Daughter Asks Her Dad To Come To Her Graduation Without His New Wife — His Response Gutted Her
His response was heartbreaking, to say the least.
VGstockstudio / Shutterstock A young woman shared the response she got from her father after trying to invite him to her graduation.
In a TikTok video, a content creator named Hallie shared her text message exchange with her father, who she was estranged with for some time. However, she was willing to reach out and patch things up with him by inviting him to her graduation but expressed concern about him bringing his new wife along.
She asked her dad to come to her graduation without his new wife because they didn't get along.
In Hallie's initial text to her father, she informed him that she was given 10 tickets to her graduation, and while eight of them were already taken, she saved one for her dad, just in case.
She made sure to let him know the exact date and location, expressing that she really did want him to be there.
@toomuchhallie / TikTok
"You know I want to be there," her dad responded. "I would like nothing more than to see you graduate." The issue for him, however, was that the invitation to his daughter's graduation would not involve his new wife, who didn't get along with Hallie and her sister.
He claimed that Hallie was putting him in a "tough position" by not letting him bring his wife along, and didn't understand why she was insistent on it. He even asked her if she would be able to get a third ticket, but Hallie wasn't having it. She pointed out that it didn't make sense for her dad to say that he wanted to be there, but then chalked it up to her "conditions" for the reason why he wouldn't be able to attend at all.
@toomuchhallie / TikTok
"Hypothetically I could ask around and try to find an extra ticket but I don't want her there. I just want my dad to be there for me and I just want to come first for once," she pleaded. Hallie's father simply questioned how he was supposed to know any of that since she hadn't spoken to him after leaving home.
"Don't do that," she remarked. "Dad, she made our lives unbearable, we had to leave and you still chose her." Doubling down, Hallie's dad told her that the only reason she left home was because the two of them had gotten into a huge fight. "I never knew I was making a choice, you just left with no explanation, leaving me miserable."
Hallie explained that the reason she and her dad fought was because of how his new wife was making her feel.
Hallie tried to remind him what their argument was about in the first place — his new wife. Not only that but the fact that he kept taking her side when his children tried to express how she was making them feel, especially Hallie.
Hallie recalled the number of times that his wife would yell at her and say incredibly hurtful things to/about her. "I was so depressed, Dad, that when you yelled at me, I couldn't take it anymore," she admitted.
She even brought up how she felt her dad was constantly taking his wife's side over hers, and after months of this happening, she had to put herself first and leave. She apologized to him, saying that she never meant to hurt his feelings, but expressed a longing for the dad that he used to be before he met his wife.
@toomuchhallie / TikTok
Her dad attempted to reassure Hallie that he was that same man, with the "same amount of love for my little girl."
"I am sorry that I am a disappointment. I only ever wanted you to be happy," he told her. When she asked why he was constantly putting his wife before her, he simply wrote back, "Why does it always have to be hurt one to make another happy?"
In the end, Hallie resigned herself to the fact that no matter how much she was trying to explain her feelings to her father, he just wouldn't understand.
"I just wish that you could leave your wife for a few hours in a day to see your daughter," she wrote. Refusing to go back and forth with him anymore, she understood that his answer was always going to be no, as long as she refused to let his wife attend.
This heartbreaking exchange between Hallie and her father reflects how a strained family dynamic can really hurt a child.
All she wanted was to see her father in the audience as she walked across the graduation stage to receive her diploma which she worked extremely hard to get.
Photo: FatCamera / Canva Pro
Instead of trying to understand why she had such negative feelings toward his wife, he simply dismissed everything altogether, and that's not something that can be excused.
Understandably, he felt caught in the middle between two people that he loves, but his daughter should always take priority, especially in a moment where she's actively pleading for his attention. Despite her attempts to reconcile with him, it seems that he cannot let go of the past, which is truly an awful realization for Hallie.
Hallie's final acceptance is a reminder that family wounds cut the deepest, and as a parent, you should never want your child to feel unwanted or sidelined.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.