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Normal_Employee7375
I cheated on my wife and I’m not sure how to proceed
I \[33M\] cheated on my wife \[32F\].
I have been with my wife since we were teenagers. It’s true when I say she’s my best friend, yet it’s also true that I betrayed her. It’s true when I say marrying her was the best day of my life, yet it’s also true that I dishonored myself and her through my actions.
I always had a fantasy about sharing my wife. She is beautiful and I always got a thrill when others would comment on how gorgeous she is. I always wished she would show herself off more. I ended up finding a porn subreddit called r/jerkbuds (now banned due to people abusing it). On that forum, you can tex chat with other guys who are getting off.
Over the course of several years, I intermittently went on this forum and discussed my wife with random strangers on this forum. I shared photos of her without her consent, which is the worst part and I knew that it was wrong. I got sexually excited by the conversations about how attractive she is and I would sometimes masturbate to the idea of sharing her.
I justified this because they were all clothed photos (“she posts riskier things on her own social media” excuse), I never saw / heard / interacted in any way aside from text with the guys, I never maintained a relationship with these guys and had zero emotional investment, and I truly purely saw it as a new way to masturbate to my wife (of course, it clearly wasn’t solo because others were involved and that’s one of the problems). NONE OF THESE ARE LEGIT JUSTIFICATIONS, I know. But they were what I told myself at the time.
I must have compartmentalized how fucked up this was through these justifications, because I didn’t even realize this was cheating until just recently. I ended up reading an article on cybersex for a project I was working on, and then it all clicked. It finally got “real” instead of this fantasy world I imagined myself to be living in during masturbation.
I realized that I betrayed the trust of the person I love most. I took advantage of her and objectified her for my own gratification (it hurts to write that). I endangered her for my own selfish reasons.
Once this all clicked, I had this horrible sinking feeling. I deleted the Reddit account where I had previously had those chats. My whole conceptualization of the behavior changed from “naughty masturbation” (yes I was that self-centered and compartmentalized) to “cheating” and any desire to do anything like that ever again went away. I never wanted to be a cheater, and I failed to recognize how cheating in digital spaces looks different than in physical spaces. No, I would never find another woman or man and have any kind of physical or emotional relationship with them. But I did cross a major line by sharing photos of her and sexualizing her with others via online chat. Both are real, and both are betrayal in different forms. I realize that now. And since that realization it is like every precious thing she does has awakened to me. I notice all these small things again - her daydreaming, her funny habits, her messy hair after work. I see her immense beauty in every way and I slap myself for betraying and objectifying her.
So now I am at a crossroads. On the one hand, I can unveil this secret, hurt her immensely, get hurt immensely myself, and likely divorce. On the other hand, I can silently live with this burden, never do anything like this ever again (I have zero desire to now that my understanding has evolved), use this as motivation to be the best husband I can be, and never betray her or take her for granted again.
To any young man wandering the internet and searching for ways to get off…THINK FIRST. Really fucking think about what you are doing and what it means about you, and what effect it has on others. Your digital escapades are not fantasies, they are real. Don’t make the mistake I did. If you are hiding something and it feels wrong…it is wrong. I wish I had never done it.
TLDR: I frequented a forum where guys text chat and jerkoff for years, shared non-explicit photos of my wife without consent, got off to the idea of other guys being attracted to her, and now realize that’s cheating, stopped it and never will do it again, and I’m unsure how to proceed
7.09 AM - Aug 5, 2026