12 Men Reveal The One White Lie They Still Feel Guilty About Telling Their Wives
henri mathieu | Pixels Can we all admit that, no matter how honest some of us are, we are all guilty, at one point or another, of resorting to white lies? Tiny fibs save our loved ones’ feelings, save ourselves time and face, and often get us out of a lot more trouble than necessary.
We exchange white lies in every relationship we encounter, from saying “I’m fine!” when a stranger asks how we’re doing to smiling and nodding when a child asks us if we still believe in Santa. Marriage is no different. We asked husbands to confess the white lie they still feel guilty about telling their partner.
Men reveal the one white lie they still feel guilty about telling their wives:
1. 'I love her ankle tattoo she has that supposedly matches one on her ex'
"She’s had it for 15 years, but every time I look at it, I feel like she’s been branded."
2. 'I like this current haircut of hers'
"I hate it, but she loves it, so there’s no reason to say anything about it unless I just feel like being a jerk who wants to make someone I love feel bad."
3. 'I don't spend that much money fixing up my car'
"This one might not be a white lie because it’s gone on for a couple of years, but she thinks I spend way less money on my 'project' car than I actually do."
4. 'I like her best friend'
Evelyn Verdín / Unsplash+
"She thinks I like her best friend. I really, really don’t. There’s no evidence to support that, though, because I’ve been a saint."
5. 'I'm a fan of her cooking'
Lucas Margoni / Unsplash
"I love green beans, but I hate the way she cooks them. So for some forty-odd years, I haven’t ordered green beans when we go out because I don’t want to hurt her feelings. It just ain’t worth fighting about."
6. 'I get out of work at a certain time'
"I told my wife that I get off work at 6 PM every day. I don’t. I get off at 5 PM and have one beer all by myself in peace before I get home to her and the kids. On Fridays, I have two. This has saved my sanity, and maybe our marriage, over the last ten years."
7. 'I don't touch the thermostat'
"I’ve lied about changing the thermostat more times than I’ve taken breaths at this point."
8. 'The lawnmower was broken'
"I told her the lawn mower was broken and that Home Depot wasn’t going to get the part I needed to fix it for another 5 days. Alright, in my defense, it was 98 degrees outside, I always do the yard work, and I just needed a break. Also, it was not a riding mower."
9. 'Of course, I get the kids to bed on time'
"Oh, I have never, EVER gotten the kids to bed on time when I’m left alone with them overnight. I think my best time was thirty minutes past bedtime."
10. 'I respect her privacy.'
"She thinks I don’t know her passwords to stuff, but I do, and I’ll look around to make sure she’s staying legit every once in a while. I don’t know what I’m going to do if I catch her cheating, but I haven’t had to worry about it yet."
11. 'I was just hanging out with a friend'
"A long time ago, I went to a weekend concert with a friend of mine in NYC, but I told her we were just hanging out at his new-at-the-time house or something. It was such a good show, but I can never talk about it because I’m scared she’ll flip out even though, knowing her, she’s probably known this whole time."
12. 'Her engagement ring is real diamonds'
"Her engagement ring is one of those synthetic diamonds, so she thinks it cost a whole lot more than it really did."
Liz Pardue-Schultz is a writer and activist who writes about mental illness, recovery, and parenting. Her work has appeared in Huffington Post, Time Magazine, XOJane, Ravishly, and ThoughtCatalog.
