My sister’s (F39) ex (M40?) is toxic, how do I help?
My sister (39) and her ex (M40?) just broke up. They’ve been having issues for a while but things definitely got worse. He is actively trying to turn everyone against her. First his family and now his friends who she had become really good friends with.
They were dating for about 13-14ish months. Throughout these months he has told her that he needed a 3rd day to hang out with his friends without her. He would say he needed to “study” for his work test and the only place he could do it was the cigar lounge. He only stayed with her for one day after one of her best friends died. He was constantly making her feel like she was crazy when she was upset about stuff like that. Now he is actively turning his family and the friends against her.
He lied to his family saying that she was a bad influence. She was the reason he couldn’t study for his test (he’s been studying for like a year 🙄). That she was irresponsible with money. He’s the one that doesn’t have money. He’s in so much debt that he is back to living on his houseboat. His mom paid off some of his loans. My sister makes good money. When they had talked about marriage she was going to make him sign a prenup.
His mother and mother’s best friend kept calling her and wouldn’t leave her alone until she answered. She finally broke down and told his mother’s best friend everything that had happened and she went and told the mother. He’s probably pissed because she told her about the time that he said they could just “kill his parents”. She was very close to his mom before all of this. But now she’s starting to see the red flags. I’m assuming for money because his parents have a lot of it. Pretty screwed up to say that about the parents that adopted you and loved you so much that they were going to leave you in charge of their will. Well, his mom and step-father.
Now he’s talking crap to the friends that she had also become friends with and making it sound like she was the biggest problem in the relationship. She moved two years ago and his friends are a majority of the friends she had where she lived. He’s crying to everyone and making himself seem like the victim. I mean he’s literally crying and is being like “I know I was a bad boyfriend” and a bunch of other crap my sister hasn’t told me yet.
I don’t know what to do. She had to get on antidepressants and had to take a leave from work. Any advice? I unfortunately can’t go to where she is because I don’t get vacation time.
Posted Sep 12, 2026, 8:38 AM UTC