Imagine going through a particularly rough breakup, in which your partner seemingly has a change of heart overnight and leaves you with no warning or explanation. Now, imagine several years later, after working so hard to heal those wounds, and finally learning why your relationship failed … from your ex-partner’s wedding announcement.
It sounds like the makings of a Lifetime TV movie, but it was the sad reality of a woman named Nikyta Moreno. Moreno, 30, recently gave her side of the story to the New York Post after ex her, Robert Palmer, also 30, was featured in the New York Times “Vows” wedding announcement column after getting married to his new bride, Lauren Maillian, 35.
In the piece, Moreno recalls in great detail meeting Palmer in the summer of 2013, and after a whirlwind romance, the pair quickly moved in together. They married in a small civil ceremony in December 2015 and were in the middle of planning a larger bash in Palmer’s hometown of Dallas when he abruptly called things off in March 2017—without rhyme or reason. In an instant, Palmer went from being what Moreno describes as an “old-fashioned gentleman” to a cold, callous stranger.
Moreno had moved on with her life until just weeks ago when her friends and family began texting her about the New York Times column. In her piece, she details the gut punch when learning the real reason her previous relationship had failed.
“According to the article, the couple, Rob and Lauren, started their relationship in January 2017. It also said that he had never been married,” she writes. “That was news to me—because I was his wife in January 2017. We split in late March of that year, officially divorcing in January 2018, and I never exactly understood why. Until I read about it in the Times.”
Just a month before Palmer began dating Maillian, Moreno’s family had flown all the way from Trinidad and her native London to Dallas so the two families could meet and decide on wedding details. They had even put a deposit down on the venue and she had purchased a wedding dress—so, in addition to the heartache she suffered, she was also out a lot of money.
Even worse, Moreno adds that she found out she was pregnant the same month Palmer broke things off, but when she told him he told her “that he didn’t want the baby.” She later miscarried, she believes, due to stress.
And then, to add one final insult to injury, the Times piece stated that Palmer had never been married before, and the publication was subsequently forced to issue a retraction after being notified by Moreno’s friends. (Wayback Machine helpfully archived the unedited copy.)
Well, if the retraction wasn’t enough to piss on her ex’s parade, the Post article about the wedding announcement drama should have done it. But just like, why even lie about that? Was wife #2 not aware of wife #1? If so, she clearly is now!
With all sympathies to Moreno, this story is absolutely riveting. And as it began to go viral, others began sharing their incredulity that someone could be so brazen and cruel.
“I am eating this UP,” tweeted Keep It host Ira Madison III. “People get too bold,” added Atlantic writer Amanda Mull. “This guy’s family wouldn’t have had to find out what an asshole he is if he could have simply not! done! the Vows column!”
Others had similarly flabbergasted reactions to the wedding announcement story.
Incredibly, this is apparently not even a rare phenomenon—but most cheaters at least have self-awareness when it comes to their philandering ways? Or at least enough to know what not to include in a wedding announcement?
Welp, best of luck to the happy couple, anyway. They are evidently going to need loads of it.
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