20 Times People Went Back to Their Ex and it Was Happily Ever After — & 20 Times it Was a Complete Disaster

Sometimes, there’s nothing that happens to serve as a catalyst for you getting back together with your ex. You don’t always run into them at a party or out on a shopping trip.

As for this person, they were just drawn to the idea of their ex as they waited for their kids at an airport. It turned out that this phone call would change everything for the two of them and they weren’t even sure what led them to split up in the first place.

This person wasn’t sharing a story of their own ex — but of the relationship they watched play out between their parents. More than once, at that!

When it came to their first marriage, it fell apart and we doubt it’s for the rather brutal reason given at this Cheesecake Factory. The two of them tried again later only to not work out once more. This person wasn’t about to deal with sorting things out after a third divorce.

Living together is a big step for most couples. What if you fall for a roommate, though? That can really push the timeline along. Some relationships just don’t survive that jump ahead in the usual timeline.

It seems like that was only part of what was at play here. Yet, no one is “young and dumb” forever and a little growing up and some time apart was exactly what this relationship needed to get back on track.

As we said on the last point, there are some things that you don’t inherently know when you’re young that you need to learn before you can really succeed in love.

These two lovebirds found each other turning to exes when they were only two years into their marriage. With both of them young, this person says they just weren’t ready yet. Meeting up later in life, though, they were older, wiser, and overall more communicative as a couple.

Six years is a long time to be married and unhappy. After that, you’d have to see a lot of convincing that someone had changed. This person thought they’d seen enough of it.

They probably also trusted their mom a bit more than to kiss their ex-husband/boyfriend right in their shared home! We’re glad at least someone in this family was on her side during and well after the situation here because it seems like a lot to take in.

Sometimes, you romantically reunite with someone and it’s not negative but it doesn’t quite leave you with your “happily ever after” fairytale ending either.

These two divorced and didn’t see each other for quite a few years. When they met up again, like many others, sparks flew but they both knew that it wasn’t for anything long-term. However, this person does credit it with offering them a sense of closure.

A break isn’t always easy for a couple. On the other hand, just because it’s emotionally painful at the moment doesn’t mean that it’s not necessary to help the relationship grow.

At the very least, this couple found that their time apart helped them become a stronger couple later on in life. They took some time to explore the world on their own and grow as people. When they met up again later in life, their marriage was ultimately better for it.

There are some relationships that people dive back into with some awareness of what went wrong the first time. If you don’t, you may be subject to the old saying, “History is bound to repeat itself.”

For this couple, it turned out the same reasons they weren’t good together before started to rear their ugly heads when they got back together. After all, it takes work — not just time — to fix problems like this. It seems no one is happy with how this is going.

When you’re married for 23 years, you don’t end things lightly. Yet, that’s exactly where this couple found themselves splitting up for 14 whole years.

They would meet up later in life but their marriage was shorter due to some tragic circumstances. However, this person was well aware that their love for this person was still very much alive. We’re glad to see these two had the chance to reunite for a little bit before he passed away.

This person didn’t reunite with an old flame themselves but they did watch it happen between their coworker and an ex. It seems like it really brought up some concerns.

It seems like these two were successful in their careers but this person didn’t really see the compatibility. As a matter of fact, this person couldn’t help but feel a little bad for their coworker since they didn’t seem to see much in the way of love and affection from their coworker’s partner.

Not all marriages last, especially when you jump into one when you’re young and there’s still a lot of life to experience. As we’ve seen, though, that doesn’t mean that it’s over forever.

This couple split up and were happy to hear that they had both found happiness with other people when they first met up again. Over the course of their friendship, which outlasted both relationships, they were ready to jump back into the marriage they’d called it quits on nearly 20 years ago.

Sometimes, the time apart for a couple does a lot of good for them. As they say, absence can make the heart grow fonder. That wasn’t quite the case for this person’s parents.

When they first separated in 2002, it didn’t take long into the next year for them to get back together and even have another child together. It was only another year later that betrayal entered the picture in a big way. This would be hard news to digest for both families.

