My husband is Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde in social situations

My husband and I have been together for 6 yrs, married for 3.

He has this very annoying habit of becoming a completely different person depending on who he is around.

So, in the beginning he would get invites from coworker friends to hang out at bars, we would go as a couple (I'm introverted and not much of a drinker, I prefer weed edibles - no hangover)

A handful of times he would ditch me to hang with his friends while we were out at bars, or he would throw me under the bus to get a laugh to look cool for his "friends"

We talked about this, he apologized, yet still continued to do it. So I just started pulling away from going to these social events with him.

With just me he is sweet, kind, thoughtful. around his friends or people he is trying to impress he becomes rude, dismissive, arrogant, egotistical, and displays annoying frat boy vibes.

I talked to him about this, he always apologizes swears he doesn't realize he is doing it, says he will be more mindful in the future. He isn't, he doesn't change, and so to avoid this side of him I now 100% avoid all social situations with him.

My husband calls me his trophy wife, a few of his friends have hit on me, and he has pictures of me and our 3 yr old son behind his desk displayed in such a way that as soon as you walk into his office at work you see the pictures. He has told me that he gets several comments weekly about me due to those pictures. Usually it's a surprised "is THAT your wife!?!"

I fully believe he thinks I'm some sort of arm candy and I know he is very proud of how I look and wants to show me off to everyone. That is the problem tho...

So, to get to the reason I'm posting. He started a new job 4 months ago, it's his dream job in an upper management position. His company does outings and is very family involved. There is a baseball game he says he is feeling pressure to attend due to his position. He claims he doesn't want to go, and if we go he will just eat a hot dog and leave shortly afterwards (he claims this, but I know better than that) once he is comfortable he will stay til they shut the lights off and security kicks him out.

So my predicament is this work baseball game, a BBQ at a coworker's house, and an upcoming work event all in the next 3 weeks. I want to support him and be his "trophy" wife at these events. But I know he will slide into his Mr.Hyde personality and make me the butt of his jokes or completely ignore me all together. I will be there silently attending to our 3 yr old so I'll have my hands busy.

The things I'm nervous about are:

1.Dealing with a sassy 3 yr old in these settings knowing I will get 0 help from him.

  1. Meeting his coworkers (I'm a private person and my husband tells the world my business) I have had some extremely uncomfortable and heartbreaking moments where complete strangers will strike up a conversation with me and bring up embarrassing details to me which irks me because wtf is he telling the HR manager my personal life?

  2. Being ditched or completely ignored by him for 95% of the event

  3. Being the butt of a joke for strangers

  4. Forced to be there longer than agreed upon

I'm forcing myself to attend these events and be the support he needs. I'm just nervous I'll see Mr. Hyde come out... I loathe that side of him.

Posted Jul 8, 2025, 4:42 PM UTC

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