Yahoo Lifestyle People Are Sharing The Heartbreaking Reasons Why Their Friendship Ended With Someone
If you've ever broken up with a friend, you know it sucks—oftentimes even more than breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend. So, when a Reddit user asked, "What was the reason why your friendship ended with someone?" people took a moment to vent. Here are their stories:
1."I stopped being the first to always initiate plans, and that was that."
2."My former best friend got married, and his posh wife decided that she didn't want her husband to be seen with less rich people, and he listened to her. The sad fact is three years later, her dad filed for bankruptcy, and my former friend had to look for a new job that pays far less than all of his former friends."
3."Habitual lying became too annoying and disruptive to tolerate."
4."No call, no showed my wedding. We had been drifting apart for a few years due to work and other things getting in the way. I still invited him because he had been an important part of my life and helped me through some hard times. He never responded to the RSVP. I called him to see if he had lost it, gave him the date, and told him I was excited to see him there and celebrate. He didn't show up, didn't even send a text or call with a reason, and never even offered a single congratulations. Instead, he messaged me a few weeks later to ask if I wanted to take some photos of his dad's car that he was trying to sell."
"When I confronted him and told him how disappointed I was, he gave some BS about how we'll always be friends no matter what. Almost a year later, he comes back into town and texts my brother, 'Yo bro, let's hit up the bars tonight,' and my brother, as the ride or die he is, lit him up. 'Dude you bailed on my brother's wedding, never offered an apology or reason, and you've never made any effort to check in on our lives. We don't go out to bars anymore. We're both in serious relationships or married, and your friend you bailed on is about to have a kid. F--k off.' He claims his car broke down, but no text was ever sent. I'm super grateful to my brother for that. As for my former friend, f--k you. Actions speak louder than words."
5."I was a taxi for my friends, so I dumped them all."
6."She was a taker, constantly. When I needed something she made it about her yet again. It was exhausting to be around."
7."There was a position open in a different department. I encouraged her to apply and told her I would as well. What was the worst that would happen? They tell us we don't qualify? Up until this point, we had been best friends for three years. We hung out with each other's families and saw each other almost every weekend. We found out at the same time. They emailed her letting her know she didn't meet the qualifications. I received a call shortly from HR after they sent her that email asking me which interview time worked best for me. My previous experience is what qualified me. She got mad that I got an interview, but she didn't and even contacted HR to ask why."
"She stopped talking to me that day. She deleted me from all social media. I tried to talk to her about it but she flat out said she no longer wanted to be friends. I didn't get the position, which made being at work very awkward for the following four years I stayed. She was 35, and I was 34. We're grown-ass adults yet she was acting like a child. It turns out she's one of those who want the best for you as long as it's not better than her. I ended up promoting out of the department, and she's still there."
8."I've lost like all but two of my 'friends' because I stopped drinking and doing hard drugs."
9."He started dating my ex but hid it from me for an entire year. He only told me when I was furious at him for a different reason. When I was reasonably mad and told him to just leave me alone and that we weren't friends anymore, he went and told all of our mutual friends that I was in a murderous rage and that it would be dangerous to hang out with me. Friends told me they didn't believe him but that it was easier to go along with it than call him out on his BS, and that I wouldn't be invited to things he was invited to. I realized that day that my former best friend was a lying sociopath, and the rest of my friends cared more about not making waves than they did about me. I left them behind and went and found new friends. Best decision of my life."
10."I felt she only wanted me around when my life was a mess and worse than hers. Once I got a house and engaged, she distanced herself as I no longer had a purpose to her."
11."He kept embarrassing me in front of girls to make himself seem cooler. Sometimes, he'd bring up embarrassing stories I obviously wouldn't want someone to hear. Often, they were things I told him in confidence because I needed to get them off my chest. I asked him to stop, but he just kept trying it. Sometimes, he'd deny doing it altogether, and other times, he'd bring up something I did years ago to justify why he was doing it, and other times, he'd just not care. In the end, I just stopped talking to him. Dude was a massive prick."
12."Of all the toxic friends I've had to drop in the past two years, there was one thing in common: feeling the need to put me down, whether they were insecure or just 'making a joke.' Not worth any of that."
13."I hung out with a bunch of guys in high school and college, the quintessential role-playing crowd. They were fun in high school, but when I got into college, I noticed these guys were dysfunctional. None of them could keep jobs, or enjoy a relationship. They all sat around and complained about how the entire world was unfair, and how it didn't recognize their collective intellectual gifts. Meanwhile, I was not just busting my ass in school but working my way through to pay for it. And while my dating life wasn't the best, I had a couple of long-term girlfriends. But if I was going out on a date, something was wrong with me because I wasn't hanging out with them."
"But I'd still spend time with them. When one of them would lose a job, I'd lend money. When another was arrested for DUI in a small town 150 miles away at 9 p.m. on a Sunday, I drove down there to bail him out. And so on...
Then, my father had a sudden illness and went into a coma. He died a week later. During that time, only one of them called and came to the funeral.
A week after the funeral, they just started calling me again as if nothing had happened. As in, 'Hey, heard your dad died. Bummer. We're meeting at Dennis' apartment at 7.'
I dumped them, with the sole exception of the friend who showed up to the funeral. I remain friends with him to this day.
But I remember reading something once: 'You are the sum total of the five people with whom you spend the most time.' And, you know what? That's true. What they value, how they spend their time and energy, and everything else has a way of rubbing off onto you.
So when I dumped them, I made it a point to cultivate better friends. Friends who gave a damn. Every once in a while, I still bump into one or the other. Two of them never could hold down jobs and live with their aging parents. Good decision on my part."
14."They didn't respect the boundaries I had presented beforehand."
15."They were toxic and I was too dumb to realize it."
16."Every interaction was draining, and they always needed something. It should feel good to be around friends, not like a chore to keep somebody else going."
17."I stopped being a friend at some point and started being a therapist."
18."I lent them $20, and then they avoided me so they didn’t have to pay me back. Worth the $20."
19."She was one of my dearest friends. Then, my mom died unexpectedly, and my dear friend didn't contact me. She was on Facebook, and she saw the post. She just didn't contact me. I couldn't believe it. With every day that passed, I kept waiting for my best friend to contact me and acknowledge my mom's sudden death. She didn't. The pain she put me through during what was already the worst time of my life — I hope she knows how violently scummy that was."
20."They found other people that they consider to be more enjoyable than me."
21."Me ghosting them. I tend to lose touch with people when I'm no longer physically in their presence. I lost my high school friends when I went to college. I lost college buddies when I graduated and started working. I lost my close colleagues when the pandemic hit, and remote work became a thing. Now I have no friends since I rarely leave the house anymore."
22.And finally, "How's this for oddly specific: Friend since 1980. We were hanging out at a bar in 1992, and there was a dispute over a $15 bar tab. I was in the right, but whatever, he held a grudge for years. I ran into him in 2017, and we were both too old to care. We started to see each other now and then. In 2023, we were at this local bar for a show and got into a fight about $15 a ticket. Maybe he'll call me in 2063."
Why did one of your friendships end? Share your story in the comments!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
