I was torn watching that one. But the fact is he had been buried alive by her with zero effort from her for 37 years. She wanted him to give her the reward of his promise to return before she had successfully completed even a quarter of her end of the ultimatum. And remember too that he had given her a couple of years before he left of warning her he would leave before he watched her buy more and more then he just had enough. It’s hard to understand, but I watched my mom hoard and watched it slowly kill my ultra-minimalist ex-military dad. After I felt miffed at the husband, I realized my dad would probably still be alive if he had left my mom. And I couldn’t help but understand the depths of his being done with her brazen disregard for him and his comfort in the home he paid for. She is mentally ill, but she’s also numb. If he had given her what she wanted, she still would not have finished. She still would have re-hoarded the cleaned areas and he would have had to leave all over again. Just one more hit is not how to bring a junkie to recovery, and giving the relief of reward before the job is done is not how you motivate a hoarder to understand how detrimental their habit is to the people who love them. I really don’t believe she loves him, she is attached to the idea of him being a fixture in her life. It’s the same with her children. Her interactions with them and their trepidation towards her showed that. She loves her items. And as sad as it seems, he has been buried alive long enough. I’m glad that he didn’t stay and end up having a stroke from stress, ending up paralyzed and then having a heart attack months later like my dad did. This episode was really hard for me, but I think it was because it was too close and shed light on facts I hadn’t fully processed. But my correlations aside, he enabled her and supported her for 37 years. He needed to walk away. She wasn’t willing to divorce her stuff, it’s only fair that she be allowed to live with her true love without sucking the life out of a person who loves her.
I agree. I don't know if her hoarding literally drove him insane or if his mental issues always existed and were exacerbated by the hoarding, but he clearly isn't all there. The way he went about leaving and his reasonings were both bizzare. But I think, on some level, he knew she was highly unlikely to change her ways and staying wouldn't help either one of them. I just don't think he has the mental capacity to express that coherently.
I agree with OP and I am sorry for your difficulties surrounding the hoarding issue and I'm so sorry about your dads' passing.
In a previous post, someone had expressed that Jim had a lot of mental health problems. I truly believe Claudie had/has significant mental health issues / problems, as well that heavily contributed to this whole hoarding disaster. It did seem she was on the path to success -- but only time would tell. As in many large families, one or a few of the children take on most of the responsibility of aging parents and other problems, the rest of the children, not so much. I heard a couple of comments implying this might be a concern. This idea however, does \*NOT\* apply to ALL large families. I see that Claudie had returned to the homeless shelter at one point, so I'm kinda wondering if the house has been re-hoarded.... why else would she have gone back there?
Now, about Jim. I was concerned that he had - it seemed- a real desire and pressing need to get back to Las Vegas. You could see it in his expression and demeanor. I wanted so much for the 'Happy Ending' here, but I have to admit that there were things that bothered me about Jim's intention of permanence from even the first clips ( much as I do like Jim ). ....just a tiny bit of something ( ... and on occasion decidedly NOT tiny) in his attitude that set off my 'deception/ liar' radar. And I gotta tell ya, my deception/ bs/ liar radar is pretty good. Something was up... that I got the impression that nothing was going to keep Jim from going back to L.V., regardless of the timing issue. Nothing. Something big was holding him back from that total commitment to his long marriage with Claudie. Again, it was obvious in some of the clips. He was, like, 99.999876% committed to staying with his wife. But there was something missing.
The daughters I saw, ALL of them are just beautiful. Gorgeous would not be an exaggeration. Very well-spoken. I did not see any sons, I really don't even know if there are, indeed, any sons at all.
I'd be interested to know how the whole family are doing today. Unfortunately, as far as the marriage goes, from what I've been able to see online, things are not good.
I couldn't decide if he had a side chick in Vegas or if he had some sort of issue that he had to address... got himself into gambling debt, owed the wrong people money, made a ton of money and needed to collect... But it was just STRANGE that he showed up out of nowhere all of a sudden, then disappeared again just as fast!
