There are few things in life more beautiful than a strong, platonic relationship. You never tire of hanging out with your best friend, and you likely feel comfortable sharing absolutely everything with them. They know you better than you know yourself, and you can rely on your bestie to be there on your absolute best and worst days.

But just like in romantic relationships, there might come a time when you have a painful realization that your partner in crime doesn’t value you as much as you value them. Redditors have been sharing stories of why they ended friendships with their former BFFs, so we’ve gathered the most heartbreaking tales below. We hope these stories don’t remind you of any of your own friendships, pandas. But if they do, remember that you deserve better.

#1

I met some new people and I noticed that I liked hanging out with them more because they didn't make me feel like c**p. I didn't really notice it at the time but looking back on it now, I realize that the guy I considered my best friend was actually my biggest bully. He was constantly insulting me, embarrassing me on front of other people, belittling me... And I just thought that's what friends did. I had to make real friends to learn that's not the case.

Image credits: ImInJeopardy

#2

We always worked on his car together. I always worked on my car alone.

Image credits: 4benny2lava0

#3

Friends for 20 years. She didn't drive so pretty much the entire friendship I would take her grocery shopping every week. I took her cats to the vet. Helped her when she lost her house. For 20 years I asked her for nothing.

My husband ended up suddenly being diagnosed with brain cancer. The day he was released from the hospital after having a tumor the size of a lemon removed, I called in a prescription he needed and our local pharmacy didn't have it so I would have to drive an hour round trip and my husband wasn't able to handle that amount of time in the car so I called to ask if she could stay with him while I got his meds. She told me no because she wanted to go to the store with her boyfriend. I called my neighbor and she watched him.

I never talked to her again. It's been almost 10 years.

Image credits: softshoulder313

#4

Every problem she had was an emergency that I needed to drop everything for and give her my undivided immediate attention. But when I was having a rough time, the reply I got from her was 'stop your s**t'.

Image credits: oh_sheaintright

#5

My dad died. I asked if a few of my friends would hang out and have a low-key night playing video games. I told them I didn't want to have a big party. They said that was cool. I showed up and they'd invited a ton of people for a huge house party. Then they got pissed that I was "just sulking on the couch" and got s****y with me. Our friendship never recovered and now we don't talk at all.

Image credits: Responsible-Onion860

#6

He robbed me of a pathetically small amount of money that I would have given him if he had just asked.

Image credits: anon

#7

He surrendered his dog back to the shelter, after 5 years of owning him.

His name was Dusty. He was a golden retriever, and he was the best boy ever. I would play fetch with him for hours until he would nearly pass out at my feet. Dusty was amazing! I loved him.

One day, I go over to Dale's house, and I say "Where's Dusty?" He answers "Oh, I gave him back to the shelter."

Me ~ "F**k! Why??!?!"

Dale ~ "I only got him so that I could meet girls easier, and now that I'm married I don't need him anymore. Besides, having a dog is a lot of responsibility."

Me ~ "But you knew how I felt about him. WHY didn't you ask me? I would have gladly adopted him!"

Dale ~ "You know, I never even thought of that."


I left immediately and drove to the shelter. Dusty had already found a new home. So, I'm sad and glad in the same moment.

F**k you, Dale. You're a d**k and I'm glad your wife finally divorced your selfish a*s.

Image credits: PitBullFan

#8

Didn't end it myself, but accepted it ended when I realized if I stopped talking, I'd never hear from him again.

Image credits: Starkscream

#9

In 2018, I was really sick with kidney failure and was in and out of the ER multiple times before I finally got diagnosed with CKD.

My friend didn't like that I was getting a lot of attention from our other friends and people in our small town. She decides to go around school and lie to people, saying I was lying about being sick and just wanted attention.

When I was finally getting better and was actually home for more then a few days she came over with a few of her friends and was laughing trying to embarrass me infront of them trying to get me to say I was infact lying about being sick.

Wasn't until I pulled out all the meds I was on and proved that I was yellowish in the skin (it was f*****g obvious when you actually looked at my eyes)

I Embarrassed her infront of everyone she cried and played victim. Ran out the house and I haven't talked to her since.

Bit sad bc we wore friends since kindergarten, but I igs that's what jealousy does to people so 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️.

Image credits: lilwolfie420

#10

She told my kids they were the reason I tried to self delete. 25 years of friendship, someone I talked to every day no matter what state or country she was stationed in. I don’t even have to words to describe the emotion I feel. Heartbreak, anger, confusion… none of them apply. I’m just numb to her.

