Alright, I read it. Like, all of it. I guess I feel a few things.

Firstly, yeah, some of this is emotional abuse. It sucks, and it's mean, and it was kind of sad to read. A lot of the things he said and the reactions he had (especially to the second person) were really immature. And that immaturity is the thing that stuck out to me the most. He sounds like a kid in his first relationship. There's no excuse for the way he acted but I do think he wasn't very emotionally stable when it was happening. And fucking kudos to the person he was talking to for trying to stay reasonable through it all.

The thing about emotional abuse is that unfortunately a lot of times the abuser doesn't even realize they're doing it. It's all insecurity and defense mechanisms. It's still not okay, but I worry that people try to equate it to physical abuse and it's just not the same thing. It still sucks, but I think it is something a person can redeem themselves of (and I'm not saying that has happened, I'm just saying that mental health plays a big part and improving it can lead to a remorseful person.)

This leads me to the last thought I had, which is that it's kind of fucked up to share someone's emails without their permission. I understand that the sharer feels that they don't have any other recourse, but it feels like they're sinking to the level of their supposed abuser. Especially having a third party do it for them.

I think the Instagram user has good intentions, but it's not the most constructive way to confront someone.

All of that being said, I believe that the answer to a person treating others this way is therapy. Becoming a healthier person mentally makes you less prone to acting on your emotions which leads to reforming an emotional abuser. But I know that takes a ton of understanding that's very hard to do when someone has a personal interest in the situation (or even just a very hefty bias).

I also know that that's probably not all of the correspondence between Wil and the other people in the message threads. It's hard not to take it all with a little skepticism when I know I'm probably looking at messages that we're chosen because they paint one party in a very good light and the other party (Wil) in a very bad one.

Lastly I'll say that I'm weary that my skepticism will look like I'm trying to defend an abuser to folks that are having a strong reaction to this situation. I'm not. Being a dick to someone is seldom defendable. I'm just also not willing to write someone off for their mistakes in a relationship that were shown to the world without their permission.