Let's Talk Cheating & Infidelity (Page 3)

Amber Brooks

By: Amber Brooks

Editor: Lillian Castro

Updated:

Not much can beat the heartache of discovering your partner has stepped out on your relationship. We understand your pain and have developed a healing balm of content to help you through it.

Our expert contributors address betrayals in romantic relationships, including emotional and physical cheating, and how to rebuild and heal. We also educate readers on different forms of infidelity, from micro-cheating to cybersex, and how to spot the subtle signs.

Every relationship is different. And people react differently to the painful and complex experience of cheating. So we prepared advice for every type of reader, whether you want to rebuild or move on.

We cover what comes after. Find articles on how to rebuild self-esteem, heal with intention, and manage emotions in the wake of betrayal.
It may seem like there is no antidote for this kind of betrayal, but we promise there is a way out. Hopefully, our expert tips and guidance will be there to get you through each step.

97 Results

What Our Experts Say:

61.
Infidelity: Why is it Increasing?
Dr. Wendy Walsh

Dr. Wendy Walsh

If you believe everything you see in the media, cheating and cheaters are on the rise across society. It’s not uncommon to hear of famous married men who are sexting and neighborhood wives who are finding their own "Fifty Shades of Grey." So what’s going on? Have we become a generation of people who can’t keep a promise? Well, sort of. In fact, two major cultural trends are contributing to the apparent increase in...

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62.
He Cheated and I Want to Talk with Him. What Should I Do?
Brian Rzepczynski

Brian Rzepczynski

Reader Question: I met my ex-boyfriend while living abroad and, according to him, it was love at first sight. Everything went wrong when we moved in with his parents. We would constantly fight, we became insanely jealous, we'd even get physical. On Christmas he decided to go on a trip with his friend. He met another guy who he had sex with. He accepted he cheated on me, but that wasn't the reason he didn't want...

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63.
I Think She’s Cheating on Me. Can You Help?
Dr. Wendy Walsh

Dr. Wendy Walsh

Reader Question: I've been dating a woman for about two years (we're both in our 40s) and everything else is great, except I think she's cheating on me. I live and work about four hours away and can only get together with her about half of the days each month. When her clothes came out of the dryer, they included a pair of sexy, lacy panties, which she's never worn when I'm around. She's disabled the personal...

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64.
What Would You Do? Celebrity Edition
Kara Pound

Kara Pound

Celebrities are like a different species. They live their life in the spotlight, get chased down by paparazzi and have every little aspect of their daily life scrutinized. So what happens when a celebrity is in a relationship with another celebrity and something goes awry? Should they be looked at as role models? Should the public try to learn from them or even follow their lead? Let’s take a look at some of...

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65.
Is it Ever OK to Get Back Together With a Cheater?
Kara Pound

Kara Pound

The short answer is no. But the real answer is actually a question. Why would you want to get back together with a man who cheated on you? For arguments sake, let’s rule out that he was drugged, beaten or held at gunpoint to have sexual intercourse with another woman. If your guy partook in good old-fashioned hanky-panky on his own accord, then ditch that loser. I understand that, even though he cheated, you’re...

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66.
Is Cheating Contagious?
Nick Slade

Nick Slade

Some men are leaders and some are followers. Some have kind and gentle souls, while others are bad to the bone. For some men, cheating is as easy as changing their socks, and for others, it is an unthinkable and unconscionable violation of trust. Still, a man’s friends can sometimes cloud his judgment and sway his actions. Is cheating contagious for men? If a guy's friends are cheating on their girlfriends, does...

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67.
23% of Men, 19% of Women Say They’ve Cheated
C. Price

C. Price

Who’s more likely to cheat — a man or a woman? Culturally, we’d normally think men are more likely to philander, but over the last couple of decades, women have been catching up to them, according to research. A recent study from Indiana University found that when it comes to cheating, the gender gap has all but disappeared. Twenty-three percent of married men and 19 percent of married women reported having an...

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68.
Study: Oxytocin Encourages Men in Relationships to be More Faithful
C. Price

C. Price

There are a lot of theories as to what the key to a long-lasting, exclusive romance is--trust, open and honest communication, mind-blowing sex. But maybe it could be as simple as the presence of a little molecule known as oxytocin. A study published in the Journal of Neuroscience indicates giving men in relationships a dose of the “trust hormone,” oxytocin, causes them to physically avoid unknown, attractive women....

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69.
I Have Two Girlfriends. What Should I Do?
Dr. Wendy Walsh

Dr. Wendy Walsh

Reader Question: I have a girlfriend in Harrisburg and one in San Diego. I live in San Diego. San Diego and I have been lying to the one in Harrisburg. She found out about the girl (San Diego) on Facebook and I lied about that. I need help telling her. What should I do? -Chris Dr. Wendy Walsh's Answer: Chris, man up! Just call Harrisburg — not text or email — and tell her you care about her so much and you...

