Why Some Friendships Don't Last And The Impact They Leave

Discover the raw truth of friendship through stories that break your heart and open your eyes.

Damjan

• Published in Community
• December 29, 2024

Friendship is one of the best things in life. Having someone who always has your back, makes you smile, and is there for you during tough times is something special. True friends help make the hard days easier and share the good ones with you.

But sometimes, friendships don't last forever. Things can change, and one person might stop valuing the relationship similarly.

Reddit users have shared stories about how their best friends turned into strangers. These stories show that many people have been through similar situations, and it's normal to feel hurt when a close friend drifts away.

For some, the distance starts slowly with minor misunderstandings. Over time, communication becomes more challenging, and the bond weakens.

Others shared how a big fight or disagreement led to their friendship ending suddenly, without explanation or closure. This can be really painful, especially when you realize you might have cared more about the friendship than the other person did.

Although losing a friend can hurt, it reminds us that healthy friendships require effort from both sides. Communication is key. If problems arise, talking them through before they grow into more significant issues can help keep the bond strong.

Sometimes, though, friendships end because people change, and that’s okay. Not all friendships are meant to last forever.

Reddit users have been sharing heartbreaking stories about how their closest friendships unraveled over time.

He cheated on his fiancée, and "someone" told her.

"He cheated on his fiancé. I told her what was going on. He never figured out how she found out. I cut him off. I figured if he can f**k over his fiancé, someone he’s supposed to love, what is keeping him from doing the same to me."

His best friend framed him, sent him to prison, and shattered his trust forever.

"He committed a crime, pinned it on me, and I went to prison for it. It took some time to prove it was him, and I was immediately released and he is in prison now.

We were best friends for 13 years, so huge trust issues followed."

"I found out that not only did she know about my (ex) fiance cheating on me but was helping him hide it. Backstabbing c**t."

"I’m a pediatrician and she’s an antivaxxer."

At 16, a friend's dad assaulted her; years later, she admitted seeing it.

"Her dad SA’ed me one night when we were drinking (we were 16, he bought the alcohol for us) and she and her cousin saw it happen.

I didn’t speak about it until a school counselor called me into the office to discuss a sudden drop in my grades. I explained that this had happened and it’s really hard for me at school right now.

The counselor called police and made a report. Police came to my school the next day and pulled me out class, “interrogated” me for a few hours, and then brought in my friend. She denied knowing anything about it. I got a restraining order and never spoke to her again.

Until 3 years ago, at 29 we happened to be at the same house party. She asked to speak to me in the garage, and told me “I should have believed what I saw. He’s in jail for raping another girl”. I cried and was happy to hear her finally say those words (that she should have believed what she saw) but I still will never, ever have contact with her again."

She stole thousands from her and hid it for years.

They grew up; he didn’t, so they moved on.

"I grew up. He didn't.

He's a flat earther, born again, and fixated on people and memories from high school when we graduated like 20 years ago. "Hey remember when Mikey from 3rd period dropped his pencil and he farted when he grabbed it?" "Hey remember when that one hot girl from geology whose name i cant remember asked me for a listerine strip? Yea she was into me."

Just slowly became a bummer to hang out with and had to cut ties."

"He's just angry all the time. Everyone else is at fault, and it's never his fault. He's stupidly deep into the Trump/MAGA movement. I just can't with him anymore."

"We were both born as Jehovahs Witnesses. He’s still in, I’m not. He’s not allowed to talk to me."

A friend cut her off for dating.

"I started dating someone and she texted me that she wanted to focus only on “friendships with single women who aren’t involved with boys and are also working towards their career goals and financial independence.” I also wasn’t the first friend she had dropped for having a boyfriend. I didn’t respond until she texted months later apologizing. I brushed it off and said I was respecting her boundaries and never spoke to her again. It’s been 5 years since."

"She ditched me in a foreign country to go hang out with people she'd just met. Yup."

She shared antisemitic posts.

"She started posting extremely antisemitic things on her social media when the Israel-Palestine war began. She was sharing posts calling for retaliation against all Jewish people. 

I'm Jewish. She knew that. When I asked her why she was sharing that kind of stuff, she doubled down."

"She invited a friend I had introduced her to to her wedding but didn’t invite me. That hurt."

She said no to cooking, and the person disappeared.