Image credits: kytamore

#11

F****r went and died on me.

Image credits: Simple-Wrangler-9909

#12

He told me he was gonna steal my girlfriend and then proceeded to steal my girlfriend. Man of his word at least.

Image credits: mr_kenobi

#13

The second I got brain cancer I stopped being included in their lives.

Image credits: healingalltheway

#14

Because I terminated a complicated pregnancy.


She sure wears that p***y hat and feminist sweatshirt proudly. .

Image credits: No-Solid-4255

#15

I ended the friendship after lending money. It’s true what they say money ruins relationships.

Image credits: Complex-Bobcat5391

#16

In 2017 my best friend and I bought a house together. It was my grandmother's house, and she had just gone into a nursing home, so we got it on the cheap. The goal was to rehab it and eventually sell it.

By 2021 it had become clear that it was more work than we were capable of. Plus the house was small, just 920 square feet and a single story, so any buyer was just going to knock it down and build something bigger on the footprint anyway (which is just what happened), so it felt like we were doing a lot of work for nothing. In April of 2021 we sold it and made about $100k profit.

And then my best friend since middle school, who had never given me any reason to doubt or mistrust him, and who had always been there for me through thick and thin (as I had been for him), disappeared with all the money.

At first I wasn't sure what was happening. I thought there must have been some kind of mistake or screw-up. Surely he couldn't have done what I thought. But eventually he responded to a text message with, "F**k you," so I knew it was real. I just didn't know why.

I sued him, but it didn't go well. Did you know that for an amount as small as $100k (really only $50k since I was only entitled to half) no lawyer will take your case on contingency? I sure didn't. It turns out that is much too small an amount for them to bother with. And did you know that banks don't give personal loans for lawsuits? Another "TIL" for me. So I had to pay for the lawsuit out of pocket. Unfortunately, my now ex-friend hired a lawyer who specializes in dragging cases out and running up the bills so that the other side runs out of money and gives up. I burned through all of my savings in a few months and then had to drop the case. That was in Spring of 2022.

Last month, on August 15th, my former friend committed s*****e.

I never ended the friendship at all; that was all on him. And to this day I still don't really know why. I spoke to his ex-girlfriend, who hadn't seen him since December of 2021, and she thought he had a mental break, like a psychotic episode. But psychotic episodes don't usually last three years. And he was sane enough to hire a cutthroat attorney to defend his thievery. So I am left with a lot of questions and d**n few answers.

Goodnight and good luck, old friend. May you find the peace that eluded you in life. Despite everything that happened, I never stopped thinking of you as a brother.

Image credits: Jorost

#17

We were friends for over 40 years. Friends since childhood.
We entered into a business together and he completely screwed me over, taking most of the money with him, and leaving me in crushing debt.
Years later I asked why he did it. His answer; "Because you're an atheist. You rejected god, so you deserve everything you get."
And that, was that.

Image credits: Virtual-Werewolf-310

#18

A couple of months before my wedding, he told me he didn't want to be my best man anymore... via WhatsApp. The conversation that followed revealed that he was extremely jealous of the relationship my now wife and I have. We had been friends for 20 years.

Image credits: brotherfrank

#19

Best friend threw a party. Another friend sexually harassed me at said party. Tried to tell my best friend what happened and she said in these exact words “You should try seeing it from her side.” A whole lot of drama ensued afterward, which resulted in me losing all of my friends from that friend group. It really f*****g sucked but I’m doing my best to move on from the situation.

Image credits: blaidd_halfwolf

#20

She texted me she was taking a bottle of pills, a goodbye letter to her mom, and all her passwords and info because she was committing s*****e while I was 2 hours away. She wouldn’t answer the phone for 20 minutes. I called 911.

She blamed me for an ambulance showing up to her apartment for a wellness check and said I overreacted.

#21

She slept with my husband while I was in the hospital *having his baby*.

Image credits: holdonwhileipoop

#22

M**h killed her. One day I realized I was trying to love a stranger for the sake of a memory.

#23

Because of a girl, I was dating a girl, and at the time when we were arguing, she cried to him, as a result, they started to develop feelings and as a result, she left me and started dating my friend. My friend betrayed me, for a girl. Never mind, after half a year I laughed when I found out that they broke up. He traded friendship for a six-month relationship. What the f**k?

