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I think I’ve just caught my husband cheating

553 replies

CoffeeRevelsfan · 14/09/2026 16:00

DH is working from home and I was doing the housework, I walked upstairs as a jet went over the house so it was really loud. We don’t live on a flight path so it was unusual. I went into his office and he literally jumped out of his skin and pressed the X to hide a teams message on screen. I asked about the jet just as another message popped up on teams from a woman called Joanna - he scrabbled to press the X again as fast as possible and was as red as a beetroot. The message said “yeah, it looked better in my head hahaha”.

His whole demeanour had changed and looked hugely guilty and caught out. I asked who he was messaging to which he said no one, i again asked who it was and he said a man from work - i told him i saw it was from a woman called Joanna. I asked why he was acting like this and looking so guilty and lying - he said it’s because he knew how I’d react. I am well aware he works in a mixed team and have never taken any issue to him having work conversations with other women so this is completely gas lighting on his part. I told him this was bull shit and to bring up the messages, he refused. I asked again and he locked his screen then picked up his mobile - he has teams on his phone so I am assuming he was deleting the messages. I asked if that’s what he was doing and he dug his heels in and shouted that there is nothing going on. I told him to prove it by showing the messages, he repeatedly refused and told me no as he didn’t feel he should have to prove himself, and then wouldn’t make eye contact with me.

if that was me and the conversation was innocent, I’d have brought up the messages and demanded an apology. Everything about him screamed red flag during that situation.

ive left the house and am currently in my car in a park, shaking and feeling sick. There surely can’t be any other explanation for his reaction and refusal to prove himself innocent?

we’ve never been in a situation like this, I’ve not had any cause to doubt him in the past. Been together for 15years.

OP posts:
Beenwhereyouareagain · 14/09/2026 23:32

ohnowhat · 14/09/2026 19:41

If he baulks at all then you know you're on to something.

Most people would baulk if their partner demanded all that and there was nothing going on.

"Most people would baulk if their partner demanded all that and there was nothing going on."

That's not the case here though, is it? Something IS going on. He got rid of the evidence; after lying about them multiple times, he eventually admitted to @CoffeeRevelsfan that he deleted the messages because they could be construed as flirty. Not MISconstrued, as in innocent but sounds bad. He said CONstrued, meaning that most people reading the messages would find them inappropriate because of the way they were written or the topic/content.

If they can be restored now, it would be very simple to check. Clicking on the deleted message apparently triggers a restore option if it's done within a certain amount of time. I think the fact that he won't even open Teams and attempt to restore looks bad.

Even if his wife got angry, he could show her the messages and alleviate her doubts. As it is now, she may always wonder just how bad they were. The insecurity and distress don't usually go away permanently. 100% trust is no longer possible and it makes many women hyper-vigilant, and shakes their confidence in the marriage and in themselves. From experience, that's an awful thing to live with the rest of your life.

HardyFox · 14/09/2026 23:35

Can you move past the fact he's lied to your face?
Some can, some can't.
Not saying who is right and who is wrong but imo once trust has gone it's gone and you'd be forever trying to 'catch him out'. That's no way to live is it really?

RealBecca · 14/09/2026 23:37

Clearly he has a worst case scenario in his head (let's say its that you leave him).

He knows if you see the messages then there's a higher chance that will happen.

He also knows that if he runs away and deletes them and feeds yous some cock and bullshit stories and plays a few different strategies (anger, puppy eyes, ignoring it, minimising, gaslighting) he hopes you'll cool and panic about losing him and accept one of these tactics and just put him in the doghouse for a while amd he carries on as he likes.

So you can either walk with your he'd high and not play the game, up the ante by forcing his hand (kick him out or play hard and tell him youve set a timed email to go out to his company about inappropriate an non-work related use of time and see if he folds and gives you more) or you can fold and begrudgingly accept his lies.

There's no rush. Take a few days and collect your thoughts, you may feel devastated and awful but you're not under a time pressure (despite your body feeling otherwise)

FlorenceLawrence · 14/09/2026 23:38

YourGoldLurker · 14/09/2026 23:17

She can shout if she likes. He should be drop kicked into the nearest wheelie bin

Yes of course she can - it would be fully understandable.
I was just warning her that I did, and regretted it later. Kind of wish I'd been a bit more haughty and dignified.
It also enabled my ex to tell the DC - and no doubt the OW too - how "crazy" I was.

