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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

not another one - jst found out dh having affair

424 replies

ernest · 10/03/2007 21:55

That's it really. Am stunned. Feel like total mug. Had suspicions while back, asked him, he denied it, convincingly.

Shagging some woman at work since September. No condoms. Nice.

Saw am e-mail from her signed 'I LOVE YOU'.

He admitted straight away. Can't answer the Q. what happens now, you stop seeing her

I'm in Switzerland, no real friends, bloody hell, just posting a week or 2 ago about him looking for job in London and maybe us having to leave here.

My head just feels hot and pounding. I feel sick, and trapped and all alone and totally stupid. really fucking stupid. OMG, I've even been packing his case and taking him to airports to go off with his slaggy tarty bitch.

I'd love to phone her dh. He doesn't know. I don't know his number & can't find it.

I am so stupid and alone.

Up till then I'd had a really brilliant day too.

OP posts:
Megglevache · 11/03/2007 17:02

Message withdrawn

AttilaTheMeerkat · 11/03/2007 17:16

You need legal advice to protect your own interests.

Does he feel he has a future with her?. It sounds like he's chasing some pipe drean, not that this would make you feel any better.

Do not do anything in haste with regards to him; you need time to think for your own self and what you want ultimately.

Beetrootccio · 11/03/2007 17:23

my step mohter is swiss and her family live in switxzerland - if you need any advice then let me know

kimi · 11/03/2007 17:23

Ok this is what i would do (But i am a self confessed bitch)
I would change your locks when he is at work, borrow his bank card and empty the account, go to his office with all his oldest clothes and as many porn mags as you can get dump it all on her desk and say so everyone can here, you have been sleeping with my husband, the father of my children, and you can have him, oh by the way your not the first and you wont be the last.
Then you hit him for divorce.
He is a twat.

Troutpout · 11/03/2007 17:24

OH Ernest
I'm so sorry

oxocube · 11/03/2007 17:27

kimi, thats certainly one way to do it but if Ernest decides after all this that she still loves him and want to try to make it work, then maybe not such a good idea. It kind of finishes things, don't you think?

ernest · 11/03/2007 17:29

biggest problem, I've talked a lot about me me me and how miserable I am, But it's the boys. I grew up without a dad. It was hard. He didn't stay in touch. I know kids can cope with divorce ok but many don't, and I know staying together for the sake of the children isn't the best idea, but thatt seems to be what he wants.

He's begged me not to do anything rash and that we need to minimise the impact on them, and he seems to be hoping he can get away with all this without anyone finding out, and us trying to make it work.

If it wasn't for them I would happily never see him again. We've just had our 9th wedding anniversary last month, but we've been together for 16 years. I always thought of him, until yesterday, as my very best friend, THE one who knew, loved and understood me.

I would disappear right now and never see him again if I could, but also for me the welfare of my children is the most important thing in the world for me.More important than myself. I love them so much. I can't believe he found shagging some slag at work so great, that she's better than us 4 put together.

My heart is well and truly broken and I am terrified for my boys. I dodn't want to fuck them up for life. My poor poor children. I really don't know where I begin trying to make such a huge decision. I can't get his words of love out of my mind. How could I stay with a man who loves someone else, but then how can I not try to save my children pain?

OP posts:
Dior · 11/03/2007 17:30

Message withdrawn

fuzzywuzzy · 11/03/2007 17:37

Ernest, you don't have to decide immediately. Get some money together, find your legal position in all of this and take your time to decide what to do.

Your children will know somethings going on eventually. Surely your h wouldn't compeltely turn his back on your boys.

And I don't think his words of love are all that tbh, he's been caught out, he may begin to view thigns differently whenm the reality sinks in. At the moemnt, he's travelling around the world having fun with this other woman.
The reality is she also has two small children (who wont disappear), a hudsband who prolly wont be terribly delighted, and faced with the mundane drearyness that can be everyday life, he might well find that the grass most certainly aint greener.....

Take it slow, but start putting money away for you and ytour boys, and find where you stand legally, you don't have to go and divorce him, it may work out, but you still need to ensure you and your boys are secure.

Steppy1 · 11/03/2007 17:46

Oh sweetheart, how awful for you all...and what an awful situation he's put you in (bastard !!!)

Get legal advice, and visit a solicitor so that his admitted adultery is noted. Tell him you are going to seek legal advice from a solicitor ...and confirm that she will be the named party should divorce proceedings commence...then let him stew.

