17 Men Talk About The Last Time They Cried

1. “I recently heard that an ex of mine that I’ve really had a hard time getting over is dating someone seriously. It’s been nearly a year since we split (her choice) but I just haven’t been able to move on. I’d thought that maybe when she got serious with someone else then I’d be able to say ‘yeah, it’s definitely over’ but it actually just crushed me instead.”

—Bryan, 27

2. “My mother called me a month ago to tell me that my dog had died. It was the family dog but really it was my dog that I’d had since I was nine. I went away to college and she died almost immediately and while I knew she was old and not doing so great I’d held out hope that I could at least be there when she died. This is still heartbreaking because I wonder if she’d thought I simply left her. The thought of that is really upsetting.”

—Darren, 19

3. “I started college this year. I cried in my dorm alone as soon as my parents left. I wasn’t sad but the whole thing feels overwhelming and the campus is huge and I was freaked out. I’m better now and have made a couple of friends but sitting in a cinder block room by myself when they left felt like I was going to prison or something.”

—Jacob, 18

4. “My mother died of Leukemia last year. I cry once a week still. I actually moved back in with my dad a month after because he wasn’t doing well with it (not that I was). It’s made things easier and we’re slowly getting better but we constantly catch each other tearing up. He may sell the house because he says there’s too many good memories of her there. I hope he doesn’t though.”

—Marcus, 25

5. “When my wife told me she wanted a divorce. It’s both of our faults and we have a lot of money problems just because neither of us make very much. I think she just wants a more comfortable life and she says she still loves me. She promised she’d give us six months and I’m trying hard to make things better but she’s still always panicking about the future and worries we won’t be able to afford kids. I don’t know if this is something I can fix without going back to school and there’s no money for that. I’m hopeful but I feel pretty powerless.”

—Ryan, 29

6. “I rewatched ‘Land Before Time’ after coming home from the bars last week. Wept like a baby when Littlefoot’s mom died.”

—Chris, 30

7. “Watching this video about a family having to put their dog to sleep. Cried like a baby.”

—Michael, 20

8. “The last time I cried hard was a year ago when I realized that my depression had progressed beyond my ability to control it and I would have to go on meds. I’m not trying to shame people who take antidepressants at all but it was a hard line to me that represented that I was actually no longer able to help myself. The good news is that six months later after taking them and doing really helpful talk therapy twice a month I was able to go off the pills. Still doing therapy though and feeling a lot better about my life.”

—Harold, 26

9. “The last time I cried was ten years ago at my grandfather’s funeral. I don’t really cry.”

—James, 22

10. “When I came home from Iraq in 2008 and about once a week for a year afterward and every time I got drunk for a year after that.”

—Eric, 32

11. “During this scene in Interstellar which I finally saw last week.”

—Nathan, 20

12. “My little brother graduated college last Spring and I shed a few tears at commencement. He’d struggled with addiction for nearly two years during which he’d had to drop out of school and everything had gone to shit. But he got his life squared away with help from our family and got back on the right track. I couldn’t have been more proud of him as he walked across that stage.”

—Oliver, 28

13. “Love of my life met another guy and told me she wasn’t in love with me anymore and that I needed to spend more time on me and find out what I really wanted out of life. It was you! I wanted you! I don’t know if she didn’t understand that or if she just couldn’t handle it.”

—Brad, 27

14. “When my dad got his one year sober pin from AA. I grew up with him basically being a monster. It’s so sad that this great guy I’m getting to know now wasn’t around when I was a kid.”

—Jason, 29

15. “The last time I saw my grandmother. She has Alzheimer’s and can’t remember me anymore most of the time and when she can she only remembers me as a baby.”

—Peter, 23

16. “Yesterday when I returned to my home in Columbia, South Carolina to discover the flooding had completely destroyed everything I owned.”

—Richard, 30

17. “For as long as I’ve known my wife she’s always wanted to go to Paris but we could never afford it. What she didn’t know is that I’d been saving up for a trip there on the side for two years. Last Spring we went and she started crying once we were at the top of the Eiffel Tower. I just totally broke down because she was so happy. Life can be difficult but moments like this where you’ve got joy makes it worth all the hard work.”

—Jim, 33