“I don’t regret leaving my wife, but I have never suffered so much in my life.” in relationships, the pain of the often neglected one who leaves;

Last February, Emmanuel Perrin completed almost a quarter of a century of marriage. At the age of 51, this optician made a decision alone, but for the common good. “There was no more contact between us. Speech had long since disappeared from our relationship, a symptom of our distance. We weren’t aware of it because our twins were occupying the family space,” he admits. With their children off to university, Emmanuel and his wife are filled with the illusion of empty nest syndrome, which is the feeling of sadness and loneliness parents feel when they the child leaves home. “But it was much more,” Emanuel concludes. For two years, the couple was in name only. Emmanuel describes entire weeks without the slightest physical contact, exchanges confined to confusion. Devouring void. To the point…