Jeanne Phillips
LATEST STORIES BY JEANNE PHILLIPS
DEAR ABBY: Relative threatens to reveal victim's devastating secret
DEAR ABBY: I was raped by a family member and, due to special circumstances, told no one except one other family member, who I swore to secrecy. She recently got mad at me because of my religious beliefs, and now she’s saying if I pass away before she does, she’s going to tell my grown children who assaulted me.

DEAR ABBY: Daughter uses father's guilt to suit her needs and wants
DEAR ABBY: I’ve been in a relationship with a man for the last five years. “Julian” came into my life after my husband passed. He is 65; I’m 45. Julian has two grown daughters, 36 and 27. The older one and I get along famously.

DEAR ABBY: Greetings of hope and health to begin a new year
DEAR READERS: Welcome to 2025. A New Year has arrived; the last one is safely behind us. As always, this New Year brings with it our hopes for a new beginning. Today presents an opportunity to discard destructive old habits for healthy new ones, and with that in mind, I will share Dear Abby’s often-requested list of New Year’s Resolutions — which were adapted by my late mother, Pauline Phillips, from the original credo of Al-Anon:

DEAR ABBY: Good electrician energized by harassment of client
DEAR ABBY: I am a widow of two decades who has raised a family in an old historic home in a small island town. In the course of renovating and maintaining the home, a father-and-son electrician team have been like family.

DEAR ABBY: Grandparent wants a deeper relationship with trans teen
DEAR ABBY: I was recently informed that my teenage granddaughter is identifying as a boy. She has a male name she prefers and wants people to refer to her using he/him pronouns. Her parents are supportive, to a point. Her mother uses her preferred name and pronouns. Her father supports her using this name and pronouns in school and elsewhere, but at home, he will still use her birth name and pronouns. He has apparently told her this, and she accepts the situation.

DEAR ABBY: Husband's yearslong secret life is still kept under wraps
DEAR ABBY: A year ago, I found out my husband has been cheating on me with multiple women for more than a decade and kept two of his conquests for that entire time. He also sent all our savings to his girlfriends in another country. Because we have two disabled adult children and one neurotypical adult child, I decided to stay in the marriage.

DEAR ABBY: Parents work on messaging for teen's medical issues
DEAR ABBY: After several months of weight loss, our preteen daughter was hospitalized after a trip to the ER. She was diagnosed with ARFID. It’s an eating disorder we had never heard of but one in which the patient is NOT deliberately losing weight or attempting to change their body.

DEAR ABBY: Wife is unhappy with her birthday 'gifts' — and the giver
DEAR ABBY: My husband took me on a trip for my birthday this year, only he didn’t prepare for anything other than some sightseeing events. He didn’t help plan for camping, didn’t financially plan well for souvenirs or if we wanted to eat out, and had a crappy attitude the entire time. We got into an argument at almost every event we went to because he either disagreed with my preferences or pushed back at my calling him out for pouting.

DEAR ABBY: Friend's romance sits on a foundation of bad choices
DEAR ABBY: I think the world of “Celia,” my best friend of 25 years. She has been there for me through many major ups and downs in my life. She is beautiful inside and out, well-educated and works hard.
