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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

My husband had a 2 year affair and I don’t know whether to take him back

1000 replies

Thescornedwife · 25/10/2025 10:03

This is a hard question to even write, I am
crying while writing it that I can’t even see properly. My DH has been having a 2 year affair with a co-worker, the last year of it being physical and the first year emotional. The OW left her husband and my husband left me however neither of them said why, just that the marriages were over and they didn’t love their spouses anymore.

This was 6 months ago and I have been in turmoil as to how he can leave me and our grown daughters in limbo, not coming on holiday and living away from home etc, but I have just found out it’s because of this other woman. He has slept with her countless times and in contact with her day and night for 2 years constantly, pledged his love for her, visited her at her home and played happy families with her all in secret. Been her support system, had his own shower gel etc at her house, took her a birthday cake on her birthday, helped her with DIY in the house, the list is endless. The lies have been colossal! I only found out because he told me before she did because she had had enough of him not making a fuller commitment to her and she wanted to leave him and leave her job, and I also think work and work mates were becoming suspicious and the jig was up basically. I can’t help but feel he would have continued if she hadn’t got cold feet.

Now he all of a sudden wants back home and is sorry and it meant nothing and she was more into it than he was and he loves me and wants to go to counselling blah blah!

He has lost his job, his reputation and my DC can’t look at him and never mind my extended family! He was afraid the OW would tell me everything because I contacted her also so he told me every single gory detail that I now can’t get out of my head! It’s sickening! Very sickening!

I love him still and he’s all I know, can this be repaired? Did he love her? He took the biggest risks to be with her, what the hell does that say about me? And everything else we created together?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
HelenSkeleton · 26/10/2025 00:16

Every update you provide makes him sound even worse! Wanking videos. Gambling. Unprofessionalism. He's just an oxygen thief.

suitcasesarepacked · 26/10/2025 00:43

He worked in a business owned by YOUR uncle. How did that come about?

Is your (hopefully ex) a bit of a loser the family stepped up to help because they love you?

Because everything you say about him - the lies, the videos, the shagging at work - all make him sound sleazy and pathetic, a man devoid of integrity or dignity. I’m wondering if the sordid shags are the tip of the iceberg.

outerspacepotato · 26/10/2025 01:12

He's not committed to you. He's not committed to the other woman.

He's committed to how whoever he's with makes him feel.

He uses women like interchangeable objects. He's emotionally abused you and likely left you and your children with lifelong mental and emotional scars from his chasing his thrill.

he had lied before about gambling and money and things

You can never trust him. He risked your financial security, it sounds like he could have really trashed your dad's pension, he's left you in worse shape than when you met him. Your family hates him because he's harmed them and you by his actions. You want to believe the best of him but that's just unrealistic. He's not the man you think he is. He wants a safe place to lick his wounds and get ready for his next thrill.

Your kids know some gory details and they don't want him around. How did they find those out?

CrazyGoatLady · 26/10/2025 02:09

Thescornedwife · 25/10/2025 22:52

i cant begin to say how much I appreciate everyone commenting on this, i didn’t expect any answers at all let alone the amount I have. I appreciate the magnitude of all of this and it is very early days in the bad news front, it’s been so hard and I am so broken, everyone seems to feel I should leave and have been taken for a fool. I agree that I have. I just wanted to believe he saw the error of his ways and wants to be with me and learn to love me again but I don’t think that’s possible. I feel as much as DC love their dad they don’t want me to just forgive and forget, unfortunately they know some of the gory details and that can’t be easy for them and for me to even remotely consider any forgiveness.

I’ll try and address some of the things people have asked. He was for the last 6 months since leaving still paying the bills on our house and helping financially with the kids. He has no job or anything now and will need to get another quick smart or else our home may be at risk if I can’t upkeep the bills on my own. I hope I can so that I don’t need to depend on him. I’m not sure how he will be able to pay for his own place and keep up the mortgage on ours and this is a worry because our kids won’t want to leave here and I don’t want to have to be dependant on him for that. We have made financial decisions on the home while he was in the affair which is another betrayal. He won’t ever get his job back where he was because they don’t trust him at all now and he risked the company of which my dad has shares in for his pension so it’s all up in the air. My family hate him and he had lied before about gambling and money and things and the trust for them will never come back.

please understand I’m hurting and seeing him at least look on the outside that he’s regretting his choices has played on my mind. But I think deep down he wasn’t sorry until backed into a corner and then caught.

