Nothing is as sacred as the bond of a friendship—and that’s especially true when we’re talking about best friends. To hold the distinction of being considered someone’s best friend is nothing to be taken lightly, and can often mean a special connection that lasts a lifetime. So what exactly does it take to screw up such a unique and important relationship? Here are 42 true stories that can shed some light on that question.
1. Pretty on the Outside, Ugly on the Inside
My best friend was no longer my best friend the moment she told me that she doesn't like hanging out with any other girls except me, because she likes to be the prettiest girl in the room.
2. Till Marriage Do Us Part
He was the best man at my wedding. Then we both got busy for a while and didn’t have much contact for a few years. Nevertheless, I still considered him my best friend. I heard about his wedding well after the fact. I guess we're not best friends anymore…
3. Who Done It?
I knew he was no longer my best friend when he took credit for a project that I had done, and then talked smack about it behind my back—saying that I didn’t do any of the work.
4. Through Thick and Thin?
He suddenly ghosted me right after I told him that I had a cancerous tumor. That is not a friend.
5. Time On Her Hands
We graduated from high school and she went away to college halfway across the world. Whenever she came back to visit, she always claimed to be busy when I tried to hang out with her. I later saw tons of pictures posted on Facebook of her and other girls having fun together while she was in town. So I guess that’s what she was so busy with. I left her alone after that.
6. Knowledge Is Power
My best friend sent a nude photo to my girlfriend. When she called him out for being a jerk, he replied with “He doesn't have to know'!” Spoiler alert: I know.
7. Couch Potato
I had a best friend for 10 years, but some years ago I moved abroad. I still kept in touch with him by Xbox and text, but it was mainly me initiating it all most of the time. When I went to visit the US last year, my wife and I drove 10 hours to see him and his family. He just sat on the couch and played Destiny the entire time we were there, hardly saying a thing to us.
We left after one night, and that was kind of it. I mean, we still do talk over text every now and again, but it's never about anything more than video game and tech news. We used to stay up having deep conversations until five in the morning. I don't really know what happened, but I couldn't do much more to maintain the friendship than I had already done.
8. No Tell Hotel
My former best friend locked me out of my hotel room in the middle of nowhere with no other place to stay for an entire night. Why? Because I had an argument with her over the fact that she claimed my husband kills people for a living. He is a chemist who works on developing chemotherapy, so not sure what she’s talking about. That was the last time I've spoken to her, and it’s been four years since.
9. I Don’t Follow
I found out that my best friend had been constantly using my Instagram account to text my ex-boyfriend pretending to be me, hoping to end my current relationship in the process of doing so. I guess she was thinking that if I didn’t have a boyfriend, I would be able to spend more time with her instead—or something equally ridiculous along those lines.
I am quite certain that she has never been slapped as hard in her life as she was the day I went to confront her about this little scheme of hers. That friendship is over now, to say the least…
10. Think of the Children!
My former best friend told me that my husband and I would make hideous babies because redheaded babies are the ugliest thing she has ever seen. Yeah, not something you say if your goal is to stay friends with someone…
11. Art Attack
I found out that my best friend was uploading my artwork to a "bad art blog." I was only 15 at the time and, even though it’s been many years since, I'm still deeply affected by it on an emotional level. If you don't like someone, don't pretend to like them and then make fun of them behind their backs. Just let them know you feel and distance yourself. Yeah, that will hurt in the short term, but it won't monumentally screw over someone’s entire psyche the way being fake will.
12. It Takes Two to Tango
I was no longer interested in being friends with my former best friend when I noticed that they would talk and talk and talk about themselves, but never once ask about me.
13. That’ll Do It
I had a best friend of 15 years. It all unraveled instantly the night he drunkenly told my cousin to kill herself, tried to start a fight with multiple people at my house, and flipped off my mom.
14. Anti-Depressant
I opened up to my best friend about my postpartum depression. She told me that she didn’t have time for depression and that anyone who suffered from it was merely weak in her eyes. I was never openly vulnerable in front of her, but I was practically dying on the inside. I needed someone badly, and she essentially told me that she didn’t care. I began consciously shutting her out of my life from that moment on.
