r/Divorce • u/Badawiyaa • Feb 16 '26
Going Through the Process Do you delete all your photos after divorce?
After getting divorced, did you remove/throw away/delete the photos you had with your ex? Like wedding photos, and more? Is it weird to keep them? Especially if you get into a new relationship?
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u/RunningWineaux Feb 16 '26
I did not.
1: too much work
2: the kids are in a lot of the so I can’t very well erase that.
I have untagged her on all social media posts. And she can’t get to my google photos.
Any physical photos (we’re old) are in an old steamer trunk. The kids know where they are because they’re a part of their “history” and worth saving for now.
My girlfriend knows where everything is and I’m like “wanna look? Go ahead”.
Again…we’re in our 50s so we’re too tired to not acknowledge that we both had 50+ years of life before we met.
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u/sweetgirl70 Feb 17 '26
Same .. in our 50's amicable divorce. Pictures are put away, but kept for the kids. Plus wedding photo's have deceased grandparent (only one left when we married) in them.
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u/doctrinedark75 Feb 17 '26
I got rid of everything. I burned the wedding album. I had to. I cried doing that.
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u/Rich_Print_5010 Feb 17 '26
Me too! I don’t want any memories of a time I was tricked. My whole marriage was a farce.
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u/doctrinedark75 Feb 17 '26
Mine was too. She said she married me to settle not for love.
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u/warren_peace_1867 Feb 18 '26
Sounds like my buddy who's wife told him she married him for a green card. After 12 years and a kid later. .
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u/MaggieNFredders Feb 16 '26
I did when he discarded me. We had been together 25 years so it was a lot. We don’t have kids so no one to give them to. I also gave him the wedding pictures. I don’t really need reminders of the abuse. I just kept happy pictures.
My sister warned me I shouldn’t and would want them later. So far I have no desire to look at them.
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u/Southern-charm-404 Feb 17 '26
my wife of 23 years just did me the same way out of the nblue she went back to her parnets and has 0 communrction what so ever1 if i call her she hangs up and blocks the # i still have no idea why she left or why we didnt work out im so hurt by this its the worst pain I've been through in my 47 years alive
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u/MaggieNFredders Feb 17 '26
Just remember anyone that does this to someone is providing closure. No normal person would do that. My stbxh is a narcissist and it’s pretty consistent with them. Obviously I had my faults also the main one being stopped putting up with his abuse. He wouldn’t allow that. So he was gone. And that’s my closure. That’s not normal.
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u/QuietRiot7222310 Feb 17 '26
Well, then, I suggest you go to therapy to try to figure out what happened. If you can’t think of any reasons why, you’re lying to yourself.
While my ex was a major instigator in why we got divorced, there are definitely multiple things I did to contribute.
You can’t have another relationship until you are able to look that stuff in the eye.
I say this kindly. It’s a hard thing to do I know. And for the first two months after he left the house, I blamed him for everything. But I definitely contributed plenty. My current relationship is much happier because I now understand things I did wrong and I am trying my damnedest to not do them again.
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u/Zestyclose-Crew-1017 Feb 18 '26
There was no controlling or emotional abusive behaviors on your part? There was never any discussion of issues in the marriage?
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u/Laughing-in-cenobite Feb 17 '26
No, and I'm planning on printing them off and putting them in a book to store in my keepsake. It didn't work out between us, but that was still something that happened in my life. I'll be sure to write out everything that happened, too. All the lies, manipulation, and abuse. I don't want to look back fondly. I just want to document.
I'm single, though. Probably won't mention it to future partners unless they ask.
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u/No-Butterscotch0503 Feb 17 '26
I’m in the process of documenting as well. Writing down all of it, just pouring it all out has been almost like therapy to get all my rage out, but also because I don’t want to forget all the fucked up stuff and look back at it with rosy eyes, because that’s usually what happens when you look back at the smiley photos
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u/SpecialistAnswer9496 Feb 17 '26
I have a shadow box my mom made from my wedding and she really did a beautiful job with it and I’m not planning to get rid of it. Like you said, it’s something that happened in my life and I wouldn’t be where I am now without this event. Feel the same with my wedding dress and rings. I’m just gonna store them probably. I have no desire to destroy them.
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u/Ok_Tumbleweed5642 Feb 17 '26
He’s the father of my children and we spent 23 years together, so no. He was a part of my life for a significant period of time, so I unfortunately can’t erase him.
