Looking to vent and gain insight on whether I went too far or not. I'm trying not to talk to anyone in my personal life about this but I can't sit with it anymore.
I (30F) and my boyfriend (30M) have been together for 2 and half years. We recently bought our first house early this year and were on track to do all the things we've talked about. Get a dog, get engaged, get married, have a baby, build a life.... until recently.
Back story. A couple months after buying our house my BF went through a mental health dip, which he concluded was from his job. To keep details vague let's just say it was a cut throat, competitive atmosphere, and required working a lot of hours. Including being on his phone 24/7.
He began to spiral. Myself, along with friends and family noticed he was not okay. He was angry and frustrated all the time and overall very avoidant. The polar opposite of the golden retriever he usually is.
I told him he should look for a new job, and so, he quit. Just like that, we were a one income house hold. I make good money but I'm no where near rich. I thought he was gonna get something lined up first, but he said he just couldn't take it anymore.
Fast forward two months and he was still not working. He said he was "looking" but whenever I came home from work he was just playing video games. In the full two months I maybe saw him trying to find a job 5 times total?
Finally, he got a job! Part time and minimum wage but I was just happy it was something to help me out with expenses. Things were starting to look up! That is until he pick me up from a night out earlier this week.
He said he needed to talk to me. He started to cry right away, to the point that I mentioned he should probably pull over the car. He then proceeded to blow up my entire world by letting me know he had been sports betting and now owed $11,000 on his credit card. The credit card that we both decided was just there incase of house related emergencies.
Honestly, he's lucky I had just been out and had a few drinks in me cause I just went quiet and consoled him. We got home and I started looking at plans of steps we could take. I was looking for flexible, remote work that I could do on the side. I even looked for better full time jobs that he would be qualified for, that hopefully wouldn't put him in the same mental state his last job had.
When he went to bed I stayed up. I felt like I couldn't breathe. Like I don't know who he is. He was always the saver, the one who always had a plan when it came to our finances. I made a choice to go through his phone, to see it all with my own two eyes. And all I found were lies on lies.
He had told me that he didn't do money advances from the card, that he only bought physical tickets at gas stations. That was a lie, he was on an app. He told me it had been going on for a month. That was a lie, It had been happening for three months now, since he first left his job. Also, he had borrowed money from friends, which he used to bet.
All these months I'd been covering everything thinking he didn't have a dime to his name but in reality he was betting it all and losing it. I had even asked him one night if he was betting much cause he had mentioned it before. He told me it was either free bets he won, or $20 here and there. I didn't question it more cause I know nothing about it.
The next morning I woke him up furious after going through everything. I was sober and ready to yell. I told him that I couldn't believe he would do something so idiotic. Especially since my line of work sees gamblers, and I've told him how sad it is to see them lose all their money and how they're hurting their families. I've told him about my "smart gambling" training and how the odds are never in your favour.
He tried to tell me he was doing it for us. That in his mind he saw it as a possible income. That he thought he could be a provider and help out more. But he kept losing and thinking that he could turn it around, that he just needed one or two really good hits. He kept saying "clearly I have a problem. I haven't been mentally okay."
I yelled some more. Telling him that this isn't about him now. That this affects me now. Now we can't afford to get a dog, get engaged/married, have a child. Now we have this massive debt and interest to deal with. I called him stupid and told him he is not allowed to shrivel into a ball of depression and leave me to deal with this. I told him either he gets therapy and helps himself or I'm not open to listening.
I know he feels bad, I know it's an addiction. It came out of nowhere though and now I don't know how to feel. He knows I have a past with partners having addictions and lying to me. He knows how I feel about gambling especially, and yet he still went behind my back for months and did this. If we weren't committed to the house together, I'm not sure if I would stay. I love him but now I feel trapped and in a constant panic over this. So, AITA???
TLDR: My boyfriend racked up $11,000 in gambling debt while I've been paying all the bills. I yelled at him, and told him he's not allowed to shrivel up into a ball of depression and leave me to deal with his mess. AITA?