Ask him to move out for a while

Absolutely concentrate and focus on you and the children...how old are they ??? Can you say that daddy is working away for a while to give you some breathing space, I'm sure they'll pick on the tension when he's around anyway, children are very perceptive....

Think about what YOU want...and then what you need to do. I know what you mean about wishing you were dead, it's that awful feeling that you just want to wake up when you don't feel so absolutely awful...it's going to be an emotional rollercoaster, whatever you do, but you CAN and WILL get through it...

sending lol........

AttilaTheMeerkat · 11/03/2007 17:53

"I know staying together for the sake of the children isn't the best idea, but that seems to be what he wants".

Hmmm. If he feels that no-one is going to get hurt here then he is sadly mistaken. Your children for one thing will pick up on something being amiss between you both and perhaps blame their own selves for their parents' plight.

History may not repeat itself here; their Dad would hopefully not do a runner and cease contact as your own father did.

Staying together purely for the sake of the children is often a mistake. They should not be the glue that binds you two together.

If he and you both equally want this marriage to survive then he will need to be completely honest and open about his reasons as to why the affair started. Affairs are often symptomatic of problems in the relationships, not the cause. You may well hear things that may be uncomfortable for you to hear; can you do this?. You may want all the details, he may just want to clam up. Marriage counselling therefore both together and separate is adviseable. Will he go to counselling and will he cease all contact with this woman as of now?.

ernest · 11/03/2007 17:55

I am very close to my in-laws. I know they will always be there for us.

I can't go to her work as she's changed jobs, I don't know where she lives or works, I can't go to his work cos lots of securtiy (private bank).

I asked him to leave for the week to give me space. He's resisting saying we need to talk. I want to send him a clear message that I'm not going to tolerate this. To give him a taste of a miserable week in a hotel (frankly if she joins him right now I don't care) to give me a week without having to look at him.

He is adamant he shold stay, but keep out of my way, but be there if I need to talk/discuss/ ask question, but otherwise keep out of my way.

Don't know what to do.
Not about sending him away for the week, not about anything.

OP posts:
ernest · 11/03/2007 18:00

we'd talked a few months ago, I knew he wasn't happy. We had big talk on all sorts of things he wanted to change, eg not watching tv every night, talk mmore, improve sex life etc etc

i had a couple of token things for me eg he come home early on Wed night so I could go to yoga.

I bent over bckwards to fullfill his HUGE list of requests, not once did I make it my my yoga class. I knew there were problems before, This talk took place while he was conducting his little affair, not before.

I know staying together for kids often not best.

Should I boot him out for the week? What say mn jury?
Should I ban the london jaunt?

OP posts:
AttilaTheMeerkat · 11/03/2007 18:02

Forget the OW end of. She's not worth your emotional energy.

Your energies now need to be channelled into your children and whether you want this marriage to survive or otherwise. You need time to think properly and counselling.

Let him talk - with a counsellor. How does he feel about marriage guidance. Both of you have much to discuss and this needs to be done in a controlled environment.

Cannot think that living together under the same roof would be feasible currently, your children would probably sense that something is amiss between you two.

willywonka · 11/03/2007 18:03

Ernest - only you know whether this is to work or not but dh begging you to "not to do anything rash" and to minimise the impact on the children is nothing more than blackmail. If he's that worried, it would suggest that he'd not want to lose contact with dc.

Out of interest, do you have any idea about how his company would view an affair between two married colleagues with children? Some organisations can be quite hot on this kind of thing and would ensure that they do not work together on future projects etc.

aol · 11/03/2007 18:04

If you want to stay in Switzerland, I think you should. Find out what your rights are and go for it - a far more positive place for your energy than a woman who can't say no to a married man.

Ring that number and find someone else to talk to. You say you have no friends - I bet you do, you just don't realise it. Another mother, an expat, the woman who always wants to chat when you buy bread.....

If you want to stay, then why should you go because he has been an utter twat. I would find out your rights and take it from there.

My ex having an affair turned out to be the making of me. I moved country, got a life that I never knew existed. He got dumped pronto by his bit on the side and has been doing an increasingly desperate imitation of Peter Stringfellow ever since.

Take stock of the situation and try to take advantage of it. Work out what you want and get it on your terms. You are not at fault. He has behaved like a Tomcat. Neither one of them stopped for a moment to think of the effect this would have on their respective children, let alone their spouses. Shame on them.

Rise above him.

Bonne courage!

