You're listening to a Mom with Me podcast.

Muma Me acknowledges the traditional owners of the land and waters.

This podcast is recorded on Sometimes in life, you might feel like you're missing a certain something, but not up for the fuss and mess and commitment the real relationship may bring into this situationship a bit of fun with a nice person who makes you feel good, no strings attached.

Very fun, very up for anything.

Like he was very easy going.

Like if I said I wanted to go to the driving range or something like that, he'd be like, let's go.

I want to go out for dinner.

He'd be like, yep, I'll take you, Like I'll pick you up at like seven, Like.

It was very easy.

So I think that's why I was like, Okay, cool, this is not only convenient, but he's treating me really, really well.

But life often as a way of making even their messy.

Sometimes it's because of feelings get involved.

Sometimes it's because it's harder to get out of than expected, And sometimes it's because it turns out to not be the fun, loving, easygoing situation you thought you were getting.

If this guy literally did not even care that I was telling him to leave me alone, and still showing up.

Then what else was he capable of?

At the time, I didn't really understand how bad it was and how bad it was about to get.

I'm Georgia Love and this is everyone has an ex Come with me as we dive into a collection of unconventional stories about relationships past through the eyes and the hearts of the very people who lived them.

At twenty eight, Giselle was living the definition of her best life.

She'd moved away from home, made a new wide group of friends, and went from working as a fitness coach to jim to starting and running her own success It's full online coaching business.

She sums it up best herself.

I was thriving, I was living in a beautiful.

House, I had lots of friends, and I was just living the dream.

Really, I wasn't really.

Looking for anything with anyone at the time because I was very much focused on myself.

I was enjoying being single summertime, and I just really was doing my own thing.

So when I kind of got bored, I suppose I decided to get on the dating apps, and with that.

Obviously guys were starting to come my way.

Whereas like I had been single previously for like two years, not looking for anything.

It was also post COVID, so yeah, I was.

Just living my best single girl life during summer and then I decided, Okay, look, I'm looking for a little bit of some fun and then yeah, that's when I matched with Craig and he he instantly was just like, yep.

Do you want to go on a date?

Do you want to catch up?

And I was like, Okay, well, I really do like a persistent and consistent or someone that's just like to the point, so I agreed to catch.

Up with him.

Dizzelle wasn't looking for anything serious or long term.

While she was totally up for some fun and getting to know someone, she had other plans that would take precedence for now.

We just got out of COVID, so I think I felt like I had lost a lot of my life in that time.

And I was also in the works of potentially moving to Bali, so that's why I sort of.

Was not interested in getting to anything.

So even when I did meet Craig, he was always understanding that that was a potential thing that was going to happen.

So for where she was at in the meantime, Craig seemed perfect.

He was a good looking guy.

We had a lot of mutual friends.

He looked like fun.

He was younger than me, which is another reason I sort of wasn't looking for anything serious, and that's sort of why I like matched him, because I was just like, Okay, he looks like a bit of fun, and he seemed like he was very interested in getting to know me and having like a good time as well with me.

Like he liked jet skis, he liked boting, he liked going out and drinking.

Which I all thinks that I like doing.

He was very adamant on like, Hey, I'll take you on a date.

He said, I'll come and pick you up, and yeah, off we went.

We went on a date.

We had a really nice dinner, we got really red wine drunk.

We went back to my house because I lived very close to there.

Nothing happened that night, but obviously woke up the next.

Day and he was still there.

He worked fifho, so he obviously didn't have a job to go to.

So I didn't really think that was weird that he stayed at mine and then didn't go anywhere in the morning.

I mean, I wasn't.

Complaining because I was incredibly hungover, and when you're hungover, you just sort of want someone there to give you love and to offer to take you to breakfast, which is what he did.

So I wasn't complaining.

He was funny, He was very laid back.

He wasn't the most sharpest tool that shed.

That was probably the only thing that I kind of realized that he was a little bit silly.

He wasn't very smart, but look, everything else was good.

He was treating me well, he's a gentleman.

I then wanted to go shopping.

He came with me shopping, He helped me try and like bikinis and stuff like that, and we just basically started a relationship from there.

