Quote From: ladyannaDr. P,
I've been writing to you and Oprah (as I am an incest survivor) about the fraud of a second marriage that my husband strategized and calculated so that he could protect himself financially AFTER he had taken everything from me after our 1st divorce. My 2nd divorce just became final and he had the nerve to put the words in the divorce decree that I cannot pursue and charges against him concerning fraud, deception or calculation strategy of this second marriage. He is STILL strategizing!
With my career, and the "things" we gained from it; his net worth is now over one million dollars. I am on the food stamp program and permanently disabled due to Severe Major Depression w/Dythsyimia, PTSD, Panic Disorder & Anxiety Disorder. I have not worked since 1993 and now am $39,000 in debt to the equity of my home, the only thing I have left ... He has our retirement home on Cape Cod, free of any mortgage, a beach home on the Connecticut shoreline, free of any mortgage and yet he courted me after the first divorce, and I will take the responsibility of allowing myself to open my shattered heart to him and fall in love with him based on verbal promises of fulfilling our original dreams of the 1st marriage that lasted 23.5 years.Ten days before we were to marry the second time, he put a pre-marital agreement in front of me and said that he couldn't marry me if I didn't sign it.... but "of course, I'll never divorce you ..." We married December 4, 2003. Last September 12, 2006, the Sheriff knocked on my door and there was an envelope with my name on it. I have been served. I am being sued for divorce.
Dr. P. I was in shock. I literally could not move away from the door for. I read only the first half of the first page. That's all I needed to read. I don't know how long I stood behind that closed door thinking to myself "But he promised me he loved me and would love me until the day he died; he allowed me to meet and care for my "grandchildren" then tore them away from me; he told me he would love and care for me always; he told me he wanted to grow old together. What happened?
It was at that point, I held the papers as far above my head as possible as I have a broken neck & said out loud to God: "God, I can't do this anymore. You HAVE to take this from me. Whatever is the result of this divorce I will accept it because I know it will have come from You. I surrender my entire life into Your precious hands."
The divorce became final September 13th, 2007. These two divorces are very much affecting my future, the possibility of losing my home, oh, btw: I'm first generation Italian and recvd no support from any of my family because divorce is unacceptable; at the first divorce my father told me "never to come back to his house ever again!" I replied "Don't worry, I won't. I called my lawyer as soon as I got home, asked him when the first legal day I could leave the state to go to live in Florida (I figured if I was going to go through so much suffering I may as well do it in good weather also my father would have harrassed me into NOT divorcing him and I just couldn't take that Dr. Phil, I ended up in the Psychiatric Hospital towards the end of the first divorce for 20 days and about 8 days after I was released, all of a sudden there were final divorce papers for me to sign. I was preoccupied with suicide ideation and under heavy meds; I figured the best thing to do was just sign the papers ... little did I know I signed away everything I educated myself for and worked so hard for as one of the first Nuclear Power Engineering Technician's in the country. That salary is what built "our dream homes" that I just signed away under the haze of drugs and being emotionally broken.
His ultimate deception, fraud, calculated scheme to marry me so that I could not modify any alimony from the first divorce has hurt me so deeply I cannot begin to describe.
But Dr. P., I ask you and Oprah why do people do this? He was a net millionaire after the first divorce, why did he serve me with divorce papers the second time, for a few more bucks in his own pocket?
I am now a practising Christian, I forgave him right away for intentionally hurting me and I told him I'd pray for his lost soul every day because the master he serves is money. The Bible says one cannot serve to masters, he will either hate one or love the other. To this day, I pray for his fallen soul not for my benefit but for his eternal salvation.
But there is this need in me to know why he wants to see me homeless and how can he even sleep in the homes we built together with both of our careers?
How can someone be so cruelly deceptive? How? Why?
Dr. Phil; please, I beg you and Oprah to respond to me yourselves this time as both your staff has continually trashed my emails, letters to you discounting my situation.
Please Dr. Phil, Oprah; don't push me away either. I am seeking understanding and help wherever I can about why this has happened to me. I have literally been going through a divorce for the past 10 years. Any help from either or both of you would be greatly appreciated, please.
I will send you my phone number and address in private if I may.
Marianna
p.s. my Honda Accord just died on me with 122,000 miles on it and I couldn't see the logic of putting up to $3,500 into a car with that many miles on it so I bought a "new" used car - but all that did was add another monthly expense that has to get drawn from the remaining equity in "my" home.
