Anyone managed to stay friends with an ex?

[StillAgony]

So a month ago I discovered my partner had been browsing dating and swinging sites - swinging was part of his previous marriage, he is a widow. 6 mths ago he got back in touch with a woman he'd been having sex with outside his marriage for 20+ years...which is why I started stalking his email and found the dating site history.
We are no longer together as a couple, but he has asked if we can be friends. We went to the cinema and a meal last week, and both enjoyed that
I know that we will never be in a sexual relationship again. I will never be able to trust him, and can't forgive him putting his own selfish needs before our relationship, and a lot of me thinks why would I want to even be friends with someone who has treated me like this.
But we do get along and enjoy each others company and I wonder if we could be better friends than lovers..
Has anyone managed this?
We do not have children together or any financial ties

I think it depends on your own feelings (not what he wants). Do you want to be friends with him and do you have any lingering affection or desire for him?

The only ex I have stayed friends with is one that I now look at and wonder why I had a relationship with him in the first place! We get on well, he lives abroad and we usually see each other once or twice a year for a meal and a catch up. These occasions always confirm why I don't want to be in a relationship with him (& he doesn't with me either).

I think I could be friends, although right now I still feel very angry with him for how he's behaved.
We live 60 miles apart so not likely to bump into each other unless pre-arranged...
He still thinks he can win back my trust, I've said that won't be happening as I am not going to spend my life wondering what he's up to.
I imagine if I do want to have a friendship with him it will take time for me emotionally, and maybe one day I'll be in the same position as you and wonder what ever possessed me in the first place lol!

No never, I've got no interest in my exes.
I think it's a bad idea unless you were friends before you got together. If one of you met a partner in the future, how would it work with your friendship?

What's the point? He lives miles away. There are other less icky men to be friends with.

Never been that desperate for a friend tbh....

Much as I accept it's not for everyone, I just wondered if it had worked out for anyone, but reading the replies then maybe not...
We weren't friends before, and although he was upfront about his past, or some of it, he did agree to exclusivity... and while we have different views on sex, our views and interests on other stuff are very similar...
I did raise the question about us each meeting someone else, he said he'd be more upset about me being emotionally involved with someone rather than sexually. For me I'm not sure how I'd feel, probably back off and leave them to it...

I am really good friends with an ex, but it’s such a different set of circumstances there’s no point describing them.
I don’t think he sounds like he’s worth being friends with.

I think it is possible, but a lot of it depends on whether you actually had a friendship as well as a relationship, and why you broke up (if someone is a faithless dick in a relationship, then I wouldn't be able to trust anything they said as a friend if you see what I mean).

The advice I give my daughter is people 'break up' and all ties have to be broken (except for children and so on.)

Her ex at the moment has remained friends will all of his former gfs and visits them regularly. I call it his harem. Best of both worlds, no messy break up and possibilities of a booty call if one day, feeling a bit lonely and a bit horny...

But hey, each to their own.

Suppose it very much depends on each relationship...we did have a good friendship, but him having told me about his past I was always on the look out for a return to that lifestyle, and I was proved right.
I think I need to move on and then in time see how I feel rather than use being friends as a bit of an emotional crutch :)

My ex is one of my best friends. BUT the reasons we broke up were purely situational (100s of miles apart), neither of us done anything to betray the other. And it was about a year after breaking up that we started chatting as friends so the romantic feelings had mostly gone by then.

The one most like your situation I'm still friends with took years before I was ready to have him in my life again.

Others have been clean "its not working" but I've still had a period of no contact. Generally makes emotional separation a lot easier.