And yeah, he just kind of stayed in my life and consistently naturally.

Flowed like that.

We had a lot of mutual friends, so we started doing a lot of things with those guys, like going out on the boat, just having really good time.

And at this point it was gravy like we were just having fun.

We didn't really have that much of a commitment, but everybody sort of knew we were kind of like exclusive.

We'll obviously dating each other, putting each other on each other's social media.

I was definitely interested to the point where, like if he did go out one night, he was a little bit of a fuck boy before he met me, so he would go out and he'd have lots of girlfriends, and like, it did get to a point where.

It sort of did bother me.

So that's sort of when I kind of realized, Okay, I maybe do have feelings for this guy.

Like he does treat me well, he is doing all the right things, Like he's showing that he is very invested in me.

So I sort of was like, okay, whatever, I'm just going to see what happens until I do make that decision to move to Bali.

He had always known that I was potentially going to go to Bali.

He was just like, yep, okay, I understand that, but hopefully we can be together and you stay.

And I said, look, if we're together, obviously I'll stay and we can work through things soon enough.

Though, as these things so often do when you're not trying, Giselle realized it was turning into more.

He definitely knew how to treat a woman.

He was very charming and good looking, very fun, very up for anything like He was very easy going.

Like if I said I wanted to go to the driving range or something like that, he'd be like, let's go.

I want to go out for dinner.

He'd be like, yep, I'll take you, Like I'll pick you up at like seven.

Like it was very easy.

So I think that's why I was like, Okay, cool, this is not only convenient, but like he's treating me really, really well.

So that's sort of how it ended into a relationship.

I suppose it just got to that point where I was like, why am I dismissing this when he's doing absolutely everything to show me that he wants to be with me at the end of the day.

But over time, she felt a few little niggling things start to pop up.

He would just stay at my house.

Even if I'd be like I'm gonna go now, I'm going to go hang out some friends, he'd just be like, no worries, I'm just going to stay and I'd be like.

Oh okay.

But because he had done so many nice things to me, I sort of thought, Okay, this is kind of the least I can do is just like let him sort of stay at my house.

If I went out or something like that, and I didn't want to invite him.

He would sort of invite himself.

He would kind of make it a little bit uncomfortable, constantly just being like, yeah, I'll come, so that real cruisy, easy going, like up for anything.

Guy.

I sort of started to get a little bit annoying because I do definitely like my space and my freedom and my independence.

I was definitely still interested in him, but yeah, he was kind of crossing some boundaries that I didn't really know how to navigate through because he was doing so many nice things for me that I didn't want to be rude and kind of disrespect or seem ungrateful.

I caught up with a girlfriend once and she did tell me she was like, dude, be.

Very careful of Craig.

He is a leech, Like he will hang on to your leg for dear life and he will not let go.

And I started to be like, oh, starting to see that a little bit, Like he just will not.

He just wouldn't get people's boundaries.

Even when we'd go out in front of people or something like that and he wasn't invited, he'd just rock up and he just didn't care.

Though he sort of was naive and just a little bit like, huh, what do you mean I can't Like he would just completely not understand and have that social skill.

The staying at my house when I was sort of like, I have a house mate, you can't really stay here.

I remember once he even I said to him, never go into my house mate's room, and he went into my house mate's room and took one of his jumpers.

We started to argue a little bit about those things because it started to get quite frequent.

He would put on puppy dog eyes.

You've seen this guy like he is.

A pretty boy, very pretty boy, who just look at me with his puppy dog eyes and be like I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.

Giselle like I'm so sorry, and I'd just be.

Like, okay, and I'd forgive it because he was always apologetic.

He'd say all the right things and then we'd move on.

Plus he worked.

Fly in fly out.

They were only actually in the same city for a week before he'd fly out for the next and so on.

Giselle was able to still have her own space and freedom as well as have the guy and the fun.

Just half the time.

He ended up losing his five Fox job.

He didn't tell me the reason.

He just said he didn't want to work over summer and he had enough money in crypto, but obviously once he had lost his job, he had to rely on that.

And then obviously he was hanging around my house even more than before as the weeks and the months went on, and when I asked him, are you going to go back up to work, he'd say, no, I'm just going to spend the summer living off my crypto and fluffing around.