#24

I got clean from d***s and he didn’t. Still care about him and hope the best for him, but he just doesn’t want to get clean. I tried to be his support for a while but it was just taking a toll on myself for no forward progress for him.

#25

With nearly all friendships and family relationships, if I don't reach out, we don't speak. It's a sad reality that I have come to accept. Particularly, seeing as my father's parents went to great efforts to make sure we all stayed in touch.

The other thing I have found is, this seems to be pretty common during the "busy" phase of people's lives.

#26

He disrespected my children on several occasions.

#27

In middle school I had my first best friend, we'd play videogames together, had sleepovers, etc. When we got older he got into World of Warcraft which my parents understandably didn't want to pay the subscription for. He started hanging out with me less and eventually joined in on being a bit of a bully to me because I was weird and nerdy. Eventually we just stopped hanging out. It sucked at the time but I found new and better friend that I am still friends with now at 30.

But yeah, a friendship ending over World of Warcraft is pretty funny looking back lol.

#28

Realized he was using me the whole 10 year friendship. Dude also was really controlling and just a massive hypocrite.

It got even worse when dude became more religious. He just became this sanctimonious a*****e.

Looking back I was warned about him by multiple people that this is who he is.

When I blocked him I swear it felt like a weight had been lifted.

#29

We grew apart as friends. Both of us had made other friends and moved on from each other. Neither of us stayed in touch with the other, though it also had more to do with moving to different cities and not knowing how to get in touch with each other. The internet didn't exist back then. My friend died in a car accident when he was 37, and I felt sad for his family for his loss and for everyone who had known him.

#30

I spent years dying of organ failure. My friends began to see me as a burden. A reminder of their own mortality. So they stopped answering when I called and stopped coming by to visit. I spent months in the hospital withering in pain and no one came to see me besides my mom.

I got a transplant and I’m all better now, but I’m quite lonely and sad.

#31

They got way to deep into conspiracies.. even going so far as traveling to France to join demonstrations. We're from Germany.

Yeah.. it sucks 😮‍💨.

#32

I made a new female friend. Best friend was a female. She saw competition and kept trying to gaslight me about how apparently new friend was just trying to sleep with me and was super fake. I was just like ???

I tried to get them together to play DnD. Old friend couldn't stand to be around new friend cause she hated everything about new friends voice and personality. Old friend started hanging out with a new guy I didn't like. She said either I choose her or she leaves to hang out with new guy.

Bye. Me and new friend have had the best friendship I've experienced so far purely platonic and we make each other laugh so hard. I didn't realise how much old friend manipulated me and gaslit me. I feel free.

#33

He kept putting down my ex-wife, was telling me the relationship was doomed - and in hindsight, it was, but we were together 22 years. during that time period, he got married 3 times, and has kids with 2 of them.

#34

Condescending jokes were only funny when she made them, and setting boundaries was a personal attack on her.

#35

Long story short, I moved, he got jealous of my new relationship. We were friends for over 20 years.


I got a new job last year an hour away from my hometown, which we both moved back to after I got out of college and he got out of the army. I also started dating a girl who just bought a house in the town I moved to. This caused a year long dramafest of epic proportions:


-He started getting upset that I never planned things or invited him anywhere, which was partially true. I was also doing a masters program on top of moving and starting a new full time job with commute.


-I would occasionally head back to my hometown, and invite him to places both over here and over there. He continually blew me off or wasn’t happy with my suggestions for activities.

-I was his best man for his upcoming wedding in three years. A month after I agreed to be so, he called me wondering why I hadn’t planned *anything* yet.


-The new girl I was dating- we had a family emergency over Christmas in which I couldn’t attend an event ex friend invited me to. I called him to apologize and reschedule. Unprompted, he went on a tirade about her finances and new house and how she was lying to me, and how her father “was a bad man who wouldn’t let his daughter shop at Goodwill” where we got most of the furniture. Also accused me of lying to him.



-Invited me golfing one day over this way since a festival we were both going to sold out. Gf and I were going to show up later as she had a horse lesson- she couldn’t drive due to a concussion. He left festival early, right as I dropped her off. Proceeds to tell me “jeez, some girlfriend you have who isn’t trying to get to know your best friend” very condescendingly.


-Texted me two days later “wait, isn’t (gf) not riding due to concussion?” Me: “yes, recall I told you she’s doing groundwork” Him: “either she’s lying to you or you’re lying to me, her doing horse lessons with a concussion on a Sunday doesn’t make sense and you should dump her a*s”. That was strike three for me.