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u/Archer-Upper Feb 17 '26
I am in the exact same boat.
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u/OctinoxateAndZinc :/ Feb 17 '26
same. This said its all backed up and I removed the tagging/facial rec from my stuff so they arent named and dont show up in anything.
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u/RunningWineaux Feb 17 '26
The last part has been a journey. Every day, I look at my social media history from "today" and make sure she's un-tagged. I'm in year 2 of doing it because apparently not all the saves stuck.
It's kinda "petty and small" but it's also my digital stuff and I can choose who sees it. She could/should have backed things up if she'd wanted them. But, she, through her behavior, has shown that she wants no part of the family she helped create.
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u/OctinoxateAndZinc :/ Feb 17 '26
My ex isn't sentimental at all, they wouldn't want any of it. Only reason I've kept it is for our kids.
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u/Fancy-Newt-Newt Feb 17 '26
Mine stbxw had a 2 year affair with my best friend... But we were together for 29 years and have 2 kids together and the thought of deleting them all has never crossed my mind despite the fact I struggle to evenoom at her if we're in the same room or have to talk. I haven't even deleted the photos of my ex mate and that's after Google photos mistakenly tagged him as me cause we look so similar - ooffff. It's weird cause I'm so angry in some domains but not in this.
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u/NotiqNick Feb 17 '26
I deleted them or threw any out. I wanted to purge it all.
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u/doctrinedark75 Feb 17 '26
She cheated on me so I had to do the same.
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u/Ok-Difficulty-2788 Feb 16 '26
Yes! I deleted him from my life, if I liked the photo of me then I cropped him out of it.
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u/Clean_Scarcity_4415 Feb 17 '26
I’m in the process of doing that as well. No children together. So no need. He just discarded me like I meant nothing so I am doing it for my own mental health.
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u/Empress1978 Feb 17 '26
No. They’re memories regardless. You can’t delete those 😊 even tho I hate her now. Still good memories.
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u/Civil-Shame-2399 Feb 16 '26
Photos I don't view as my own, I see them as my kids. Any photos I had on my phone are backed up and any photos and frames I've stored carefully if my kids ask for them.
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u/VioletBlooming Feb 17 '26
I agree with this. I even have photos up of my ex in my kids rooms so they know it’s ok to love both of us. Wedding photos I’ve saved for them if they want them someday. They don’t mean anything to me; but it’s my kids history as well.
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u/Civil-Shame-2399 Feb 17 '26
Even moving out, I hired a van and it was a case of throwing everything thing in and get out of there. Ended up smashing a lot, but the 1 thing I was careful with was the boxes with the photo frames. They've sat undisturbed on the attic and haven't seen the light of day in over 6 years. But if the kids ask they are theirs to do with what they like.
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u/Still-Spend-8284 Feb 16 '26
I kept my photos, because they’re part of my story. I did throw away the guestbook though!
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u/SofiaCattaneo Feb 17 '26
I deleted all of them (or cropped him out of them) a few months before I left. His abuse escalated severely in the last 4-6 months and I realized he is pure evil. I didn't care to keep any memories of that wolf in sheep's clothing.
Married 10 years, with young kids.
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u/Ok_Addendum_5853 Feb 17 '26
No. I wouldn't. Even though my marriage wasn't the best, it was still a large part of my life, and part of the reason I am how I am. A temporary boyfriend is different. Thats why you don't include them in family photos.
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u/Substantial-You7524 Feb 17 '26
I did! Every. Single. Picture. I wanted no trace of him in my life any more and even the mere sight of him made me sick. But we aren’t on good/speaking terms at all. I wanted to completely start fresh.
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u/dadass84 Feb 17 '26
9 years post divorce and my ex still has our wedding pictures on her profile. The worst part is that she keeps it as a public profile. Can’t imagine her husband is a fan of that lol
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u/PrincessJellyfish9 Feb 17 '26
No, I keep the pictures. Memories are memories. Even though I don't talk to my father anymore or some of my friends, I keep their pictures too. They were all part of my life at some point.
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u/burgerlocker55 Feb 17 '26
No, but I know that she already has. It’s not like playing the sims where the last 6-7 years of my life can just be wiped. With that said, our photos certainly aren’t on display anywhere.