Basically, he became one of those people almost like that you just knew he was going to be there.

It wasn't like annoying, but you just knew he was going to be there.

So my friends kind of didn't really care.

It wasn't really like he was a menace or anything like that.

He was just sort of like there.

He didn't have like an overly big personality or anything like that, so they didn't mind him.

But at the same time, he messages me all the time.

He obviously doesn't have a job.

He's sometimes just sitting at my house.

I did start to feel like I was like, Okay, I'm actually starting to get embarrassed because my friends are even starting to say things.

Like can you he just not come?

Or why did he come?

And I was sort of like, I'm really sorry, but like he just rocks up.

I kind of was sort of just suppressing everything so I could kind.

Of live in the moment.

It was about five months in when Gazelle started realizing the amount of time she was enjoying Craig's company and the amount of time she was getting frustrated by him were not a good balance.

It was starting to become fifty to fifty every day.

The percentage of how annoying he was becoming was slowly increasing.

Obviously, once he had left his job, he was obviously going out and drinking a lot more.

He started to get a lot more jealous about me.

I think at this point, when it got to that five month point, I decided I was like, okay, I'm probably going to need to take a little bit of a step back from him and told him I want to have a break.

And then I just said, look, just don't contact me for a little bit.

I just needed some breathing space.

I felt like if I had had a little bit of breathing space from him, then maybe that space could maybe make me miss him, or it would push me further away from him and kind of make my decision to move to Bali easier.

He said, or is it because you want to move to Bali?

And I was like, no, it's just your actions and I just needed a break from him, And obviously, yeah, he didn't take that very well.

He started acting very irrational, just going out and partying all the time.

He would go out on dates with other girls and try and get a rise out of me.

Then he would go to take it so far and then go out on a date with another girl, post it on his social media, and then I would obviously go out and people would see I'm obviously out somewhere else He's clearly on a date with another girl.

You know those ones where you just like post the hands and you can't say anything else.

He would do that and it would make our relationship look even more like a joke.

I was getting kind of frustrated embarrassed by him, and I definitely had the ick by this point, so.

She thought this would be it.

He clearly wasn't acting like a guy trying to win her back, and she didn't want him to at this point.

But then things started to turn weird.

He'd rock up.

Everywhere I went.

I didn't tell him where I was going, and I stopped posting.

I just muted him so he couldn't see where I was at.

For example, I had planned to go to a festival with my girlfriends.

We'd had a plan for months in advance, and he didn't even know really anyone, and he had somehow weaseled his way to coming to the pre's.

He was showing up to every bar that I attended.

I have no idea how he knew I was there.

He would rock up.

At my house occasionally without being invited.

He didn't have a key or anything like that, but if my house mate was at home, he would just help himself.

He would just walk inside.

I'd come home and he'd be sitting on my bed.

My friends they thought it was very creepy.

When you're in something, it's harder to see what's actually going on because you know that person, You know that they genuinely have care for you, and you know they wouldn't do anything to try and hurt you.

So they started to be like, this is actually getting weird.

Then slowly they start to just be like, no, this is actually getting really bad, Like, I think you need to cut it off with him.

He's getting really, really weird.

I just thought it was a little bit annoying.

But then once they started kind of showing me that it was actually very creepy and very unusual behavior from someone, I was like, Okay, I need to maybe do something about this.

I had been single for a couple of years.

I yet obviously didn't really know what like a relationship was because obviously, in the beginning, it was very natural, as I said, like we went on a date, he had a lot of initiative.

He just sort of did everything for me.

I just thought that that was kind of lay healthy, and you know, he just really wanted to be around me all the time.

But then it did get to the point where it was obsessive, like it was infatuation.

I didn't feel nearly as much as what he did for me.

It was becoming very one sided for sure, and I started to think, Okay, is he a bit of a social climber or is he actually just obsessed with me.

That's inevitably what led me to just being like, Okay, this guy has no respect for my space.

He doesn't understand that what he's doing is just pushing me away from him.

I then decided, Okay, I don't really want to come back from this.

I'm happy to still be friends with him.