I assume the excuses of it was just sex and it meant nothing and he doesn’t love and he felt sorry for her and let’s do counselling are all very much textbook answers and excuses. He hasn’t even came up with any original ones. If the OW didn’t get fed up of him not fully making a break for her then I probably wouldn’t have found out and he wouldn’t be wanting back with me. He’s said he still loves me but I couldn’t have an affair and be in love with my husband it doesn’t make sense. I’ve seen him say in black and white that he loves her. And to think he could just drop her like that also makes me think he’s just not a great role model for my DD’s. He is taking a massive fall from grace with the lucrative job in the family business with most of not all of his friends also tied up in that now gone, he doesn’t have anything left, and now he wants back with me in the home.

he took a massive massive risk for this OW, and having to face that is breaking me in ways I can’t explain, it’s beyond broken me. I wish my heart would catch up to my head

I'm sorry OP, but everything he's done here is straight out of the affair playbook.

Man not entirely unhappy in relationship, but a bit bored.

Attractive female colleague starts at work
Flirting and banter at first, man convinces himself it's all harmless because nothing physical.

Starts confiding in the OW. Spins the OW all the "my wife doesn't understand me/we don't have sex/I'm lonely/I wish I had someone like you/I married the wrong person" lines. This is how these men often groom their affair partners into believing it won't be just grubby sex in the stationery cupboard, it's something real and the OW is special. These lines also have the purpose of minimising the wrongness of the affair by turning it into some kind of star crossed lovers bullshit.

Once it turns physical, there's a honeymoon period where it's all fun and a bit thrilling and illicit and very intense. Men often do a lot of "future faking" during this period, leading the OW to believe that he is really in love with her and will leave his wife for her. When all the while he knows he has no intention of it. Women are more likely to have "exit affairs" but most men who have affairs are cake eaters. They want the security of the married life and family and the excitement and sex with the bit on the side. But they are rarely honest about it, and this is what gets them in hot water.

A lot of affairs naturally fizzle out when the honeymoon period ends, because the reality sets in of what it would actually mean to leave respective spouses, divorce, shared custody of kids, etc. By then, the shine has gone off the affair partner too and the grass isn't necessarily looking much greener for one or both parties, and the affair can't go anywhere. Affairs that naturally fizzle out and both parties agree to part ways when it's run its course often go undiscovered, especially where both have gone in with the understanding that nobody was leaving their marriages from the get go. However, if someone has future faked, it's not that easy to get out. And IME it's usually men who get caught out by this.

The problem with men who hook their OW in with emotional bait, declarations of love and future faking is that they often can't extricate themselves easily if the OW has genuinely fallen for them. An OW who believed in the love story she was spun and then realises she's just blown up her life for a man who all along just wanted a bit of grubby sex in the stationery cupboard to liven up his dull married life is going to feel duped and lied to, and is much more likely to blow up his life too.

Meanwhile, these men have the AUDACITY to then crawl back to their wives and groom their wives to feel sorry for them and blame the OW for everything so they can slot right back into family life like nothing happened and they get away with it.

I can absolutely assure you that no line that comes from a man who behaves like this has any real substance to it. They will of course believe their own bullshit at the time, but only because what is coming out of their mouths serves their own interests. He wanted to hook the OW in, so he said what she wanted to hear to get his end away. He now wants to hook you back in, so he's saying what you want to hear, and will get him what he wants. Until the next time an attractive female colleague crosses his path at work, obviously.

He's played you both. Don't let him do it.

ozarina · 26/10/2025 02:53

Are you part of a culture where this kind of behaviour is somewhat accepted? That you should be grateful that he wants to come back? Do you work and do you have your parents' support?