"I realized she only included me when she needed something. I finally got up the courage to tell them "no" when they wanted me to cook for their dinner party. She wanted me to buy all the food, prep, cook, and clean after. I haven't heard from her since."

They stopped investing in a friend who ignored them, even after an apology.

"He stopped responding, which he does every once in a while, just won’t respond. Instead of reaching out after a few months in which we would be best friends again and text and game when we could, I just let it slip. He reached out like after 6 months and apologized, I forgave immediately and then went back to ignoring. If sucks but I've stopped investing into people who won’t invest into me."

"She asked me to help her fake a vaccine card to keep her job (at a nail salon) because she didn’t wanna take it. I said no. She stopped texting."

He got rich, mocked union workers, and replaced old friends with wealthy ones.

"He got a job making 6 figures and became materialistic while ridiculing Union workers (like me) and he phased me out of his social life now that he’s got rich friends."

Two years after chasing an ex, he’s in prison for sending illegal content to an FBI agent.

"His dumb, married a*s tried to sleep with my ex less than 48 hours after we’d broken up… And now, two years later, he’s sitting in prison for 20-ish years after sending an undercover FBI agent some sick pics/vids.

Serves the f****r right."

She ended a one-sided friendship with someone who thrived on drama and attention at her expense.

"Well, I’m glad you asked….

She didn’t ask me to be a bridesmaid at her wedding, I had known her for 25 years and she asked girls she had known for only a few months.

Accordingly, I didn’t ask her to be involved in my wedding. I had my two sisters, whom I had actually known for longer than her. Didn’t stop her from making a spectacle at the wedding, which was on a very hot day. She pulled out the front of my dress and dumped an entire box of confetti down there. I was a bit sweaty, my dress got stained in red, pink, blue and green spots for the photos. Thanks friend.

She didn’t acknowledge the birth of my first child. To be fair, I did learn later that she had suffered a number of miscarriages that year but still…

We would invite her and her husband over for cosy little dinner parties and put a lot of effort into them. Candles and fancy food and nice wines. When she reciprocated the invitation, we would always arrive to find she had also asked three or four other couples and would not bother cooking, we’d get pizza.

She never got in contact with me, it was always me calling her.

She didn’t call me to tell me that she was finally pregnant, didn’t tell me when she’d had the baby. I always found out through other people.

None of these things seemed like big deals at the time but added up, it caused a lot of pain and tears from my end. Why didn’t she like me?

I got the hint. She didn’t want to be friends anymore. Okay.

I removed her from all my socials and accepted that she had moved on, so although I didn’t understand why, I shrugged and moved on too.

Now years later, she goes around telling everyone she doesn’t understand what she did so wrong as to cause me to give her the cold shoulder and block her. I haven’t blocked her, she simply has not re-requested to follow me. That doesn’t suit her “poor me” narrative though, does it?

She’s a drama queen, always wants to be the centre of attention and needs to be bolstered up by a crowd of adoring people all around her. I’m simply not interested in being a shoulder for her to step on as she climbs her way to the top. She’s got plenty of those already.

Sorry, that was long. It’s obviously a touchy subject."

"He went down the MAGA rabbit hole. I don't need that BS in my life. Maybe someday he'll come around."

She shared their pregnancy announcement without permission, showing she couldn't be trusted.

"Posted my pregnancy announcement before my family and friends were aware. We hadn’t even gotten our NIPT results back (I was high risk). When confronted she informed me it wasn’t a big deal and it’s not like anyone on her friends list knew me.

You could hear us saying in the video to not post anything online yet since we wanted to surprise family. Multiple times. Lies about deleting it as well. My husband confronted her and she shrugged and again refused to accept responsibility/accountability. I knew then I couldn’t trust her around my kid."

A friend justified disturbing behavior in her relationship, ignoring legal and moral boundaries.

"She started dating a guy (43) who was non-monogamous on his end (but monogamous on her end - she reassured me it worked). Turns out he had been messaging a 16 year old girl for the last year and intended to have her move in with him the day she turned 18.

She found nothing wrong with it, also stating that when she “gets her bearings” with the new move, she also intends to make her move on her (sexually) with him. When she told me about it the girl was just two weeks shy of 18 and “what is the difference between her body two weeks away from 18 and after 18” um…. The law? That’s the last time I spoke to her.