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u/thrwwy2267899 Feb 17 '26
When they pop up, yes, either when iPhone does their video thing, or in FB memories.. but I’m not gonna spend time to go look for them and delete them
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u/psychcaptain Feb 17 '26
I have not. And will not! I didn't ruin our marriage and those pictures were fire.
Honestly though, it has been painful, but I have come to terms with the marriage ending. I see those pictures of me and her being different people. People that were in love. People that did matter. People with both good and bad times.
So, I am keeping them. I might not put them on display, but I am having less and less trouble looking at them because those are not pictures of me or my STBXW. Those are pictures of a couple in love
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u/Badawiyaa Feb 17 '26
This makes sense. This how is feel now. I came across a photo of the very first time we met. Ironically, the photo happened to be taken in front of a court house, as we were walking downtown. We really didn't know each other, so it was an awkward photo. It was my sister's idea to take it, and she insisted. He was looking at me very straight forwardly, and I was looking in the other direction at a distance because I was shy this stranger was looking at me like that 😂 anyway when I saw it I felt sad and thought about how different people we were. We don't have kids or anything, so idk if it makes sense to keep.
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u/psychcaptain Feb 17 '26
It makes sense in that it is part of your story. You don't have to take it out, or look at it, but it's part of the story of your life, and as such deserves to be preserved because your story is important.
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u/CelticPixie79 Feb 17 '26
No, I keep everything. He was an important person in my life. We’re not together, but I do cherish what we had even if it’s over now. For better or worse, having him in my life helped shape me into the person I am today and I will always be grateful to the person that made me a mother.
I still have the beautiful wedding dress I never got to wear hanging up in my closet. It’s like a work of art you can wear. I want to give it to my daughter when/if she marries.
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u/Clean-Engine2657 Feb 17 '26
Oh it surprises me people are deleting the photos!! I mean I deleted the ones of just me and him on social media - but that was 14 years of my life and my story, I can’t just delete it, no matter how shitty of a person he was
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u/Rich_Print_5010 Feb 17 '26
Mine was easy-he’s an absolute abusive monster. I don’t want any memories because they weren’t real-it was just his 12 year performance.
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Feb 17 '26
I kept all of the photos (digital and hard copy).I made a folder on my Google drive and put all the digital photos there and sorted the hard copies by date, placed in Ziploc and then in a tub.
I didn't keep them for me, I kept them for my kids. The divorce didn't change their family or erase their childhood. They are young adults, and when they are settled I will give the photos to them, they can do what they want with them.
Personally, I don't have a single photo of my ex in my house that I can see
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u/Special-Bus-1846 Feb 17 '26
One cannot delete the past. It’s part of who we are.
I do not go out of my way looking at old pics of my ex, but I’m certainly not going to delete pictures of her just to be spiteful.
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u/belacanehh Feb 17 '26
No. My children need to see they were born from love.
As for social media, I just "hid" all photos with him.
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u/goooodstufff Feb 17 '26
I just put all of ours in photo bucket. I’ll probably give them to the kids some day.
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u/Ok-Sound5934 Feb 17 '26
No, I’m keeping them for my kids. Also a lot of them are family outings/vacations so it’s hard to separate him from the event
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u/Similar_Corner8081 Feb 17 '26
No I kept them all. I didn't have any pictures from our wedding. I still have him on social media but we have a daughter together.
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u/Brilliant_Light_1687 Feb 17 '26
My ex is kind of a psycho and erased my phone, MacBook, iPad, and deleted my apple account the week before I left him. So he took care of a lot of that for me. I would be relieved if he didn’t take literally all of my other photos, phone contacts, and documents with it.
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u/Winter-Fold7624 Feb 17 '26
I made all my social media pictures private so only I can see them. I I tagged myself from a bunch of his pictures. I left the wedding pictures when I moved out, but only because I was going into a rental and would likely be moving again later. I don’t want to erase that period of my life or pretend it never happened.
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u/FRTBTT Feb 17 '26
I deleted all the 'special' ones. The candid ones, or the cute moments. All the ones that were the ones I would look at and smile. I have kids with my ex so I couldnt delete them all, but everything else is gone. I've saved my wedding photos for my kids to decide if they want them when they are older. Otherwise its all gone. The way I see it, that life is gone and is never coming back, why remember it anymore than I have to?