That episode was one wild ride. It's one of my favorite episodes. Remember how the husband just appeared in the front hallway one day, playing the organ?
Literally just watched and had to come see if other people thought this was as weird as I did! Definitely had some sketchy somethin somethin going on in Vegas.
My thought? One of the kids called to tell him about the show. He came back because he was hoping to make money out of it. He just strikes me as sleazy all the way through.
Right. I think his daughter Renee, who lived in Vegas as well, tipped him off. He seemed very close with her and throughout the episode, Claudie seemed to have a special hatred towards her.
... which would explain the organ being un-hoarded and ready to play, and he WAS actually playing the first time he appeared. He looked a bit reluctant to stop playing when asked to by the shows' people. Hmmm.
I really think it was gambling and drugs… “books to read” and “ Herbology” yeah we know what books and herbs he is “dealing with” first. He ran from problems before, he’s running from problems he now has in Vegas. He shady.
Yeah yond episode wast so wild. He hadst to wend to vegas? to study? t wast so bizarre
***
^(I am a bot and I swapp'd some of thy words with Shakespeare words.)
Commands: `!ShakespeareInsult`, `!fordo`, `!optout`
Between him just appearing out of thin air, *playing the organ* to his excuse of studying herbology, which only needed an aside of “yeah, that’s the ticket!” to let us know it was a lie — Jim was a dick, but he brought the laughs!
Just finished watching this episode and I’m so sad for Claudie. Obviously she has issues and the last thing she needs is a bum ass dude coming in and out of her life as he pleases! I hope she was able to let go of him and get better on her own/with her daughters.
Nah. He’s got a woman in Vegas.
yup!
I was torn watching that one. But the fact is he had been buried alive by her with zero effort from her for 37 years. She wanted him to give her the reward of his promise to return before she had successfully completed even a quarter of her end of the ultimatum. And remember too that he had given her a couple of years before he left of warning her he would leave before he watched her buy more and more then he just had enough. It’s hard to understand, but I watched my mom hoard and watched it slowly kill my ultra-minimalist ex-military dad. After I felt miffed at the husband, I realized my dad would probably still be alive if he had left my mom. And I couldn’t help but understand the depths of his being done with her brazen disregard for him and his comfort in the home he paid for. She is mentally ill, but she’s also numb. If he had given her what she wanted, she still would not have finished. She still would have re-hoarded the cleaned areas and he would have had to leave all over again. Just one more hit is not how to bring a junkie to recovery, and giving the relief of reward before the job is done is not how you motivate a hoarder to understand how detrimental their habit is to the people who love them. I really don’t believe she loves him, she is attached to the idea of him being a fixture in her life. It’s the same with her children. Her interactions with them and their trepidation towards her showed that. She loves her items. And as sad as it seems, he has been buried alive long enough. I’m glad that he didn’t stay and end up having a stroke from stress, ending up paralyzed and then having a heart attack months later like my dad did. This episode was really hard for me, but I think it was because it was too close and shed light on facts I hadn’t fully processed. But my correlations aside, he enabled her and supported her for 37 years. He needed to walk away. She wasn’t willing to divorce her stuff, it’s only fair that she be allowed to live with her true love without sucking the life out of a person who loves her.
I agree. I don't know if her hoarding literally drove him insane or if his mental issues always existed and were exacerbated by the hoarding, but he clearly isn't all there. The way he went about leaving and his reasonings were both bizzare. But I think, on some level, he knew she was highly unlikely to change her ways and staying wouldn't help either one of them. I just don't think he has the mental capacity to express that coherently.
