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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

Following on from all the recent threads about affairs, what percentage of wives....

186 replies

brazenhussy · 18/12/2008 23:16

find out that their husbands are having affairs?
How many men have long term affairs and don't get caught?

Am asking this because i am in a long term relationship with a married man who isn't exactly careful about his actions but is confident that his wife has no clue what is going on.

She wouldn't have to be sherlock Holmes to find the evidence if she did suddenly suspect. Is this unusual or do many wives never discover what is staring them in the face?

OP posts:
dittany · 20/12/2008 17:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

brazenhussy · 20/12/2008 18:23

Thank-you honestfriend but I don't feel very brave at the moment - haven't stopped crying since we spoke at lunchtime.

I wanted to come back and post because I wanted to see it written down as it is in a way, theraputic (sp?). Yes I have had some stick but that doesn't worry me because I am a regular who has name-changed and dispite being told otherwise, I am not a bad person in any other way.

In answer to the question of to whether I would take him back, I possibly would but only if he has properly finished it with his wife and on the understanding that he realises I am not yet ready to move him in - things would have to go very slowly as it's taken me a long time to get from an unhappy marriage to where I am today.

Thank-you all for the food for thought

OP posts:
pagwatch · 20/12/2008 18:44

Robinia

"It doesn't alter the fact that some women can be awful - and no I don't mean things like not taking care of their appearance, not "looking after" their man etc. - I mean complete personality changes after getting married - just being truly awful people who never in a million years would I stay in the same house as ...."

you do talk the most unadulterated shite you know.

AnyFuckerForAMincePie · 20/12/2008 18:45

gosh, a real-life drama here!

BH, do you really want him?

or are you prepared to stand by while he wrecks his marriage finally, then decide "ewww, no I really want to be single after all" ?

tbh, it would be great if the cheating fucker ended up with nuffin, no more than he deserves

if you do want him, then I think you are sensible to not move him in straight away, keep him at arms length, as so many men want to just jump from one warm bed to another (ikkle bitty boys that they are)

it would be very interesting to watch how he copes

pound to a penny, he will be back with his wife within the week

AnyFuckerForAMincePie · 20/12/2008 18:46

pagwatch, I do so love your posts

whomovedmychocolate · 20/12/2008 19:01

BrazenHussy good for you for ending it with him but he has to be a complete wanker for telling her if she doesn't know. It will just make her feel like shit and absolve him of a lot of the guilt. Which he doesn't deserve. I never told my ex-DH I cheated on him, there was no point, the relationship was over for other reasons and he would only have been hurt. It's an incredibly selfish thing to do.

I do hope you don't let him back into your life. It sounds like he's quite self-centred.

brazenhussy · 20/12/2008 19:01

I do want him, i really love him but I have DC's and they are my main priority. I only recently divorced their dad and it's too soon to be thinking of moving someone else in. Also as I have said previously, I like being single. I was married a long time and feel so liberated now I am single.

I don't think this will wreck his marriage - the amount of time he spent texting/phoning/msning/seeing me, i doubt there is anything left to wreck

OP posts:
flubdub · 20/12/2008 20:05

Has he told her, do you know?

Bienchen · 20/12/2008 20:25

BH, you enjoy your single life, that's great. But maybe you could consider enjoying your single life with someone who is equally single? Just a thought...

Bienchen · 20/12/2008 20:26

It really doesn't matter about the percentage bit does it? This is just to somehow justify something to yourself I guess.

So you don't want to commit after a failed marriage and this seems a safe bet as he is already married.

MuchLessTiredNow · 20/12/2008 20:28

working in a 95% male environment, I would guess that most of them think with their dicks rather than their covert heads, and do not put that much effort into hiding their actions.....

(oooh, get me, mrs cynical)

SlapDashMum · 20/12/2008 20:29

Somebody said to BH, "Do you want a medal", but do you know what - I really am impressed by her ending it! However wrong she has been it must have taken a lot of strength to stay with this thread and take all the flaming and even though our comments must have upset her, to think beyond that about what people said, admit that what she was doing was wrong (everybody must know how hard that is!), then find the courage and strength to tell him it is over, knowing that however selfish it is to keep him, it is still going to hurt loads to lose him!

I think he has proved how insensitive and selfish he is by saying he is going to tell his wife about the affair, and just before Christmas! And it sounds like he is threatening to do it in order to manipulate BH.

IMO you should NEVER tell your partner if you have had an affair if they don't know already! If you have had an affair YOU were the one who did wrong so why should they have to suffer the loss of self esteem and the betrayal just so that you can try to alleviate your guilt and your uncomfortable feelings of having to keep a secret! If you want to leave your partner because you feel more for the other person I think the decent thing to do is to tell them you are leaving and what is wrong with the relationship without bringing the other person into it. The partner's feelings should be spared as much as possible.

This situation is very sad because it sounds like he will tell his wife and they will split up - for what?! The price he will pay is huge when BH doesn't even really want him! She only wants a bit here and a bit there! He will have lost everything forever for the sake of a bit of secretive sex on the side for a while.

It is sad if he is actually trying to show BH how much he really wants her by leaving his wife but BH doesn't actually want him as much! If this is the case then what she has done by letting it go so far that he has developed these feelings when she has no intention of being with him properly seems even worse.

If he is saying about telling his wife in order to manipulate BH into saying "No, don't do that, I'd rather keep it as it is after all than you tell her, hurt her and then pressure me to let you move in when I don't really want you to" - if he is doing this it just proves even more what a complete bastard he is and will do anything to get what he wants without a care for anyone else's feelings!

BH, have you made it clear to him that even if he tells his wife, you are NOT going to move him in? Sorry if you've said this already and I haven't read it all properly.