Like, I don't think this is enough to like burn a bridge with somebody, but I think it's easy enough for me to kind of escape, using the fact that he had gone on a date with another girl as a way out, if I'm honest, So yeah, I took that opportunity to go.

You know what, my friends are telling me, this is really creepy.

They don't like him.

He's crossing a lot of my boundaries.

My housemate doesn't like him.

My family don't really know him, but from what they've heard, they don't like him.

So what is their.

Left of this relationship?

Yes, okay, he treats me well, but that's not enough.

We're not compatible.

His morals don't align with mine.

He doesn't understand what boundaries I crosses them all the time, and that's when I decided to cut off.

So if this guy literally did not even care that I was telling him to leave me alone and still showing up, then what else was he capable of.

She did it the right way.

She met up with him and had the conversation face to face.

I basically said to him, Look, I just don't think it's going to work out.

You have done a few things that have made me feel really uncomfortable, and I have made the decision that I will be moving to Bali anyway.

But I have no hard feelings and I want to stay amicable.

But I just think we need to stay away from each other for a little bit.

I'm not moving for another two or three months, so if I see you around, great, but I think for now.

Let's just leave it.

He was very upset, like very upset.

It was almost like his world had collapsed, Like he was crying.

He was acting very irrational.

He wouldn't leave my house.

He's sort of begging, and I just was like, look, I don't know if it's because I'm a bit cold hearted, but after everything he had done, I was just like, no, I'm really sorry, you need to leave.

Gazelle felt bad for how upset he was, but she knew this was the right thing for her, and soon after she started hearing things that made her even more sure of that.

I actually ended up catching up with one of his ex girlfriends.

She asked me.

She was just like, oh, so what happened with you and Craig.

She had heard a completely different story through the grapevine that he was the one that broke it off, all this shit, the usual, just token heartbroken boy trying to like protect their ego.

And then I said to her, none of that is true, And I said, what happened with you and him?

And she basically said to me that I thought you guys were in a full blown relationship, because that's what he had said to me.

And she was like, no, we were never in a relationship ever.

And he had made up this whole lie about her, saying that she was crazy, the whole nine yards, he wanted to be with her, she cheated on him, all this stuff, and she just basically was like, none of that was true.

I went on one date with him, and I slept with him maybe once, and then he went and told everyone we were dating and that to stay away from me.

And then that's when I was like, oh, okay, so this is him to the core.

This isn't just what he has done to me.

He was very obsessed with this other girl, because a couple of other people had mentioned that he had been obsessed with her.

That then all of these cracks started to show and I realized, Okay, he is a little bit unhinged.

At that point, I sort of went okay, I'm just another girl.

And I sort of thought, okay, good, okay, this is good, Like this is gonna blow over.

This is just him.

Once I had sort of realized who he was, all of these things started coming out about him that I didn't like.

People being like, oh, now you've broken up, we can tell you these things, and I was like, oh my god, why didn't you warn me?

And I sort of was just like, oh, I'm so humiliated and embarrassed that I was ever associated with him.

After hearing everything about him, I was like, Okay, I've made the best decision ever.

And then from there I focused on me moving to Bali because I was moving to Bali in a couple of months.

I moved back in with my mom the month before I left, just to put my stuff in storage, all that kind of stuff.

So I sort of wasn't going out at this point.

I was definitely very dialed in.

I was working a lot, so I didn't really hear that much.

So he kind of left me alone for two months.

I had heard people telling me things that he had been saying and trying to get into contact with me, talking to my friends saying, hey, can you give this message to Giselle for me?

And I was honestly so far past caring at this point that I just was ready to go to Bali.

So with all that behind her, off she went.

My brother lived in Bali, so very easy transition.

It's only three hours away.

I literally just took like three or four suitcases and I left like I didn't have to take any furniture.

It was a very easy, easy move.

I didn't really tell anyone that I was going either.

I sort of.

Didn't want to have to have a full blown going away party for it.

I told my close friends.

I didn't see it as a big deal.

A lot of my friends lived there, so it was a very easy transition.

I worked for myself, so I just got up, went to Bali and started a whole new life.

And it was amazing for the first couple of weeks.

