Surprising reason husband went 20 years without speaking to his wife despite continuing to live together as a family

Most couples go through ups and downs in their relationships, but to completely ignore your other half for 20 years… well, that’s something that’s not as common.

But that is exactly what happened when a Japanese man felt some type of way in his marriage.

Even though the man was married to his wife and had children with her, he simply regrained from talking to her, and it took drastic intervention for him to finally utter a few words to her two decades later.

Otou Katayama, a man from Nara in southern Japan, lives with his three children and wife, Yumi, all the while he refuses to answer her, despite her best efforts.

With the patience of a saint, Yumi had been persevering in her attempts to make conversation with her husband but only receives grunts or nods in response.

Otou Katayama had been refusing to talk to his wife Yumi for 20 years (TV Hokkaido)

Shockingly, the wife never asked for a divorce or a separation and they even went on to welcome a third child, despite Katayama still not speaking to his wife.

The Japanese couple had been living that way for so long that their 18-year-old son, Yoshiki, had never even heard the pair have a conversation.

So, in a bid to stop them from carrying on the silence, he wrote into a TV show and asked the show creators to help them to fix the situation in the family home.

Reaching out to TV Hokkaido, the show decided to help the children finally in their efforts and arranged a meeting between the father and Yumi at the same park where they had their first date, many, many years ago.

However, unknown to the couple, their children were watching them, and an entire audience, who were left in tears by the story that unfolded.

Whilst sitting on a bench, side by side, Katayama finally managed to speak a few words to his wife, and he revealed the reason for his long-term silence.

Apparently, what started as sulking turned into jealousy.

It was only after their children intervened that he spoke to his wife again (TV Hokkaido)

The husband appeared apologetic and understanding when he explained it to his wife, sharing that he understood how his silence had hurt her and had put her through strain.

He also expressed gratitude to his wife of over 20 years for sticking beside him during his silence, which was only being broken thanks to the work of his own kids.

He said to his wife: “Somehow, it's been a while since we talked. You were so concerned about the kids. Yumi, up until now, you have endured a lot of hardship. I want you to know I'm grateful for everything.”

The father went on to share that he had felt as though his wife had been neglecting him and had turned all of her attention and care of their children.

He said on the show: “I was kind of... jealous. I was sulking about it. There's no going back now I guess.”

So, with that confession, his long-time silence was broken and for good.