Woman says she told her friend she was proud of her for surviving a terrible childhood — and by the end of the night she learned the entire story had been a lie

A woman on Reddit said what started as a nice dinner to celebrate her roommate’s new job turned into one of the worst betrayals of her life.

She wrote that she and her roommate, Mary, had been best friends for seven years and had lived together for about a year. Mary had always told her a heartbreaking life story: that her father abused her mother, that her mother refused to leave because she loved him too much, and that Mary herself had run away as a teenager and been homeless, sleeping under benches in train stations until her parents finally divorced. The woman said she had believed all of it for years and had built a huge amount of sympathy and loyalty around that story.

The trouble started during a dinner out with Mary, some old university friends, and several of Mary’s new coworkers. Mary had recently landed a job she was excited about, and everyone was celebrating. During the meal, the woman gave a toast and told Mary she was proud of her for everything she had overcome, including the hardship she had lived through growing up. Instead of reacting warmly, Mary suddenly seemed upset. She ignored her for the rest of the night, and the coworkers started treating the woman like she had done something awful. She went home confused and wrote that she planned to talk it through with Mary the next day because the reaction made no sense to her.

The next morning, one of their old university friends called and said she was confused too. That friend told her she had congratulated Mary in a similar way, had also brought a gift and cash, and had never seen Mary react like that before. That conversation made the woman decide she needed a long sit-down talk with Mary. At the same time, Mary’s coworkers kept texting her angrily, with one saying she could not just “sweep this under the carpet.” The woman wrote that she was baffled because she still did not even understand what she was being accused of.

Then everything blew up.

Later that day, the same university friend came over with another friend, and they reached out to one of Mary’s coworkers, a woman called Jane, hoping to clear things up. Jane arrived furious. According to the post, Jane immediately accused the woman of pretending after being “exposed in public.” When they asked what she meant, Jane launched into a rant saying she knew how the woman “really treated Mary.” Jane said Mary had told her that the woman regularly abused her, belittled her, intimidated her into silence, trapped her in the flat, and extorted rent from her. Jane even showed them messages from Mary describing made-up incidents, including one where Mary claimed she had been locked in her room because the woman was having a meltdown over Mary making friends at work. The woman said that had never happened.

The lies kept getting worse. Jane showed messages where Mary said the woman had canceled her 21st birthday and refused to let her go out. The woman and her university friends immediately knew that was false, because they had all attended Mary’s 21st birthday, and the woman said she had personally put more than £500 toward the Gatsby-themed celebration Mary always wanted. As they went through more accusations, the woman said she felt numb and sick. She pulled up her bank records to show that Mary did not pay rent to her at all, only her share of the bills, which helped convince Jane that the story she had been told was false. Jane also explained that Mary had told all of her coworkers the woman used a “manipulation tactic” where she pretended to support Mary publicly but used Mary’s painful past against her in private, which is why the speech at dinner had seemed sinister to them.

The woman’s two university friends stayed at the flat with her while they waited for Mary to come home. When Mary arrived, she seemed cheerful at first and offered to make popcorn, until Claire, one of the friends, told her to sit down. Claire confronted her directly about Jane coming over and accusing the woman of being an abuser. Mary first tried to act confused and said it must all be a misunderstanding, that Jane twisted things sometimes. But when Claire started listing specific lies Mary had told in the messages, Mary broke. According to the post, she started crying and said she “never meant any of it,” that it was just a stupid story that went too far, and that it should not matter. She begged for forgiveness. The woman, exhausted and devastated, told Mary she had one week to move out.

That was when the woman asked the question that changed everything. She looked at Mary and asked whether she made up lies about everyone in her life, and whether any of it was real. Mary went silent. The woman said that after hearing the lies Mary had told her coworkers about abuse, extortion, and control, she suddenly started questioning the tragic family history Mary had told all of them for years. Claire picked up on it too and pressed harder. Mary eventually admitted she may have “embellished a few things.” The discussion turned into a screaming match between all four women. Later, the woman called Mary’s mother directly and learned the truth: Mary had never been homeless, her father had never been abusive, and the reason her parents divorced was simply that they fell out of love after her father moved to Australia to pursue his career. Mary’s father had stayed in touch and had regularly invited her to visit, but she hated flying and never went.

Mary moved out the following Saturday. The woman wrote that Mary spent the days before leaving moping around the flat and wanting to talk, but she refused and said she needed space. Mary’s mother came to help pack and answered more of the woman’s questions. The woman said she hid in her room most of the day, but answered when Mary knocked before leaving. Mary offered to repay money the woman had given her for a new car, but the woman told her to keep it and use it for therapy instead. Mary cried and tried to hug her, but the woman kept her at a distance and told her this would be the last time they ever spoke. Mary left sobbing.

In the final update, the woman said therapy helped her start processing the fact that one of the closest friendships of her life had apparently been built on lies. She wrote that being alone in the flat after Mary moved out felt deeply strange at first, because she kept expecting to see her in the kitchen or on the sofa. Her therapist told her that Mary’s lies were Mary’s responsibility, not hers. Looking back, the woman said she still could not understand why Mary did it. The only explanation that made any sense was that Mary had become addicted to sympathy and validation, and eventually started inventing whatever story would get her more of it.

Original Reddit post.