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Stephen Hedger

Stephen Hedger

Crisis Marriage Coach | Harley Street London

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Real People Real Stories: I lived with a narcissist for 14 years!

…so I went to Stephen for break up counselling.

“My divorce lawyers were worried about me, once I had met Stephen they were so impressed. It helped me to be stronger through the divorce process and more clearer in thought.  More able to fight for myself.”

Her Story starts here…

She tells the story of her personal horror, how she was controlled and mentally abused. How she took back control of her future and is rebuilding her identity her strength and her life.

14 years ago I had a semi arranged marriage. One in which you meet, get to know the other person for a short time and make a decision to marry or not. Both our family backgrounds were similar and at the time I thought we shared the same cultural values. There was a gap of 4 months before the marriage in which we got to know each other more.

He was charming and romantic, communicative and receptive, caring and affectionate.  He called me his princess. So I had nothing to worry about.  Everything seemed reassuring. But then, there was an incident before the wedding day where he showed his true colours and went into a blind rage about something trivial.  I just put it down to a small row and didn’t think too much into it.  I carried on and married him.

He was broke when I married him. 2 weeks into the marriage the nightmare began.  I asked to go for a coffee and he turned to me and swore at me aggressively. I was shocked and stunned.  I very soon became pregnant.  He was cold and distant and verbally abusive towards me during the pregnancy at one point telling me off for getting pregnant.

We lost the baby. He carried on being cold and distant and not being at home at night and lying about work. He didn’t want to spend time with me or take me anywhere or do things with me. I had to deal with the loss of the baby on my own.  This behaviour went on for some time.  Nearly 2 years.

I allowed this behaviour due to cultural upbringing and the shame of admitting or showing there was a problem to the outside world.  We obviously didn’t share cultural values as you will read on. Eventually it transpired that he was cheating with his ex wife whilst I was pregnant!  She contacted him straight after our marriage.

He considered his ex wife to still be his wife and accepted her and they started to see each other.  They both tried their hardest to be as cruel as they could to push me to leave. He told her that he would not leave me unless I chose to leave of my own accord. At the same time, he would not tell me he was having an affair or admit to it.

I knew he was seeing somebody, I didn’t know it was her. I stumbled on the truth but he didn’t admit although I knew. He admitted it 14 years later. Through that whole time I was mentally tormented.  Not only was he having an affair, but he felt that he had a right to be verbally abusive, emotionally abusive and mentally abusive. He told me I had no right to ask where he was going and what he was doing.

Soon after the episode with his ex wife, he went into the arms of his bookkeeper.  Again same pattern, lying about where he was, hiding phone bills, and increase in his abuse.  He caressed her hand in front of me, shouted and swore at me in front of her in my own home.  I knew immediately so I sacked her.

He told me he went into her arms because he was hurting from the loss of our child.  Not once did he consider to console me or to work through the hurt together and support each other.  He used this as an excuse to have affairs.

When that ended, he carried on mentally abusing me for the next 9-10 years.  He didn’t participate in the marriage. He didn’t make any amends, did not improve his ways.  He was out of control.  I used to fear him and I told him I used to fear him.  He enjoyed it. You never knew when his mood would change and so lived on eggshells all the time.

When I managed to get him to take me to a restaurant his behaviour would become vile.  One time he publicly threw food at me in public.  I was insignificant to him. Of no value to him.  I left my career and joined his business in the hope that I may be able to spend more time with him so that he would appreciate me more.  He used me in his business.

Our wealth has now grown substantially.  He made me work work and work for no benefits.  No gifts, no celebrations no outings.  My life was work home and the odd family function.  Throughout all this time he never wanted to take a picture with me, take me anywhere?  Holidays were limited.  Even today – he wants to keep me to service his business.  Everyone on the outside imagines us to have a great life full of outings and experiences. I kept up a false pretence.

Eventually I emptied out and went for personal counselling for 2 years. It was a slow drawn out process.  But i came out feeling strong and realised that all this nightmare is not how it should be and that I was being abused and severely neglected.  I asked for divorce.  He begged me not to leave and that he would improve.  Nothing improved in the next year. Nothing changed.  He even convinced me that I went through a confused phase of asking for divorce.  Eventually I stopped waiting for him to participate in the marriage and I filed divorce over 2 years ago. It is still not finished.

When I filed for divorce we used to talk a lot about continuing to be friends and having an amicable divorce.  This was only whilst it suited him.  All of a sudden his verbal aggression and ruthlessness increased and I instantly saw the signs.  He was with another woman.  I call her Putna.  I could see him smitten with her. The smile on his face, the excitement, the happiness.

Putna and him were out till 4am drunk and then back at her place. He showed me no consideration. I could not deal with that.  So i packed my bags and left into a bedsit.  At that time I was at my lowest.  Never felt so much emotional pain.  I decided to be proactive. I looked up breakup counselling.  I thought to myself – why should he win?  He is happy enjoying himself whilst i was in the worst pain ever.  I did much reading and realised that in my opinion he is a narcissist.  I lived with a narcissist for 14 years!

I made an appointment to see Stephen Hedger.

I went into my first 2 hour session feeling 2 out of 10 (Stephens method of understanding how I was feeling – 2 was very low).  I left the session feeling 8 out of 10 and i stayed that way for a long time with the odd downs.  The session helped take my emotional pain away. In 2 hours! I still keep the charts on my wall to remind me.  Stephen listened to a brief background and told me we were not there to dwell on the past but to look into the future, to move forward.

