What’s the worst sin you’ve had to confess to?

MAHATMA Gandhi said, ‘Confession of errors is like a broom which sweeps away the dirt and leaves the surface brighter and clearer’, and it’s always been advised that coming clean is not only powerful for bringing clarity and releasing shame, stress, and guilt, but it also helps the guilty party shed the cloak of lies and secrets that’s quite a heavy burden to bear.

For some people, the acts they have to confess to falsifying are harmless enough — often little silly lies told in the moment that really cause no long-term harm. For others, the deception was so horrific, that even after confessing, they were still seen as reprobates. What is the worst thing you have ever had to confess to doing?

Shelly, 36:

I made up this story about being pregnant for my ex, and then having twins — the lie literally snowballed and before I knew it, I was communicating with his mother and sister about the ‘pregnancy’ and birth, they were sending me baby stuff, and then I had to contract someone to Photoshop newborn babies, then I lied and said I was giving them up for adoption when my ex still wouldn’t pay me any mind. The sad thing is I already had a child for him, so it’s not like I could cut all these people off, and years later I had to come clean and confess to all of them that I had lied and the twins didn’t exist. I’m still so embarrassed about what I did, because even though it’s been years and I’m now married, an executive and a Christian, they still think I’m crazy and weird, and I panic at the thought that one day they will tell our son what I did. But I was in such a bad place when he left me that I would have done anything to get him back. Looking back now I was so foolish!

Alex, 26:

I told my child’s dad that she was in an accident and was treated at hospital and it was all a lie, I just wanted money. I had to confess when he asked for the records for his insurance company numerous times and I couldn’t produce anything. I even thought of faking the hospital papers to share in the payout, but I didn’t want to go to jail for insurance fraud, so I just told him I lied, and blocked his number so he couldn’t curse me out.

Ruth, 40:

After my second child I had my tubes tied and didn’t tell my husband. No way was I going to go through pregnancy again, and he was insistent that he wanted to have out his lot. For years after, he thought that we were trying for another baby, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him that my baby making days were done. He then suggested fertility treatments and even booked an appointment, and it was then that I had to tell him the truth, that I had made sure that it was no longer possible for me to get pregnant. He was surprisingly chill about the news, as I guess by then he was seeing how really expensive kids were.

Kimesha, 32:

I’d just moved in with my boyfriend when we agreed that we’d adopt a cat to complete our family, and so we did — we got a little grey kitten. But there was something wrong with the cat — it would make a mess everywhere even though it was supposed to be litterbox trained, it made a ton of noise at night, and it was just generally annoying and not cute and cuddly at all. One day I got so frustrated that I drove with the cat to my folks in the country and left it, and asked them to find it a home. When my boyfriend came home I told him that it looked like the cat had run away, and even joined him on the search, including helping to hand out missing pet flyers. Anyway, I forgot about the cat, and at Christmas we headed down to visit my family and lo and behold, there was the cat that my aunt had decided to keep after all. I had to explain to my boyfriend what I’d done — in front of my family — and all of them looked at me like I was the worst person on earth.

Arissa, 23:

My boss had all these bottles of liquor that he gets from clients, and I was hosting a friend’s bachelorette party and thought I’d just grab a few bottles instead of having to buy them, and my boss wouldn’t notice. Well, my boss didn’t notice, but the head of security sure saw me on camera loading the bottles into my car, and confronted me when I returned to work the Monday. I had to confess my deeds to my boss, who by the way told me that he would have given them to me if I’d just asked. I didn’t lose my job, but everyone at the company found out that I had sticky fingers, and eventually I just resigned out of embarrassment.