Often, best friends can be the most important people in your life. They are the person you can call if you need someone to talk to at 2 AM; the ones that will keep your secrets, support even your most convoluted aspirations, and help you with whatever you need, even if they think it's crazy.
However, not all friendships, even those with your best friends, last forever.
Sometimes, friendships end naturally, as the two people grow apart. Other times, the friendship ends because one party did something malicious or made an irreparable mistake.
Redditors have plenty of stories of those kinds of friendship enders, and are ready to share.
It all started when Redditor salad_knife asked:
"What ended your friendship with a former best friend?"
A Lender Bee
"Asked to borrow money (~$3000) and told me not to ask for what, not because they needed help and trusted me but because I “had a decent job and could spare some”. Badgered me that I needed to send this money within 24 hours and kept repetitively asking when the money was ready. I was worried it was a medical emergency so I insisted they tell me why. No response except for “hurry up with the money.” Turns out they got scammed but that ended our friendship really quickly…money ruins relationships…fast."
"Edit: wow I’m sorry to hear all of you having similar experiences. Thanks for hearing me out."
– icanmakeyoufamous
"Never lend money to a friend, unless you're willing to lose the money or the friend, possibly both."
– shayanrc
The Truth Hurts
"His wife cheated on him. I was the bad guy for trying to let him know."
– Wyrdbro
"This is actually fairly standard. If you're a true friend you have to tell your friend that he/she is being cheated on. But you have to go into it knowing that it might be you being kicked to the curb."
– DancesWithTrout
Be Kind
"Bullying, basically."
"I realized that all that "good-natured ribbing" over time was really more malicious than good natured, and that I was the outlet for his own insecurities."
– travismc51
"He wasn't a "best friend" because my actual best friend would never do this to someone. But we were in a friend group in high school where the psychopath alpha threw a rock at me and broke my front tooth."
"We've had a few run ins since and each time it has ended with physical altercations."
"I was 25 in 2016 and this guy was like, "Hey Travis, does anyone here even like you?" and I was shocked that the teen dynamic was still happening."
– travismc51
Mama Bear
"Went on a mini-vaca (was supposed to be 4 days) with my best friend in 2021 to NJ, she brought her (then) 8yr old son, I brought my (then) 4 yr old daughter. Her son was so disrespectful, swearing, nasty attitude and so mean to my daughter the entire trip. The last straw was on the morning of the 3rd day when he ripped a box of cereal out of my daughter's hand, she started crying and he slapped her across her head. I tried disciplining him and my friend blew up at me and proceeded to DEFEND her son, as she called my daughter a "whiny baby". We started arguing, I packed our bags and said we're leaving. I drove 4 hours home without saying a single word to her or her son. Got to her house, threw her bags on her front lawn and peeled out of her driveway."
– Leesh_26
"You’re a better person than me. I would have left her and her little monster to find their own way home."
– Lorie614
"Sounds like how my Mom ended things with her friend. She had a son that was 3-4 years younger than me so we became friends by default. Honestly, I just tolerated him because was a foul mouthed little instigator whose Mom let him get away with everything and never disciplined him."
"One summer day we had all just gotten back from going somewhere, I had gotten myself in trouble with Mom and was given a time out (which back in the ‘80s was “sit your a** right there and don’t move”) on the front porch while our moms went inside."
"He proceeded to get my toy cars out, and while I’m sitting there he starts throwing them at me and is calling me “a**hole” with every throw. I’d had enough with being pelted and threw one back. And he screamed his head off and started bawling. His mom came out of the house, scooped him up, yelled at me and took off in her car."
"My mom asked me what happened and I told her. She didn’t blame me for not taking it, and called up his mom to explain everything. She wouldn’t hear it, hung up on my mom and that was it."
– Storyteller678
Little Things
"Lots of little sh*t that eventually just pissed me off enough to where I told him to F off."
"For example, 7-8 years ago, he bought 15 tickets for a midnight premier of Jurassic World for our entire friends group to attend."
"The day of the show, he texted me to tell me that he forgot to buy "my" ticket, so I couldn't go. Of the 15 he bought, how did he decide it was "my" ticket that he didn't buy? Turns out, he gave my ticket to a girl he met the week prior so he could take her with instead."
"That was just one of many things where he f*cked me."
"It's all truly minor stuff like that, but when you have 100 minor things, it becomes clear that they aren't actually your friend anymore."
– alwaysmyfault
Betrayed
"It was my last year in a country I previously lived in and at the time it was during summer vacation where we normally spend it in our home country. We had to cut our vacation short because we got a phone call telling us that our house had gotten broken into and robbed. We came back and on that day and he was talking to me telling me he saw cops by our house and he hopes everything is OK. It was horrible with everything stolen, furniture destroyed, closets torn down and fully emptied. My family decided to accelerate the transfer from that country and there was that. A year later he messages me a long e-mail explaining how sorry he was and that he was responsible for it and that his friends were the perpetrators and that he knew who did it but didn’t want to expose them. When we showed the police the e-mail and they questioned him it turned out he was part of that group as well."
– JustSayGGBro
She's In, You're Out
"Renting an apartment together."
"NEVER live with friends, folks. BECOME friends with people you live with."
– spooli
"Ugggh. Perhaps you can’t win"
"I live with two former-strangers who seemed cool when I moved in. We all got along fairly well, not BFFs but well enough to call them friends. We would go on hiking trips and occasionally do stuff around town together. It was nice. One of them had planned to move out to find a place with his girlfriend, but they could not find a place they liked so instead of him moving out she is moving in and he is “forcing me” to move out so they have more space."
"I put forcing in quotes because I have every legal right to stay in my home but apparently that does not matter to him, so I just “have to leave”. I don’t, of course, but who wants to live with someone who will betray your friendship as soon as it benefits him. So… now I am looking to move in with a friend. Not a long-time best friend, but someone I already know and like. I figured it’s better than meeting someone totally new and judging if they are good people in the 20 minutes you tour the place… but really I’ve lost a lot of trust in people from this experience."
"I generally assume people who are nice, cool, rational - will continue to act that way in the future. Well..."
– generic-work-account
Dropping Out
"Choosing men over her family and close friends, disappearing to another state at the drop of a hat with no way to be contacted, oh and meth."
– Baggle-Me-Fingies
"My former best friend also chose men, especially toxic men over her friends and family’s relationships."
– DontpunchDonkeys
Ghosted
"My best friend (kinda my only friend) stopped talking to me from one day to another. Never was able to get in contact with him again. Didn't respond to calls or texts, wasn't home when I showed up, nothing."
"I still don't know if I did something wrong or what his motivation was."
"It's been just over 4 years now. Still sucks at times."
– Captain_Meekus
"I had a really good friend that I met in Grade 8 and we started Grade 9 and she gave me the cold shoulder, one word answers to questions, and wouldn’t look at me. I ended up phoning her one day after school and asking her what I had done wrong and she told me “nothing”. The friendship ended and it always bugged me that someone could just turn cold and like a stranger. It really sucks and leaves an everlasting impression. She never reached out to me again except to try and add me on Facebook way after high school had ended. I never accepted the request."
– hill-top
"Sometimes people want to move on and leave their past and it's their right. I had a 20 year friend do this to me. But thinking back....signs were all there. I mean way way back. I was the loyal one, he was the pr*ck, but I was a pr*ck too. We weren't friends I don't think. Friends don't compete; friends uplift each other."
– Tarrolis
It's always hard when a friendship ends, even if you're the one who wanted to end it.
However, every relationship teaches you something, and bad friendships can open you up for a great one!