He explained to me why I married him, why he married me, what he actually is feeling right now, what i’m feeling and why. What happened through the marriage. How the dynamics changed and why I stayed in the situation for so long.  Why i clung to him. Fundamentally he explained that what I need from my husband will never happen and that my husband is not capable to love because he himself has never experienced love.

It all made too much sense and knowledge is empowering.  Stephen then gave me techniques on how to look forward and move forward.  He taught me the fundamentals on which relations are built so that moving on I never make the same mistake and can understand when a relationship is right and don’t settle for less.  Stephen explained what love is. How we get it and how we don’t need it to come from others.  Why we hurt.  How we can be in control.

My divorce lawyers were worried about me and once I had met Stephen they were so impressed. It helped me to be stronger through the divorce process and more clearer in thought.  More able to fight for myself.

I was controlled for so long and needed to learn what “my” values and thoughts are so Stephen helped me learn those through a 4 hour session on values.  It was a fascinating journey. I found it hard which was expected but rewarding.  It opened a floodgate for my own thoughts and ideas.

I have one more session to do on passions.  And i look forward to that.  Without this therapy, i would have probably sunk into depression.  I still have some sad days, but am more able to cope.  I also am now restarting to build my life again and starting to learn to experience life and “just do it”.

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I’m not going to ask you how you “feel", pay me to watch you argue, or try to find the person to blame.

I am looking to discover if the couple can become a team, overcome their problems together and create a dynamic that will create a loving and passionate life together.

My approach is to take you from where you are, to where you want to be… fast!

I can not recommend Stephen highly enough – he not only saved our marriage, but has improved my marriage and myself as a person.

Banker - London

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Do You Want
To Save Your Marriage?

Hi, I'm Stephen Hedger. I'm determined to help couples discover what their marriage is capable of with the right information. My only question is, will it be yours?

Learn more

A 30 minute call with Stephen

In a short phone conversation, Stephen was able to quickly get to the heart of what the real issue was in our marriage – and why in almost a year of working on our marriage including 10 weeks of marriage counselling through a relationship therapy organisation, we weren’t really making any progress. I found Stephen to be extremely perceptive, as well as empathetic to our situation, while being able to quickly pinpoint the real sticking point in our marriage.
Many thanks
Olivia

Dear Stephen
Thank you for your time to listen to my experience in my marriage. You gave me encouragement to speak out to my partner in confidence. You made me realise that sometimes the way we make comments on each other can aggravate the situation and make it worse. Your advice made me feel revived.

Kind regards

Chipo

Success Stories

Client responds to testimonial

November 11, 2021 By Stephen Hedger

I’m working with this lady, and during the session, she wanted to comment on a testimonial another client had left. As you go through today post, you will see what she wanted to say. Before you get to her words, I want to set the context. I’m not quoting her word for word here, but […]

“I was in tears…” 

October 20, 2021 By Stephen Hedger

‘Initially I went to Stephen with a sole focus on saving my marriage as my husband wanted a divorce whilst I felt I could not let go of the 14 years’ relationship without giving it a second chance. My husband was determined to exit and refused to join the Marriage Breakthrough Programme with me, therefore […]

“Lawyer saves relationship alone”!

July 27, 2021 By Stephen Hedger

“I went to see Stephen when my relationship was at breaking point. The final trigger was my partner’s plan to sell his property and move in with me. We had until then a long-distance relationship and never spent more than about a month together (thanks to the COVID lockdown). I had finally moved to his […]

“It was like walking through a minefield blindfolded”

November 29, 2020 By Stephen Hedger

When relationships go wrong the pain can be unbelievable. Today’s post is about a couple whose relationship was quickly out of control and both people thought it was the end. When I first agreed to meet this couple she arrived first.  She was clearly very anxious, eyes darting, wringing hands, unsure if her husband would […]

One small shift changed her mind & saved her marriage – Part 2 of “Should divorce really be the next step?”

May 10, 2020 By Stephen Hedger

What sits at the core of the most successful marriages. What is it that makes the difference. What is it that helps couples stand the test of time? What is it that helps couples make it through all the ups and downs life has to throw at them? Is sex at the core for a […]

Do you want
To Save your Marriage?

Hi, I'm Stephen Hedger. I'm determined to help couples discover what their marriage is capable of with the right information. My only question is, will it be yours?

Learn more

 

“Free Marriage in Crisis 8 Page Guide”:

Stephen Hedger is a marriage in crisis specialist sought after by CEO’s Bankers, Judges, GP’s, Business Leaders, A List Celebrities and Entrepreneurs Globally


Stephen says when you are in marital crisis it's important to know what to do to make sure your next steps don't make the situation even worse. This short guide written by Stephen is designed to help you take a step back and consider next steps intelligently.

 

Click to Download FREE

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Stephen Hedger offers married couples in crisis across the globe a comprehensive strategic roadmap to overcome their marriage problems. Today Stephen works with Celebrities, CEO’s, Lawyers, Bankers, Royalty, Judges, and business owners helping them transform their family and personal relationships with massive breakthroughs, seemingly against all odds.

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Recent Posts

  • Marriage is a dance – A dance most couples kill
  • “We can’t find a way forward!”
  • Breaking unhealthy relationship patterns
  • Anyone that marries will have trouble!
  • “Identity Secrets”- Mini Post

*Disclaimer:
Any testimonials stated on this page or on any pages on the Stephen Hedger Marriage Coach website/s are proof of our success, naturally, results may vary from person to person.

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