JustMe2026 · 26/10/2025 03:22

I assume it's a joke thread because as a woman i value myself much more than taking back someone who will happily leave his family for sex elsewhere then once the sex finishes he runs back which will then repeat again another time. I shudder even thinking of where his body has been yuck couldn't take that back lol

JKLolling · 26/10/2025 04:59

CrazyGoatLady · 26/10/2025 02:09

I'm sorry OP, but everything he's done here is straight out of the affair playbook.

Man not entirely unhappy in relationship, but a bit bored.

Attractive female colleague starts at work
Flirting and banter at first, man convinces himself it's all harmless because nothing physical.

Starts confiding in the OW. Spins the OW all the "my wife doesn't understand me/we don't have sex/I'm lonely/I wish I had someone like you/I married the wrong person" lines. This is how these men often groom their affair partners into believing it won't be just grubby sex in the stationery cupboard, it's something real and the OW is special. These lines also have the purpose of minimising the wrongness of the affair by turning it into some kind of star crossed lovers bullshit.

Once it turns physical, there's a honeymoon period where it's all fun and a bit thrilling and illicit and very intense. Men often do a lot of "future faking" during this period, leading the OW to believe that he is really in love with her and will leave his wife for her. When all the while he knows he has no intention of it. Women are more likely to have "exit affairs" but most men who have affairs are cake eaters. They want the security of the married life and family and the excitement and sex with the bit on the side. But they are rarely honest about it, and this is what gets them in hot water.

A lot of affairs naturally fizzle out when the honeymoon period ends, because the reality sets in of what it would actually mean to leave respective spouses, divorce, shared custody of kids, etc. By then, the shine has gone off the affair partner too and the grass isn't necessarily looking much greener for one or both parties, and the affair can't go anywhere. Affairs that naturally fizzle out and both parties agree to part ways when it's run its course often go undiscovered, especially where both have gone in with the understanding that nobody was leaving their marriages from the get go. However, if someone has future faked, it's not that easy to get out. And IME it's usually men who get caught out by this.

The problem with men who hook their OW in with emotional bait, declarations of love and future faking is that they often can't extricate themselves easily if the OW has genuinely fallen for them. An OW who believed in the love story she was spun and then realises she's just blown up her life for a man who all along just wanted a bit of grubby sex in the stationery cupboard to liven up his dull married life is going to feel duped and lied to, and is much more likely to blow up his life too.

Meanwhile, these men have the AUDACITY to then crawl back to their wives and groom their wives to feel sorry for them and blame the OW for everything so they can slot right back into family life like nothing happened and they get away with it.

I can absolutely assure you that no line that comes from a man who behaves like this has any real substance to it. They will of course believe their own bullshit at the time, but only because what is coming out of their mouths serves their own interests. He wanted to hook the OW in, so he said what she wanted to hear to get his end away. He now wants to hook you back in, so he's saying what you want to hear, and will get him what he wants. Until the next time an attractive female colleague crosses his path at work, obviously.

He's played you both. Don't let him do it.

I think this is the best reply I have ever read here.

Thescornedwife · 26/10/2025 06:48

ozarina · 26/10/2025 02:53

Are you part of a culture where this kind of behaviour is somewhat accepted? That you should be grateful that he wants to come back? Do you work and do you have your parents' support?

No I’m not part of any culture, I have a very good job and I earn more money than my DH and I have a great family with so much support, it’s really only hard because as much as I know he’s very wrong, I still love him

OP posts:
Thescornedwife · 26/10/2025 06:50

CrazyGoatLady · 26/10/2025 02:09

I'm sorry OP, but everything he's done here is straight out of the affair playbook.

Man not entirely unhappy in relationship, but a bit bored.

Attractive female colleague starts at work
Flirting and banter at first, man convinces himself it's all harmless because nothing physical.

Starts confiding in the OW. Spins the OW all the "my wife doesn't understand me/we don't have sex/I'm lonely/I wish I had someone like you/I married the wrong person" lines. This is how these men often groom their affair partners into believing it won't be just grubby sex in the stationery cupboard, it's something real and the OW is special. These lines also have the purpose of minimising the wrongness of the affair by turning it into some kind of star crossed lovers bullshit.