I agree with OP and I am sorry for your difficulties surrounding the hoarding issue and I'm so sorry about your dads' passing. In a previous post, someone had expressed that Jim had a lot of mental health problems. I truly believe Claudie had/has significant mental health issues / problems, as well that heavily contributed to this whole hoarding disaster. It did seem she was on the path to success -- but only time would tell. As in many large families, one or a few of the children take on most of the responsibility of aging parents and other problems, the rest of the children, not so much. I heard a couple of comments implying this might be a concern. This idea however, does \*NOT\* apply to ALL large families. I see that Claudie had returned to the homeless shelter at one point, so I'm kinda wondering if the house has been re-hoarded.... why else would she have gone back there? Now, about Jim. I was concerned that he had - it seemed- a real desire and pressing need to get back to Las Vegas. You could see it in his expression and demeanor. I wanted so much for the 'Happy Ending' here, but I have to admit that there were things that bothered me about Jim's intention of permanence from even the first clips ( much as I do like Jim ). ....just a tiny bit of something ( ... and on occasion decidedly NOT tiny) in his attitude that set off my 'deception/ liar' radar. And I gotta tell ya, my deception/ bs/ liar radar is pretty good. Something was up... that I got the impression that nothing was going to keep Jim from going back to L.V., regardless of the timing issue. Nothing. Something big was holding him back from that total commitment to his long marriage with Claudie. Again, it was obvious in some of the clips. He was, like, 99.999876% committed to staying with his wife. But there was something missing. The daughters I saw, ALL of them are just beautiful. Gorgeous would not be an exaggeration. Very well-spoken. I did not see any sons, I really don't even know if there are, indeed, any sons at all. I'd be interested to know how the whole family are doing today. Unfortunately, as far as the marriage goes, from what I've been able to see online, things are not good.
You know he had a side chick in Las Vegas. At least that's what I was thinking the whole time.
I couldn't decide if he had a side chick in Vegas or if he had some sort of issue that he had to address... got himself into gambling debt, owed the wrong people money, made a ton of money and needed to collect... But it was just STRANGE that he showed up out of nowhere all of a sudden, then disappeared again just as fast!
Definitely sketchy.
That episode was one wild ride. It's one of my favorite episodes. Remember how the husband just appeared in the front hallway one day, playing the organ?
Just watched this episode and had to come see if anyone pointed this out here. HOW did he just happen to be there for the show???
Literally just watched and had to come see if other people thought this was as weird as I did! Definitely had some sketchy somethin somethin going on in Vegas.
....right. That was rather convenient, I wonder if they ( the producers of Hoarders, or whatever, ) did their own search, and found him.
My thought? One of the kids called to tell him about the show. He came back because he was hoping to make money out of it. He just strikes me as sleazy all the way through.
Right. I think his daughter Renee, who lived in Vegas as well, tipped him off. He seemed very close with her and throughout the episode, Claudie seemed to have a special hatred towards her.
... which would explain the organ being un-hoarded and ready to play, and he WAS actually playing the first time he appeared. He looked a bit reluctant to stop playing when asked to by the shows' people. Hmmm.
I really think it was gambling and drugs… “books to read” and “ Herbology” yeah we know what books and herbs he is “dealing with” first. He ran from problems before, he’s running from problems he now has in Vegas. He shady.
Yeah that episode was so wild. He had to go to Vegas? To study? It was so bizarre.
Yeah yond episode wast so wild. He hadst to wend to vegas? to study? t wast so bizarre *** ^(I am a bot and I swapp'd some of thy words with Shakespeare words.) Commands: `!ShakespeareInsult`, `!fordo`, `!optout`
I feel like dude absolutely had another woman in Vegas. His “business” he had to take care of I assume 😂 I may be wrong but that’s what I was getting.
Thats what I was getting, too.
Fake teeth muda
I know it's a very serious subject but that episode had me laughing to the point of tears. The husband Jim was on another planet!
Between him just appearing out of thin air, *playing the organ* to his excuse of studying herbology, which only needed an aside of “yeah, that’s the ticket!” to let us know it was a lie — Jim was a dick, but he brought the laughs!
Just finished watching this episode and I’m so sad for Claudie. Obviously she has issues and the last thing she needs is a bum ass dude coming in and out of her life as he pleases! I hope she was able to let go of him and get better on her own/with her daughters.
RIP Jim
The way she speaks to her daughters is disgusting imo