At least your friend knew he was in a bad situation. Mine has no clue. But, when I keep hearing “she won’t let me”, I cringe. He thought it a strange thing that it didn’t bother my husband if I chatted with a male friend when he wasn’t home. He called me on it when I accidentally used the word let for something (when in reality my husband would have let me have chickens, he just won’t tend them). :)
Well to be fair, it’s taken some time for this friend to come to realize his situation. When he moved into the neighborhood of course I had no idea. Then I started to see this pattern where he would call to get together, but it was always when she was out of town.
Then he slowly started to confess about her controls and it was apparent he wasn’t kidding because as we were having a lunch on a Saturday when she was away, she called and started drilling him. It was frustrating just being a bystander to it.
Most recently, he told me his family is not happy. His brother won’t talk to him and his sister has warned him that his wife is not so swell.
Told him his family does care about his and to stick with their support.
Chatting with someone is really no cause for alarm. Your friend must be on such a tight rope, he thinks everyone else must suffocate as well.