Once it turns physical, there's a honeymoon period where it's all fun and a bit thrilling and illicit and very intense. Men often do a lot of "future faking" during this period, leading the OW to believe that he is really in love with her and will leave his wife for her. When all the while he knows he has no intention of it. Women are more likely to have "exit affairs" but most men who have affairs are cake eaters. They want the security of the married life and family and the excitement and sex with the bit on the side. But they are rarely honest about it, and this is what gets them in hot water.

A lot of affairs naturally fizzle out when the honeymoon period ends, because the reality sets in of what it would actually mean to leave respective spouses, divorce, shared custody of kids, etc. By then, the shine has gone off the affair partner too and the grass isn't necessarily looking much greener for one or both parties, and the affair can't go anywhere. Affairs that naturally fizzle out and both parties agree to part ways when it's run its course often go undiscovered, especially where both have gone in with the understanding that nobody was leaving their marriages from the get go. However, if someone has future faked, it's not that easy to get out. And IME it's usually men who get caught out by this.

The problem with men who hook their OW in with emotional bait, declarations of love and future faking is that they often can't extricate themselves easily if the OW has genuinely fallen for them. An OW who believed in the love story she was spun and then realises she's just blown up her life for a man who all along just wanted a bit of grubby sex in the stationery cupboard to liven up his dull married life is going to feel duped and lied to, and is much more likely to blow up his life too.

Meanwhile, these men have the AUDACITY to then crawl back to their wives and groom their wives to feel sorry for them and blame the OW for everything so they can slot right back into family life like nothing happened and they get away with it.

I can absolutely assure you that no line that comes from a man who behaves like this has any real substance to it. They will of course believe their own bullshit at the time, but only because what is coming out of their mouths serves their own interests. He wanted to hook the OW in, so he said what she wanted to hear to get his end away. He now wants to hook you back in, so he's saying what you want to hear, and will get him what he wants. Until the next time an attractive female colleague crosses his path at work, obviously.

He's played you both. Don't let him do it.

This makes so much sense, I appreciate the time it took to reply. It gives me some hope that he didn’t love her at all and still loves me and our children. That it was just sex and maybe he can seek help for that. And that he didn’t blow up our whole family for love

OP posts:
Thescornedwife · 26/10/2025 06:53

outerspacepotato · 26/10/2025 01:12

He's not committed to you. He's not committed to the other woman.

He's committed to how whoever he's with makes him feel.

He uses women like interchangeable objects. He's emotionally abused you and likely left you and your children with lifelong mental and emotional scars from his chasing his thrill.

he had lied before about gambling and money and things

You can never trust him. He risked your financial security, it sounds like he could have really trashed your dad's pension, he's left you in worse shape than when you met him. Your family hates him because he's harmed them and you by his actions. You want to believe the best of him but that's just unrealistic. He's not the man you think he is. He wants a safe place to lick his wounds and get ready for his next thrill.

Your kids know some gory details and they don't want him around. How did they find those out?

unfortunately I told them in a moment of madness, I wanted them to hate him as much as I did when I first found out

OP posts:
JKLolling · 26/10/2025 06:56

Thescornedwife · 26/10/2025 06:50

This makes so much sense, I appreciate the time it took to reply. It gives me some hope that he didn’t love her at all and still loves me and our children. That it was just sex and maybe he can seek help for that. And that he didn’t blow up our whole family for love

But that's even worse! He didn't blow up your family because he loved someone else, he blew up your whole family because he doesn't love you at all and never did, then someone better came along for a bit.
Don't be a complete idiot OP, have some self respect

HelenSkeleton · 26/10/2025 06:56

OP from your reply to @CrazyGoatLady it looks like you're doing the pick me dance. If he did love you it's not enough. You're an independent earner in a good job with a good family. You don't need him and his batshittery. I know it's raw and a shock and you don't know what to think but it's not a contest who he loved the most! He's a reprehensible arse hole full stop and never to be excused or trusted again. Value yourself more.