15. Open the Window
We were best friends for a couple of years, but we were in different classes. I wrote her a message one time saying that I would be right over to visit her and hang out in her classroom. When I arrived, she had forgotten to close the chat window on her computer, and on full display was a conversation in which she and someone else were both making fun of me in the meanest ways possible. We are no longer friends, and I have had serious trouble trusting others ever since.
16. Life of the Party
One year, my best friend hadn’t invited me to any birthday party, but I knew that his birthday was coming up. So, I bought him a nice present and went over to his house to drop it off as a surprise. I arrive to find him having a birthday party with his (apparently) better friends. That was the last time we spoke.
17. Party of Two
The last straw for me with my former best friend was when she invited me over for her birthday party. She said that she just wanted to spend the day with me, but then told me that I had to leave by 2:00 for a family party. I was very close with her family and thought that it was weird that I had to leave. It turns out she was having a bunch of other people over for an actual birthday party, and didn’t want me there. To this day I don’t understand it, but it was very hurtful and I was done with her after that.
18. He Can Take It, But He Can’t Dish It Out
When my "best friend" was having marital problems, I was there for him—all through his wife's infidelity, the divorce, and the brutal custody battle. I testified on his behalf in court and helped him get custody of his kids. Fast forward two years later, when I find out that my wife has been cheating on me. He's not really interested in talking to me about it so much, and even acts like he's not home when I stop by for a visit.
And no, he wasn't the one my wife was cheating with. He's a good dad and a fun guy to hang around with, but he's just not emotionally available to help other people out much—and that definitely affected our relationship.
19. Birthday Present
When I invited my bestie to hang out with me at the nearby lake for my birthday, she said that she would get back to me. She never did. Instead, she posted on her Snapchat story about how much fun she was having with her other friends. I stopped talking to her after that.
20. Friends Without Benefits
In this case, it was my fault. I was the problem, not him. I fell in love with my best friend and could not reverse my feelings. I’m pretty ashamed of this. He deserved a better friend. He has now moved on. I miss him.
21. How Does That Even Happen?
I was done with my former best friend when she started dating the man who’d assaulted me.
22. When One Door Closes, Another One Opens Up
My friendship with my bestie ended when I realized that she only wanted to receive support and kindness, but never to give it. She had a rough home life growing up and I always supported her through everything—I would drop whatever I was doing any time she’d call me in tears asking for help. Then, I had my own rough patch that left me in a depressive rut.
She was always too busy with her hobbies to even talk to me when I was seeking support. She would get angry when I would just send simple “Are you free this weekend?” texts, because it was too “needy,” apparently. This is also when I learned who my real best friend was—because this friend saw what was happening, told off this other so-called “best friend,” and gave me all the support I needed in her absence.
23. Choosing Sides
My "best friend" of seven years "fell in love" with my fiancée. When I told him that I didn’t want to be friends anymore and kicked him out of my life, my fiancée left me for him. I'll be honest, I wanted to kill him and almost did.
24. Taking Out the Trash
When my girlfriend left me, my best friend at the time said "It's cool man, I slept with her anyway! You don't want trash like that in your life!" He was right.
25. Charting a Different Course
I realized that my best friend and I had drifted apart when I went to college and he joined a gang. He is currently in jail.
26. Brother, Can You Spare a Couch?
My best friend and I both tried to get into a frat. He made it in, but I didn’t. No big deal though, the two of us would still hang out regardless. That is, until he and a few of his new frat pledges began to throw food at me and harass me around campus for the next month. He'd then try to still hang around me and act as if he had never done anything wrong.
I was not having any of that. About a year later, he randomly texted me one day saying how sorry he was for what he did. By that time, I could not care less. It turns out that he had gotten kicked out of the frat for substance abuse, and was forced to couch surf.
27. Clearing Her Schedule
I found out that my “best friend” from high school had been telling people that I was busy all the time and not to bother inviting me to things. I was actually really lonely at the time and would have loved to have been invited.
28. The Last Straw
I stopped being friends with my former best friend when I realized how bossy and mean she was towards me. One time, my two friends and I ordered drinks. Friend B forgot to get a straw. So, my “best friend” just took my straw out, passed it to Friend B, and told me to go get another one for myself. I was so heartbroken.
