Is Your Friend Dating A Gold Digger?

If so, how do you break it to them without ruining your friendship? Backed by professional opinions and a panel of women, we investigate how best to tell them (and if you should mention it at all).

- Claire Soong

According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a gold digger is “a woman who becomes or tries to become romantically involved with a rich man in order to get money and gifts from him.” In 2005, Kanye West put it more bluntly: “when she leave your a**, she gon’ leave with half (sic).”

But today, it’s not so easy to identify someone who might not have your friend’s best interests at heart. So what would you do if your friend was dating someone who was just after their cash? Do you stand on the sidelines and let the relationship run its natural course? Or do you have a moral obligation to tell them and risk losing the friendship? As a good friend, you want to respect your friend’s choice, but you also want to see that they aren’t taken advantage of – it’s a double bind.

1 Comfortably close

How close you are to your friend is the determining factor on whether you should tell them. But even if it’s your BFF, be sure to not appear judgmental. No one likes to be told that they made a mistake, and well-meaning concern can be taken as an insult.