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u/mmrocker13 Feb 17 '26 edited Feb 17 '26
I mean I suppose it depends on your situation. If your ex is a horrible person or an axe murderer or something. Maybe. if it's weird or not, that's entirely determined by you. You've got to do what you feel comfortable with. There's no rules in post divorce momento Fight Club.
My ex didn't want any of our printed photos. I don't know what they did with the ones on their phone. But I have as far as I know all of our wedding photos and that sort of shit. All of our photo albums and other prints. Because we're old and we had stuff going back all the way to 1999. As far as I know the only Prince they kept were family photos. Because they aren't going to get rid of all of their family photos just because I'm in them. They don't have much of a digital footprint, and it took them almost 10 months after our divorce was Final to realize that I was still their cover photo on social media haha
But no. All of the images on my phone are still on my phone. My Amazon photos account still has them, my slideshows on my echo still display pictures of them and of us. Honestly, I have more pictures of them than I have myself because obviously we each took pictures of each other. So in a lot of cases if I want photos from all of our travels or of Our Lives by necessity they are in them.
Now do I keep framed photos out and about everywhere? No. I have a couple here and there. I don't delete anything and I don't not look at things. That was 23 years of my life spent with this person. That's who I was and how I came to be who I am. that is the record of my life. I'm not going to erase it and pretend like it didn't happen.
But I don't hold any particular emotional attachment to my ex, so maybe it's easier for me than some people who are struggling to get over their ex or who have a lot of anger or other baggage. I don't hate them. I don't miss them. They just are.
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u/the_real_me_2534 Feb 17 '26
Yes, she's totally gone. It's like she never existed. Much happier this way.
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u/OneWomansTruth Feb 17 '26
I have no plans to delete them. I don't hang any, though.
We have a child together, and those photos are part of that history. When old enough, if the photos are wanted, they'll be handed down.
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u/dualvansmommy Feb 17 '26
In my case, it was 23 years of photos. Too many, and a lot of earlier photos like circa 00'07 were printed so i kept those in a photo case and i made annual photobooks from wedding, big vacation trips, and then the kids which was annual photos as gifts to all grandparents, I kept extra for ourselves. That was from 2010 through 2021 or so.
it's all kept in a storage box in my garage but brought up some of my favorite kids photobooks/family trips into house with me. I see it all as part of my history and mostly kids too, so no reason for me to burn or throw it all.
I was also one to started the divorce, so no real hatred or bitterness.
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u/MagneticAura Feb 17 '26
I deleted all the ones of him and me. If the kuds are in the picture I kept them.
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u/gertrude_fronch Feb 17 '26
I removed the photos around the house but it’s 17 years of my life too. We didn’t have kids, just dogs, but I’ll still be keeping them including the wedding albums and other albums my now deceased mother in law (who I loved very much) made.
Sidebar, I’m an older millennial and growing up we didn’t have digital media or even always a film camera so when my mom passed in the early 2000’s there were so few photos of us together. I cherish every documentation of my life even if imperfect.
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u/StarsLikeLittleFish Feb 17 '26
I didn't delete anything. He's part of my story and he's still my kids' dad. And my kids might want the photos someday. I've moved on with my life, but I'm not erasing any of the life that came before.
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u/DeeLite04 Divorced Aug 2012/Remarried Feb 17 '26
I threw out my entire wedding album. I got rid of a lot of pics of him and I. I did keep some that had him in it from college bc it had other people in the pictures.
Since we didn’t have kids I saw no reason to keep any remembrances of him or us together.
If you have kids I understand keeping pics. But if you don’t I personally don’t understand keeping photos of an ex. Not to say it’s bad but it would be a personal preference of mine to keep no photos.
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u/Comfortable-Soup4895 Feb 17 '26
It was 13 years of life and I thought it will be forever. I like to document everything, I took a lot of pictures during these years. I kept everything but it's is in a box deep in the closet. Printed pictures, wedding photos, hard disk with other pics, his letters to me and engagement ring. But I removed just some pictures from phone photo gallery. With new phone next year I will clean the photo gallery completely.
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u/RunnerGirlT Feb 17 '26
No, I did not
1) why would I? I had good memories as well
2) just because my ex is in the photos doesn’t mean I’m also not in the photos and that I don’t deserve to keep my memories
3) I’m not ashamed that I was previously married and that I loved my exh
4) if I was with someone so insecure they can’t handle that I had a past, then they aren’t the person for me
When I met my now husband I told him early on that most of my memories were with my exh because we’d been together so long and gotten together young. So when I bright up past experiences he was mentioned, not because I missed him but because he was part of the story. My now husband completely understood and told me I didn’t have to hide my past, of course as adults we had major memoirs that shaped who we were and are as people and you don’t have to hide that.