29. Crossing the Line
My best friend was no longer my best friend from the moment I found out that she had been sleeping with my boyfriend. Screw her.
30. Who’s Special Day Is It Anyway?
She was no longer my best friend after she got way too drunk at my son's (her godson's) wedding, trashed a hotel room, called me horrible names, and punched me closed-fisted right in the face. She ended up passing out on the grounds of the hotel, came to, and was arrested for trespassing because she refused to leave the premises. Days later, via email, she decided to blame me for all of this, because she apparently took my focusing on the wedding proceedings rather than on her presence to mean that I was secretly “harboring animosity" towards her. Buh-bye!
31. Long Distance Relationship
My best friend was always complaining and making everything about herself. When I met my boyfriend and moved cities so we could be together, I suddenly realized after a few weeks that I was feeling extremely relieved about no longer having to cater to her selfish needs. That was when it hit me that we probably were no longer best friends.
32. Devil’s in the Details
My “friend” started spreading rumors that I was extremely promiscuous and that I was planning to shoot up our school someday—despite me never having had a girlfriend yet at that point, and being extremely nonviolent.
33. Dumb and Dumber
Last year, my lifelong best friend was in my town and ran into my son at a local grocery store. My son asked, "Does my dad know that you’re in town?" He replied: "No. He's an idiot." Now, I may be an idiot. But I was always a good friend to him. Not anymore!!
34. Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
My coworker was my best friend. Then she became my boss. That was the beginning of the end of that friendship!
35. Cash Flow Negative
The moment I lost all interest in my former best friend was the time we went out to eat and I offered to pay for her—as usual—because she had told me that she forgot her purse. She proceeded to order a ton of food, and only ended up eating no more than half of it. After leaving, her shoelace was loose, so she bent over to tie it back up. There was a $100 bill visibly sticking out of her back pocket. She had been lying to me to use me for money for over four years, and I had never realized it until that moment.
36. A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
I realized that my best friend and I had drifted apart when he posted wedding photos on Facebook. I didn't know that he had been dating anyone.
37. Without a Trace
I had noticed for a while that my conversations with my best friend had been getting shorter and less intriguing. Then one day, I received great news and wanted to share it with her. That was when I realized that she had deleted and blocked me on Facebook.
38. Money (That’s What I Want)
While they were driving, everyone decided that they wanted to party. No one had any money on them, so my best friend suggested that they call me—because “he always has money.” They didn’t even realize that I was right there sitting in the back seat. I was like “Uh, I’m right here, and I’m not in the mood to party tonight.” Or ever again, for that matter…
39. Getting Physical
As crazy as this may sound, I started to distance myself from my best friend as soon as I realized that every time she called me, I would have to poop. Literally, the sound of her voice would make my body want to expel waste. Every time, without fail. And this was before cell phones, so I had to do the poop dance in the hallway while trying to get off the phone with her. I have no scientific or medical explanation for this. I just couldn’t bear it anymore!
40. Two’s Company
My best friend since middle school had been going through some difficult times, so my family invited him to move in with us for a little bit. He was only supposed to be there for a month or so. Three months later, he was still there—and he refused to get a job or help around the house at all. We eventually kicked him out, and we haven't been friends ever since.
41. Power Struggle
I had a good friend who I moved in with in college. We were best friends and also worked with each other. All of a sudden, he stopped hanging out with me entirely. He wouldn’t hang around the common areas of the house, wouldn’t talk to me at work, and wouldn’t invite me to parties that we would normally have gone to together. I found out years later that he was mad at me because he felt that I "had too much power in the house"—whatever the heck that means.
42. In Times of Need
I gave this person way too many chances. First, she would only have me come over so that she could go to a concert—because her parents liked me and trusted me enough to let us go out, unlike some of her other friends. Then, she stopped talking to me for a while—until she decided to hit me up one day out of the blue, because she was applying for a job and needed to borrow some “clean urine.”
We then stopped talking again for another while—until she decided to call and inform me that she desperately needed money to feed her son. I gave some to her. She used it to buy drugs. I’ve stopped helping her now, and she’s no longer my “best friend.” I don’t hate her. I still listen when she needs to talk or is having a hard time—but I’ve set boundaries. I really hope she gets her life together.
Sources: Reddit,
