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How the Married Narcissist Plays His Victims

marriednarcThe narcissist who is married is probably the most prolific of all the other narcissists because of the game he has ultimately chosen to play. Indeed, the married narcissist can live in suburbia with the wife and kids and, at the same time, carry on one or more relationships outside of the marriage without appearing the least bit stressed about it. His abilities to lie on-the-fly, to convince all partners (including the spouse) that his intentions are always on the up-and-up, and to be, seemingly, in two places at once are unsurpassed and put him at a pathological level above the typical narcissist.

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Through my phone consultations and correspondence with both women and men, I have been able to make the following observations:

  1. A married narcissist will typically – but not always – be an online predator so that he can keep the extramarital affairs long-distance. He will have profiles on numerous dating sites that give his relationship status as either divorced or separated (when he, obviously, is neither).
  2. A married narcissist typically – but not always – will be a high-level narcissist, meaning that he is a narcissist with a good job and usually a good deal of money. At the very least, he is self-sufficient. I call this the 5-Star Deception. Having money makes it much easier for the narcissist to carry on multiple affairs or one that’s long-term without tipping off the wife. He may have a job that requires that he often travel out of town (and even out of the country) on a regular basis. Having money also means he can quickly book vacations or send flowers and/or extravagant gifts to appease the lover should she become disenchanted with the narcissist’s mind-boggling and hurtful behaviors. He may even play the most devious version of The Cell Phone Game and have two phones – one for each of his deceitful lives.
  3. A married narcissist always love-bombs his target more intensely than the typical narcissist simply because he’s under more of a time constraint. The sooner he hooks her, the less chance that finding out he’s still married will cause her to leave the relationship. Like any other narcissist, the end game is always to get away with the ruse – any ruse – for as long as he possibly can. Some women have been involved with married narcissists as the mistress for as long or nearly as long as the narcissist has been married.
  4. The target of a married narcissist may not initially suspect that this new guy is married because of his ability to spend so much time with her. After all, how can a guy be married and still be able to hop on the next plane out at the drop of a hat? OR how can he be married if he’s able to take off for a week to the Caribbean without appearing the least bit stressed about it? OR how can he be married if we’re always on the phone together? Because the narcissist compartmentalizes every aspect of his pathetic life, he can be completely stress-free with whomever he’s with!
  5. A narcissist marries for many reasons but the biggest reasons are that being married to a wonderful woman is good for appearances and it makes him feel (for a second) as if he’s actually a normal guy. The novelty wears off, however, and quick. That being said, the narcissist is rarely willing to give the marriage up because he feels justified in having both! After all, if all it takes to keep the ruse afloat on either side is to tell a few lies…well, shit! That’s easy! Don’t ever forget…a narcissist’s entire life is all about what he can get away with day to day.
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When the long-term, already-hooked mistress/target finds out about the marriage (and she always does), the N will likely explain that he was just in the process of filing for divorce when they met but the affair simply distracted him. Now that she knows, he’ll get right on that! He’ll spew his narcissistic word garbage, insisting that the marriage is one of convenience only (“We haven’t slept together in years!”) and that his wife is a psycho who cheats on him and he’s been working with a lawyer to make sure she doesn’t take him for a ride. The truth is that the wife is living the same life as the mistress…a life full of suspicions, silent treatments, and some incredible (but obviously believable) future-faking. If the narcissist is especially pathological, he may even, just for fun, deliberately triangulate one woman with the other.

What I find particularly distressing are the stories where the married N actually convinces a long-distance lover to move to the city where he’s lives under the premise that a divorce is imminent (which it never is) or that he’s already divorced or that he’s now separated. The truth is that the wife has probably caught on or, at the very least, suspects there’s a lover and the move, for him, is for convenience only because he can no longer just hop on a plane. I’ve heard from countless women who’ve moved clear across country – and even across continents – at the narcissist’s request only to be given the silent treatment immediately upon arrival. A married narcissist will even deliberately target a married woman, convincing her to leave her husband for the new relationship and then disappearing himself soon after.

Interestingly enough, 99.9999% of the women that write to me who are involved with a married narcissist adamantly insist that they never – not in a million years – would have ever thought they’d be involved with a married man or cheat on their own husbands. It simply wasn’t part of their nature. Moreover, in as much as it causes them heartache to know she exists, not a single one has ever really bashed the wife. Why? Because deep down anyone involved with a narcissist knows that this guy is a fucking liar wherever he goes and to whomever he’s with at the moment. Typically, whether you experience the relationship as a wife or as a mistress, you eventually come to understand that the “other woman” is just like you.