Ooohaaahjustalittlebit · 14/09/2026 23:40

DistantConstellation · 14/09/2026 16:31

Do people really do flirty / affair talk chat on a work Teams chat?
Bet IT love checking the records on those...

Agree. It's so stupid. It's like people forget IT (and others( can read everything

I was in senior management for a long time and have therefore sadly seen how many people are stupidly unprofessional on teams /email.

If you wouldn't want your boss (and the head of legal and head of HR) to read it then don't write it

99bottlesofkombucha · 14/09/2026 23:41

He’s minimum flirting with a colleague and refusing to discuss it with you. I’d say this to him and say I can’t continue on this basis, so consider us functionally separated for now while I think. If you want to save us, organise some counselling for us. I won’t be coming to you to start this conversation again, it’s up to you. You’ve clearly betrayed us, and I won’t beg. And withdraw completely. I’d plan my meals for me, my life for me, and leave him out of it until he decided to come to the table. And if he doesn’t want to, then that would be my answer. I’d tell my family we’re rocky and he won’t be at things if there is anything coming up.

Silverbirchleaf · 14/09/2026 23:49

CoffeeRevelsfan · 14/09/2026 17:48

im back home, he’s pulling the woe is me face. He again told me there was absolutely nothing going on and he has no idea why he reacted like that. I continued to press him for what caused his reaction and why Neil from work was actually Joanna. He has eventually admitted the messages were of a nature that could be “construed” as flirting, and has admitted he has deleted them as “he panicked”. I am furious and gutted all at once, the main stab in the heart is his refusal and reluctance to prove he was anything other than guilty. Really don’t know where I go from here.

So he was flirting. He could have just said ‘banter’ but no, he knew he was flirting.

YourGoldLurker · 14/09/2026 23:52

FlorenceLawrence · 14/09/2026 23:38

Yes of course she can - it would be fully understandable.
I was just warning her that I did, and regretted it later. Kind of wish I'd been a bit more haughty and dignified.
It also enabled my ex to tell the DC - and no doubt the OW too - how "crazy" I was.

That's your ex being a twat. When my ex cheated on me. We weren't married. No kids. We were in Prague on holiday and he was annoying me. He was horrible. He had a holdall full of clothes that were designer and I booted it and then he said to me I've been shagging someone behind your back for the last three months

Apparently one of my cats stuck their claws in his alpaca wool jumper when he stayed with me one night. They should have shredded it tbf

OriginalUsername2 · 14/09/2026 23:55

I’d say you either restore the messages and show me right now or our marriage is over. (I’ve been burned before.)

FlorenceLawrence · 14/09/2026 23:58

YourGoldLurker · 14/09/2026 23:52

That's your ex being a twat. When my ex cheated on me. We weren't married. No kids. We were in Prague on holiday and he was annoying me. He was horrible. He had a holdall full of clothes that were designer and I booted it and then he said to me I've been shagging someone behind your back for the last three months

Apparently one of my cats stuck their claws in his alpaca wool jumper when he stayed with me one night. They should have shredded it tbf

My ex was and still is a twat, and we had a long marriage and 3 DC together. I lost it on several occasions - including chucking his clothes out of the window one night - I wish I hadn't, it would have been nice to have maintained my dignity. But 20-20 hindsight is the greatest.
I'm sorry your ex was a twat too - there's a lot of it about.

Warmlight1 · Yesterday 00:08

Releasemeplease · 14/09/2026 22:48

Why are you trying to minimise this?
Married people or those in committed relationships flirting with their colleagues is a betrayal of their wife or partner. But you think being bored justifies that?
Perhaps if they are bored they should put a bit more effort into the job they are being paid to do rather than indulging in inappropriate behaviour with their colleagues.

Saying it happens isn't minimising it. It's acknowledging a reality for many people and a real possibility. Nearly every poster has discussed the possibility of an affair.
The OP knows what her gut is telling her.

Incidentally I also think tolerance levels of flirting varies.

hourglass2 · Yesterday 00:40

Laiste · 14/09/2026 16:34

Trust your gut.

He'll have deleted everything by now.

Calm down. Go home. Tell him that you don't believe him. Calmly. Tell him he needs to prove you're wrong.
Or he needs to leave.