Uh oh.

So I went to Bali.

I was living the dream as you do.

Got my scooter, you know, I got my little Vmax and I was riding down the road with my headphones on, just freaking loving my life.

And I drove past a cafe on one of the main strips and I looked to my right, and standing out the front of this cafe was Craig.

I thought I was hallucinating, but no, it was him.

I obviously didn't stop because I was just like after disbelief.

I just kept driving and I got home.

I sat there and I thought, Okay, what am I going to do about this?

Do I contact him and ask him what he's doing?

Or do I leave it.

He could just be on holiday, or he has followed me here.

There are only those two options.

I was sort of scared because I didn't know where he was at with me.

Obviously, I don't spoken to him for a couple of months.

I'd blocked him off everything.

I completely crushed his heart.

He'd also been telling a lot of lies about what had happened to our relationship, if you want to call it that.

I was telling people we were just seeing each other, which was the truth.

We were just seeing each other, whereas he was telling everyone we had been together for you know all this time, I'm the one he broke up with me.

All these lies, so I was not only frustrated at that and the lies that he had told other people to make me look bad.

I was just infuriated that now that he was in another country, I didn't think I needed to have an opportunity to save my own reputation in a new country that I wanted to start a.

Whole new life.

I decided I'm going to message him and I just said I think I just seen you, and he had seen me too, and I said, okay, can we meet at that same cafe that you were standing out the front of, And of course he says yes.

When you see an X or something like that, usually you might be like, oh my god, it's fate.

Whereas this was not it.

I was just like, absolutely not.

What are you doing here?

And he openly said to me, I said, have you followed me here?

And he said yes, I have faith that you will take me back.

I was like, oh my god.

I was like, Craig, this is crazy.

And he was just looking at me with his puppy dog eyes, thinking like I was crazy for thinking it was crazy, and I was like.

No, man, I was like no, no.

I asked him.

I was like, where are you going to stay?

Because I was like, you don't have a job, You're living off your crypto.

What are you going to do?

And he says, I've got a job.

I'm going to do five fo from here, which isn't common.

It is something that people do.

And I was like, god no.

And then there's these little like home stage you can stay in the cheap maybe like forty dollars a night that he can just pay for when he's here, he just literally can leave his bag or leave it at a friend's house or take it with him.

I got a new job, so I can, you know, have good income and all this stuff.

And I was like, I don't care.

Like he was almost saying it, like as if I was going to be like yayt's oh good, you've got a job, let's go back, let's get back together.

I was like, no, man, you've been lying about me.

You've been telling everyone that you broke up with me.

We weren't even in a relationship.

I found out about the other girl.

I found out.

About everything, and this is weird.

And I would really appreciate it if you would leave.

And he was like, no, you know that I love BALI.

You know I've wanted to be here forever.

And I was like, no, that's me man.

I was like, no, no, no, no, no, You're not going to steal my life from me.

He'd never mention Bali.

He literally never had any plan to move there.

And I was like, you need to leave me alone.

Please do not move here.

And he said, I'm going to do what I want.

And he said, if I can't have you, no one will.

I was now very creeped out, weirded out, and I just wanted him to get the f away from me.

I obviously go home and I tell my brother.

My brother is sort of very as well, laid back.

I don't really like getting him involved in my problems.

Plus I can handle my own stuff.

But I told him about it.

And he was just like, just stay away from him, and you should be okay.

Just let's play it by ear because you know that I'm here, You've got nothing to worry about.

If he does anything over here, like we're in Bali, it's a different ballgame.

He'll get deported.

He can't stalk you.

I have a lot of people that can sort him out if he does try anything.

But at that point, I didn't think I was in much danger, and I just told him stay out of my way and I'll do my own thing.

So at this point I was angry, but I wasn't that scared for my safety.

I suppose.

A couple of weeks went by and she didn't see or hear from him.

She thought finally he'd got the hint, and then she got a surprise from home that would make everything better.

One of my best friends, Tiffany, she flew over and surprised me.

Once she had been there for a week.

We had such an amazing week.

She decided that she was going to move there, which I was happy about.

Another really close friend that I could trust that's going to be living in Bali.

I was over the moon.

