Episode Details

As Diane shares her devastating story of surviving narcissistic abuse. She empowers women to become educated about abuse and trauma and start seeking safety.

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He just became increasingly mean to me, to the point where I thought something was seriously wrong with me. I started going to a therapist because I thought, ‘What is wrong with me? I am nothing.’ Every day, he found something wrong with me. He would tell me how horrible I was, just horrible things.

Diane, victim of narcissistic abuse

Transcript: Surviving Narcissistic Abuse

Anne: I randomly met an old friend from college. I was so excited to see her. And I learned that she had been surviving narcissistic abuse, the same thing that all of us who listen to this podcast have been through. I’m going to call her Diane. I said, don’t tell me anything, come on the podcast. So I have not heard the whole story yet.

Welcome Diane.

Diane: Thank you. I’m so happy to be here with you.

Diane’s College Years & First Marriage

Anne: So in college, you had a one-year-old daughter. And you married, and then you divorced.

Diane: Yes, well, she’s 23 now. Yeah, right after I graduated from college, I had another child, and then we divorced.

Anne: And when you divorced, you didn’t know why the divorce was happening. And then, because you didn’t understand who he really was. You ended up remarrying him.

Diane: I remarried him because he returned to me, and then we were together for another 17 years. And in the last two years, I found everything. So for that entire 17 year period, he was a sex addict, and he had multiple things going on.

Surviving Narcissistic Abuse With First Divorce

Anne: Let’s talk about the first divorce. What did you think was the cause?

Diane: What’s so hard about all this is, I thought it was me. And for so many years, I thought it was me and needed to be better, and I wasn’t enough and was always trying. And now going through all the things, that’s why I saw you and I was like, I’m so happy. I wish