You never really know who people are."

Lost friends over a complaint and a removed sign—drama-free life is better!

"1. Because I paid her husband's auto shop to replace my radiator, and the techs failed to put fluids back in my car. New radiator exploded, far from home and even further from the auto shop. They refused to fix the problems, so I complained to the corporate office and husband got in trouble and lost bonuses. So bestie was not allowed to speak to me anymore.

2. Other bestie's boyfriend wanted to advertise his tree services in my yard. I was ok with it, but the landscaping company my landlord paid was not, and they removed the sign without telling me. I was accused of sabotaging the boyfriend's business.

Glad to be free of the drama."

Their friendship ended because his born-again wife saw the other’s atheism as a bad influence.

"As far as I know, he wasn't allowed to talk to me for being atheist. He's from a very religious family, but that was never a problem, I lived in the same neighborhood and spent a lot of time at his place, and was fairly close with his religious parents, they were wonderful people.

We naturally grew apart during/after college, but would catch up whenever I was in town. He married a born-again (next level religion obsessed), and I even attended their wedding. I saw him a couple times after, but eventually there was no contact at all, and I was also dropped on Facebook. Rumor is she didn't want him around me because I'm not a believer, which makes me a bad influence. I guess being the voice of reason when he tried to start drunken bar fights was problematic."

After 17 years, they ended the friendship and found peace.

"I grew tired of being taken advantage of and taken for granted. Without ever getting a "thank you" for everything I did for them. We were best friends for 17 years. I ended that friendship, I deleted their number, deleted them off my social media accounts. A weight was lifted off my shoulders when I ended that friendship. We haven't talked for 3 years, and will continue to do so. What they do, is none of my concern anymore, nor has it been."

She insulted her daughter.

"She told her son (he and my daughter are the same age) that my daughter looked like a wh*re in her homecoming dress. He told my daughter she said that. I asked her through text if it was true and she left me on read. I never talked to her again. Several years later she started working where i was already working and tried to buddy up to me in her new hire training and I completely ignored her."

She spent years belittling them, leaving their trust and self-worth shattered.

"I noticed that, especially when we're around other people, she undermines my intelligence at every opportunity. I realized after 4 years of what seemed like a close, wholesome friendship that she was using me as an accessory to make herself look and feel smarter. I would've taken the pain of a truck running me over than having experienced that epiphany.

I still haven't really let go of the person I thought she was and I miss it so, so much. But over the course of those 4 years I had come to fully accept that I was a bumbling idiot, and somehow it took me this long to realize she was the cause."

She disappeared in 2022, leaving only social media traces, and those who knew her are still haunted, wondering why.

"I gotta be honest, I don’t know the answer and it’s been haunting me for years. She cut off contact with me back in 2022 and suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth—not just me, literally everyone who knew her in our friend group and even her acquaintances in the city, it’s something we talk about about time to time.

The only reason I’m assured she’s alive and well is because our families still talk, her mom has given a few updates but largely keeps it hush hush too. She’s active on social media and kept all the picture of us tgt, plus her profile picture is still one I took of her many years ago. I don’t understand what happened and it’s messed me up pretty bad, this girl was my whole world and losing her was really hard. I tried getting back in touch but she won’t respond, since I’m extremely non-confrontational I’ve given up. Probably the biggest mystery of my life and I’d do anything to know why."

"She couldn’t support me when my ma passed."

They lost their closest friend to self-isolation.

"We used to be inseparable and losing that connection to her is the one thing I've regretted in my life.

We came from very different backgrounds and were in very different situations so I just didn't think she would understand what I was going through. I was dealing with really bad depression that led me to isolate myself from my friendships more and more every time, so I slowly stopped reaching out to her, and the more time passed without talking the harder it was for me to reach out to her again for fear of her being mad at me.

At this point I haven't talked to her in about 5 years, but I heard from an old mutual friend that she had gotten engaged and seemed to be thriving, so I'm really glad for her, I wish her nothing but the best in life even if I can't tell her directly."

Ending a friendship can be challenging, so giving yourself time to process is essential. Focus on being around people who truly value you and make you feel appreciated.

The right people will show up and support you; that kind of friendship makes all the difference. Take time for yourself, and trust that better days are ahead.

Damjan