She thought they nailed the perfect grown-up breakup: tears, promises to stay friends, the works. A week later he sprinted to the one friend he’d always trashed, weaponized every vulnerable late-night confession she’d trusted him with, and painted her as the controlling, jealous villain who’d caged him for months.
By morning she was booted from every Discord server and group chat, her reputation torched in a calculated smear campaign faster than the relationship actually ended. The same guy who swore he hated drama rewrote their entire story, turned mutual friends into flying monkeys, and left her staring at blank screens, wondering how “let’s stay friends” turned into total social execution.
Ex smeared Redditor to mutual friends after breakup, she responded with screenshots proving he lied and isolated himself.
What we’re having here is a textbook post-breakup power grab: one partner tries to secure the friend group by becoming the victim, hoping the other person just disappears quietly. Sadly, it works more often than it should.
From the outside, the ex’s behavior screams insecurity wrapped in manipulation. He spent months telling OP he had basically no one else (“I only want to talk/play with you”), then flipped the script the second they believed him without a single question.
That blind loyalty made it easy for him to paint her as controlling, until she dropped months of Discord logs showing the exact opposite, plus his own spicy opinions about the very friends he was suddenly desperate to win back.
This isn’t just petty drama, it touches on a very real emotional abuse tactic called “triangulation”: using third parties to control the narrative.
According to licensed marriage and family therapist Natalie Jambazian in a 2024 article for The Skimm, “One sign is when a victim sees on social media that the narcissist is posting false stories about them. Another sign is when a friend or family member calls to see how you’re doing, and they mention hearing from the narcissist that they’re devastated about the relationship ending.”
This insight highlights the subtle yet insidious ways smear campaigns unfold in the digital age, often masquerading as concern or shared grief while planting seeds of doubt about the target’s character.
Jambazian, a specialist in narcissism, emphasizes that these tactics are calculated to erode trust in your support network, making isolation feel inevitable. In OP’s case, the ex’s pivot from “I only want to talk to you” to “She made me isolate” echoes this exactly: a false narrative of devastation that ropes in mutuals without giving her a chance to speak.
Research backs this up: a 2022 study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships found that 38% of people reported their ex had spread false or exaggerated negative information about them to mutual friends after a breakup, and women were significantly more likely to be targeted with accusations of jealousy or control. The study noted that digital evidence (screenshots, messages) was the most effective way to counter such campaigns, exactly what OP did.
Neutral take? Sending the receipts was undeniably petty, but it was also self-defense. Walking away and letting lies stand rewards the liar and teaches him the tactic works.
By contrast, calmly providing proof (“Hey, just wanted to clear up that I never asked him to ditch you, here’s what actually happened”) reclaims the narrative without stooping to new lies. Most therapists would call that assertive, not AH behavior.
These are the responses from Reddit users:
Some people say the ex started the mess by smearing OP, so he deserved everything that came back to him.
Some people emphasize that the ex “fucked around and found out” and praise OP for the perfect comeback.
A user shares similar personal stories where an ex tried to lie or manipulate mutual friends.
A comment advises OP to walk away from the entire friend group involved.
In the end, OP cleared her name and exposed a guy who was happy to torch her reputation for a quicker friend-group rebound. Was dropping the full receipt roll a little spicy? Sure. Necessary when everyone believed his sob story without even asking her side? Also yes.
So, dear readers: would you have sent the screenshots or taken the high road and ghosted the whole circus? When someone lies about you to all your mutuals, is petty revenge ever justified? Drop your verdict in the comments, we’re dying to know!