Graduating and moving is a big time for young couples. The distance can be really hard and with this person moving back home, the couple fell out of touch. It wasn’t going to stay that way forever, though. The two were reunited more than a decade later.

This person was actually in the process of a divorce with someone else when they started talking to their ex again. It looks like long distance wasn’t as bad as they thought but things were changing soon!

To give you the short and sweet of this story as the author did, they did get back with an ex of theirs and they couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out. However, they had some advice for others in the same situation.

If you don’t deal with the issues that led to your original breakup, you’re going to run into them again. This couple also decided that they needed to take it rather slow the second time around, too.

Of course, the circumstances of a breakup aren’t always the same. It’s not always just a few behaviors you can pinpoint and work on together and grow as a couple. This person did give their ex another chance when they met up again after the first breakup.

However, they found that it ultimately wasn’t the best idea. As it turned out, those fundamental things that made them not work before worked against them again, no matter how much they loved each other.

Breaking up has often been talked about thus far as time apart. However, that’s not always the truth. Some couples still stay rather close even immediately after a breakup.

Even without the physical time apart, they still took the chance and effort it takes to work on self-improvement and fixed the reasons behind their breakup. After time had passed, this person seemed to have realized the self-reflection that they really needed to do before jumping back into a relationship.

Sometimes, getting back with an ex is the best thing you could ever do. Of course, that’s really dependent on your relationship’s unique factors.

Some people find that getting back with their ex is one of the absolute worst decisions they could make. This person didn’t mince words when it came to how they felt about getting back together with their ex. It didn’t take long for another breakup to happen.

This story is short and it’s definitely sweet. The couple in question originally only made it a few months before they broke up.

It turns out, the universe had a lot more in store for these two than a relationship for a few months when they were younger. When they gave the whole thing another try, they found that they were much happier — and 17 years later, it seems they still are!

Any breakup is hard to deal with but some feel like they come with an extra heaping of heartache. The circumstances surrounding a breakup affect this quite a bit.

In this case, breaking up with someone on their birthday — especially one as exciting as your 18th — can really hurt them. Despite this, they decided to give their ex another chance. At least this time she dumped him the day after a major celebration but that’s not terribly better.

They tell you that patience is a virtue and that if you just practice patience, you’ll be able to achieve just about anything. As for love, this person would likely agree.

Much like a few other couples we’ve seen here, breaking up didn’t mean these two moved on with their lives without each other in them. Instead, these two stayed really close for seven years. It was only after that they decided they were ready to get back together.

The path to divorce, as you might expect, is often far from smooth. Rather, it’s a long, difficult, and often emotional process for the couple.

This couple, much like many other couples, didn’t want to jump straight to divorce when times started to get tough. To start off, they tried a break and it worked for a while. They even tried it again. The third time they hit a wall, though, they decided there was no point in delaying the inevitable.

We’ve already covered how breaking up with a romantic partner, especially a fiancé, is not an easy decision. It means letting go of someone you once loved as well as some visions you had for the future.

Getting back together isn’t a decision to take lightly either. These two weren’t about to get back together without a plan in place to tackle the problems that tore them apart in the first place. It looks like it paid off!

As we’ve discussed time and time again, you have to put in the work to resolve your issues if you want to make a relationship work the second time you jump in.

This couple jumped back in while they, admittedly, skipped a step. That led to more than the same problems repeating themselves in the relationship, though. The couple also had problems keeping grudges from the last time they were together.

Long-distance relationships aren’t for everyone. They take a lot more work to stay in touch plus a lot of trust in your partner.

That being said, a long-distance relationship can be a daunting perspective and a lot of people draw back from the possibility. This couple did just that and found they were more unhappy without each other. So, they quickly solved the problem and reunited for a happy relationship.

There are times that you break up with someone because you’re simply at different places in life. You’ve probably heard someone say it was the “right person but the wrong time.”

If it really is the right person you’re talking about, wouldn’t you find yourself gravitating back to them? That was the case for this couple. This person said that they weren’t quite mature enough at the time but after some growing, they headed right back into each other’s arms.