Beetrootccio · 11/03/2007 18:32

wel siad aol - and yes I think he should go to a hotel for a week you need time to get yourself together

nooka · 11/03/2007 18:36

Ernest you just need to do whatever feels OK for you right now. You will probably find that changes from one minute to the next, but don't worry about that, it is completely normal. I found one thing that really helped me was to always be in the right, and behave as well as I could, so I always felt I had the moral high ground. Of course this also completely wrong footed my ex, so maybe not the best when I was trying my hardest to make things work again, but it does mean that looking back I feel that I did my best, and that when I one day talk to the children about it I will feel no shame about any of my actions. I also think that it helped me feel at peace with myself (whilst raging at him, fate etc).

The other thing to bear in mind is that for your dh his affair was probably a complete fantasy. I say this because what you are describing is very familiar, and other mums here who have survived affairs have said that's how it was for their dhs. That doesn't make it any less hurtful, but all that "love of my life stuff" seems to turn out to be incredibly shallow, almost a play act, with no foundations. My ex wrote the most incredibly gushy e-mails to his mistress (that's how I caught him), totally out of character, and incredibly hurtful because he never ever said anything like that to me in the 15 years we were together.

I very deliberately did not boot out my ex (although that's always what I thought I would do, along with cutting up all his clothes etc etc) because I wanted him to have to make a conscious choice to end our marriage - he didn't get to make any decisions about ending his affair because his mistress dumped him the second she found out I knew. So he didn't leave until about 18mths later. It was very hard at times, and the children did pick up on tensions, but they were fairly little (I think 3 and 4) and I don't think it was too awful for them.

Finally don't expect your dh to understand how you feel or acknowledge what he has done to you for a long time. You may well find he wants to brush the whole thing under the carpet as quick as possible. I would really try and get him to sign up for counseling, and get some support yourself too. If he is really keen on staying and talking then that may not be a bad thing, but make sure it is on your terms.

Please do not feel bad about yourself, or compare yourself to the OW. Your dh has just made some really bad decisions, that he probably regrets, but the reasons were his own, they are no reflection on you. So he has been unhappy for a while, well it was his responsibility to do something about that, and he chose rather than working on what he has, to branch out into fantasy land. He found a willing accomplice, who was probably in a similar position. I don't suppose either of them had any intention or thought beyond the immediate as clearly neither of them were free, so I really think this was just escapism.

Hold on, and spend as much time just enjoying your little ones, and the other things about where you live and how you live that you enjoy. find out your rights and get yourself as empowered as you can be, and then start to think about you really want to do. But don't be surprised if that takes months rather than weeks.

nooka · 11/03/2007 18:38

oops - sorry that was a bit long! It's something I feel strongly about, and nice to pass on the wisdom that others gave to me when I came to mumsnet feeling very battered and bruised from the aftermath of my ex's affair. I really wish you the best.

Blu · 11/03/2007 19:01

Really, really sorry to hear this.

If I was in a calm state of mind (which I wouldn't be...) I think I would sit him down for a serious business-like talk.
Tell him you can't live with him simply for the sake of the children and you cannot live a lie. You have too much respect for yourself, for the children and for him, and separateky your marriage, to do that.

Remond him about the forthcoming holiday, and ask whether, if he intends to consider seeing this woman, under the circumstances he thinks it will be better to cancel that now, father than at the last minute, which would be very undair on your MIL.

Tell him that you have been v shocked to find out about this, sad because you love him and wanted things to improve, and betrayed because you had done your best to fulfill the things you have agreed on after your 'talk', but that if he is genuinely in love, wants to be with this woman, that he had better arrange to say goodbye to the boys and find somewhere else to live while she sorts out her relationship (ask if her DH knos...but don't tell him you haven't got his contact number) and leaves her DH...as "word is bound to get round v soon anyway".

That may all focus his mond v clearly on what he has to lose. If he wants to be gone, in all honesty there is little you can do to keep him. if he wants to stay, i don't think you should do anything that enables him to think he can carry on having his cake and eating it. But sadly, i suggest ultimatums and threast to contact her DH will make him feel (unjjustifiably - but this is never ever fair!!) 'victimised'.

Be strong and high status, and retain as much icy calm and strength if you can.

Bloody hell - what a horrible shitty thing to happen.

Blu · 11/03/2007 19:03

or if under the circumstance he thinks it best to cancel the holiday now.....

motherinferior · 11/03/2007 19:04

Ernest, I just wanted to post too to send you my love. What a completely horrible situation you're in. I am so sorry.

Beetrootccio · 11/03/2007 19:05

wise words blu

Enid · 11/03/2007 19:10

so sorry to hear this ernest. You have some great advice here. Agree with cod that nooka's posts are fab. Thinking of you.

Sobernow · 11/03/2007 19:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.