Unfortunately, long-time premies who see the writing on the wall face a sad dilemna.  They can either admit they were had, in which case they will indeed feel like fools somewhat, there's no getting around it.  Or they can continue to fool themselves about being fooled which sounds even worse. 

Fortunately, there really is a bright silver lining in the cloud of accepting how badly one's been fooled.  At last the person's finally free to think and speak for themselves again.  That exhilaration just might be enough to last a lifetime.