Living a double life?

Hillbeans

I told them I like Michael Bolton
Joined
Feb 24, 2003
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I've been following this story in Utah with Mark and Lori Hackling, and I just wonder how it's possible that some person can create a whole second life other than the one they are living. It makes me think of that story with Charles Kuralt and how he had a second wife and family with kids. I know people can lie and often do lie about things in their life, but I take the example of this Mark Hackling and school. Didn't his wife ask to see his grades, or question why his diploma wasn't up on the walls? I don't know, maybe i'm just a very curious person and ask to see things just because I like to be involved in my DH's life. Perhaps he was just a very good liar or they didn't spend a lot of family time together, but it just seems next to impossible to me how someone can have a complete other life with not one friend or family member knowing about it.
 
This actually happened in the family of one of my friends. Her dad had another whole family about that she never found out about until she was an adult. From what she said, there were plenty of clues.....it's just that nobody (particularly her mom) <i>really</i> wanted to know.:(
 
Happened to a friend of mine also. After they already had 3 kids, she found out he had a wife and kids in ANOTHER COUNTRY! That explained all his business trips. :rolleyes: Horrible. :scared1:
 
I don't know. Part of me wonders the same thing, but part of me says, I was once fooled too. I was dating a guy for 2 years, and even married him and during the entier time we were dating he was always sweet as pie to me. The day we put the final deposit down on the wedding reception, he started acting a little sketchy, but I brushed it off. The day we linked our bank accounts and I told him he could handle our finances, he acted a little sketchy again, but again, I brushed these things off as "oh he's just nervous about the wedding, etc. etc. "

The two weeks leading up to the wedding he let his real self show. He was nasty, he was cruel to me. My friends were scared for me. I wanted to call everything off but was afraid of my parents (and my ex knew it) and so I went through with it. We did not speak on our "honeymoon" and as soon as we returned he became insane, possesive, and metally abusive. Three weeks or so passed like this, and one night he raised a hand to hit me. I left and never returned.

He managed to take all of my savings and run up thousands in debt. I could not afford a good lawyer, and when we had the marriage anulled, (he claimed I frauded him into marrying me...I got all the blame on the anullment papers and I honestly didn't even care, I just wanted him gone) I walked away with nothing financially except a lot of debt I'm still paying off.

But I did walk away with my pride and my dignity knowing I did not put up with him.

Everyone says...well obviously you knew he was like that before....

No. I did not. He was a totally different person until he knew he had me. I should have seen the signs and not blown it off as wedding nerves. But I didn't. Shame on me. After the anullment , he had a total breakdown. We work together (we still do, but he is not allowed to come near me in the building...it's messy story) and honestly, a lot of people have come up to me and told me they wished they'd realized he was a psycho and that they saw him change too. They wished they'd seen something before so they could have warned me. Even his own mother sided with me.

I guess it is possible for a person to be living a double life, or hiding who they really are from a lot of people.

I'm not stupid (at least I don't think so). But I was duped into thinking someone who was a complete lunatic was a decent person.
 

Gosh Esmerelda, that story is horrible. :( I am so glad you are away from that horrid person. My sister has a similar story, but thankfully is now married to a wonderful man.

I can see how this could happen. Love is blind. I pray that woman is found alive, but I have a sick feeling she won't be. :( I'm shocked the police are saying he isn't a suspect.
 
Originally posted by snoopy
Gosh Esmerelda, that story is horrible. :( I am so glad you are away from that horrid person. My sister has a similar story, but thankfully is now married to a wonderful man.

I can see how this could happen. Love is blind. I pray that woman is found alive, but I have a sick feeling she won't be. :( I'm shocked the police are saying he isn't a suspect.

I chalk it up now as a learning experience, and although sometimes I feel nosy, I pay closer attention to my friends now (male and female) when they talk about their relationships.

I have a friend now who is in what I consider to be an abusive relationship (her husband drinks a 6 pack for breakfast :rolleyes: ) . I generally don't speak out unless I'm asked for advice, (in this case I am , often) but when I'm asked, I tell my friends what I really think. The way I see it, I'd rather have a friend a little mad at me for not telling her what she wants to hear, than have a friend wind up dead.

I also really want to help spread the message that there is never a good reason to stay in an abusive relationship. I get a little preachy about it sometimes.

And I too have a very sad feeling that this woman will not be found alive. :(
 
I can certainly see how this would happen--I've been through it myself with my ex. The thing is that you believe your husband when he suddenly starts lying to you. I'd been married for 10 years before it started so you just really don't expect it. If someone's been truthful for several years you really wouldn't have any reason to suddenly mistrust what they tell you.

