Man asks for advice on ‘unattractive’ wife after she got 14 stitches trying to save him from a stranger’s attack — he got a swift reality check

We often assume that life-threatening moments reveal the depth of a person's love and commitment. After all, standing by a partner through pain and hardship is considered one of the strongest tests of a relationship. But for one woman, it exposed a painful truth about their marriage instead. The man, who had been with his wife for six years, admitted on Reddit in 2023 that he was struggling with a loss of attraction after a violent incident in which she was injured while trying to protect her husband. It was later shared by a podcast called Two Hot Takes (@twohottakes.us) in a clip that garnered over 22,000 likes since being posted on June 12, 2026. 

It started with a racist incident

Well, the ordeal began when the couple went on a weekend picnic at a park. Everything was going well as the two were enjoying their time together. The wife was practicing her Korean as she was expecting a baby, wanting him to grow up bilingual since the man was Korean. It was then that, out of nowhere, a guy walked up to them and started arguing with them, even calling them racist terms and kicking their food. Naturally, they didn't want to deal with this man alone, so the husband stepped aside to call the police. 

However, as soon as he turned his back to the man, he picked up a big rock with the intention of hitting him from behind. His wife saw this coming and took the blow instead, sustaining severe injuries. "My wife needed 14 stitches right across her face, and had two black eyes and blood in them," the man noted. For the next few days, her face was so swollen up that no one would recognize her. As if this wasn't painful enough, amidst recovering from these injuries, she fell in the hospital and aggravated an old knee injury as well.

She wasn't the same

Although her face was changed due to the injury, she kept her spirits high, cracking jokes, as she continued to recover. Once the bandages came off, the doctor suggested that she would need to wait at least a year or so before she could remove the scar of the stitches. But she didn't follow through on it even after the year passed. Her husband kept hinting, but she just continued with her life. Her reasoning behind it was that she wanted to save money for the baby. What she didn't know was that her husband slowly began to struggle with being attracted to her. 

Even though the husband offered to pay half of it, she declined. This put the husband in a dilemma as he no longer felt confident in introducing her to his parents and friends. "This entire time, I've been struggling with remaining attracted to her despite it, but didn't tell her, since I didn't want to be cruel. I feel like half of a man now and I've had to delete myself off dating apps before making a mistake and been channeling it all at the gym but every time I look at her I'm reminded of all of those feelings," he said.

He wished that all of this had never happened. Nonetheless, even though this man seemingly cares a lot about his partner's physical appearance, the majority of people don't, as they value other things over it. 

People don't value looks

Contrary to this person, according to Match's annual Singles in America study, that invovled over 5,000 people, physical attractiveness saw a steep fall. That's because in comparison to 90% people who ranked it as an important quality in 2020, only about 78% did so in 2021. Meanwhile, people valued other qualities such as being open-minded more, with about 83% people believing it to be important. At the same time, people also think being a good communicator is more important than looking good, with about 84% thinking of it as a great quality. 

It was never love

This similar thought was carried into the comment section of the clip, where the people were baffled by this audacity. @marzipanpig noted, "He never actually loved her. When you actually love someone, you don't want them to have to be smaller than you. You want them to grow, and you're spurred on by their strength." Meanwhile, @cindy_ppu commented, "You don’t love her. I would never feel like that about my husband. I would be so appreciative of him protecting me."

You can follow Two Hot Takes (@twohottakes.us) on TikTok for more stories like this.

More on Scoop Upworthy

Husband considers divorce after wife of 22 years tells him 'not to expect one cent' from her inheritance

After 30 years apart, divorced dad showed up at ex-wife’s door when she needed him most

Man runs into his ex while out with his wife — how his wife reacted made him fall in love all over again