So, for those who wonder why a mistress or wife continues to stay with the narcissist knowing what she knows, the answer is that the narcissist is the same person to each! He lies with the same believable demeanor and makes the same promises and will insist to one that the other is a psycho that he just can’t seem to get rid of…..it goes on and on. Both the wife and the lover are victims and in both cases, the victim wants to believe that this person that they love is telling the truth. It’s a codependency to hope that will get us in trouble almost every time.

Now, to be clear, this article isn’t about the married partner who has been monogamous for ten years and then fucks up and is sorry for it. While I certainly don’t condone that behavior, I have to make clear that there’s a difference. As we all know, narcissism isn’t about just one single behavior…it’s about many, many behaviors. We come to recognize these behaviors as narcissistic tactics and this is why those who suspect that their lover or husband is a narcissist are always right. If he is with you, you can guarantee that there is some woman somewhere getting the silent treatment. The married narcissist is very good at what he does or he wouldn’t be a married narcissist!

Will the married narcissist ever leave his wife? Click here…

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144 Comments

  • Sarah Fahmy

    September 6, 2016 at 3:18 pm Reply

    Zari u are really helping see me through a hard time…

  • Bex

    September 5, 2016 at 7:35 am Reply

    I am currently going through a divorce as I was sick of his lying and cheating. He now has a new victim whilst he is running my name through the mud making out he is the perfect boyfriend changing everything I asked for. I need advice do they ever learn or do they repeat history with lying and cheating. As I think maybe it’s the only way people will stop listening to his bs and wake up to realise he is the problem. Me and my kids have to live in this town with everyone turning their back on us

    • Zari Ballard

      September 23, 2016 at 3:42 pm Reply

      Hi Bex,

      Sorry it has taken me so long to respond to you. Listen, here is an article about the smear campaign. Mine used to do the same thing but, believe me, people don’t like these creatures any more than we do. It APPEARS that everyone is their friend but the truth is that people just don’t want to get involved and who can blame them? The best thing to do is to NOT feed into it. Don’t even try to defend yourself. You have to be confident in the truth that you know. As for people turning their back on you, what do you even need these people for? What is it you want them to do for you? I had no problem crossing those people off my mental “friend” list. If you continue to say nothing, it automatically puts you in a better light.

      And no, they never change – ever. Read through my articles…I’ve tried to cover every topic. The great news is that you really are FREE. Fight for what he owes you legally and deal with him with detachment and indifference if you have to interact because of the kids. You WILL get through this, I promise.

      Stay strong!

      Zari xo

  • Leanne McKenzie

    August 5, 2016 at 6:55 am Reply

    I have been involved with a man like this for nearly three years. He lied to me from day one, he told me he was seperated then i slept with him and the truth came out that in fact he was not seperated at all, he was married with four kids. One afternoon in a motel room with him i went outside for a smoke, he locked the door on me went through my phone, stole my friend’s phone number and texted her after i left, to come to his motel room!!!! She showed me his texts. Men like this care only about themselves. He broke my heart. I would advise any woman to run if they ever meet a narsassistic man. It’s not worth the pain.

  • Cat

    June 16, 2016 at 3:24 am Reply

    Oh gosh….I wish I’d found this sooner. As I’ve been reading these posts, they parallel what my life has been in the past several years. In some ways it makes me feel better to know I’m not alone, but in other ways it makes me feel so stupid not to have seen….especially when I could have read these and seen my situation unfolding.

  • CP

    February 23, 2016 at 1:38 pm Reply

    Zari, a married narc is going around town here ruining a bunch of lives. He is an a-hole business person that thinks the sun rises and sets with his presence. His wife knows he cheats on her, but she tolerates it for the kids/finances/public issues. He is slick and smooth and tries to woo younger gals, older women, single, married, he doesn’t care. Not 1 oz! He also owes umpteen people a ton of money. Does karma eventually REALLY catch up to these evil type of people? He doesn’t care who, what, when, where he hurts or destroys or manipulates. His attitude is WHO CARES. He runs up debt and will just go bankrupt, he lies to umpteen women and knows he will eventually find new ones or more, with that type of who cares life is but a do whatever whenever how does anything really get to these people?

