r/Advice•
One-Strategy672

Should I break up?

I am 18F and my boyfriend is 20M. We have been together for 9 months. He is my first real relationship and almost everything with him has been my first. I really love him but I just dont know if I'm happy with him because I question myself every day and I know that can't be a good sign.

For context, I recently discovered my boyfriend had a porn addiction since he was 8 years old. We haven't been having much sex so I just straight up asked him and he said that he watches porn multiple times a week because he is insecure about his performance with me and he says its something he doesn't need to worry about.

This absolutely destroyed me. We talked about it and he said he would stop. Which he has stayed true to his word so far and we've been having more, better sex. But I still just feel betrayed.

Prior to this a few months ago, I discovered he had been liking bikini pictures and thirst traps of people he knew on Instagram. As well as a few models and celebrities like Sydney Sweeney (he followed her main account and lingerie account and was liking and saving those pictures) I confronted him very emotionally and he felt very bad. The way he reacted was to try and turn it on me and say that I need to get over my insecurities and that just made me feel even worse.

Throughout those months where we thought we had "resolved" the problem, a lot of resentment was growing inside of me because of the way he acted. I talked to him about this last weekend and he told me that this whole time he had been too ashamed to admit how he reacted was wrong and that he knew he was wrong the whole time, and that he was just too prideful. He told me that I was right about everything I said and that his behavior was unacceptable.

He said that this kind of behavior was never a problem in past relationships and he genuinely didn't know how upset it would make me, and if he knew he wouldn't have ever done this in the first place. He told me that I had to be the person to tell him he was wrong for him to stop and he thanked me and said he'd become a better person for me and for himself.

I told him that porn addiction was also something I struggled with before I met him but I was able to stop when I met him just out of respect, and I guess I expected that same respect from him when I shouldn't have.

We talked about it and he sincerely apologized and told me he is going to get better, and he has. Which is why I feel so bad for still thinking this way. I just don't know if I'll be able to get over this because the fact he thought this behavior was okay in the first place hurts me badly.

I dont want to leave him because he has helped me so much with so many things, but I don't know if I can be happy and heal from this. People talk about me a lot and say I can do better and I'm starting to think that they're right. I just hate feeling this way.

TLDR; my boyfriend is working on bettering himself and he is, but I still don't know if I can be happy with him after what he's done.

Posted May 10, 2026, 2:05 PM UTC

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