Pretending to be a girl online, feeling depress, & lonely?

[Tony]

I feel I need to get this out of my chest. It all begun a year ago when I started to make a twitter account to talk to other people about TV shows & animes who has the same interest & hobbies. As a guy, no one really talked to me, so I pretended to be a girl. It didn't take long for lots of people to start talking to me. Being alone & suffering depression my whole life, I quite enjoyed the new found attention. I'm socially awkward, & find it hard to talk to people in real life let alone making friends. I feel that being online is the only escape for me, & to feel accepted even though I'm pretending to be a girl. It's the only way I can freely express myself without being judged. :/

Not long after I met these two girls. One is from German & the other is from Switzerland. All three of us met via twitter & started talking a lot, due to the same interest & hobbies we've shared. I even made a facebook account to join them to talk more via facebook inbox. I told them that I was a hairdresser, I used a random picture of a really attractive girl with purple hair I found on the net, & use that picture as the identity of my online girl persona. It's been one year already, & I have grown really closed to them. They have always been there for, listening to my stories and making me laugh, smile, & bring me a joy of friendship that I haven't experienced in a really long time. I really care & love them as friends. But at the same time I feel very guilty & awful lying to them about my identity. It's eating me up deeply in the inside, but I cannot bring myself to tell them the truth. They have trusted me so much to open up about their personal life. As a guy, they would never tell me such things or open up. It's gotten to the point where I can't even function normal without them. I truly care for them & don't want to hurt their feelings in any way. i don't want to leave them. I wish I could be the friend the great girl they think I am. >_<

I don't know what to do anymore :/

[Benjamin]

Your what people call a catfish. And to answer the question just tell them the truth.

[Julie Ann]

Just tell them and be very sincere and honest. Hopefully they're there for you and will understand..

[Sandy]

You are the great friend they think you are. No, what you did was not correct, but I understand exactly what you are saying. In reality, you really didn't hurt anyone, eventhough you were dishonest...I frown upon that.
If you tell them now, they will not trust you anymore. This is very difficult, I don't know what way to lean. I believe in totally honesty at all times.
However, You enjoy your chats with them, and it has done very well for you; I believe it did the same for them.
Don't feel guilty at all. Carry on and see what time brings. Please, don't feel guilty, we have all done something on a whim and later found it may not have been the right decision.
In this case, because you are lonely and have emotional problems; but can talk to them....continue.
However, remember that you cannot feel guilty now.....straighten it out way, way down the road >3

[i]

i hate people like you

[June]

I can imagine how you feel now.

Your not a bad person you didn't set out to hurt anyone.

You could tell them that your not a girl ,but you do know they will no longer be your friends.

Or if you have no intention of meeting them then keep talking.

Then start to tell them that your going out with someone and slowly stop communicating with them.

I think its time you got of the computer and started to do other things in your life. Get of cyber and rejoin the real world..