‘World’s most jealous woman’ made her husband take a lie detector test. She had one bizarre rule for her husband

A British woman became famous around the world after she shared the extreme steps she took to watch over her husband. Debbi Wood from Leicester became known as the “world’s most jealous woman” after she went on the TV show This Morning in 2013. She talked openly about how she controlled her husband Steve’s life.

The couple first met in 2011 through a friend on Facebook while Debbi was living in Scotland. After talking for weeks through messages, she went to London for their first date. Debbi said she knew they were meant to be together when they kissed under London Bridge. But her trust problems started when she found out Steve had been seeing another woman around the time they first met. Steve said they were not exclusive because they lived far apart, but Debbi felt hurt by what she saw as a lie.

Her jealousy grew worse and she made Steve take lie detector tests all the time. According to Daily Mail, it all started when Steve said as a joke that he would take a test to prove he was faithful. Debbi jumped at the idea and bought a lie detector kit right away. She used it whenever she thought he was lying. By 2015, during another appearance on This Morning, Steve said the tests happened less often, like “once in a blue moon” instead of every day. But the lie detector tests were not the only way Debbi tried to control Steve.

What was really going on with Debbi

Doctors later found out that Debbi had Othello Syndrome, a real mental health problem that causes extreme jealousy. The condition is named after a Shakespeare character who killed his wife because he wrongly believed she cheated on him. People with this condition are convinced their partner is cheating even when there is no proof. According to the National Library of Medicine, about 15 percent of people with Othello Syndrome have been violent toward their partners. Doctors can treat the condition with therapy and medicine.

Debbi’s jealousy showed up in many different ways. She checked Steve’s phone records and bank statements all the time. She also put child safety filters on his laptop and phone so he could not look at any pictures of women. Even watching TV became a problem. One time, an ad for a women’s razor came on TV and Debbi got upset because she thought Steve was looking at the model. After that, she stopped him from watching any TV shows that had women in them. She even banned The Weakest Link because she was scared he might find the host Anne Robinson attractive.

Even with all these strict rules, Steve stayed with Debbi. When they talked on TV shows, he said that when they were not fighting about jealousy, their relationship was great. He said they made each other laugh like no one else ever had. The couple got married in 2014, and Steve said he hoped he could help Debbi get better. Debbi said her jealousy came from a bad relationship in the past that left her with trust problems. Their story shows how mental health problems can really hurt relationships, even when both people want to make things work.