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70.
How to Know Your Boyfriend is Cheating for Gay Men
Sam Stieler

Sam Stieler

Cheating often means the end of a relationship. Even if a couple decides to stay together after one cheats on the other, there’s a good chance your relationship won’t be the same as it was beforehand. If you and your partner communicate exceptionally well, then cheating might ultimately strengthen your relationship, reaffirming your commitment to each other and causing a re-evaluation of both of your...

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71.
How to Avoid Temptation When You Have a Girlfriend
Nick Slade

Nick Slade

Young men spend most of their time looking for ways to find and mingle with temptation and will do just about anything to get lucky with a pretty girl. So, if you’re looking for ways to avoid temptation, that means you have found a special lady, and you don’t want to ruin things with her by “accidentally” making love to another woman. That should be manageable, if you really care for your girlfriend. A little...

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72.
How Can I Tell if My Boyfriend is Cheating?
Kara Pound

Kara Pound

If you have to ask that question, then you’re probably not going to like the answer. I truly feel a woman knows when her mate isn’t being faithful — it’s called gut instinct and it should not be ignored. Ask yourself the following: Has he been acting weird lately? Has he been having a hard time communicating? Is he less intimate even when you initiate? When you have a conversation about the "new" him, does...

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73.
Can You Get Pregnant By a Man You’ve Never Had Sex With?
Dr. Wendy Walsh

Dr. Wendy Walsh

What a crazy title for this blog. Any normal person would automatically assume that aside from mixing a cocktail of sperm and egg in a fertility clinic, if a woman were to become impregnated by a specific man, she must have had sex with him. Right? But, sigh, reproductive life is not that cut and dry. In the new book "Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That? And Other Reflections on Being Human," psychologist Jesse...

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74.
Should You Tell Your Boyfriend You Cheated?
Nick Slade

Nick Slade

We all want to believe that honesty is the best policy — and, in a perfect world, it is. But it can also be argued that the truth has destroyed more great relationships than lies ever have. This is not to say that withholding the truth about your cheating ways is ever the good or moral thing to do, but there is a case to be made that it might be the best thing for the relationship. In any case, it could be helpful...

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75.
I Saw His Conversation With Another Girl. Was it Wrong to Snoop?
Dr. Wendy Walsh

Dr. Wendy Walsh

Reader Question: I am a teenager and my boyfriend and I had been on for almost half a year. I accidentally opened his Facebook account he left open on my computer and I saw his conversation with a girl — an acquaintance of mine. I read that he tried to court us at the same time. I tried not to mind it until the date that I said "yes" to him, but he still keeps asking her for pictures and says he misses her and...

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76.
How Can I Forgive My Boyfriend for Cheating?
Bethany Heinesh

Bethany Heinesh

If your man has cheated and you have decided to give him another chance, you must forgive and move forward immediately. Don’t obsess about how good she was in bed or if she did this or that to him, and don’t ask him any such questions. The answers will only hurt you and lead to further insecurity. Do ask him why he did what he did and figure out together how you can be stronger for the experience.

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77.
Dr. Wendy Walsh

Dr. Wendy Walsh

First off, I’m not talking about basketballs or footballs here. Let’s get that straight. Some people may have wondered if the size of a dude’s balls has any relevance to anything other than, well, sexual performance. In fact, as far as I know, the size of the scrotum has little to do with sexual performance or even fertility. But ball size is a giant indicator for anthropologists about the sexual behaviors of a...

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78.
Should I Forgive My Boyfriend for Cheating?
Nick Slade

Nick Slade

People are not perfect, and boyfriends are certainly no exception. Of course, you have higher standards for him than you have for anyone else. Some crimes are forgivable and some, perhaps, are not. A person can never "un-cheat," so once it’s done, it’s forever. Who did he cheat with? How many girls? How often? If your whole relationship turned out to be a lie, that would be hard to forgive. Just consider a few...

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79.
When is it OK to Take a Cheater Back?
Bethany Heinesh

Bethany Heinesh

When your girlfriend cheats, it is a devastating experience. Not only has she violated your trust and disrespected you, she has also cut to the very core of your manhood and emasculated you. This is a painful, gut-wrenching and downright maddening experience, to say the least. If you’re with someone who hasn’t yet made it to the center of your heart, someone you haven’t dated long, it can be fairly easy to cut her...

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80.
How to Know Your Lesbian Girlfriend is Cheating
Kara Pound

Kara Pound

There’s this great, unattributed quote that goes, "Cheating is not an accident. Falling off a bike is an accident. You don’t just trip and fall into a vagina." In any relationship, having your girlfriend cheat on you is one of the scariest things to think about. It’s not just about her sharing intimacy with another woman. It’s about her breaking the bond of trust that you’ve spent your entire relationship...

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81.
Why Men and Women Cheat
Dr. Wendy Walsh

Dr. Wendy Walsh

Self-report studies have found that nearly 60 percent of men cheat on their spouses (and that’s just the men with the guts to admit it!) Women cheat too, but far less than men. And most men and women cheat for different reasons. Regardless, these reasons are sometimes unforgivable when trying to repair a relationship tainted by infidelity. But for a fortunate few, such an act of betrayal can be a unique...