    • Nancy varcoe willis

      January 19, 2017 at 8:32 am Reply

      Yuck vs I love it! It’s a package deal with a disordered man (or woman). Beyond yucky, we all know that that is such a clean word to describe what they do. The “I love it” is for the textbook template that they follow, ending with the sentiment of questioning – if anything ever gets to these people.
      Yes.
      But I don’t recommend it
      My husband is/was not a clear-cut example of any of the axis 2 disorders, there’s a handful of psychopathic traits along with covert malignant narcissism. He was fairly intelligent and knows how to pull that smooth talk right out of his backside and people eat it up. And not at all boastful, although he’s done some interesting things but will pretend to be very humble. He’s was a wonderful blend of cerebral and physical – when he was on the hunt for a new woman in the summer of 2015, he bumped up his exercise program (he’s 66 by the way) and would often be lifting up his shirt showing me his abdominal muscles and say, “how does this look, Nancy? women like this, women like this – don’t they Nancy?” He would be on his rowing machine at 4 o’clock in the morning covered with sweat getting his weight down as far as he could. Eating only 3 or 4 ounces of chicken at night. Of course he would only read the New York Times best sellers – so that he could spout a few things and people would think that he knew what he was talking about.
      So what bothers them?
      Being outed. When you realize and begin to understand the horrible truth.
      I do not advise it. Remember they don’t have a conscience (Who would believe that? don’t we all have a conscience?) and I told mine right to his face that I knew he had no limits and no boundaries. He did not like that, why would he? he’s always been two or three steps ahead of me. And he could not get away from me fast enough when I said that.
      Not when you begin to understand what drives them, when you understand it you will begin to filter their words through the understanding of how their brain works. It’s not easy to do. Sounds it, but it isn’t because the emotional part of your brain never really takes a nap. Dammit. Best to revisit it in an hour or two.
      How do you out them?
      Get a nanny cam.

      • Zari Ballard

        January 20, 2017 at 5:02 pm Reply

        Hi Nancy,

        A narc can look right at the film of a nanny cam and tell you that 1) it’s not him, 2) it’s not what it looks like, 3) it doesn’t matter because YOU are the one who did the spying. What jerks. Well, he sounds like a typical narcissist to me. To me, all the traits add up to the same…a big fat zero. Nothing nice is nothing nice. It sounds like you have him figured out. Hopefully, you’ll be able to escape so you won’t have to waste any more time than you already have.

        Stay strong,

        Zari xo

  • Lisa

    February 20, 2016 at 4:35 am Reply

    Hello all – I am so please that I have come across this website! I now finally understand what’s been happening to me the last 5 months. I am caught by a married Narc 🙁 I will now start the blocking process. I feel incredibly sorry for his wife. Is it worthwhile to let her know what he’s been doing? They have no children, and God forbid before they do she should perhaps know what she is letting herself in for! I would appreciate your views on this. Thanks for great articles.

    • Zari Ballard

      March 5, 2016 at 7:20 pm Reply

      Hi Lisa,

      No, don’t bother trying to tell her. She has to find out for herself (if she doesn’t know already) what her husband is. Anything you could tell her would just be coming from the “other woman” and it wouldn’t mean a thing. He’d make sure of that.

      Zari:)

  • Bradley

    November 19, 2015 at 7:49 am Reply

    Thank you to all of you for your insights and sharing. There is so much I would like to share about my 4 year “journey” (the honeymoon phase….the D&D….the humiliation, the ” downgrading” of expectations…..the abuse …the lies…) but we all know the drill and how the roadmap with a N plays out. I will share this today…I am on Day 25 of serious committed No Contact. And it works. If there are some of us thinking about caving, thinking of breaking NC….thinking we cant live without them….we need our fix……DON’T. And remember to love yourself…..forgive yourself……and that it is now ABOUT YOU !!! It’s not about them….remember the abuse…..the bad times…..the lies…the cheating…..think about all that was going on behind your back…..and what you were put through.
    No Contact is hard….but it works and provides so much perspective…..every day I get revelations and understanding of what I ALLOWED to happen to me. Never again.
    Be strong…have a support network…..believe in yourself. It gets better every day. Thanks for all of the advise and support you all give with your sharing.

    • Zari Ballard

      November 21, 2015 at 1:33 pm Reply

      Bradley wrote…No Contact is hard….but it works and provides so much perspective…..every day I get revelations and understanding of what I ALLOWED to happen to me. Never again. Well said!

      Hi Bradley,

      Thank you for sharing such wise words – it’s much appreciated by all! Stay strong and always focus on happiness first. You are walking the perfect path, my friend…

      Zari xo

    • Pearl

      November 24, 2015 at 7:53 pm Reply

      Some women have been involved with married narcissists as the mistress for as long or nearly as long as the narcissist has been married. Yes that was me….1997-2013….what hell and mental anguish!!!. I would go on trips with him and we would have a wonderful time on the way there but after getting there and always after great and powerful passionate sex he always had to say something mean, hurtful little digs about me. One time I had to comb my hair out straight cause he said he wouldn’t eat dinner with me if I left it curly. On the way home I had to sit in the back so he could concentrate on driving, so he said. At a Orioles game he would run ahead of me instead of holding my hand, I yelled jokingly, “hey dude where’s the fire”…well that ended up being a terrible weekend and that was my first silent treatment…after that I always had this feeling he would leave me wherever we were if I made him mad ( he always insisted on driving to our getaways)

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