A father’s told how his ‘spiteful’ teenage daughter ripped his fiancée’s wedding dress leading to the end of his relationship – and he’s refusing to forgive her
A dad has told how the ‘unforgivable’ actions of his teenage daughter led to his wedding being called off by his fiancée, and a rift between the pair that shows no signs of being healed. The 42-year-old widow admitted that his late wife had been in a vegetative state for a year-and-a-half before she passed away, leading to him grieving her death while she was still alive. But the trauma had affected his 16-year-old daughter so much that a subsequent relationship bore the brunt of her grief.
He said: “Accepting her death was something I had already prepared ahead of time and I dipped my feet in the dating market six months after.” After meeting his new partner Chloe, who also had a daughter from her first marriage, he told how he proposed after a year of dating: “I was ecstatic to be with the love of my new life. My daughter, Ella, not so much. Chloe tried to bond with Ella and did everything possible to make her feel like a welcome presence in her life. Ella wasn’t thrilled and had routinely messed with Chloe.”
Read more: ‘I’m a single mum-of-12 – I can’t afford them but I love having babies’
After revealing his daughter’s behaviour caused fights between the couple, as Chloe believed she should be disciplined appropriately so that it didn’t impact their relationship, he told how his daughter ‘completely lost her mind’ when she heard the news of their engagement.
However, a few weeks afterward, he told how his daughter seemed to accept the situation: “Chloe even made her a bridesmaid. Because of this, Chloe had assigned Ella the duty to get her adjusted dress picked up from the tailor’s as she had lost some weight from the time initial measurements were taken.”
However, to her horror, Ella had ruined her wedding dress on purpose: “She admitted as such. There were fabric patches missing, stains from coffee and it looked like a dog had chewed on the damn thing. Chloe broke down and called off the wedding. She didn’t speak to me for a whole week and went out of town and I frantically tried contacting her wishing we would work things out.”
However, when they met she called time on their relationship: “She said she had unknowingly ignored a lot of red flags from the kind of behaviour I let go (from my daughter). Chloe said she cannot put up with this level of disrespect her entire life. I begged and pleaded and even promised I will send her to boarding school but she did not listen to me.”
After grounding his daughter for two years, and forbidding any romantic relationships he said: “She had no problem ruining my relationship and she doesn’t deserve one until she is old enough to consent, no trips, no social media, nothing.”
For all the latest on news, politics, sports, and showbiz from the USA, go to The Mirror US.
He also said she was working at a restaurant to contribute to household bills and groceries: “If she proves herself worthy, I promised to cover a part of her college tuition.” He also admitted he couldn’t forgive his daughter for what she had done: “I feel so angry at my daughter still and can’t stop resenting her. I cannot find it in me to forgive her.”
After taking his daughter debacle online to assess Reddit readers’ reactions, he was shocked to find many were on his daughter’s side: “Your approach to discipline seems to have less to do with developing character and is more about revenge,” said one, while another agreed: “The ‘if I can’t have a relationship, neither can she’ was the nail in the punishment-as-revenge coffin.”
Another reader said: “I understand he’s upset, but he’s acting like Chloe matters more to him than his daughter. I’m sure Ella gets the message loud and clear.” “He had emotionally moved on from his wife but his daughter clearly hadn’t and he didn’t seem to care,” said another, while one said: “Ella was just a kid. He should never have put his happiness ahead of hers so quickly after the death of her mother. He is trying to rationalise it so desperately too.”
One reader, who had also grieved the loss of her mother, said: “I know you’re grieving, so maybe it isn’t clear to you how much your daughter is screaming for help, but she is. These severe and unreasonable punishments are doing so much more harm than good. You both need counselling.”
