Have you ever done something you weren’t super proud of after a breakup? You aren’t alone. 14 college women share the worst things they’ve done during and after a breakup…and it might make you feel a little better about what you’ve done in the past.
“When I was in middle school, I decided I was over my first love. This was before any of us had cell phones, so I wrote him a note full of young teenage angst telling him that our short lived, yet epic, love saga had come to and end. I sprinkled the page with water to represent my tears, and spritzed the page with my cotton candy-scented perfume to seal the deal. I then gave the fateful note to a mutual friend to slip to the unsuspecting dumpee during the sermon Sunday at church. He was heartbroken, and refuses to say more than three words at a time to me now.”
-Jules, Elon University Class of 2018
“In the sixth grade, a boy handed me a slip of paper that said ‘Will you be my girlfriend?’ and had little boxes where I could check ‘yes’ or ‘no’. This was basically my first interaction ever with a boy who liked me, so the adrenaline was pumping. I checked the ‘yes’ box, class ended, and I ran away. As soon as I got home, I realized that I had no feelings whatsoever for this kid, and no part of me wanted to be his girlfriend. So when I saw him at school the next day, I handed him a note with a poem inside:
roses are red,
violets are blue.
you’re kind of cute,
but I can’t go out with you!
I know; I hate sixth grade me too.”
-Shannon, Florida State University Class of 2016
“The worst thing I’ve ever done during a breakup was let him believe we were still ‘casual’ so I wouldn’t have to genuinely dump him. I did it over text message, so that I could hook up with a friend I’d fallen for without feeling too guilty. #notproud”
-Hannah, Kenyon College Class of 2019
“I asked my boyfriend to go to a local restaurant with me. Once he had bought our food we found a table to sit at. I purposefully picked a table away from everyone else so I could break up with him. While we were eating this random guy comes up to us and starts talking, all the while I’m thinking ‘hello! I’m trying to break up with this kid!!’. To make matters worse, his parents show up a couple minutes later and his mom freaks out at him for taking the new car to a dirt parking lot. Once everyone was gone he asked what I wanted to do tomorrow. I responded, ‘break up’. On our way to leave, we spot two of our friends who call our names and ask us how we are. He responds by yelling ‘we just broke up’ in front of the whole restaurant.”
-Stacey, Bentley University Class of 2019
“I was in a relationship for three years. At the end we had the messiest break up of all time. We tortured each other for months. May I add this break up was over a long distance. (He moved 2 years into our relationship and we did long distance for a year.) The song ‘We are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ by Taylor Swift was trending on the radio. One night when I was driving home from a party I blasted the song and recoded my inner Taylor Swift belting along, then sent him my music video. He and I will never, ever get back together.”
-Krissi, University of Utah Class of 2017
“After having my heart broken by a guy who cheated on me and continuously lied about it, he begged to have me back. I told him I needed time to think about it, when I really made up my mind to never so much as kiss him again. In the ‘thinking about it’ process, I let him drive me everywhere, buy me dinner multiple times and give me a back massage every time we hung out. When I eventually ghosted him it honestly felt great.”
-Lizzie, Dartmouth College Class of 2016
“I told my ex that I was a lesbian and convinced him I left him because I started having feelings for my best friend.”
-Jay, Christopher Newport University Class of 2018
“I came home from first semester freshman year ready to turkey dump my boyfriend. I figured I could hop in his car and run back in my house before he really knew what hit him. I was wrong. I get in the car and he immediately flies out of my driveway saying he wanted to grab dinner before the play we were supposed to see at my old high school. Typical him, he gets lost on the way to the restaurant. Then, I made him pull into a McDonald’s to steal the WiFi to figure out where we needed to go. I broke up with my boyfriend of over a year in a McDonald’s while eating an ice cream cone…not thinking that I would have to have him drive me the 20 minutes home.”
-Chelle, DePaul University Class of 2018
“The worst thing I have done to someone to break up with them is ‘ghost’ them. I ignored them completely and probably made things much worse instead of addressing the problem.”
-Nicolette, University of Illinois Class of 2017
“I broke up with my boyfriend on a romantic dinner date which was to celebrate our three years together. It was our anniversary and I was cheating on him.”
-Natasha, New York University Class of 2019
“My roommate during my freshman year of college told me that when her high school boyfriend dumped her, she was so upset that she broke into his car and filled the back seat with rotten eggs and spoiled milk. It totally ruined the seats of his car and worse, it smelled horrible for months.”
-Rachel, University of Florida Class of 2017
“I broke up with my boyfriend of eight months over text while I was in Europe. I told him right before I left that the trip wasn’t going to impact our relationship whatsoever… and dumped him three days after I arrived.”
-Raquel, UCLA Class of 2019
“I broke up with my boyfriend over the phone and had my friend there for moral support. He heard her in the background. Whoops.”
-Liz, St. Michael’s College Class of 2019
“The worst way I’ve ever broken up with someone was in front of his friends during lunchtime.”
-Mary, Clovis Community College Class of 2021