I agree it should be confronted, but most people probably would avoid a confrontation, so they just wouldn't say anything at all.

A little difficult but not so bad...I will confront someone friend or not to set the record straight.

This was painful.  Take deep breaths and pray.  It's so alienating because the gossip tells so many people and they're all dumb enough to believe it.  Friendships end because of it, some friendships that might-have-been become never-happened.  The longer you've known the gossip, the harder it is to bear.  The more wide-spread the gossip, the harder it is to bear.  I feel so bad for Oprah, whose whole family just wanted to spread gossip for cash.

i have no problem confronting a friend on something i heard they said. they wouldn't be a friend if i felt i couldn't just ask them out right. it would depend on what they said and why they said it if they stayed a friend but i respect honesty in people so it would have to be really awful for me to end a friendship over it.

Very hard to do!

I've had to do this and it was very difficult. But, if you don't confront it you will become a victim of it. Gossip can and does destroy trust. Those who spread these words probably never were your friend in the first place.

This can be one of the hardest things to do because I've been involved in this type of thing myself. You are suspicious that they are gossiping and defaming you behind your back but they are OK to your face. When you do confront them, no matter how nice you do it, most of the time they close up and it feels so vibey you could cut the air. Because they are ashamed of what they did, but have pride, they usually don't apologise or listen to you and they end up doing it more, because they didn't like the fact that you confronted them. If a friend gossips about you, then they are not real friends. One way to determine whether someone will gossip about you is to observe them. Do they gossip about other people? If the answer is yes, then you can be 100% sure they will gossip about you. The way they treat other people is the way they will treat you if you happen to do something that they didn't like. I've seen and heard of a lot of 'bitch' fights. A lot of these happen because of gossip. This is especially common with female groups. One girl gossips about another, the other one finds out about it and confronts them, but the other person closes up and does it more, then you have all this conflict. It is only sometimes when these things work out and the other person actually apologises.

Actually, this one is rather easy for me to do. A long time ago, I was far too trusting and I gained valuable experience dealing with backstabbing friends.