Just met up with an old friend for coffee this morning and she asked me how well I knew couple X and Y. They are actually close friends of mine and DH's, although I didn't let on that we were that all that close - we go on holidays together and our DCs have known each other since birth. They are a lovely couple, although they have a fairly tempestuous relationship, they are both quite headstrong characters. He is an upstanding member of the local community - and is well respected by a lot of people - or so I thought.
The friend this morning told me that various people had been discussing X ( the man) on a night out, saying that he is a serial philanderer and has propositioned a few women they knew, who had turned him down. But they also knew of a lot of times when he had met up for sex with women, and there was speculation that he met a lot of these women via the internet and apparently he has fake accounts on dating websites.
I was totally shocked by what she told me and now I'm wondering how much of this is true and how much is just people gossipping and spreading rumours.
My friend Y, would obviously be completely devastated if she found out any of this was true, I know she would never forgive him and it would be the end of their marriage and possibly his career could go down the pan.
I wish the friend had never told me this now, as I don't know whether to tell my own DH what I have heard about our friend X. Should I tell my DH? Would you tell X what you had heard about him? I certainly don't want to tell Y, but then if someone was spreading rumours about my own DH like this I would want to know, I suppose... or would I?