“He Said He Regretted It”: 49 People Who Gave Cheaters A Second Chance Shared What Happened

I did because my brain wouldn’t accept that I should not love this person. Eventually, whatever chemicals in there wore off and I left him. I found out, I could never trust someone I knew was capable of lying to my face .

I should’ve known he wasn’t the most faithful man when I met him, but young, naive and pretty dumb. We broke up twice, got back together, I forgave him. I can see the change in him, it wasn’t the easiest to get over, however, I stayed because I loved him (I know I know) and I can truly say I’m glad I did. We’re married, have one daughter, moved to a nice country home, and everything he was it’s the total opposite nowadays. 17 years together and he still cooks, cleans, the handyman around the house, and does all the yard work. Now he even gives advice to his friends and younger guys he knows about it, life can truly change when you’re not being deceitful to your family, the people who are there every day and love you the most.

I was insecure and lonely, he was my best friend and I found every way to blame myself for what happened. I have always had a terrible mindset that I can get what I want if I work hard enough, including relationships. I still wanted him, so I begged him for about a month (I know I know) and eventually convinced him to stay with me. He was on some bad medication at the time as well as drinking heavily and when he finally came out of it he realized what a jerk he was. He's spent the last 7 years making up for it. I dont regret staying but I do regret being the one to beg for us to make it work.

I believed her that it wasn’t really her fault, it was because of her bipolar disorder. But she kept doing it long after her bipolar disorder was treated so it turned out she was just a bad person.

I did because I had no place to go. We owned a home together with a lot of animals. I saw an attorney and had everything ready to go when he did it again. Of course he did, and I left with a suitcase and no place to go, but everything worked out for the best for me. I feel sorry for anyone who goes through this. It's a truly heartbreaking betrayal.

I didn't had this issue in my marriage, but my mother forgave my father. They were married for 3-4 years when dad had an affair that even resulted in a child. They already had my brother, but at the time their marriage was on the rocks they were thinking about breaking up. So my dad met let's say celia (not her real name) and had an affair. Weird as it is, this actually got my parents closer because, according to dad, he realized that the only woman he wanted to be with and have kids with was my mom. His mistress tried to get him to leave mom and be with her and their kid, but ultimately mom forgave dad. When i asked her why, she said that if she were to divorce him, then my brother would have to live in 2 separate homes, he would have to spend holidays with only one of them. And main thing, she said that she still loved him very much and that she also made mistakes in their relationship. This was all 32 years ago, and they have been every happy since.

I guess it depends a lot on the relationship and how much the cheater is willing to actually fight for the marriage. If there are kids involved there are other dynamics, you have to consider how they would get affected by you leaving or you staying. There is no right answer because not all cases are the same.

My mother's situation isn't the same for everyone else. Ultimately one has to do what makes them happy.

Multiple reasons. 1) He did everything ‘right’ ie changed jobs, went to rehab, went to therapy, got on medication. 2) if we got divorced I wouldn’t be able to afford our pets and have to get rid of them and I just can’t do that. 3) my income alone wouldn’t have been enough to support me and my daughter. 4) he works everyday to show me that he can be trusted.

He was deep in alcoholism, depression, and working an isolating job. He got black out while alone and was taken advantage of in a way that he takes accountability for.

I stayed because he got sober, 3 years now, went to therapy to work though the issues he was having, and changed jobs. He put in the work to get better for himself, not just me. The trust will never be the same, but we learned and grew together. I would not stay if it happened again, and he is fully aware of that.

Cause my wedding which I had already paid for was like 2 weeks away and I was too gutted to call it off. The literal definition of sunk cost fallacy ahaha.

Thought we worked through it. Bought a house, had a kid. It wasn’t the first or the last time they cheated on me in our relationship though (found out the hard way). Got a cool kiddo out of it though. Living my best life now :)

TDLR ; don’t.

I’ve never forgiven however financial obligations is why I don’t leave, house/cars in both names.

We had just moved to a new city and bought a house, divorce wasn't fiscally an option, and people make mistakes. My issue was it was a year long affair and they caught herpes. Feels bad man.

I was a dumb kid and she was my first proper girlfriend. Would you know she did it a second time? I didn't forgive at that time.

I was young, naive and thought it was a one-off before we were married. Plus I thought we could address it in therapy (which we "did," also before we were married). Decades later, well...

I divorced her because she was a lying, cheating, self centered narcissist. I forgave her because I needed peace.

I tried and couldn’t.
It was a long-term girlfriend not a spouse but she felt so guilty that she paid for everything for like a year. She made twice what I did and I saved nearly my entire salary and when I could afford a down payment on a house, I bought one and moved out.
This was 20 years ago I’m not super proud of it but it happened.

I'mma be honest; I was a traumatized mess who'd have bought any lie I was told at the time

Lucky I didn't join a cult.

I did once. I guess I was still in love, I knew he *could* be a good partner overall. We had a lot of compatibility. My trust in never fully came back though. We didn’t get back together immediately, he stuck around during the hard times where I was just angry or broken.He respected all the boundaries I gave him . We eventually got back together after a year of that with strong boundaries when it came to other women BUT it never felt like he stopped “searching” (for lack of a better term to explain.) That, along with neglect and no real commitment in planning an actual future or moving forward, led me to break up with him eventually a few years later.

Now I’m happily married with a fully committed and loving partner. Part of me is upset I spent so much time with my ex BUT I got to meet my husband because he had mutual friends with my ex. So there’s that.

Because my frontal lobe wasn’t fully developed.

I was pregnant and in college (I was 25 so it wasn't a teenage pregnancy or anything) so he was supporting us.

He made the effort to change and has been extremely open about everything. Thats the biggest thing with adultery. The person who cheated needs to be willing to change and put in the work. It was very VERY hard.

Its been 9 years and im glad I did it but even he says that if someone else was in our shoes, to not forgive them and just leave because he saw how much it destroyed me. Hes a completely different person than he is now.

Honestly? Because I didn't love myself enough to acknowledge that I deserved better. And because I didn't think I was lovable to anyone else. We had been together since I was 21 and I didn't know what life would look like without him, and that scared me. Here we are in our 40's and I still sometimes get worried when things are rough that he'll do it again. I still sometimes think about it while we are being intimate. It's obviously not ideal, but I'm working through all of it with my therapist.