She did know Craig as well.

She didn't know him that.

Well though, but I tried to explain to her the magnitude of it.

Anyway, one night we all went out.

My friend was holding a pub croll and he hired a bus for it, and basically we were sitting at the pub.

Was sitting at the bench.

And I had specifically said to the guy that was running at if Craig shows up, because at this point I had heard some things that he'd been popping up places.

I had specifically told him, please, can you make sure that if he comes that he's not on the list.

I brought so many.

People there and guess who shows up.

And there was a table of like maybe fifteen of us dead, silent, absolute pure humiliation, like pure humiliation if you've ever seen it in your whole entire life.

It was just too far.

So I absolutely blew up.

I told him to leave.

I was like, you are nine invited.

No one knows you, no one wants you here, and not one person said a thing.

And I know it would have seemed nasty maybe, but under what I had been through and him now rocking up to places that he's one not invited to, it was just too far.

He stood there and was just like, nah, I'm not going.

It was so embarrassed.

If I was him, I would have been on that scooter fanging it down Bartu belong so quickly.

But he didn't.

He stood there, suit his ground.

He would not leave.

It was so awkward.

The girls were like, he's not worth her.

I said, okay, whatever.

I can't really kick him out from the pub it's not my pub, but I can stop him from getting on that bus.

Anyway, we carried on with the night.

I would go to the toilet.

He would literally sit in my spot, in my spot and start talking to my girlfriends that did not like him.

I knew the whole situation, and they would be like, man, can you please get away from me?

And he literally would just don't worry about Giselle.

She's just talking crap, like, don't worry about her, and then you would just try and carry on the conversation.

I just ended up leaving, like me and my girlfriends were just like, Okay, this is too much.

He will not go And then I think they saw it firsthand and were like, Okay, this is crazy, Like I now understand.

You cannot get rid of him.

I texted him and I was just like, please never do that ever again, like I don't want to be made out to look like I am insane.

And then he basically just said, fuck you, I'm going to do what I want, like there's nothing you can do about it.

And that's when it sort of started to get bad.

This was only the first time of what would become a regular thing.

It kept happening.

Everywhere she would go there he would be it.

Was borderline stalking.

He was telling everyone all this stuff.

He was telling guys if they come anywhere near me that he's going to bash them.

He would literally show up to cafes that I was at.

At this point, it was just getting to the point where every single time I just would get up and I would leave.

Obviously he didn't know.

Where I lived, which was great, but yeah, it just got to the point where I was like, this guy has literally stalked me across country.

I honestly felt helpless because he would rock up to places people felt really uncomfortable with us, arguing, and as I said, he had made a couple of friends over there, so some of them did believe some of the stuff that he was saying.

So it got to the point where I was just like, I am.

Literally screwed here.

He's followed me here.

Half of the people aren't really even believing what I'm saying.

They just think I'm this crazy ex girlfriend that just hates their ex boyfriend because he had told all these lies about me, and I felt helpless.

I was like, I've just moved here and he's literally followed me here.

He's trying to ruin my reputation.

He's telling everyone all of these lies about me.

I remember going to a party once and one of these guys.

I was like, hey, nice to me, and he was like, oh, you're CRAIGSX.

And I was like, what do you mean?

And I was like, nor, I'm not.

And they're like, oh, we've heard all about you.

And I was just like, oh, mate, I was just like dude, and I tried to tell them the actual story and they would not believe me.

I was just like so deflated.

I just like could not believe that someone can actually get away with this.

Fast forward maybe three more months.

He just continued to do it.

He would just continue to show up everywhere I was.

I was so drained by it all.

He would just show up everywhere.

I wasn't able to fulfill what I wanted to do.

I couldn't really probably meet any guys because he was cock blocking me and telling everyone that, like, if anyone goes near me, he's going to bash them, that I'm crazy, and by association, I was just I was so sick of it.

I was so drained.

I ended up gaining like six kilos, Like I was partying all the time when I actually went there to like, I had gone there the best shape of my life.

You know, I'm an online fitness coach, like I still did all of those things, but I got really depressed over there because I genuinely had a stalker and for so many months no one believed me.