Other than above, he over the preceding three years:

-always played the victim. Got fired from almost twelve jobs in a span of three years and wouldn’t take accountability.


-Called therapy useless, got a medical marijuana card instead and frequently drove high and got into several car accidents. Proceeded to attempt to sue those who he hit.


-Had a major superiority complex, with narcissistic traits.


-wouldn’t go to things we used to do back in highschool such as hiking or shooting which made connecting very difficult


-cornered me in a store bathroom and wouldn’t let me leave while we were on a road trip and proceeded to scream at me “about how I was ruining his vacation” to the point security tried separating us. He got upset I started running to the store because I had to use the bathroom and thought I was avoiding him.


-didn’t pay me other than to buy a bag of chips when I helped him move furniture from two states away.


Honestly, good riddance.

#36

She neglects her eldest child, while doting on the new baby/now toddler. The eldest child has some obvious learning/developmental disabilities, but his mother is in extreme denial. She has a weird attitude towards science/medicine/psychology and refuses to get him any help. She says he's 'fine'. He has no friends at school, and cannot stop himself from talking when not appropriate. He is also 11 years old, 200 POUNDS, and lives on an exclusively McDonald's diet. It's very sad to watch this kid try to walk.

Any time we went to spend time together, she'd always bring both the kids and would constantly SCREAM at the eldest child in front of me. It was brutal.

The final straw was when I drove 7 hours to visit them, and the entire visit was her just screaming at this kid to behave. He told me, "I'm sorry I'm so bad and ruined your visit. I'm just a bad kid, I don't know what to do."

It broke my heart, broke my trust in my friend, and ultimately broke our friendship. She ended up constantly messaging me and my family members to no avail, because she REALLY wanted me in her d**n wedding (guess which kid was left out of ALL family photos).

It took me more than 20 years to see this person for who she really is: extremely selfish/self-centered, attention-seeking, and a terrible mother.

#37

After 15 years of taking my friendship for granted, I finally had enough. Though it was not my intention.


The last thing I told them was, "One day soon, you're gonna look up, and I won't be there." 3 weeks had passed, and I'd been taking the time to type out exactly what I was going to say and how I felt, for the next time I saw them.


Then I got a message asking, "Are you cutting me off?"


At that moment, I decided that the answer was "yes."


I had also decided that they did not deserve an explanation, nor did they deserve a 10th chance.

#38

Didn’t want to be her friend anymore.. So now we’re engaged!

#39

Idk tbh we just ran out of the talking juice

i saw him like a few months ago and went "oh hey sup dude" at a shopping mall for like 10 seconds and then we disappeared into our own life again.

#40

1993 I think -- he failed to pay traffic tickets. I posted bail. He said he would pay me back. I put it on the back burner and said nothing about it to anyone. Less than a week later our mutual friend asked why I was hounding him for the $$. So he borrowed money and then insulted me to our friends. I should have listened to his Dad and let him sit for a few days.

#41

My friend got jealous that I started dating a mutual friend and caused a bunch of drama. He was kind of interested in both of us (all gay guys) and I suppose couldn't handle seeing us together. Years down the drain over jealousy. That being said, he was the one who just kinda ghosted us.

#42

Alcoholism and hard d***s. I have a family and I don't want that s**t around them or me.

#43

I just got sick of the moody temper tantrums.

Last one was on his 30th bday I bought tickets to a band he liked and he walked out after the 3rd song because "people were getting too close and needed to space out" at a concert. I told him we could move to the back where there's less people but he freaked out that he shouldn't have to give up his view in the front and everyone else should make more room. He stormed out and left and then begged me to come out because his coat was in my car. So I missed the rest of the show because there's no in-out privileges. I said yeah that's enough of that for me. Haven't spoken to him since.

#44

She really liked taking d***s. She would always encourage me to take more than i wanted do, and the come downs were awful. I didn’t take them at all on her birthday and she pretty much cut me out after that. I was sad but it was a relief, too.

#45

His mental illness eventually took him away after decades.

Another died. We were best friends for 13 years before he passed at 92.

A childhood friend died in a freak accident on the school football field.

#46

He didn't show up to my wedding. And I never heard from him again. No apology. No explanation. 2 weeks before he asked if he could bring a last minute date. Told him absolutely. He was my best friend since the 4th grade. 18 year friendship just disappeared.

