I had had my first messy friendship breakup about a year ago with my best friend (we'll call her Beth). We had been inseparable for years, so alike in every single way and someone I felt true kinship with. I had never really had friends before and she had a hard time keeping them (red flag in retrospect) so finding a deep friendship like that was so good for the both of us.
That all changed when I started dating my current girlfriend (we'll call her Mary). Slowly, Beth and I grew apart, despite my attempts to continue to include her in activities and events. This culminated in a huge fight, where she confessed she was deeply jealous of me and my life, and she saw me as a 'better' version of her, and that she hated Mary for stealing me from her. Things basically never improved from there 😅 About a year after our big fight, Mary and I ended up moving out of the city we were all located in and cut all ties with Beth.
Now it's a year later and I'm THRIVING! I hadn't realized how anxiety-inducing being around someone constantly making you feel bad about yourself was, and getting out of that situation meant I could focus on Mary and my other relationships, career, and hobbies. I've had so much success in my career in particular, which was one of the points of Beth's jealousy as we were in the same field.
Meanwhile, this last year has been full of Beth complaining online and to our mutual friends about me, her relationship struggles, and her career difficulties. She's basically given up on making an effort to improve herself in general.
Honestly, I'm pretty happy about it. I know that's incredibly mean and petty, but she ruined my life until I worked up the courage to cut her off, and I think it's karmic justice that she's ruining her own now.