Wife Discovers Her Husband Is Cheating With Their Son’s 18-Year-Old Girlfriend — Isn’t Sure Whether Or Not To Tell Her Son
She always suspected that her husband was being unfaithful. However, she never could have imagined who the other woman would be.
SpeedKingz / Shutterstock A woman was horrified when she stumbled upon explicit text messages on her husband’s cell phone. To her dismay, the messages were from her son's 18-year-old girlfriend.
Now, she's faced with a difficult decision: reveal the truth to her son or keep the discovery to herself and spare him the pain.
The woman learned that her husband was cheating on her with their son’s girlfriend.
Sharing the earth-shattering revelation to the subreddit r/offmychest, the 41-year-old woman revealed that she and her husband, “Paul,” have been married for nearly 20 years. Together, they have two children, 18-year-old “Eric” and 15-year-old “Mary.”
The couple’s son, Eric, has been dating the same girl, “Amy,” since his freshman year of high school. “Eric absolutely adores Amy. She's his first love, and she's someone I've always considered as family,” the woman wrote. “This makes the whole situation emotionally excruciating for me.”
Last week, the woman caught a glimpse of her husband’s phone screen and noticed a text thread between him and Amy.
She saw a rather explicit sexual message from Amy that implied that the two had been together. “I froze in place, in complete disbelief,” the woman wrote. “I spent most of the day convincing myself that I must have misread what I saw.”
Unfortunately, what she saw was not her imagination.
Photo: Antonio Guillem / Shutterstock
Over the next few days, she came across a secret folder on Paul’s computer that contained photos of Amy taken from her Instagram account.
The woman also looked through Paul’s phone and found text exchanges between him and Amy where the two poked fun at her weight and age.
“I’ve always had hunches or paranoid feelings that Paul has been cheating on me, but never in a million years could I have fathomed something like this,” the woman wrote, noting that last month she had uncovered a thong in their bedroom that did not belong to her.
“Not only is he cheating on me, but he’s betraying our son. I’m completely devastated; I don’t even think words can adequately describe the dread, anger, shock I feel right now,” she added.
Now, the woman is conflicted about how she should handle the situation.
“Eric adores Amy, and the thought of revealing this sickening truth to him terrifies me. The impact on his young heart and mind could be devastating,” the woman wrote. “I haven't confronted my husband about this because I'm frankly scared of the domino effect. I don't know who to turn to first about this.”
Photo: triloks / Canva Pro
She asked other Redditors how to cope with her deep betrayal.
Most people expressed their sympathies to the woman during her difficult time, encouraging her to start by gathering all of the evidence.
“Your rage is justified, but you have to set it aside for right now. You have to focus on gathering the evidence, contacting a lawyer, and following all of the suggestions people have made,” one Redditor suggested.
“Anger can wait. Bury it for now, and once you, your kids, and Amy are physically safe, hate him and make his life miserable for the rest of his life.”
“You need to gather all the evidence you can and get to a lawyer ASAP. This IS going to crush your son, but not only does he deserve to know, he has a right to decide how he wants to proceed with his father,” another user commented.
Photo: Perfect Wave / Shutterstock
The woman added in the comments section of her post that she was worried about her son’s future relationships should he find out about his father’s affair. She feared that he would never be able to trust any future partners again fully.
She also knows that her son’s image of his father will change drastically.
Deciding whether to inform children about a parent’s infidelity is a complex and highly personal matter.
While the dynamics in each family differ, certain factors will help parents determine whether or not they should talk to their children about infidelity.
The age and maturity of children, the psychological impacts the news could cause, and support systems all influence the decision of whether or not to tell your children that their partner is being unfaithful.
As a mother, the woman feels hurt on her son’s behalf. However, this should not invalidate her own pain and betrayal as well.
She should be able to speak out about her pain, even if it exposes her children’s father as someone who is unfaithful.
By telling her son the truth, she could be sparing them both from further hurt and humiliation.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.