Not being around as your family grows up means that they have less emotional support when things go wrong. If he had worked less and earned less, then suddenly things fail, he may have had a better relationship with his partner to say hey, let's figure this out. At some point not having your partner around because they choose to work instead of being with you just gets hard and you start to lose faith in them as the person you want to be with the rest of your life. Not to say that under any circumstances things would have worked out but it's not fair to say the wife wanted money and otherwise get out.
