Amy noticed an anniversary mug she gifted her husband was no longer at his work desk when she visited his office.

Amy’s husband told her that Sarah had “accidentally” knocked it over, causing the mug to break, so he threw it away.

“When I got upset, Mark said I was being too sensitive,” Amy remembered, adding, “IT WAS A MUG WITH OUR WEDDING PHOTO ON IT.”

She noted Mark said Sarah didn’t think the mug “fit the office aesthetic.”

The wife wrote that “the real problem” is he thinks Sarah is “just being funny.”

Listing some of Sarah’s “greatest hits” that have irked her, Amy wrote: “She scheduled a ‘mandatory’ work dinner on our anniversary. She convinced Mark not to take a promotion because it would mean working with a different team.” Continuing, she added, “She posts daily photos of them together with hashtags like #WorkPowerCouple and #WorkSpouse. She tells everyone at their office that she takes better care of him than I do. She changed his coffee order and now tells everyone she ‘trained him right.’ ” 

“The worst part? My husband is completely blind to all of this,” the wife explained. “Yesterday, he actually told me about how Sarah said our new house (which we spent months searching for) was ‘charming, in a starter home kind of way.’ He repeated this while LAUGHING.”

In response, Amy said Sarah described her as “just insecure.”

“She’s managed to insert herself into every aspect of our lives. They text constantly — even on weekends,” the wife wrote. “She knows his schedule better than I do. She rearranged his entire desk and office wardrobe because his style was ‘too suburban husband.’ THAT’S WHAT HE IS!”

Recently, Amy recommended marriage counseling to her husband. 

“He looked genuinely confused,” she recalled. ”He of course went and talked to Sarah about it. I found out from another coworker that she’s been telling people that Mark and I are ‘going through a rough patch’ and that she’s ‘just being a good friend by giving him someone to talk to.’ We weren’t going through anything until she started this nonsense!”

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Amy added that she reached her “breaking point” during a recent office visit. 

“I stopped by his office to surprise him with lunch (it was his birthday and Sarah was supposedly out sick),” she wrote. “Guess who was there? Sarah. She’d ‘miraculously recovered’ and bought him a cake that said, ‘To my work hubby,’ with a photo of them from the office holiday party.”

“She saw me and said, ‘Oh, Amy! You came too … how nice. Mark, you didn’t tell me your real wife was coming!’ I’m not crazy, right?” Amy wondered. “This woman is trying to destroy my marriage while my husband stands there grinning like it’s all some big joke.” 

Seeking outside opinions, Amy then asked the Reddit forum, “What do I do? Divorce seems extreme, but I’m running out of options here.“

Within 24 hours of sharing her story, the post garnered nearly 2,000 responses, with commenters providing advice on what she should do next.

“There is always going to be women like this out there. It’s how your husband reacts that is the problem,” one person replied. “His blatant and constant disrespect is totally unacceptable and the fact that he’s ignoring your feelings on this means you need to now make him see how serious you are. If you don’t change up how you’re reacting and show him you mean business, he’s not changing at this point.”

A second reader noted that “Sarah is not the problem” and that “your husband doesn’t respect your vows or you.”

Another Redditor concluded, “You’d be right to offer a final ultimatum, but honestly if it’s coming to that, just chose yourself first. You deserve better. It’ll be hard but you won’t have these shitty feelings.”