1. It’s Just Plain Morally Wrong

Do NOT steal your friend’s boyfriend. This really shouldn’t be something that needs to be taught! In a broader sense, homing your sights on a person or possession that is not yours is just a terrible attitude to have. Seriously consider your friendship before you act on any impulses. The years spent forming a strong bond with one another are worth more than five minutes of fascination with their partner. Take the high road and respect both your friend and yourself.

2. It Can Affect Your Wider Friendship Circle

In a situation such as stealing a friend’s boyfriend, it is only natural that the members of your wider social circle are going to be forced to take sides in the matter. I hate to break it to you, but if you are the one who has done the stealing, you will quickly find that very few people will have any sympathy for you, and you run the risk of being completely ostracized by some of the people you love the most.

3. The Relationship Will Always Be Tainted

It would be fair to wager that most romantic attachments formed through the process of stealing a partner from a friend do not last as long as one would like or are as happy as one wants. The problem is that there will always be a cloud of stigma hanging over the relationship, including the thought that if your new boyfriend was so easily stolen, what makes you so sure he will not be stolen from you by another woman that catches his eye?

4. So Much Awkwardness!

It is very likely that you and your new boyfriend will have to completely change social circles as a result of your betrayal, and in attempting to form new friendships with other people there will always be the awkward and lingering question of “how did you two meet?” Having to worry so much about such a seemingly innocent question is an indicator of all the awkwardness that may lie ahead.

5. The Guilt Can Eat You up

If you have any shred of humanity, you will know full well that stealing your friend’s boyfriend was the lowest of the low. It might have been too much to resist at the time, but the instant gratification of your newfound romance will soon be overtaken by a feeling of immense guilt for what you have done to your friend. The selfish nature of your actions will catch up with you and it can be a very unhealthy state of mind to be in.

6. You Cannot Take It Back

Whether or not your relationship with your stolen boyfriend lasts, one thing that will be forever is that fact that you cannot turn back the clock. Your whirlwind romance may burn out, but one certainty is that the friendships you ruin in the process of cheating will stay ruined forever. Even if you manage to achieve some level of forgiveness, your act of betrayal will always be in the back of everybody’s minds.

7. You Will Gain a Reputation

Gossip is a vicious activity even when the topic of conversation is something that isn’t true; imagine what it would be like when people actually have a valid reason to talk about you? Even if this is your first indiscretion, thanks to gossip, the tag ‘boyfriend stealer’ will be with you in certain circles forever. Save yourself a lifetime of bad vibes and think before you act!

It’s hard to imagine any circumstance where stealing your friend’s boyfriend is in any way acceptable. If you can think of any, please do tell. Have you ever been in this situation? Were you the one doing the stealing or were you the one whose boyfriend was taken?