Seriously.

Yes he's going to me more careful from now on....everything will be locked down

Releasemeplease · Yesterday 00:47

Warmlight1 · Yesterday 00:08

Saying it happens isn't minimising it. It's acknowledging a reality for many people and a real possibility. Nearly every poster has discussed the possibility of an affair.
The OP knows what her gut is telling her.

Incidentally I also think tolerance levels of flirting varies.

You said that flirting "doesnt translate into actuall infidelity in the slightest" . So you are saying you dont see flirting as being unfaithful to your wife or partner. And that to me is minimising because flirting with someone other than the person you are in a relationship with IS a betrayal.
I'm not stupid. I know it happens. But that doesnt make it any the less of a betrayal of a relationship.
Yes of course having an emotional or physical affair is by far the more damaging . But a person.who spends their time flirting with people outside their relationship hasn't any respect for the person they are supposed to be committed to and are showing themselves very much open to taking things further.

foursquares · Yesterday 01:37

He's definitely cheating. I think you'll forgive him though..

Beenwhereyouareagain · Yesterday 01:41

PinkBottle75 · 14/09/2026 22:44

If someone does something that reasonably damages trust, but then says, "I'm not showing you anything, I'm not discussing it further, and if you don't trust me you can leave," the person who was hurt is effectively being handed the entire burden of repairing the relationship.
The dynamic becomes:
Their behaviour → your doubt → your anxiety → your need to forgive → your responsibility to trust again.
Meanwhile, they don't necessarily have to do anything to make that trust possible.
And there's an important distinction between trusting someone and choosing to believe their assertion.
Trust isn't something you can simply command yourself to have:
"I say nothing happened, therefore you need to trust me."
That's not really how trust works. Trust is built from consistent behaviour, honesty, openness, accountability and time.
If the person who caused the uncertainty says, essentially, "I'm not going to give you anything that helps resolve it," then they're asking the other person to do something psychologically very difficult: to override their own perception and uncertainty without receiving new information.
And that can create a horrible situation where the injured person thinks:
"Maybe I need to stop being suspicious. Maybe I need to forgive. Maybe I'm ruining the relationship by not trusting him. Maybe I need to accept that I'll never know."
So they end up doing all the emotional labour.
Meanwhile, the other person can remain in the position of:
"I've told you my answer. The rest is your problem."
And that's where the ultimatum becomes significant.

This can leave the person who found the evidence with a particularly impossible task: they're expected to forgive something they haven't been able to fully understand, and trust someone who isn't willing to participate in restoring that trust.

You don't have to prove that he cheated in order to decide that what happened has made the relationship impossible for you to trust.
And you don't have to force yourself to "get over it" simply because he has declared the matter closed.

@CoffeeRevelsfan
@PinkBottle75 has written a remarkable post. She has absolutely NAILED the whats, whys, and hows of losing trust and the effects on a relationship.

Your husband has only taken responsibility for a tiny part of the damage he's caused. He's ducking accountability and leaving you to do all the work of trying to repair the damage to your relationship that his behavior with "Joanna" has destroyed.

It's horribly unfair that the only person hurt by all of this is you. You did absolutely NOTHING wrong, yet you're the one being punished.

"Forsaking all others" means just that. It doesn't have to be PIV to be a betrayal. Whatever happened, he did it with the knowledge that it looks bad. He knew it would hurt you if you found out, but having his ego stroked was more important than the damage it would do to you.

That's not what "Love, honor, and cherish" looks like, is it?

It's your life, of course. But I hope you make him realize he's accountable for all of it; that it's not on you to have to "let it go", and that if he wants any chance of you trusting him again, it's up to him to rebuild it.

Ignoring his fault and expecting you to just suck it up and believe him should not be an option. He broke your relationship and it's his responsibility to fix it. If he's not willing to do that then he needs to know it will be hard for you to have faith in him again, and your relationship might not survive it.