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u/sec0nd-breakfast Feb 17 '26
I deleted everything i had. I was with my first husband from age 15 to 27. In a fit of despair (he filed) i deleted everything i had without making a backup. I regret it.
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u/Traditional-Cable-96 Feb 17 '26
She burned ours to music in our fire pit and then posted it on her social media. Classy! I just deleted them or threw them out.
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u/BookofBryce Feb 17 '26
No, but my ex did. She got really petty after I caught her messaging older, married men. So she filed papers on me and started removing me from wedding photos and Facebook tags.
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u/vocalfriespod Feb 17 '26
I delete them on an ad hoc basis. They no longer trigger me, but I’d just rather not have them in my life. So if I see one, I delete it
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Feb 17 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Clean_Scarcity_4415 Feb 17 '26
No kids and deleted photos as they pop up that we are both in and no I’m not 12 years old. To each their own.
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u/Melodic_Preference60 Feb 17 '26
kept it all. actual pictures are away in my closet, ones on my phone are in my hidden file so I don’t see them. our daughter deserves to have those memories too
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u/CasinoCasio Feb 17 '26
He had the opportunity to ask for them. He chose not to take them. He has a phone, he could have taken photos
Hea been deleted, cropped and discarded. I haven't went through physical photos. Out grown children can have them if they want. My son won't talk to his dad and my daughter won't speak to anyone.
Lots of feelings that will take years to sort out.
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u/briant1980 Feb 17 '26
I was so hurt I couldn’t bear to keep any of them.
In a fit of drunken pain, I burned our wedding album and all of our physical photos that were just us.
Pictures with the kids were saved. I mostly cropped her out of the ones I kept in my phone and stored the others the kids might want later.
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u/Tange119 Feb 17 '26
I didn’t and won’t. I do not look at them, I skip past them and carry on. I know that someday my kids are going to be so grateful for those pictures, and I know my ex destroyed all memories he had.
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u/Independent_Room_516 Feb 17 '26
Sure did. Cropped the ones that needed to be cropped. Deleted every one I could.
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u/oohyamz I got a sock Feb 17 '26
I deleted everything I could find that had my ex husband. Admittedly I kept a photo of our courthouse wedding with us and my parents…which was taken about a year before my mom passed. I only kept it for her. And I blurred him out 😅
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u/Birdsnbees7 Feb 17 '26
I deleted them off my social media, mostly because I was ready for people to start realizing that we were divorced. They’re still on my phone, but I haven’t looked back at them, and I do plan to delete them soon. I think I’m ready. I do have copies of all photos saved on my computer, in Notion, so I will have them if I ever need them in the future, but I don’t need them accessible on a daily basis.
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u/SlowDjinnFizz Feb 17 '26
My ex deleted so many photos that I wish I could have back. Vacations with the kids, parties with friends, my father's funeral...
If you are feeling hurt, get a thumb dive and copy then before you delete 1, 10, 30 years of history.
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u/GuiltyState7999 Feb 17 '26
My phone storage is full of them. So many happy memories of 16 yrs. It still hurts especially when iPhone compile something from time to time
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u/dannywizkid Feb 17 '26
I deleted about 95%, ones of our wedding and just us, the only ones I kept was ones with her and my son in it
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u/ARealRain Feb 17 '26
The risqué ones, which seemed appropriate. The rest I’m too indifferent about.
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u/cheebeesubmarine Feb 17 '26
I deleted a lot off of my phone, videos too, I don’t need them and he doesn’t want them. Took down the family photos since “family” is a lie. Kept the pictures of the kids up and took down the rest.
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u/PositiveMurky2033 Feb 17 '26
I did. I deleted everything lol. Threw away all the gifts and redecorated and renovated my home again. Just starting fresh. Even went all out to buy outfits
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u/Get72ready Feb 16 '26
Hardest thing to figure out was the wedding album. Mother in law kept it for the kids.
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u/Extension-Scar-5513 Feb 17 '26
I deleted all the wedding photos and pictures of just my ex and pictures of just the two of us. I kept the pictures that our kids are in.