I so hope you can all get through this with a minimum of pain for everybody but it doesn't look hopeful.

BH, I hope you have really learned a lot from all you have been through. Anyone who is thinking of having an affair/starting an affair and thinking things like "Well other people do it, it happens a lot so I'm not so awful" or "It's just an easy mistake to make, people get carried away" or "It's just a bit of non-serious fun", I really hope those people are reading these threads because I don't think a lot of people realise just how much pain will be caused to multiple people and to themselves when they start these things.

At first it seems like nothing much when they haven't don't much with the other person yet and it all seems like just a bit of excitement spicing up their lives but my advice would be STOP IT RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING, don't let your feelings develop and don't let the whole thing escalate. You might think you can stop at any time but you WON'T (I know this from personal experience). It is dangerous and addictive, DON'T GET HOOKED. Basically affairs are a bad idea because people WILL get very hurt and probably YOU will get very hurt and that hurt will last a long time. Don't even think about starting one and if you are thinking of it, instead of going for it, look at whether you need to work on fixing your existing relationship or whether you need to leave it and look at whether you really need to work on your self esteem (in my case it was this).

SlapDashMum · 20/12/2008 20:40

BH, you are probably really hurting at the moment but:

  • you have made a mistake and learnt from it and are now a wiser person with more knowledge about yourself, people in general and life. I do believe that it is very human to make mistakes but if you try to correct them and learn from them then you deserve forgiveness. I can see how people start these things without really seeing the consequences because they are so caught up in the intense feelings of an affair, this doesn't make it right, but I can see how it happens.
  • you can have more self esteem in future because you know you are no longer doing something which hurts other people. Also you are not settling for something less than what you deserve (a man who is not really yours). You can get someone who is single and be up front about not wanting them to live with you.

In the long run things will be much better.

brazenhussy · 20/12/2008 20:56

Thank-you for that post SlapDashMum, it was sensitive and informative.

He hasn't told her he is having an affair, just that he wants to leave her as he doesn't think things are working out since they got back together.

OP posts:
dittany · 20/12/2008 21:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ladylush · 21/12/2008 12:12

Oh so he has been spineless again - what a surprise Will this man never be honest? Maybe you need to think about that BH. Don't kid yourself that him leaving his wife will clear the path for you and him. You have both been deceitful throughout your relationship, he has been deceitful in his ending of the marriage and ergo your reunion with him when he is single will be dishonest still - IMO of course.

Dittany - wrt no-strings sex, yes I agree with you. I wasn't excusing it by any means. Lord knows, my h is lucky he has any tackle left.

AnyFuckerForAMincePie · 21/12/2008 12:53

just a minute here....

isn't the standard MN advice that if you want someone else you should leave your existing relationship first??.....

so this bloke has been a scheming twat before (by maintaining both r'ships by deceit), but maybe this time he will do the right thing by leaving his wife and then develop his r'ship with BH slowly, on her terms

people can and do learn by their mistakes

BH, my advice to you is if you really want him, stay right away from all the fallout of his marriage if he really does leave her

don't let him come and cry on your shoulder, this is of his own making

tell him you want breathing space while he sorts his head out

then you can decide together how to proceed

BH, I also have say kudos to you from taking on board the flaming on this thread. Although I do not condone your behaviour, I think this bloke is the bad guy in this situation and shouldn't be allowed to keep prolonging the dramma like this

think very, very carefully about what you want and don't get dragged into anything, like you say, your dc are your first priority

ladylush · 21/12/2008 12:58

But he has not ended his relationship with his wife in an honest way. That imo is important.

dittany · 21/12/2008 13:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

littleboyblue · 21/12/2008 13:26

Agree ladylush and dittany, I've been there myself and if they talk about ending it with wife, that's it, just talk.
100% agree about it being power.
BH you've said that he actually loves his wife, clearly not if he can't even be big enough to tell her the truth. As for doing it a few days before xmas, he wants you to tell him to leave it to the NY as not to upset family for xmas every year and then he gets out of ending it again doesn't he?
IME, if you enter into a proper relationship with this man, he will do the same to you, maybe next year, in 2 years, in 5, but he will do it.
I'm sorry, I know how tough this is, I fell madly in love with my married man, took me years to realise what a fool I was.

AnyFuckerForAMincePie · 21/12/2008 13:47

I agree that his past behaviour does tend to point to the fact that he is likely to repeat it with you, BH.

BH, you say it has taken you a while to recover from the breakdown of your marriage. I don't know why it broke down.

But do you really need this?

I don't think you do, and personally I think you should walk away.

CountessDracula · 21/12/2008 13:52

God he sounds pathetic
If he can't even be honest with her when he is binning her that is feeble.

CountessDracula · 21/12/2008 13:53

He is just trying to protect himself. He doesn't care about her feelings. And I doubt he cares about yours either

LittleJingleBellas · 21/12/2008 13:56

Good god he does actually get worse.

He is dumping his wife and yet not telling her why?

Doesn't that just scream volumes about his need to control her?

Imagine your DH dumping you and then refusing to say why. Imagine the mental torture of it.

What a farking bastard.

LittleJingleBellas · 21/12/2008 13:58

And I agree, one of the reasons he is not telling her why, is not just so that he can have her on tenterhooks, it's also so that if things don't work with the OP, he can go back to the wife and make up some cock and bull story about how he needed space, wasn't sure what he wanted from life, now realises how much he loves her, etc. And she'll be so relieved that he's come through this emotional crisis that she won't question his motives or actions.

Extraordinarily manipulative. I should be old enough and experienced enough not to be shocked when I hear how controlling and manipulative some human beings are, but it still somehow has the power to really deeply shock when you see it written down...