A woman, 35 years old, sent us an online letter that was very sad. She said she just can’t accept that her husband was a mean person. The woman told us that he was always remarking on how she smelled, and it was making her mentally ill. But what she said next made her even angrier, and now that we know how her husband was playing a trick on her, we feel bad for her.
The woman and her husband have always had a great relationship.
When a woman named Lilly wrote a letter, she sounded very upset about what was going on with her happy family. Lilly said that she and her husband George have been happily married for more than ten years and that she has never seen George act badly toward her.
Lilly explained, “In fact, our marriage has always been based on strong emotions, a strong desire to be with each other, mutual trust and respect.” I’ve always thought that my marriage to George was happy and perfect for me. He’s always been a dear and loving husband.
One thing that wasn’t so great was Lilly’s relationship with her mother-in-law. The woman wrote, “I do not get along with my MIL and have never been friendly with her.” She’s always been very bossy and entitled, and she really thought that her opinion was the only one that mattered in everything. Plus, she loves getting into other people’s personal lives.
I tried to make peace with her in any way possible and was always polite. It wasn’t a big deal for me because we didn’t see each other very often. George and I live in a different country, so it wasn’t likely that she would be getting in the way of our lives. I agreed with the truth that my MIL will never be my second mother.
At some point, Lilly’s husband stopped being polite and started being very rude.
In the next part of her letter, Lilly says that her husband’s behavior has changed a lot since about a year ago. “George started making rude comments about my body odor,” the woman said. There was no clear reason for it; my health or way of life hadn’t changed, and things had been fine until one day, when George started doing it. He would tell me at least once a day that I stink and smell like body odor.
Lilly tried to remember when they first met and said that she took daily showers, put on deodorant in the morning, and brushed her teeth three times a day. And she hasn’t changed how she cleans since then. George would say these mean things over and over again, though.
Lilly said, “I was so worried about how my body smelled that I started taking three showers a day and putting on a strong deodorant every hour (I even set an alarm on my phone to remind me).” I wore perfume and brushed my teeth five times a day, every time I ate or drank something other than water.
Lilly’s mental health was hurt by what George said.
For everyone, hearing that their body smells bad might be very unpleasant. Furthermore, if someone important says it every day in a rude way, this could be even worse. It was the same for Lilly, and she said that the behavior made her very angry.
“I felt like I was going crazy,” the woman wrote. During the time we were together, I was sure I didn’t smell bad. At that time, I didn’t think I smelled bad, but my husband could tell I did. People like me have always liked to smell their own armpits behind closed doors. After seeing a doctor, he told me there was nothing wrong with my health.
Everything was getting so bad that I started asking family and friends to smell my armpits and tell me straight out if I smelled bad. They all said I didn’t smell like body odor; one family member said I smelled too clean, like a Lush store.
Lilly finally found out why she smelled bad for her husband one day.
Lilly found out the truth about her husband’s suspicious behavior one day, much to her surprise. The woman was so scared at that point that she wouldn’t even kiss or cuddle George when he said she smelled bad.
George stayed home one morning while Lilly went for a walk outside. Lisal said, “I left and told George I’d be back in about three hours.” I wanted to go see my sister, so I chose to walk there and take a deep breath of fresh air. Suddenly, I felt awful. I decided it would be better to go back home and lay down instead of walking. It took me about 30 minutes to get back home after I left. George didn’t expect me to come back, of course.
Going on with her story, Lilly says, “Because I felt bad, I quietly entered the house, trying not to make any extra noise with my keys, etc.” The pain in my head was getting worse with every sound, and I had a terrible headache. George wasn’t there when I walked in because he was on a video call with his mom. Lilly said that George and her mother-in-law were arguing because they were talking very loudly. The woman didn’t like the loud noises coming from George’s room and wanted to ask him to turn on his headphones while he talked to his mother. She then realized all of a sudden that they were both talking about her.
“George was nervously telling MIL that he’s fed up with this “smelly game,” “Lily wrote. Basically, he was stressed out. He was saying that because of what he said about my body odor, we stopped touching each other and I wouldn’t even kiss him anymore. For her part, his mother told him to be patient if he wants to keep me with him. It turned out that George’s dad always said things like that to her, which was a surefire way to keep a woman from leaving you. “she will feel too low to cheat, will be devoted only to you, and will always be fresh and clean,” the man told the woman after she got married.
In other words, Lilly’s mother-in-law taught her son how to keep Lilly close by by telling him about the mean thing his own father did to her once! Lilly agreed that this was gross, and she was mad that George would ever try this disgusting method on her. “George doesn’t know yet that I know everything,” the woman said. I want to get a divorce, but I want to get back at him first. I know that George’s actions wouldn’t be a big reason for divorce for many people, but I just can’t picture spending the rest of my life with someone who treats a woman who loves him with all her heart with “smelly methods.”
