‘Psychotic’ woman called out for stalking her husband for two years before they met and memorising his routine and favourite items: ‘I knew it was love at first sight’

A woman has been labeled ‘psychotic’ and ‘manipulative’ for stalking her husband for two years before officially ‘meeting’ him and then adapting her personality to suit his likes and dislikes for more than a decade.

Lauren*, 24, first saw her future husband, Tom*, when she was 14 and he was 18, and proceeded to stalk his social media accounts, finding out his home address and details about his relatives.

She soon discovered that Tom’s little brother, Nick*, attended her school and befriended him to fit into the family dynamic.

“I started spending a lot of time with Tom’s mom, and she told me all about his college, past girlfriends, favorite foods, pet peeves—everything I needed to know,” Lauren confessed.

She shared her story on Reddit, which was then picked up by popular podcast host Morgan Ashley Absher for ‘Two Hot Takes’ on Spotify, who read it during the show.

Lauren revealed that she would find out which weekends Tom would be home from college and wear her best outfits and put on makeup to impress him.

“Tom was the school record holder for a specific niche sport that I also happened to play, and he came back to coach our high school team for additional volunteer hours when I was a senior,” Lauren shared.

‘I spent a lot more time with him. I enjoyed every second of it. We were friends before but became much closer and he took me home after school.

‘I applied to college in New York because I knew he was going to work there, and we started dating shortly after I turned 19. He asked me to marry him when I graduated, and we got married a year later.”

Lauren started to feel guilty about her stalking and lying, because Tom told everyone that ‘fate’ brought them together.

She decided to lose her nerve and tell her husband the truth, but everything went downhill from there.

‘Tom was stunned, scared and confused after I explained the real story of how we fell in love. He sat in front of me and sobbed uncontrollably as he asked me how much of our relationship and my identity had been fabricated to his liking.

“He packed his bags and told me he needed space and that he still loved me but was going to spend some time in a hotel.”

Lauren went to sleep knowing that her husband, though betrayed, would eventually come around and realize her heart was in the right place.

But she woke up to a storm.

‘Tom went to his family and told them everything: none of them want anything to do with me anymore and they all call me psychotic. He exaggerated it to make me look crazy.

‘He said he lied about going to a hotel because he knew I would stop him if he told the truth. I feel so betrayed. I’ve tried to be a good wife by showing him the real me, and this is what he does? I put in all this work just for it to end like this?’

Thousands were shocked by Lauren’s ‘disgusting’ actions and shamed her for her behaviour.

“You’re a regular sociopath,” one woman said. “You did all this for the drama, not because you cared about Tom. If you had, you would have taken this to your grave.”

“I’m so scared of it, I’m getting hit and I want to try to get closer to people but this is the next step,” wrote another.

A third said: ‘For the past ten years your whole personality has had to appeal to him. Every new like and dislike was influenced by the decision you made at fourteen. You honestly believe this is authentic, when in reality you have no idea who you are.”

*Names have been changed for privacy reasons.