Three's A Crowd: The Reality Of Love Triangles

As if a relationship between two people isn’t difficult enough to maintain, what happens when a third party is involved? Three people tell us what happened when they found themselves in a love triangle.

- Claire Soong

In movies and pop culture, love triangles always seem so romantic and in some ways, even flattering. Two people love the same person, and that person can’t choose. But in real life, it’s usually more hot mess than hot. We speak to three people to find out how they dealt with it.

Eric, 22, dated Caroline, 25, who was also dating Sharmaine, 27

“I was in school, and my classmate Caroline and I hit it off really well. The progression to dating was a natural one. Eventually, I found out she had a girlfriend, Sharmaine, who was there before I came into the picture. At first, I felt apprehensive and slightly guilty about the situation, but told myself if Caroline enjoyed being with me so much, it would mean her relationship with Sharmaine must not be good.

Sharmaine found out about us after one of her friends saw me and Caroline holding hands. Instead of dumping Caroline, she turned the triangle into a competition and tried to win her back. But eight months after we started dating, Caroline ended things with Sharmaine.

Four months later, I broke up with her because she had become distant.

I soon learned she had been dating someone else while we were still together. When I was in the relationship, I truly believed love could change anyone and survive anything – clearly, I was naïve.

The worst part about being in a triangle is the constant feeling that the person’s attention is never truly focused on you alone.

You want to believe it is, but it isn’t – after all, if it was, there wouldn’t have been a third party. A relationship is a two-way street, and if one party is not on the same track, it’s pointless to stay. So, I told her that since I wasn’t worth her full attention, the relationship was not worth my time any longer.”