This is the Number 1 Sign Your Relationship is in Trouble
The Face Tells the Truth: How Contempt Can Quietly Kill a Relationship
If you want to know how your partner really feels about your relationship, skip the phone check and check their face instead.
According to researchers—including Drs. John and Julie Gottman, who can predict divorce with up to 93% accuracy—one of the most dangerous signs in a relationship is contempt. And contempt often shows up first… on the face. A curled lip, a smug smirk, an eye-roll dripping with superiority—these small expressions carry big weight. They’re subtle signs that one partner feels disgust or disdain for the other.
Unlike anger or fear, which flare up and fade, contempt sticks around. It festers. And unless it’s addressed, it becomes the slow poison that rots a relationship from the inside out.
So if you catch yourself—or your partner—making that little smirk, don’t ignore it. Get curious, not defensive. Ask, “Hey, are we okay? What’s really going on here?” These moments are your chance to bring connection back online.
Because left unchecked, contempt doesn’t just cause fights. It causes coldness. Silence. Emotional separation. And in too many cases… divorce.
So skip the phone snooping. The real clues are written all over your face.
In addition to hosting The Sean Show on B105.7, Sean Copeland is a therapist at Evolve Therapy in Greenwood, IN.