He was ruining my life and ruining my reputation.

And then one we all had a Christmas party and again he wasn't invited, but he just shows up, right, he's drunk off his face.

Anyway, he comes to the house and I'm talking to a guy.

He gets jealous.

Obviously, I decided to go upstairs and I hear this big smash and I looked downstairs and Craig and my friend are in a massive fight, massive fight, like full punch on.

I was obviously like, get off of my friend, get off of him.

He was just like, fuck off, Gizelle off.

Everyone made the biggest embarrassment out of himself, like totally showed his true colors finally, and everyone was obviously like, Okay, you need to just settle down.

My friend was just so taken back, being like what did I even do?

I was literally just talking to Gizelle like he didn't know much of the story at.

All, so he was so confused.

And then literally Craig just jumps over the table and goes for round two, and everyone at this point was just like, are you joking me?

This has just gotten out of hand.

You need to leave.

And then that's when all of his friends and all came full circle.

They were like, Okay, maybe we believe what you've been saying.

And then gradually, over the next couple of months, he started to do things like I think he started to just lose grip.

He'd lost all of those friends because he had done all of that kind of stuff, and he started acting out, getting drunk on the scooter and driving.

These were all things that I was hearing from other people.

Getting drunk, driving on the scooter, crashing.

He had lied about his job, he didn't actually have his job.

He'd run out of all his crypto money.

And then something happened that officially went too far.

Remember Tiffany, she needed a house.

She had nowhere to live.

She couldn't live with me.

I didn't have room.

You're in another country.

At the time, it was post COVID, it was very hard to find a rental.

She was paying a lot of money staying at these homestays, and at this point he moved into a house with a couple of other people and offered the room.

To Tiffany Yep Craig.

It was really hard for her to be like, Okay, do I choose my friendship with Giselle or do I choose like having this house, so she moved in there.

I was just kind of dumbfounded by the whole entire situation.

I kind of felt like I was in a dream and that I was just very hopeless, and it had just gotten so far out of control it was insane, and was now literally taking over not only my life but now my friends, and putting her in a situation and me in a situation.

Where we were vote very, very uncomfortable.

And that's when I was like, Okay, now I'm actually scared of what he's capable of.

The manipulation.

Somehow, he had some type of power, and I needed.

To take that away from him.

So I didn't really know what he had planned.

Obviously I didn't have any contact with him, but obviously had a plan to try and get closer to.

Me, and I was not going to let that happen.

I was to the point I had made enough connections with people, and because he had done a few things, I had the proof to then get him deported.

So it was something that obviously I didn't want to take like lightly.

It was going to take a few months, but no one could really grasp the magnitude of what he was doing because they're not living in your life and in your position.

They kind of dusted it under the rug a little bit, and he obviously said a lot of life, so I think a lot.

Of people didn't really know what to believe.

So when I was like, I'm going to get him deported, people almost were like, you're being dramatic, and I was like, are you joking me?

Have you had someone stalky to BALI?

No.

A lot of my friends.

Felt very sorry for him, which I understand, and then the other half of like, one hundred percent, you need to do this.

So to get someone deported you have to come up with a lot of evidence about this person.

I had to obviously show screenshots of our conversations.

I had to have proof of him rocking up to places, witnesses, and then in the long run, I'm not going to lie because of how drained I was from him and the whole situation.

Going through another thing like deporting someone from a country was just too much for me.

I had missed my family.

As I said before, I had so much weight.

I just wasn't myself.

I was constantly partying, and I wasn't really doing what I had planned to do over there.

So after a couple of months of being like, yes, I'm one hundred percent doing this, I'm getting him out and then I can start over, I think there was too much damage done now that I just pulled the pin and I moved.

I just one day got up.

I had enough.

When I had gone home, it was a mixed bag of emotions.

I was relieved, I was also very sad.

You know.

I didn't want to leave my brother.

I didn't want to leave my life.

And until I got home, I actually realized how much he had taken from me, and it was really so crushing.

And then it was just months of being drained and not really understanding or realizing what was going on because I was so new to a new country that you're trying to gauge where you're at and where to go and how to navigate this new life.

And then on top of that having someone physically trying to stalk you, and it was honestly heartbreaking.

