Thousands of people are in disbelief after a young woman revealed she has been inventing a relationship with a near-stranger for ten years.
The 27-year-old met a man named Liam online in high school and lied to her friends that he was her boyfriend.
She has kept up this lie ever since, even going so far as to say that she and Liam are now engaged.
“Sometimes these lies get so deep and so complicated that at some points I've actually convinced myself that we're really together,” the woman said.
'I feel like I'm about to go crazy and yes, it's not lost on me that I seriously need to see a psychologist as soon as possible.'
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Podcasters Eilish Gilligan (left) and Gemma Dimond (right) shocked listeners after telling a 'crazy' story about a woman who had a 10-year relationship with a stranger
The 'insane' story was spread across the Everyone has a secret podcast shocking listeners who called the woman “delusional.”
Podcast guest Eilish Gilligan read the mystery woman's entry to hosts Annabelle Lee and Gemma Dimond.
'I have been carrying this burden for a long time. “For over a decade I have been telling everyone that I am dating, and recently engaged, to a man I have only met once,” she began.
“I've been thinking about this story of my life for so long and I don't know how to go back and solve it.”
The singleton first connected with Liam in high school through an online study forum and they started messaging each other daily.
Despite texting for two years straight, the couple only met in person once, as they lived far apart and were too young to travel alone.
“It was an incredibly intensely connected friendship that existed almost purely online,” she said.
“At some point his messages dried up and disappeared, but not me. I'm still sitting in that place, excited by his existence, in love with him and the idea of what we could be together, as if I were still a teenager.”
'I have been carrying this burden for a long time. “I told everyone I'm dating, recently engaged, to a man I've only met once,” she said (stock image)
When the woman was still talking to Liam, she lied to her best friend about him being her boyfriend in an attempt to “fit in.”
'I had an extremely restrictive childhood with parents who didn't really let me experience anything, I was hardly allowed out of the house. “I knew my boring home life would hurt my friendships,” she said.
“From that day on, I've kept up this lie, it's literally ten years later and I've just embellished it more and more.”
The woman has created fake phone numbers, Instagram profiles and WhatsApp chats to maintain the illusion that she and Liam are 'madly in love and planning a wedding'.
“One time I even pretended we were on vacation together for a week, but actually I just stayed in my apartment all alone,” she said.
“It's like I'm a catfish, but the only person I'm catfishing is myself. I'm 27 and in a bigger hole than you can imagine.'
To excuse the fact that her family and friends have never met Liam, the woman has pretended that he is a struggling drug addict who is in and out of treatment and rehabilitation.
“Obviously they all now think he's about to become my husband, and that's becoming increasingly difficult to maintain,” she said.
'The bizarre thing is that it turns out that my fictional version of events was not always so far removed from reality.'
She created a fake Instagram profile and started messaging Liam under a different name. He revealed that he had substance abuse problems.
“This strange overlap between my imagination and his reality has only confused me more, it's like I really know Liam without knowing him at all,” she said.
“I'm so in love with someone who is actually a stranger and yet not a stranger, if that makes sense.”
Liam eventually discovered the obsessed woman's true identity and cut ties, leaving her 'devastated'.
“Now I feel dangerously on the edge of everything falling apart and my friends discovering my big lie – this has ruined my life,” she said.
“I haven't been able to build any meaningful relationship yet because even though I know it doesn't make sense, in my mind I'm Liam's fiancée.”
Thousands of listeners quickly shared their two cents, with many calling the story “terrifying.”
'THIS IS SO HEAVY!!!! Like where do you go from here? Moving and starting a new life?' someone asked.
“You hear a lot of crazy things on the internet but this is…something different,” replied a second.
One user was convinced that her friends had secretly found out about the woman's lies and told her nothing, while another user said she was suffering from dependency.
Limitation occurs when a person falls in love with someone who does not reciprocate his feelings.
They have difficulty thinking about anything other than their intense crush, which causes them to neglect their social life, work and responsibilities.
“This sounds like a restriction on steroids. She tortures herself. I hope she gets the help she needs,” one woman said.
'Tell everyone it's over and go to THERAPY! This is stalker behavior on the one hand and insults on the other,” another agrees.
“Haven't your friends and family met your husband in ten years? They know,” someone added.