Hope he gets a job too as you don't want to divorce him and end up subsidising the cheating tosser. (How can you love a man who's done those vile videos? It's the shock talking)

Lurker85 · 26/10/2025 07:04

Thescornedwife · 26/10/2025 06:50

This makes so much sense, I appreciate the time it took to reply. It gives me some hope that he didn’t love her at all and still loves me and our children. That it was just sex and maybe he can seek help for that. And that he didn’t blow up our whole family for love

That’s what you took from that??? Jesus Christ. There is no hope for him. Just give it up. He’s a waste of space that doesn’t love you. You need to let that sink in or there will be no hope for you and your kids either.

namechangedembarrassing · 26/10/2025 07:04

Thescornedwife · 26/10/2025 06:50

This makes so much sense, I appreciate the time it took to reply. It gives me some hope that he didn’t love her at all and still loves me and our children. That it was just sex and maybe he can seek help for that. And that he didn’t blow up our whole family for love

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

We’ve lost her folks.

I genuinely hope you find happiness in your decisions, I wish you the best.

OchreRaven · 26/10/2025 07:09

@Thescornedwife I think you have taken the wrong things from @CrazyGoatLady . He doesn’t love her and he doesn’t love you. He loves himself and he will always put himself first. At the moment he has lost everything so what he wants is to come back home and have you make it all better. But make no mistake he’s not doing it because he loves you and can’t live without you. He left you. It just didn’t pan out how he would have hoped. He will do it again when you are older and have less chance to rebuild. He will live off your earnings now he’s unemployed and he’ll continue to get 50% of everything you invest into your life going forwards despite contributing less. Your family will think you are a being taken for a fool and start distancing themselves because they can’t be honest with you and don’t want to be around him.

I know you want to go back in time or come up with a narrative where what he did is acceptable but the truth is the capacity to lie and cheat was always there and will continue to be. His actions show you he’s not being truthful even now (telling the Ow he’s playing you). Don’t rush into any decisions if you aren’t ready to let him go. But tell him you need time. Make coming back the harder choice and see if he still makes it.

CrazyGoatLady · 26/10/2025 07:12

Thescornedwife · 26/10/2025 06:50

This makes so much sense, I appreciate the time it took to reply. It gives me some hope that he didn’t love her at all and still loves me and our children. That it was just sex and maybe he can seek help for that. And that he didn’t blow up our whole family for love

Ah - no. The thing is, he doesn't love either you or her. That's what I was trying to get across. All he's in it for is his own interests. Women are merely a means to men like this of getting what he wants.

Wake up to what and who your husband really is! He lied to you and cheated on you so he could have sex with someone else. He used the OW and lied to her. He's now trying to crawl back to you so he can use you for the financial and emotional security you can provide now his sordid little affair has cost him his job and income and his reputation.

Do you want to bankroll a liar and cheat who uses women for what he can get? Who tells women he loves them so they do what he wants?

SalmonOnFinnCrisp · 26/10/2025 07:14

@Thescornedwife

He is still at his parents but he keeps trying to come to our house to see the kids and it’s bothering me because he doesn’t have anywhere he can take the kids, he has no car and my kids don’t have a relationship with their grandparents he lives with so don’t like going there

Your girls are 14 and 17 not 4 and 7.

If he can get himself to your house he can get himself to a cafe or shopping centre or park or village green or nearby pub restaurant.
Or you can drop them ar his parents!!! Their grandparents!!!! House and he can see them there.

STOP LETTING HIM ENTER YOUR HOUSE

I also surprised your girls want anything to do with him.. given he cheated and stole money. Most teenagers are very basic and white. the fact they do possibly(?) Speaks to the fact they have already learned / are learning to accept this beyond shit treatment from men is acceptable.