After not being together for 10 months, we have to wonder if this pair of exes were expecting to run into each other when they went to this Halloween party. Still, it was a chance to rekindle an old flame.

However, that didn’t mean it was meant to last. In just as many months together as they’d been apart, they split once more. We’re not sure what happened but it didn’t leave this person feeling great about getting back with an ex.

There are a lot of elements in and around a relationship that can tear a couple apart. This couple found that their health and their time apart just was too much on the two of them.

It seems like they didn’t spend a lot of time together while they were broken up — at least for the first two years. When they got back together, that time to grow and explore separately went a long way.

A five-year relationship is nothing to scoff at, so we imagine that these two were pretty into each other for a while. However, things came to an end and they didn’t speak for four years.

When they saw each other again, the two of them decided to get back together on more casual terms. Yet, it quickly flowered into a short-lived relationship where some old feelings were stirred but not on both sides of the relationship.

These two first met when they were young. While they felt strongly for each other, it seems like they were just still learning how to properly communicate.

The two needed to take the time they took to grow up and explore the world without one another. Not to mention, a bit of therapy really helped that growth along. After all these experiences, they came back together to reunite, stronger than ever before.

When you go to school, you might get romantically involved with your classmates. However, we’re not sure a preschool “engagement” is quite as serious as the real thing.

On the other hand, dating in high school and college can make quite an impression. It seems that this pair really tried to make it work after they grew out of the preschool sandbox but ultimately found that they weren’t meant to be.

When you have a girlfriend you love, why would you leave her to try and start all over? For this guy, it was all a massive mistake.

It didn’t take long for him to realize the error of his ways and come running back to the relationship he just left. Luckily, the chance for reconciliation was still there. It seems like after a while of being back together, he wouldn’t think of doing the same again.

When you get back together with an ex, as we’ve already said time and time again, there’s no magic spell that makes your old problems go away.

As for this person, there was no change and that’s exactly what ruined the second relationship just as much as it has torn the first one apart. All they were left with was reminders that things had gone so terribly wrong the first time around.

If a couple has a fight so bad that one of them ends up leaving on the spot, there have to be some major changes before you get back to where you were.

This person watched their sister’s relationship fall apart like this and even tried to tell her to give him some space. When this space was given, he reached out with some conditions that did the couple good in the long run, as it seems like they’re still going strong today!

If you break up with someone before you ring in a year of bliss together, you might doubt that you’d ever find yourself running back to them. Then again, that’s not exactly what happened here either.

It had been a whopping 40 years since these two were together when they ran into each other once again. It was simply a relationship based on kindness that made these two realize they were falling for each other again.

Being a romantic, we can see how this person thought that young love would lead to a long and happy marriage. Sometimes it does — just not in this case.

Their older sibling was none too convinced that things would be different this time as they watched their little brother go back to the gal who it hadn’t worked out with before. This time, they weren’t even going to say anything, lest they speak a third round at the relationship into being.

If you aren’t careful, your family can really affect your marriage. Any outside relationship can but fights between families and spouses can lead to some awkward, deal-breaking encounters.

Of course, this person also admitted that they had other problems as a couple as well when it came to their communication. It took a lot of communication and some counseling for guidance but this couple managed to make it work by addressing the problems in their original relationship.

Some people find the love of their life early on in life. Still, that doesn’t mean you’re ready for your happily ever after just yet. After all, you’re still just a kid at 18!

As for this couple, they broke up after giving marriage and parenthood a real try together. After years of co-parenting together and growing up separately — particularly one party — they managed to make it work. It still isn’t perfect but who truly has a perfect relationship in reality?

There are some things that just seem so perfect that they’ve fallen into the romantic cliché. Who doesn’t want the cutest couple in high school to make it work past graduation?

However, you have a lot of growing up to do and a lot of life to experience when you get out of high school. These two gave it a real try with a 10-year marriage but it didn’t end up lasting. However, some time apart was necessary for them to move forward and make up.