Dearest Marianna,
Don't let them judge you. The intensity of a trauma is related to the difference between what one expects and what one gets. If you expect to be loved and get hatred, it's a shock. Also, the amount of naivete and innocence one has, is related to the amount one can be victimized. The trick is to get smart, losing one's naivete, without losing one's innocence. Forget about all the religious stuff: spirituality is a totally different subject than religion. Jesus was not naive, and rebuked many evil behaviours. I can't see your feeling obligated to love, pray for, and forgive such abuse! This obligatory behaviour may help you cope temporarily, but it might mask a symptom of something more important in your psyche, and it only serves to put your anger in denial so it will come back, like PTSD, to haunt your future behaviour. Sometimes it is better to be angry than depressed. Sometimes religious obligatory behaviour supresses that. It is OK to be very angry, as long as one does not harm oneself or others. It would help you get over the sorrow, better than trying to love someone who truly does not deserve it. (Don't cast your pearls before swine.).
24 years ago, I went thru Hell like you are in right now. My husband of 11 yrs. and father of my 2 children, made a secret agreement with someone that the first would divorce me, the second would propose, (I would need rescuing because of children and no money) promise to marry me, adopt and care for the children, protect me from the first, get my things and money back from my first, etc. etc. The second was in church so I thought I was safe. Surprise. In order to get the pre-nup that the second would support us, the two men and their lawyers had me sign away my rights from the first marriage! The second threw me and the children out within 4 months, the whole town made fun of me, and I got no settlement from either. They were often seen walking and joking together about how they shafted me. It was all premeditated. I spent 3 yrs. unable to move, 'paralysed' with sleeping off the stress, and not having the wherewithall inside to make a new decision. I lost my children. Due to them also being traumatized, they developed HUGE emotional problems as adults.
I am writing this because the men hired male lawyers who were so happy to destroy any females. Society is underestimating the hatred men feel towards women, or the depths they will go to destroy them. The first got me to sign away all benefits earned during marriage and retirement money, because of the second one's signed contract to take over total support of me and the children. The second one laughed in my face, calling me so stupid, why did I believe that ____ and why did I sign such a stupid thing? I am hoping other women will read this. DON'T SIGN THESE AGREEMENTS!!! Prepare yourself ahead of time to fight for ALL your rights, ALWAYS. No good man will ever try to take your rights away. Anyone who does, is bad and deserves your resistance. Resist with all your might. God would never be offended by you, if you defend your rights.
I eventually moved around, made new friends, finished college, got jobs, (counseling is not available here), phoned my children and did my share of the apologizing, helped them both thru college, supported them until they got on their feet, help them with their own debts and kids, keep loving, keep loving, "keep on keeping on," improving every day. The two men I detest , and don't feel obligated to love, forgive, or pray for. They were the enemies who destroyed me and my children and none of us ever deserved this. I did not provoke this behaviour. They were both having affairs I knew nothing about. (Another thing society goes along with is keeping secrets from the wives.) Legal Aid helped me sue both men, but the help was so small, and 5 yrs. too late. But I am convinced they will both face a worse judgement eventually. What I am suprised about, is how society accepts them and what they did, and blames me for being too trusting. My "friends" took their sides and betrayed me and my children. I couldn't even get a begged loaf of bread!
Yes, you need help, because you can't cope right now, and that is not a crime. No one can cope alone, because it is the aloneness that is the biggest hurt. I can't help you except with this letter, but I hope someone does. I would give up my place in line to help you.
There is no money for times like this. In order to cope, you have to go all the way back to zero, and not feel ashamed. Avoid all feelings related to the subject for awhile. Give yourself a stress break by working really hard not to think about it. It is like a tsunami and can overwhelm you. You have to keep the feelings from overwhelming you. Any answers you don't have now, I assure you, you will have the answers later, somehow.
I will tell you something really important: if some thinking on your part is not contributing to the solution to this dilemna now, you absolutely have to come up with a new thought, to find your way around obstacles towards a new solution. The brain doesn't work well under stress, so it cannot find a solution, and everything feels hopeless. It's like a freeze up or burn out. That is the worst place to be, where you can't think. I adjure you to come up with ANY NEW THOUGHT to break this cycle. Even if the only thought you can find is that if I made it, you can, too. When you get help, get it from a professional person, and do not enter into any new relationships, until all of this is a long way back in your past, and you are recovered enough to recognize a con. If any man offers to rescue you, it might just be from the frying pan into the fire, and it might even get worse. Let others who are thinking more clearly be your friends, and keep you from getting lonely or vulnerable again. You will have to toughen up, because loneliness is the thing that gets us all into trouble to begin with. You will just have to adjust to being lonely for awhile to help yourself.