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Became a Doctor in Order to Marry the Woman He Loved

When Freud was 26, he fell madly in love with a 21-year-old woman named Martha Bernays and they became engaged two months later. As a poor student still living with his parents, Freud's science lab job did not pay enough to support a family. "My sweet girl, it only pains me to think I should be so powerless to prove my love for you," Freud wrote to Martha.﻿﻿

Six months after they met, Freud gave up his scientific career to become a doctor. He spent three years training at the Vienna General Hospital and was rarely able to see his fiance who had moved to Germany. After four years of waiting, Freud and Bernays were married on September 14, 1886. The couple went on to have six children.

Historians have long speculated, however, that Freud later had an affair with his sister-in-law, Minna Bernays.﻿﻿