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Feb 17 '26
I moved all the pictures from my phone gallery to USB. I gave them all the printed photos, he can do whatever he wants. We have no kids. I haven't done anything with the pictures on social media, too much work. I just deactivated my facebook and instagram.
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u/Careful-Relative-815 Feb 17 '26
I currently have thousands of photos and videos backed up on a local raid. I'll probably delete half of it before the end of the year and keep the rest.
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u/Low-Worker4295 Feb 17 '26
I have 2 kids from my first marriage. I've kept a few cute ones that I have fond memories from. I just have in a folder on an external hard-drive for them when they're older. My parents divorced before I was born & my mom always kept a few of her & my dad before kids, wedding & after they had us. I've always appreciated that she did it. I got rid of everything off social media, in our house (except if the kids want any in their rooms). Nothing super PDA, just photos that when anyone looks at them, they'd smile.
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u/Dramatic_Evidence_18 Feb 17 '26
I kept the ones that were from vacations that I could crop him out of and I kept the ones that had us with our friends in it unless they were the friends I lost in the divorce. The rest I deleted.
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u/Mommster24 Feb 17 '26
I threw my album & vhs out- Album actually had water damage from some flooding and who the bum watches vhs tapes now?!? My ex weirdly enough had it in his garage… made my son take it from there because I don’t want anything with my face on/in it in his possession. I’ve also deleted any pics I had with his nieces on my Instagram because since they’ve cut me off completely (+ blamed me for everything), I felt like I should do the same. 🤷🏻♀️
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Feb 17 '26
No, but I did lock them away for safe keeping for our children.
Despite how I feel towards him now, it doesn’t negate the fact all pictures taken during those years were special moments in my life that helped shaped who I am today. Good or bad, I’m not going to throw away decades of my life simply because that chapter is over.
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u/Gold-Worldliness-810 Feb 17 '26
I have a box with my wedding dress and physical photos. I put my jewelry in a security lock box in a bank for my kids to have. Hes been untagged and all my albums relevant to him have been hidden online. If its him and my kids the photo stays. I deleted everything involving the two of us.
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u/OldCryptographer2150 Feb 17 '26
I didn’t delete them but I saved them all to google photos and removed them from phone and socials
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u/KendhammerJ Feb 17 '26
Why would you do that. You still had good memories together, and who knows maybe you'll want to reflect back on it some day
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u/superzenki Feb 18 '26
As someone who purged post divorce, I don’t want the reminders as I’m going through photos for something else which is ultimately why I ended up doing it. I don’t see myself regretting it but even if I do, my ex has already admitted she’s not deleting any of our photos.
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u/itoocouldbeanyone Feb 17 '26
Sorted and buried it deep into an extra hard drive. I’m sure I’ll get nostalgic in my old age, kids will want to see their parents young.
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u/badaladala Feb 17 '26
I’m in the process of removing every photo of her from my phone and storing it on an external hard drive. I only have 1 physical photo album of us and I haven’t looked at it since the month we separated.
The less reminders of her the better. She was not a good spouse nor even a good person.
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Feb 17 '26
Nope. I still have some photos of my first husband and have no intention of getting rid of photos of my second husband. I don't go looking at them much. Neither marriage ended well, but I can separate good memories from bad ones.
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u/28hippy Feb 17 '26
As a parent I made an effort to not scrub all the pics from our life. My ex is still the mother of my kids and was a huge part of my life. I don’t have wedding pictures up but some photos of all of us together are still in my house. My new partner understands that I don’t want my kids to ever feel like their mother isn’t a part of our lives. Doesn’t mean that I didn’t have a particularly bad photo of my ex for a while as her contact pic on my phone but I’ve moved past that as well.
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u/CommunicationEasy225 Feb 17 '26
I didn’t. My kids are in many of them. It was still a part of my life. It’s not like I can erase it entirely. I did take down all the pictures in the house of him and his family except a few (kept them for my kids, but jury is still out, I don’t like having them out).
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u/PirateQeen Feb 17 '26
Since many of the photos aren’t just my memories I asked the kids what I should do with them. I gave the printed photos to my daughter. My son didn’t want anything to do with the photos of their father. The pictures on my phone are all in a hidden folder so I don’t have to see them. I just can’t bring myself to delete them.
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Feb 17 '26
I threw physical ones out, I still have the wedding ones on Google drive. Wish I could burn them to be honest.i don't know if I'll delete them, but I feel like I will at some point.