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82.
Should You Tell Your Girlfriend You Cheated?
Bethany Heinesh

Bethany Heinesh

If you’ve cheated on your girlfriend, you are in quite the unpleasant situation. Hopefully, guilt is eating you alive and you feel ashamed of yourself. I say this because cheating is the lowest thing you can do to a woman you care about. Unfaithfulness is the ultimate betrayal and is very difficult to forgive. If you’re feeling guilty, it means you have a soul and a conscience. This is good news. Plus, guilt is a...

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83.
What’s Worse, Emotional or Physical Cheating?
Dr. Wendy Walsh

Dr. Wendy Walsh

Being unfaithful — either sexually or emotionally — is never a good thing, but if you tell me that one kind of cheating is worse than the other, I have a pretty good chance of guessing your gender. Bottom line: Men tend to fear physical cheating while women fear emotional cheating. And the roots of each feeling date back to our anthropological past. Since male hunters provided vital protein and time spent...

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84.
I Have Forgiven Her and Want it to Work Out. Am I Wasting My Time?
Dr. Wendy Walsh

Dr. Wendy Walsh

Reader Question: My wife and I are separated. She was unfaithful three times this last month, but I was unfaithful 19 years ago. We have been married 21 years. She wants to divorce and after a couple of months, get married again so we can have a clean slate. I have forgiven her of all and want to work it out. But am I wasting my time, or is this true? -Mike R. (Washington) Dr. Wendy Walsh's Answer: OK, I’m...

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85.
Is Your Boyfriend a Financial Cheater?
Dr. Wendy Walsh

Dr. Wendy Walsh

We all know what a cheater is — a guy who steals your heart and betrays your trust through sexual infidelity. But fewer women know what a financial cheater is. And in these trying financial times with women rising in financial power, financial cheaters are running rampant. This is a guy who steals your wallet (by getting you to open it) and betrays your trust through financial infidelity. The obvious serial...

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86.
Am I Wasting My Time, or Should I Stick it Out and See What Happens?
Dr. Wendy Walsh

Dr. Wendy Walsh

Reader Question: I met this girl a month ago and we’ve been talking and going out as much as we can. The catch is that she still has a boyfriend. She has told me she doesn't want to be with him and he doesn’t treat her the right way. She has told me she wants to be with me. Currently, she lives at his house, and I currently live with my parents. If she leaves him, then she won't have anywhere to stay. I just...

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87.
My Husband is in a Relationship. What Should I Do?
Dr. Wendy Walsh

Dr. Wendy Walsh

Reader Question: My husband and I have been married for nine years, and all of a sudden he is in a relationship. He said he still loves me and said we should take this one day at a time, but we are still married. He said he does not want a divorce. What should I do? Signed confused, -Kim M. (California) Dr. Wendy Walsh's Answer: Wow! You’ve just been handed one of life’s giant crisis. The question is, can...

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88.
If I Cheated, How Can I Get My Girlfriend Back and Forgive Myself?
Nick Slade

Nick Slade

There is no quick fix for a relationship shattered by betrayal. If things are ever going to get back to some kind of “normal,” it will take a long, long time. If you want to remain aware of your girlfriend’s feelings and her importance to you, then don’t forgive yourself, yet. Let your guilt guide your conscience and be a constant reminder to behave properly and treat her with respect. That said, you do not...

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89.
Do Women Consider Flirting Online Cheating?
Kara Pound

Kara Pound

It doesn’t matter if you’re texting, Skyping, Facebooking, iChatting, calling or sending a telegraph — cheating is cheating. Just because you flirt via the World Wide Web — you know, sending romantic emails to someone other than your girlfriend or wife — doesn’t mean you get any extra leeway. For some strange reason, there are men who think that unless they’re flirting in person, it doesn’t count. I’m looking at...

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90.
Do Men Consider Flirting Online Cheating?
Sam Stieler

Sam Stieler

The boundaries of cheating are rarely clear cut. After all, actions that one couple considers cheating may be openly pursued as nothing more than “harmless fun” by another couple. Not only does each couple each have their own rules for what’s considered appropriate or inappropriate behavior, two halves of the same couple may hold radically different opinions on what constitutes “stepping out.” And for many...

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Amber Brooks

By: Amber Brooks

Editor-in-Chief

Amber Brooks is the Editor-in-Chief at DatingAdvice.com. When she was growing up, her family teased her for being "boy crazy," but she preferred to think of herself as a budding dating and relationship expert. As an English major at the University of Florida, Amber honed her communication skills to write clearly, knowledgeably, and passionately about a variety of subjects. Now with over 1,800 lifestyle articles to her name, Amber brings her tireless wit and relatable experiences to DatingAdvice.com. She has been quoted by the Washington Times, Cosmopolitan, The New York Post, and AskMen, among others.

See Amber's full bio »

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