You need to give your head a wobble and file for divorce. He doesnt "love" you. The only perosn he gives a shit about is himself.
Divorce makes his life worse he wants to "stay" woth you so his life is easier and more comfortable as you provide a range of services for him..
If he blew up your family for love at least he did it for SOMETHING....He didnt.... he blew up your family and caused all his damage for nothing/to have a shag in a cupboard. You are valued so little by him he didnt give a second though to jeopardising your lives and happiness by betraying you and taking risks he knew would cause extreme emotional damage to you and your children.

Wake. The. Fuck. Up! (Please...)

TwistedWonder · 26/10/2025 07:16

Thescornedwife · 26/10/2025 06:50

This makes so much sense, I appreciate the time it took to reply. It gives me some hope that he didn’t love her at all and still loves me and our children. That it was just sex and maybe he can seek help for that. And that he didn’t blow up our whole family for love

Honestly I think anyone now responding to this thread is wasting their time because you don’t want to hear reality.
You've already decided you’ll take him back even though that means throwing your dignity and self respect into the gutter.

It almost doesn’t matter if he loves you or not. He’s a lying cheating scumbag who was happy to stick his dick into another woman then come home and stick it in you and you’re rolling over like a doormat for this prince.

He made a conscious choice to lie and cheat. Then realised grass wasn’t greener and now wants his home comforts back - this isn’t him showing love, it’s him putting his selfish needs first.

How you can look at him let along play the pick me dance with him is beyond me. And you’re teaching your daughters that men can treat women like absolute shit and they get forgiven - what an example!

Thescornedwife · 26/10/2025 07:25

LadyMacbethssweetArabianhand · 25/10/2025 10:29

I've been in your position and it didn't end well. I took him back because I felt sorry for him. He didn't respect me and left after three months to go back to his affair partner. The message he left me was cold and cruel.
Please don't take him back. You owe it to yourself to hold your head high and live in dignity.

Did you have children to consider?

OP posts:
LadyMacbethssweetArabianhand · 26/10/2025 07:31

Yes I did. My ex promised my son the earth as my son didn't want him to come back, only to walk out again three months later. My son never forgave his dad and has never contacted him since. I think the whole thing affected his ability to have relationships as he doesn't trust easily. My daughter does have a relationship with her father but a very superficial one. And it was her brother who walked her down the aisle when she got married. We three had and still have a strong bond with each other.

GAJLY · 26/10/2025 07:33

I have a horrible feeling you're going to take him back. He will do it again but you'll probably never find out. Your children will be fine now you're separated, nothing bad is going to happen. Please see a counsellor for yourself, to work on self esteem. You might have to sell the house and buy something smaller with your half, if he cannot contribute towards the mortgage anymore. I'd actually start divorce proceedings now, so you're not responsible for half his future debt.

Lennonjingles · 26/10/2025 07:33

No advice from me, other than don’t agree to anything and time soon, it’s way too early to start to even begin thinking of having him back, do you really think you can forgive and forget, at the moment he seems to be more worried about himself and not you and your DC.

ForZanyAquaViewer · 26/10/2025 07:36

Thescornedwife · 26/10/2025 06:50

This makes so much sense, I appreciate the time it took to reply. It gives me some hope that he didn’t love her at all and still loves me and our children. That it was just sex and maybe he can seek help for that. And that he didn’t blow up our whole family for love

How is that your takeaway from that comment?

Are you messing with us, OP?

BuckChuckets · 26/10/2025 07:39

Thescornedwife · 26/10/2025 06:50

This makes so much sense, I appreciate the time it took to reply. It gives me some hope that he didn’t love her at all and still loves me and our children. That it was just sex and maybe he can seek help for that. And that he didn’t blow up our whole family for love

I'm starting to wonder whether this is actually real now. Or are you genuinely this naive?

Makingadecision · 26/10/2025 07:39

He’s not crying over you or your dc. He’s crying because he’s lost his job, his car, his phone and possibly the OW didn’t want him after the humiliation of them both being sacked.
Please see this for what it is. He regrets what he has lost not who he has lost. I don’t mean to be harsh but don’t be taken in.
Take some time, recover from the immediate shock, have some counselling for yourself to help you process this and then use your friends and family for support and rebuild your life. But not with him.

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