I can see not questioning it if your husband said he was accepted to medical school. I would never ask for proof. Nor would I ask to see proof of his grades. It's actually very easy to be misled if you have no reason to distrust your spouse's motives.
 
EsmeraldaX,
You sound as you have found strength in something so horrible and for that, I am glad for you! I have to tell you that you look just like my DDs elementary school principal...only I don't picture her going to WDW! lol
We all should be so lucky to have friends like you who aren't afraid to tell us the truth when it needs to be told!
 
Originally posted by Ibelieveinfairies
EsmeraldaX,
You sound as you have found strength in something so horrible and for that, I am glad for you! I have to tell you that you look just like my DDs elementary school principal...only I don't picture her going to WDW! lol
We all should be so lucky to have friends like you who aren't afraid to tell us the truth when it needs to be told!

Thank you.
 
Oh my gosh Esmerelda that is an awful story. Atleast you found out before you married him. :D

I was suspicious of my aunts new boyfriend, so I started an investigation on him. It's amazing what you can find out about people if you really try. Guess what though, my aunt won't listen to me and still likes him. :(

Unfortunately I think that it's a good idea to check out someone you get involved with. You really can't trust people at face value sometimes.

Poor Lori Hacking. The whole thing is so tragic.:(
 
Esmerelda, I'm so glad you got out of that situation as quickly as you did. It also explains more to me about your feelings about financial independence (I remember from your posts about jobs).

I wouldn't want to be in a relationship where there is that much distance that could even provide for a double life. I know that's not possible for everyone, but I'm glad my DH has a job with set hours, and otherwise he is usually with us! He does have some other hobbies, interests and friends, but I see those things happening and never have to wonder what he could be doing.

I feel very sorry for people who are deceived by someone who is supposed to love them.
 
Esmeralda - Wow, that is some story. I'm sorry to hear that you went through that and worst that you still have to see this person or know that at the very least they are close by. It'd be hard to get closure on something knowing that fact.

I know there are many different kinds of relationships between spouses, sig. others., etc., and not all of them allow for time to see the other spouse a lot or spend a lot of time with them. I can't imagine what this poor guy was doing to himself with all of this lying...it had to play some part in the breakdown of his health. Lying about everything in your life 24/7 has got to be very difficult. To me, it almost sounds like he just cracked the day that Lori confronted him and he killed her. I just pray that she's alive but it sounds almost like he confessed already. I'm sure more will come out in the weeks ahead.
 
Originally posted by minniepumpernickel
Oh my gosh Esmerelda that is an awful story. Atleast you found out before you married him. :D

I was suspicious of my aunts new boyfriend, so I started an investigation on him. It's amazing what you can find out about people if you really try. Guess what though, my aunt won't listen to me and still likes him. :(

Unfortunately I think that it's a good idea to check out someone you get involved with. You really can't trust people at face value sometimes.

Poor Lori Hacking. The whole thing is so tragic.:(

Unfortunately, I found out after I married him but was able to have it anulled 3 weeks later. :(

I hope your aunt listens to you. :( That's the worst most helpless feeling, when you know someone is in danger of being hurt and they just won't listen. I feel the same way about my friend with the alcholic husband.

I refuse to stop trusting people. I am a little more inquistive to people now, than I was before the whole ordeal, but I don't think I could ever hire a PI to check out someone I was personally involved with. (although, for someone else, I might...)

But I have learned to ask a lot more questions and pay closer attention to the way people react to things, esp when angry.

With my ex, it was not him hiding anything from me other than his abusive and possesive behavior. He slipped up and started snapping at me a few times as the wedding date got more and more set in stone. I should have paid more attention to the way he treated me then instead of chalking it up to normal pre-marital nerves.

I have been with my current BF for about 3 years. We live together, and are quite content. We rarely argue, but when we do, the words might get nasty but the tone does not and I have never felt the slightest bit belitteled, or afraid. We usually make up after like 15 minutes. We have seriously only had shouting matches maybe 3 times in 3 years. Everyone argues, but I know now to pay close attention to what is not said during an argument. (everything from tone of voice, to the look in a persons eye can tell you a lot about how they are when they are angry). How people are when they are angry, and how people manage their tempers can be a good indicator of what a person is really like.