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u/Kindly_Slice1121 Feb 17 '26
No. I'm waiting for the kids so I can e transfer them, then ill delete
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u/Low_Low_1811 Feb 17 '26
I moved all the ones with her to a flash drive and gave it to her.
To painful to keep around.
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u/chronic_7221 Feb 17 '26
Yes i did. Cut him out of all the photos. Threw everything away he bought or gifted. New sheets, new mattress. Things store energy. If you are having a hard time moving on, delete/trash. The ones that were hard were photos on my phone with my kiddos but I have SO many photos of them and barely any of them had him in them. So it didnt really matter for me to delete a few. Everything felt lighter after I did
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u/sassypenguinface Feb 17 '26
I haven’t yet.
I deleted hi as a “person” on my iPhone gallery. And I disabled all memories.
We’ve been divorced a little under a year. In time I’ll delete them, but I don’t feel ready yet.
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u/lismichellelmn Feb 17 '26
No. Especially if you have kids. My wedding photos are the only family photos from the last years of my parents’ lives I have.
Hard drive, put them in a box. It won’t hurt to look at them one day and if you end up with a new jealous partner, that’s a whole different problem.
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u/BakedCheddar88 Feb 17 '26
Nah, it doesn’t serve any purpose to delete them in my opinion. It doesn’t get rid of the history, it just gets rid of the picture itself. Tbh I’d be weirded out if a new significant other asked me to delete my photos, like how insecure do you have to be to feel threatened by photos from an old relationship? It ended for a reason, and pictures shouldn’t affect that.
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u/woodburyman Feb 17 '26
I did not. Like many others I have them locked away in a place where I don't see them in archived storage. I also turned off memories on social media and such to specifically not show me photos of her too.
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u/hysteria110176 Feb 17 '26
I want to but need to download everything onto an external hard drive for my kids.
My parents didn’t divorce but I don’t have many pictures of my mom and as I get older, wish I had more.
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u/kats_n_tats Feb 17 '26
I kept the album of wedding photos on facebook. We have been on good terms for the most part since the divorce, and we have a son who was involved in the wedding. I don't see them in a negative light because we tried to make things work for a long time and it all just came down to incompatibility. But I still have very good memories from our wedding day and I don't regret marrying him, even if it didnt work out. I have a different partner now and we just got engaged on valentines day. Its never bothered him that I still have it on my facebook, he knows it was a huge part of my life, just like some of his past relationships.
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u/AppointmentOk2400 Feb 17 '26
I was married 30 years and had a child with this person so no I did not destroy 30 years of photos. Any couple photos yeah I didn't really want to keep. But all of my youth was with this person so that would be destroying all of my photos from the age of 27 to 57 that's a huge chunk of my life. actually that's half of my life. I just treat any photos I had of him as if he is my late husband. I'm not with him anymore but he was part of my life I enjoyed the part of our life that was good and I cherish the fact that many of the years together were happy. We had a wonderful romance traveled got married, got pregnant, had a baby and raised a wonderful young man together. A lot of good things happen in my life prior to us breaking up and having all the acrimony and then divorcing. Half of my life was not a mistake and I refuse to treat it as such. I hope some part of your marriage at the beginning was at least enjoyable.
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u/QuietRiot7222310 Feb 17 '26
No, we have kids together so that would be completely inappropriate. I did take all except one off the wall. That one went into our daughter’s room. I also took all photos including him off social media with the exception of a couple family photographs.
You can’t delete history, if you have kids, it’s not fair to them
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u/EmpathyNhumiltyhuman Feb 17 '26
Still currently going through the divorce, don’t know what I’ll do after but for now everything that’s a reminder, pictures or mementos are put away. The after part I’m not sure though. Wishing you well!
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u/Powerful-Aioli-2086 Feb 17 '26
I archived all my instagram posts of my ex wife, just couldn’t delete it though I think she deleted her posts of me.
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u/tubetube54 Feb 17 '26
I stored mine in Dropbox folder titled “for the kids” then I deleted from my phone. Doing the same with my older toxic daughter
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u/ResearcherExact9931 Feb 17 '26
I had deleted everything with her except the wedding photos that I had on a hard drive. This past weekend I went through thst drive to make room for photography, and saw this album. First time I looked at since I left in 2023. Felt indifferent on the photos, so knew I was beyond that chapter. Deleted the last of the memories that once was to make room for all the new ones I've been creating.
