How Do I Get My Husband to Talk to His 'Ex-wife" & Express He Is Not Happy?

Updated on May 01, 2008
L.T. asks from Clovis, CA
6 answers

My husband will not talk to his ex-wife. I was able to get them to finally talk at the begining of March of this year. And they both told each other that they don't want to talk to each other. But when I push him to call and talk to her about an issue, he talks to her like she is a queen. I don't understand, how do I get him to express himself to her? She yells at him and then hangs up the phone but he never gets mad at her. He acts like there is nothing wrong. And it never fails we always get into a fight after he has talked to her. Example last night I made him call her about our 16 yr. old who is driving. She has no money and she only has one car. We have bought a truck for him to drive. And wanted to sit down and talk to her about what we all four thought the rules should be and if anything happens to the truck while at her house, then she would need to help cover the cost that the insurance didn't pay. We are paying for all of the insurance on it and she pays nothing! She refused to sit down and talk!! Said she didn't care what vehicle he drove. So last night my husband called to talk to her (because it was her Wednesday night with the child). All I asked him to remember to do was tell her to keep the lines of communication open at all times. She wants us to talk by emails only. But lately she has not responded to any emails we have sent. So he tells her, after a very calm conversation about the truck, he tells her that she needs to keep the lines of communication open about the son's driving. Nothing about keeping them open in general! We only ever fight about the "ex", and when I try to push him to talk to her about things we fight. How do I get him to open up and talk to her without causing us to fight? How do I get him to get angry with her? It is like he is afraid that she will take the child aways if he gets angry. She has no problem getting mad. He says that he would never go back to her if something ever happened to me but I don't believe that to be true!! Help what do I do? I'm starting to feel like I need a straight jacket and a padded cell!!

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So What Happened?

After hearing back from some of you, I have come to the conclusion that I am never going to change the 'Ex-wife" and make her a better mother. Nor can I change my husband into something he is not. He hates her and doesn't want to talk to her so I guess the only thing to do is let their son deal with SOME of the issues. My husband and I had a long talk last night and I expressed how I feel and he said how he feels. My only concern is that the "ex" treats me like sh__ and that isn't fair to me. I have done nothing wrong other than marry her ex-husband and raise her child the best I know how. Why can't she be thankful that at least this step-parent loves her child. So many step-parents treat the step-kids poorly and I don't. I treat him like he is one of my own. And as far as her not having any money that is just because of her pride, I guess. She could get a real job if she wanted but she wants to be self employeed and right now her industry is way down hill (morgage). Anyway I just wanted to thank everyone for the insight, and I will be looking into help for me to learn how to deal with her. Thanks again. :-))

More Answers

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J.C.

answers from Sacramento on

Simple. Stop making your husband talk to his Ex! He is not your child, he's your husband. He doesn't want to talk to her and from what you've said nothing good comes of it when he does. So stop!
Your son is 16, you're just going to have to raise him the best you can when he's with you. You can't worry about what she's going to do. You have no control over that no matter how much you want it. If you don't feel comfortable with your son taking the truck to his mom's house, then tell him the truck is for his use when he's at your house. If he gets into an accident and there is a bill to be paid you and your husband are going to pay it, if you can't accept that then get rid of the truck.
Bottom line is that things aren't going to go your way. Your husband isn't going to get on the line and tell off his ex. That doesn't mean he's in love with her. His ex isn't going to all-of-a-sudden decide to start openly communicating with you about your son and raising him the way you want.

Once you accept these things and let them go you will be free to have a much more loving, peaceful relationship with your husband.

3 moms found this helpful
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M.K.

answers from Chico on

I had a totally different response than before I read "He says that he would never go back to her if something ever happened to me but I don't believe that to be true!! "

Based on that comment alone, I would suggest you talk to a therapist or at least work on communicating your feelings with your husband about YOUR relationship, not the ex-wife. You obviously have trust issues, and that is so hurtful to your relationship. Work on you guys!!

Before that, I was going to say: If you are so worried about your son damaging the truck at her place or while under her supervision, and she has already refused to pay for it, then don't let the truck go there. Frankly, I don't understand that issue: if the son is driving, isn't he responsible for the damages? You and you husband are very kind to buy him a truck and pay for his insurance. Perhaps you could work a deal with him? You said yourself that the ex has no money and only one car- so why should she pay or agree to pay anything to do with the child's luxury (because I think having a truck at 16 is a luxury). I think that this is a case of you having to make sure your husband and you set ground rules for the truck that you expect the child to follow regardless of where he's staying for the night or weekend or whatever. Let him know what the consequences are for betraying your trust, and then write an email to the ex if you think she needs to be informed of the rules. Then let it go. Pay attention to the child's driving, not his mother's reaction or lack of one. You won't change her.

I would absolutely NOT PUSH your husband to talk to his ex-wife. Especially if it is stressing your relationship with him. Obviously they didn't work things out when they were married, and there's no reason you should expect them to now- no matter how much he loves you or his child (children) with her. If she is not being negligent, then perhaps e-mail is the best way to go. That or a real letter on paper. If she is negligent, then a phone call (or something more dire) would be warranted.

Sorry if this sounds harsh- It is not meant to offend, and nuances are often lost in writing! I wish you the best of outcomes that involve no straight jackets ;-) Good luck!

2 moms found this helpful
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L.S.

answers from San Francisco on

whoa there nellie-if something happens to the truck while it is in the sons posession, HE (the son) gets to pay any deductable that there is with the insurance! That's called RESPONSIBILITY.
Every other communication should be by e-mail-that way if you ever end up back in court there is a paper trail. If the ex chooses not to respond, let the judge by the judge. Don't make this harder than it is.

2 moms found this helpful
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J.R.

answers from Sacramento on

I don't even need to read your whole question to tell you that this is not a simple fix...at least not simple enough to get help on this form. There is so much history and this really is a classic case of how guys deal with stuff vs how girls deal with stuff...neither ways are wrong, just different.

Regardless, you are WAY too involved in the situation. If you don't feel like you can step out of it on your own and leave it between your husband and his ex wife, then I would suggest counseling immediately. Clearly this is making you crazy and it's a situation that you have ZERO control over. So you either need to let it go on your own and let your husband deal with it on his own or you need to seek some professional help for how to cope.

Let me just say this though: If your husband still had feelings for his ex wife, then you would be seeing a lot more emotion out of him. However it sounds to me like one of two things is happening. 1. He simply doesn't care enough to get mad or 2. He's terrified of her. But in either case, sounds like he just wants nothing to do with her EVER!! So I wouldn't worry about him going back to her if something happened to you. And in any light...if by "something" happening to you, you mean dying...then why would you care if he went back to her?

2 moms found this helpful
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S.R.

answers from San Francisco on

L. WoW, give it to God Cast all your troubles upon him for he cares 1 peter 5:7

1 mom found this helpful
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P.W.

answers from San Francisco on

JoAnn and Marlene are right-on.

1 mom found this helpful
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