Relationships are complex things. With my friend, she knows all about her husbands past, and she is aware that he is an alcholic. She won't call him that though. She'll make excuses for him and put up with some awful things. There is not much I can do to point out to her anything else and make sure she has my number and knows she can call me anytime (esp. for a ride...she does not have a liscense and the only person who ever drives when they go out is him... :eek: :( ). That situation is not so much a case of a double life, as it is a woman who thinks she can't do any better. It's so sad and as a friend it's so hard and often scary to sit on the sidelines watching someone you care about get hurt.

Sorry, I went kind of off topic here, but it's just an issue that hits me very close to home and I am really passionate about it.
 
Esmerelda,
You are just the nicest person!:D I think some of the bad people target the nicest ones. Just keep being the good person that you are!:sunny:

If anyone ever needs help checking someone out, call me!;) I love playing "detective". I guess I just have a suspicious nature.:cool:
 
Originally posted by Hillbeans
Esmeralda - Wow, that is some story. I'm sorry to hear that you went through that and worst that you still have to see this person or know that at the very least they are close by. It'd be hard to get closure on something knowing that fact.

I know there are many different kinds of relationships between spouses, sig. others., etc., and not all of them allow for time to see the other spouse a lot or spend a lot of time with them. I can't imagine what this poor guy was doing to himself with all of this lying...it had to play some part in the breakdown of his health. Lying about everything in your life 24/7 has got to be very difficult. To me, it almost sounds like he just cracked the day that Lori confronted him and he killed her. I just pray that she's alive but it sounds almost like he confessed already. I'm sure more will come out in the weeks ahead.

It is complicated. We work for a large company but one that is very close knit. I refused to bring our personal problems into the office. He chose to bring them into the office.

After work one day, during the annullment process, he had a fit and started screaming at me. Then he started spreading rumors about me. I went to our HR dept. and asked them to either terminate his employment for harrassment or have something written up so that he could not come near me or discuss me at work. For a year here my life was pure hell. But I refused to give up my job just because he was here first.

He has friends in high places here (all of whom like me and keep neutral) and they opted to have him stay with the agreement that he not come near me or my friends (he was giving my boyfriend ; who was then my good friend) and my best friend (she also works here) a difficult time, threatening emails and such, making racist comments about my best friend (who is of a different ethnicity than he is).

I was shocked they did not fire him, but such is the way it works around here (I think HR was afraid of lawsuits from him). I rarely see him around the office and when I do he does not say a word. It's so childish really. I can at least be civil to him in a professional workplace but he can not be civil to me.

As time went on, the rumors faded and people started questioning his newfound behavior (being snippy at people and having tantrums a lot). Slowly people started approaching me and telling me they were sorry if they judged me. Women I did not even really know were telling me that they had told their sisters/aunts/cousins/friends in abusive situations about me and how I stayed at work, and put up with all the bs. One girl I'd never seen before from some other dept. actually hugged me.

It was surreal.

But three years later, I'm still here. My BF is still here. My best friend is still here. My ex still works here. But I've noticed no one really associates with him anymore.
 
Originally posted by minniepumpernickel
Esmerelda,
You are just the nicest person!:D I think some of the bad people target the nicest ones. Just keep being the good person that you are!:sunny:

If anyone ever needs help checking someone out, call me!;) I love playing "detective". I guess I just have a suspicious nature.:cool:

Thank you! You are too! I'm glad your aunt has you looking out for her. And I do hope she listens to you. :hug:
 
Originally posted by minniepumpernickel
If anyone ever needs help checking someone out, call me!;) I love playing "detective". I guess I just have a suspicious nature.:cool:

You and me both, Minnie. I guess since I've been lucky enough to be married to one of the good guys for 18 years, I know a bad guy when I see one. ::yes::
 
Sorry for sort of hijacking the thread!!

I know alot of people will think it's stupid and yes, you are only hearing my side of the story. But I stand by it, and so do a lot of other people who know me!

Back to the OP's question now! :)
 
Sorry that happened to you Esmereldax!!


Back to the question..I dont know how anyone can keep it up. Heck, I know people on these boards post under more than one user name..I couldnt do it.

My life is crazy enough..I dont need two of them:p
 
Originally posted by onecoolmama
Sorry that happened to you Esmereldax!!


Back to the question..I dont know how anyone can keep it up. Heck, I know people on these boards post under more than one user name..I couldnt do it.

My life is crazy enough..I dont need two of them:p

I'd get confused posting under two different names...
I don't really get why people would even do that!

When people are blatantly lying, eventually the truth usually catches up. I only wish for Lori Hacking it did not have to catch up the way I'm afraid it did. :(
 















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