Like I came back a totally different person.

I remember telling everyone that I completely lost myself, which was true, and when I got home, I realized that and I had to completely start over.

So when I got home, I just moved straight in with my mum.

I wasn't in a horrible situation financially, I was just mentally really messed up.

But I just totally took it to my advantage and was like, you know what, I'm back in Australia now.

He is no longer in my life.

I knew that he wanted to stay there because everyone had told me that.

He was like very grateful for the fact that I didn't get him reported, so he was like I'm done.

You know, I'm going to leave her alone now because I think that really scared him.

So I had basically just done him a favor, so I was sort of like, Okay, this has to be done now.

It was devastating that it had come to this, but with Craig out of the picture and the support of her family and old friends back at home, she picked herself up and it didn't take long for her to start to thrive again.

I moved home, I started my own business, I moved into a new house, literally two months after I met my now partner that I've been together with for two and a half years.

I have a gordgeous bullderg.

I have an amazing life, honest to God, like it's so good.

I'm the strongest and fittest that I've ever been.

Now I've learnt so much from that though, Like even living in.

Bali was crazy itself.

It's not as sunshine and roses as everyone thinks.

You are living in a third world country.

So moving back to Australia made me realize how grateful I was for my life, and that in itself completely changed my perspective on life.

Not play the victim could have been a lot worse.

And you have to lose yourself to find yourself sometimes, and that's inevitably what I did.

Bali it self shaped me, and then the situation with Craig as well made me even more resilient.

And I definitely wouldn't be the person that I am now unless that situation happened.

And also now I know what it's like to have someone that's infatuated with you, obsessed with you.

All of these signs and all of these red flags are things that I'm never going to tolerate.

And I don't think I would have found my now partner that treats me like a queen unless I picked up on all of these things.

And then I just decided I wasn't going to allow that shit to continue on into my now relationship.

And I'm just so grateful that I went through that.

I suppose now, looking back a couple years later after it happened, I genuinely realize how bad it was and how messed up it was.

And I really want people and women especially to understand when they are with someone that's a narcissist, that's like a love bomber, but not even a love bombit someone that's just infatuated with you, that gives you everything, but they are completely crossing your boundaries and just giving them these signs that maybe they need to really reflect on who they're with and not jump into things as quickly as I did, because we literally met one day and the next we were basically seeing each other, and it's better to just take things slow and to really really.

Do your research on these people.

If I look back at it, it really was horrendous, and at times, even me, someone that's incredibly resilient and can get my out of anything.

I found myself in a position that I was completely powerless, And to think about people that are in these situations that haven't had maybe the resources that I've had, and haven't had the upbringing I have had that have made me such a strong person.

I kin't even imagine what these other women and these situations that they are going through where they feel completely unheard as well, no one believes them that they're alone, and this happens more often than it should, and it happens just like nearly nally without even you knowing as well.

And I just hope that girls can be safe out there because it's scary, and stalking is actual criminal offense and it can end lives.

It has, and I'm just so grateful that it didn't mine another lesson that I've learned.

If multiple of your friends are saying things to you.

I'm so lucky that I did have a lot of friends sort of say early on that they felt comfortable saying that to me, and that I genuinely did listen to them.

Not that it obviously you couldn't change what was going to happen, but you definitely need to listen to your friends, especially if there's a magnitude of friends telling you this person isn't.

Right for you.

You really really need.

To understand that this could be unsafe and that the people that care about you are only doing it because they care about you, and that you should probably listen to them.

And for the people that are in these situations, you can get out of it.

You can.

You just have to be open to that help.

I suppose, and I know a lot of people also in these situations are scared to tell their friend because they're scared that that friend isn't going to believe them, and I've been there, but you're better off telling them regardless, because if they end up in a horrible situation like what I have, you're going to regret that.

And the chances are that if they are your friend, they will believe you.

Everyone has an Eggs As a Minti Media production and proudly part of the Muma Mea Network, this episode is written and narrated and interview conducted by me Georgia Love and produced by Linda Scott.

If you have a story you'd like to share, email podcast at momameia dot com dot a.

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We'll see you for the next one.