He caused all of this, yet he expects you to just take his word about what did or didn't happen. He's wrong about that. He threw away his right to blind trust when he crossed the line. Don't let him make the broken trust your fault.
🌹

ThatHangryRubyReader · Yesterday 01:51

Oh wow Im just sorry. That is just horrible

PPAPPINE · Yesterday 02:18

Just leave or ask him to. Calmly. Don’t message Joanna. Don’t allow yourself to be made a fool of. He’s not innocent. The only thing you don’t know is whether or not he has physically cheated. Ask yourself if it really matters? Wanting too is bad enough

LiuBei · Yesterday 02:41

Releasemeplease · 14/09/2026 19:54

What so you think a married man flirting with another woman behind his wife's back is acceptable and normal behaviour?

I think it's forgivable. Honestly I'd find this pretty easy to forgive without getting a forensics team to go over their hardware.

I know sometimes a transgression is the first step on a slippery slope. But sometimes its just a mistake, and it's best to take the high road. Eventually you'll make a mistake on something else, we all do, and you'll be glad you were gracious when your partner made a mistake.

somewhereovertherainbow26 · Yesterday 02:45

100 percent certainty, he's definitely cheating. No question. I'm very sorry. See a lawyer, let people know what he's done, protect yourself financially because he will definitely screw you over. Again, I'm so sorry.

somewhereovertherainbow26 · Yesterday 02:47

LiuBei · Yesterday 02:41

I think it's forgivable. Honestly I'd find this pretty easy to forgive without getting a forensics team to go over their hardware.

I know sometimes a transgression is the first step on a slippery slope. But sometimes its just a mistake, and it's best to take the high road. Eventually you'll make a mistake on something else, we all do, and you'll be glad you were gracious when your partner made a mistake.

Er, no. Normal people don't cheat, and cheating is never a mistake, it's a choice. Always. And there's not the tiniest shred of a chance I'd never need to store up a transgression or two to be used when I fucked up either 😆I hope you're in an open marriage, because you sound 100% like you screw around.

somewhereovertherainbow26 · Yesterday 02:49

CoffeeRevelsfan · 14/09/2026 19:15

I completely agree. I also don’t know how he can repair the situation without any proof now that the messages have been deleted.

The messages are proof he's an adulterer. That's why he deleted them. No question at all.

NiftyKoala · Yesterday 04:15

Just want to say I think you are holding up well in this awful situation. 💐

ThreadGuardDog · Yesterday 05:04

LiuBei · Yesterday 02:41

I think it's forgivable. Honestly I'd find this pretty easy to forgive without getting a forensics team to go over their hardware.

I know sometimes a transgression is the first step on a slippery slope. But sometimes its just a mistake, and it's best to take the high road. Eventually you'll make a mistake on something else, we all do, and you'll be glad you were gracious when your partner made a mistake.

A mistake ? ‘Flirting’ with another woman to the extent he’s panicked enough to delete the messages on the spot, rather than have his wife see them ? Then pleading innocence, expecting to be able to draw a line under it and have OP trust there was nothing more ? If you think that’s easily forgivable, or that storing up a partners’ mistakes’ to give yourself a free pass for your own transgressions is a reasonable way to conduct a relationship, you need to raise your bar because it’s on the floor.

ThreadGuardDog · Yesterday 05:25

U53rName · 14/09/2026 22:22

They definitely can. Someone who had a grievance at my work had all messages pulled up from months back. But this would obviously involve DH’s IT Team…

It’s not that simple. A standard user has a few seconds to restore a message before the ‘restore’ banner disappears. After that they’re gone. For IT admin to retrieve them, the company would have to have enabled compliance retention and even then the search only lets them view the messages or export them to PDF for records or investigations. There’s no way to put the messages back into active Teams chat, so OP wouldn’t be able to view them.

Seajaye · Yesterday 05:34

His reaction in deleting the messages suggests he knows he is guilty of something but perhaps it's office flirtation rather than an actual affair . The problem is you don't know . Don't leave the matrimonial home because it's not you that's in the wrong . He needs to provide you with some explanations and maybe move into a spare room until he is ready to explain who Joanna is, and why he deleted the message and what else he has been hiding from you and for how long .

Obviously he might lie to you, but he now knows he's been caught out at something it seems he'd rather not admit doing.

Is there anything else suspicious about his behaviour? What are his opportunities to see someone else outside work? Has he been spending money on his appearance, or buying himself new underwear, for example?

The thing is for you to work out what you really want to do about it, if it is a full blown affair. You are in shock at the moment so it will be difficult for you to think straight with all the uncertainty .

.