Woman Discovers Boyfriend Uses Personal Information from Her Therapy Sessions in His Stand-Up Routine

It’s never easy being the target of someone’s joke—especially when the joke hits close to home.

A 30-year-old woman recently turned to Reddit for advice after discovering that her 28-year-old boyfriend, an “aspiring comedian,” had used details from her therapy sessions in one of his stand-up routines.

She explained that she’s been in therapy for a year and dating him for two. His usual material, she said, focuses on dark humor and observations about dating and work. But things took a painful turn when one of his friends sent her a clip from his latest open mic. Excited to support him, she started watching—only to “freeze halfway through.”

“He was doing bits about me. Not like cute anecdotes—verbatim things I told him from therapy,” she wrote.

According to the woman, her boyfriend joked about how she “trauma dumps after two glasses of wine,” “needs validation like oxygen,” and even referenced her father leaving when she was eight, saying that’s why she’s “chronically online.” The audience laughed.

When she confronted him, he dismissed her reaction as “overreacting,” insisting it was “art” and “not personal.”

His defense, she said, was that comedians “draw from real life” and that he hadn’t mentioned her name. “But it’s obviously me,” she wrote. “His friends know. Our mutuals know.”

“I told him it was a betrayal,” she continued, “and he said, ‘Maybe if you could laugh at yourself, you’d be happier.’ I left his place that night and haven’t seen him since. He later texted saying he’d take the bit down but that I ‘killed his creative momentum.’ I don’t even know if I’m heartbroken or just humiliated.”

Commenters overwhelmingly sided with her, condemning the boyfriend’s behavior.

“Honestly, if my partner turned my therapy into joke material, I’d be out the door so fast he’d need a new punchline. She deserves someone who protects her, not someone who tries to be ‘funny’ at her expense,” one person wrote.

Another added, “Using someone’s personal story without consent isn’t edgy—it’s just lazy and disrespectful. Real comedians know the difference between making jokes and exploiting people.”