"I was the other woman—and I got pregnant with his twins," "I joined forces with his other girlfriend," "I was his secret office fling; now we're married" and other juicy tales, thanks to a slow news day at MSN.com. Some of these women should have seen the red flags, the others were duped without warning, all of them offer valuable lessons...
MSN has six stories on life as the "other woman," which in this day and age means you're his "girlfriend," probably. Anyway, no point in wasting your day reading all of them-- here's the recap instead:
1. I was the other woman—and I got pregnant with his twins
Woman gets divorced, shacks up with a married man, decides she doesn't need birth control, is shocked to discover an unintended pregnancy. (If you think we're being harsh, check out the actual quote from her: "At the time I was very thin and not having regular periods, so I was shocked to find out three months into the affair that I was pregnant—with twins, no less!") She dumps him or he dumps her, she has his twins, he gets divorced, she gives him a second chance. Surprise-- he cheats on her. What Terry Learned: "I learned that two clichés are true: What comes around goes around, and a leopard never changes its spots." Amen.
2. I joined forces with his other girlfriend
Guy says girlfriend has to be his secret girlfriend to protect her from the crazy ex. (Ladies, just so you know, Scanner Law dictates an automatic dumping of any man who feeds you this line.) Turns out that he told the other girl that the first girl was the psycho stalker. They found out about each other and are now going to crash his wedding and prove, with absolute certainty, that they are over him for good. Yup. What Terri Learned: Absolutely nothing, we fear.
3. I caught my boyfriend in bed with another woman
She walked in on the boyfriend of seven years banging away, decided she needed some socks and perfume, and left. Huh? Anyway... What Jennifer Learned: "Every day I thank God—and weirdly, that naked woman, whoever she was—for that moment!" Awesome for her-- it's always nice to see how someone can turn a rough experience into a positive lesson. However, we do wonder why she didn't sneak a peek at the woman-- what if it was a supposedly good friend? Now she'll never know.
4. I was a married-man magnet
20-something girl gets a nasty letter from her guy's "wife," is somehow convinced it's "a prank," turns out it's not even the guy's wife, but his other mistress, "who was pregnant and trying to get [the dude's] wife to divorce him." She kept seeing him and other married guys until... What Natasha Learned: "Finally a girlfriend told me something that turned my life around. She said, 'Every woman deserves to be loved exclusively.'"
5. I was his secret office fling; now we're married
"He had a serious girlfriend," they both agreed it was a bad idea, then tried to resist for a year while working together, fell in love, got married, and will probably stay that way for another 85 years. What Lisa Learned: "I don't consider for even a nanosecond that Todd would cheat on me. There's just too much history, love and potential for it to be worth it. And those are his words." We try to take whatever's the more positive side of an outlook for a relationship, so we're going to guess Todd actually will stay true to his words...
6. I was the other woman—with a woman
He knew he couldn't compete, but she knew better than to make it a competition. What Sandra Learned: "But I didn't feel whole without having her completely. And so I let her go. My affair was the most selfish thing I've ever done. Giving it up might have been the bravest." Here, here.
So... six boneheaded moves by six non-boneheads... these are actually some pretty cool women. Let's hope we all learned something today... courtesy of MSN, which is apparently trying to be US Weekly, but whatever....
The full stories, via MSN.