My other best friend moved to California without telling me, but told my family. Haven't spoken to him since. Relationship had been a bit rocky as I was newly married and he wanted to hang out every single night.

Friends can be so disappointing.

#47

My best friend's wife played a head game on him and he believed her.

We had been friends since we were 5 years old, we were in our 50s by now. She convinced him that I broke a towel rack while I was visiting during a Christmas holiday. Over the course of the next year, she gaslit him into thinking that I stole silverware from their kitchen every year when I came back to see my folks. He eventually believed that I was taking forks home for decades. That s**t broke my heart. I haven't talked to him in 15 years. Both of my parents are gone now, I have no reason to ever drive 700 miles to see him again. But d**n, this still pisses me off.

#48

I made out with a guy she had a crush on. She ended the friendship with me and rightfully so. She ended up marrying him and having a family but despises me to this day.

#49

I just couldn't get on board with her anymore. Her fake influencer job, genuinely believing she was a psychic. Raising her child on benefits but preaching to her followers that they should all follow their dreams and quit their job like her. Anti vaxxer. Doesn't wear a seatbelt when driving because she thinks it's more likely to k**l her in a crash. The list goes on. I just can't resonate with any of her beliefs anymore.

#50

I was going to make a throwaway to answer this question out of utter fear and realized that said more than I ever could.

#51

I am asking myself that question all the time. I have no idea what happened.

#52

Turns out I considered him my best friend, he considered me a sucker. He was stealing from me for years. And he would make fun of me to his other friends.

#53

Moved in with him into a house his parents owned because they were hooking us up on rent and over the next year found out what kind of person he really was.

E: even as I was moving out he tried to scam me out of $200. Our rent was $600/mo split between him, me, and a third friend of ours. He was trying to tell me I still owed for the final month and I even had to bring his parents into it to explain to him that we paid at the beginning of a month for *that* month, not the month previous.

#54

I ended my friendship with my best friend because of growing differences in values and priorities. It became clear that we were heading in separate directions, and the relationship was causing more tension than support.

#55

He stepped on my blue suede shoes.

#56

He beat his girlfriend up.

#57

He got into m**h and i wanted no part of any of that.

#58

She was a mean-spirited selfish b***h and i deserved better.

#59

She was my best friend. I wasn't hers.

#60

I stopped reaching out to them when I realize they are not good for me. What they are doing is not what I want to become. They're my best friends since we were a kid. But thing change when we get older. So took different path that they took.

#61

I cared way too much and they cared not at all, I had feelings that I couldn't control that led to me being exploited and emotionally abused until I finally stood up for myself. Got blocked the moment I showed even the slightest hint of a spine. Years later I got a very hollow and fake apology sent via "vanishing message mode" on Instagram. I hate that it **still** bothers me on a nearly daily basis, but once I find a therapist I can afford I hope to someday maybe get over this.

#62

We had a dumb teenage falling out and both of us were too stubborn to reach out and apologize. Finally about 4 years later I reach out and we meet in person and reconcile. It was a nice reconciliation but we were never as close after that. I also realized in hindsight through the whole ordeal that I was always the one who had to be the “adult” or bigger person in our friendship. I think that’s why I waited 4 years to reach out, I wanted to see if they cared enough about me or the friendship to do it. And after we reconciled it felt like the responsibility to keep the friendship going was solely on me. As you grow up and make new friends in adulthood, you reach a point where you end friendships that are more work than they should be. In hindsight our friendship would have ended with or without the falling out, the falling out just made it happen sooner.

To this day I consider them my greatest childhood friend. But I don’t think our friendship was made to last into adulthood from the beginning. That’s life tho.

#63

He lied to me over stupid s**t routinely. I couldn't trust if anything they had told me was ever true.

#64

Everything was always about him. After 7 years it finally dawned on me that nothing would ever be about me. It was pretty easy to end it once I realized that.

#65

2016. I was in love with her, had been since 2nd grade, 16 years. Still am. She got engaged. I decided I had to tell her how I felt. She knew (not surprising) and was really nice about it, and totally willing to be just friends. But my heart and my head couldn't stand that, it was killing me, and it wasn't fair to either of us. So I stopped writing to her.

I specialize in unrequited love.

Edit - for added context, she moved away in 3rd grade and we communicated primarily by e-mail thereafter, with in person visits once or twice a year.