Betty Irabor has shared a story about a groom who embarrassed his wife by comparing her looks to hers during a wedding.
She said the incident showed how unkind words can hurt a partner, stressing that “putting your partner down is emotional abuse.”
Media entrepreneur and Genevieve magazine publisher, Betty Irabor, has shared a personal story about an incident at a wedding that left a lasting impression on her and her husband, veteran broadcaster Soni Irabor.
In a reflective post on Instagram, Irabor narrated how a groom’s insensitive comparison between his wife and herself dampened the mood of what had been a joyful moment. She used the experience to emphasize that people “bloom and age differently.”
According to her, during the wedding reception, her husband ran into an old classmate who was taking photos with his wife. What started as a cheerful reunion quickly turned awkward when the man jokingly told his wife that Betty, though ten years older, looked younger than her.
Irabor explained that the wife’s smile immediately faded, prompting her husband to pull the man aside for a private word while she tried to comfort the embarrassed woman.
“Listen! Putting your partner down, whether publicly or privately, is a form of emotional abuse. It chips away at her self-esteem, layer by layer,” she wrote.
Irabor urged men to speak to their partners with kindness and understanding, reminding them that aging and life’s challenges affect everyone differently.
“There are always better ways to speak to your wife ways that uplift rather than diminish. A woman who has to endure constant criticism and comparison from her husband soon loses her light,” she concluded.
