I ' ll give you the other side of the story , I was the kid that broke up my father ' s marriage by coming to stay . I never liked my Dad ' s third wife , we were civil , because I ' m not an arsehole and I know my dad still needed to live with her . At 25 I was back to my home town for a year or so and saw them about once a week . After breaking my leg I was couldn ' t move around much , and was unable to look after myself in my own place . This would probably get better as it healed , and had a hard time limit of when the cast came off and I was back at work . Anyhow , Dad wanted me to stay with them until I was back on my feet ha ! and his wife , who didn ' t like me much either , apparently laid down the law and said him or me . No parent is ever going to answer that question against the child , and sure enough Dad surprised me by picking me up from the hospital and took me back to an empty house . I like to think he ' s happier with his new girlfriend , but no one likes to think they caused a divorce . Edit I ' ll add that I never asked to stay with him , before I got out of the hospital I had an inflated opinion of my ability to survive with the cast on , plus I had other friends I could couch surf with for a week each .