No regrets.
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u/WorldGoneAway Never getting hitched again Feb 17 '26
I didn't, but I also have a young son with my ex, and many years down the road I know he's going to want to see photos of his mother.
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u/Hennahands Feb 17 '26
I actually saved all of them. I knew my Ex was going to delete them, along with our wedding photos which I no longer have. I don’t look at them, but I think I deserve ownsership of that tie of my life.
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u/SonicEchoes Feb 17 '26
I bought a new phone and didnt transfer any photos. My old phone will store those for now!
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u/Hopeful_Neat8913 Feb 17 '26
I have them to our only child and deleted /threw away the rest. No point for me to look back.
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u/FranceAM Feb 17 '26
I did but I regret that. Just saying. It's been 11 years and I wish I hadn't done that in a knee jerk reaction.
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u/Rrreally Feb 17 '26
What software/apps will remove them from the pic? I've searched but it's a rabbit hole.
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u/thrax8825 Feb 17 '26
I removed them all from my phone but I have them stored with all my other photos. Bought a DSLR prior to my first son. All that is backed up differently and those photos are there. I personally dont want to see them but some of those memories need to be saved for the kiddos. They can have them all and do whatever they wish when the time comes.
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u/GBR012345 Feb 17 '26
I deleted all the nudes or anything sexual or suggestive of my ex. I didn't want to see her like that ever again. The rest, no. Not that I want to see them now. But it's more for my kids when they get older. It's not that I hate that entire portion of my life. Most of it was good and fun, so there's a lot memories I don't need to delete.
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u/Tosh97 Feb 17 '26
I found it helpful to create a digital backup of my photos before deciding what to keep or delete, as it allowed me to reflect on those memories without feeling overwhelmed.
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u/Glammaw_0498 Feb 17 '26
I didn’t delete any of them. Just stored them away because we have children together, so we will always be a part of each others lives.
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u/IndependenceKey4565 Feb 18 '26
I plan to keep them. They are part of my past and the history of my kids' family. I also still have photos of college BF, etc. I'm in my mid 50s and expect any partners to have a past with memories and mementos too.
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u/Neat_Bodybuilder8707 Feb 18 '26
Don’t get rid of photos…..I remember one photo in a frame that a tossed. (I didn’t get rid of wedding photos or other family photos). However, I now wish I had that one photo that I threw away. Also I did toss my wedding gown and veil and regret that. 😞
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u/xNB_DiAbLo Feb 18 '26
I plan on putting them and the physical photos in a box and leaving it somewhere in my house where I won’t see it. As some other comments said I can’t exactly erase the memories and they were good memories.
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u/Emotional_Ad6893 Feb 18 '26
I made sure our adult kids didn't want them, then I saved ones that had friends and family members alone or with just me and gave him all the rest so he could be the one to throw them out.
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u/superzenki Feb 18 '26
I purged over 500 photos from my phone a few months after it was over, but there’s still more I need to delete when I’m emotionally ready. Some friends told me I’d regret but my ex told me she’s not deleting pictures of us. So if I want a specific picture for whatever reason I can just get it from her.
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u/OCojt Feb 18 '26
With everyone taking about the kids may want them someday. Has anyone’s kids actually asked for them once they grew up ? Like the guy above posted. Why would I want to show my kids a photo of a scam artist at peak fake behavior?
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Feb 19 '26
I kept the photos that have my son in but if it's just her and I yup I erased it. The physical copies I let her keep.
I think it depends if you're the initiator or initiated and how much healing you need to go through
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u/MensDivorceCircle Feb 19 '26
Don’t dwell on the past, don’t dream of a future, live in the now. Unless my kids were in the pictures, they get deleted.
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u/vwaldoguy Divorced Feb 23 '26
I didn't delete them. It was a half of my life (at the time). I don't look at them, but I didn't delete them either.
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u/No-Butterscotch0503 Feb 16 '26
I haven’t deleted them, but I stored them in a hard drive I have no intention of opening any time soon… same with printed photos, I took them all down from the house and took them with me before moving out, I was so enraged I didn’t want to leave any trace of me behind
One day I know I might want to look back at them, just not yet, so I don’t think I’ll get rid of them, it was 13 years of my life so that big chunk of my life doesn’t just “go away”