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“What’s The Wildest Cheating Story You’ve Witnessed Or Happened To You?” (30 Answers)
Interview With Expert
Infidelity can be a pretty open-ended term. But whether we're talking about a one-night stand, sexting, flirting, or a secret lunch with a colleague, it basically boils down to sexual or emotional activity outside the agreed-upon boundaries of a relationship.
To better understand the lengths people go to in order to satisfy their desires, Reddit user WCh3L3 made a post on the platform, asking, "What's the wildest cheating story you've witnessed or experienced?" An interesting question, considering that many of us might not recognize the signs of an affair even if we suspect our partner.
Below, you’ll find some of the most memorable comments from the thousands shared in the discussion. Also, don't miss the conversations we had with Dr. Janneke Schokkenbroek and Dr. Talal H. Alsaleem — you'll find them in between the submissions.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I knew a guy years ago that was a private investigator. Many times he was approached by a spouse who suspected their partner was cheating.
He had a slam-dunk strategy. He would suggest his client sign up for a course, whether a hobby thing, or educational. The key was that the class would happen for a period of weeks, all on the same day of the week, and all at the same time of day.
Then, while his client was in class, he would follow the spouse.
Caught them every time.
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#2
My ex-wife pretended to be admitted to a mental health ward for long term treatment while actually staying with her new man and cheating on me.
To learn more about infidelity, we contacted dr Janneke M. Schokkenbroek, a postdoctoral researcher at Delft University of Technology and Inholland University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands.
"When it comes to cheating, there are a lot of misconceptions," Schokkenbroek told Bored Panda. The first one is cheating is always about sex. Not true!
"Emotional cheating is just as real and, for many, even more painful. This happens when someone forms a deep emotional connection with someone else, sharing personal thoughts, dreams, and vulnerabilities. It's not always physical, but it can still feel like a betrayal because it undermines the emotional intimacy that’s supposed to be exclusive to the relationship," explained. Schokkenbroek
"What makes emotional cheating so tricky is how easy it is to dismiss. It often starts as and looks like 'just a friendship,' but over time, boundaries blur. If secrecy creeps in, or if your partner starts prioritizing someone else over you emotionally, it might be time for a tough conversation."
#3
I know a guy who’s wife was cheating with his cousin (also married), he finds out, and decides to have everyone over for a supper. Half way threw supper he looks his wife dead in the eyes and says, “I know you two are f*****g”, right in front of affair partner and his wife too. S**t blew up and everyone got divorced, affair partners never got together either.
#4
I used to go to a comic shop. And the comic shop owner knew all of the gossip in the area. Nice dude. Remembers all of his regulars and asks about you if he hasn’t seen you in awhile to check in on people. Lot of people in the area grew up with his shop. So he’s got stories.
Anyways he told us about this story from some years back about this regular. Who disappeared for a few months. Comes back one day. And the shop owner asks him, “hey, man. Haven’t seen you in awhile?”
Kind of like where have you been. The regular was like oh I’ve been getting divorced. I had to move it was a whole thing.
So naturally the shop owner asks. “Why are you divorcing your wife?” The regular caught his wife cheating.
He had picked up a 2nd part time job as pizza delivery man because he was trying to fund to take his wife on her dream vacation. All of the money he earned from that job was supposed to go into that vacation. He had been working this job for like 6 months. It was a whole secret. She didn’t know he was doing that for her. Because he was trying to surprise her.
He was the pizza delivery man at the motel. She was cheating at him with. The dude she was cheating on him with answered the door with her right next to him.
He apparently didn’t even go back to the pizza place. He quit on the spot. Went home. Packed his s**t and left town.
Another popular myth, according to Schokkenbroek, is that cheating means you're unhappy in your relationship.
"Sure, being dissatisfied in your relationship can lead to infidelity, but it's not always that simple. Sometimes, people in happy relationships cheat too — maybe because they crave novelty, excitement, or validation," she explained.
"The idea that 'if someone cheats, they don't love their partner' isn't always true. You can genuinely love your partner and still be drawn to someone else, often for entirely different reasons, like a spark of excitement or sexual attraction."
"Of course, this doesn't make it okay," Schokkenbroek added. "Cheating is still a betrayal of trust. It crosses (spoken or unspoken) couples' boundaries and can deeply harm the relationship. Whether it's due to unhappiness or not, infidelity is a wake-up call that something — in the relationship and/or within the person cheating — needs attention."
#5
A guy cheated on me because "my libido was too high."
Yes, you read that right.
*"You wanted sex so much that I needed a break by having more sex to get away from all the sex we were having."*
#6
I’ve shared this in the past, but it’s worth repeating
We were deployed overseas and my buddy got the dreaded “dear John” letter from his fiancé. She included a photo of another man’s d**k in her mouth to twist the knife a bit. He proceeded to have said photo made into Christmas cards for her whole family. About six weeks go by and the letters and phone calls to the command com in. He goes before the command, and explains the situation and shares the letter and picture with the higher ups. They were pissed, but there was no punishment for him.
One more stereotype that Schokkenbroek would like to disappear is the notion that 'the other woman' is the villain and the homewrecker.
"Not only does this phrase unfairly paint the secondary partner as the villain, but it also shifts focus away from the cheater's responsibility," she said. "Plus, calling them 'the other woman' is outdated and gendered — secondary partners can be men, non-binary people, anyone."
"In reality, these situations are rarely black and white. Sometimes the secondary partner doesn't even know they're someone's secondary, or they genuinely fall for the cheater and find themselves in a very painful and complex situation, which often comes with a lot of heartbreak for them too. Instead of vilifying them, let’s use neutral terms like 'secondary partner' that better reflect the nuances involved."
#7
A friend of a friend found out that her husband was cheating when she got to the hospital to see her husband who had just moments before been brought in by ambulance after a serious car accident only to be denied entry to his room because “his wife was already in the room with him”.
He had two simultaneous lives with two women, neither of which was aware of the other.
Apatheist Account2 2 weeks ago
No idea how people do this - one relationship is more than enough (hassle!).
#8
My friend's mom was in a relationship with a guy for years and they ended up getting engaged and due to marry.
The guy was a senior director of a company for which he travelled every week abroad for business.
Eventually, the guy had a heart attack and when my friends mom turned up at the hospital, his wife and 2 kids were there also.
Turned out he was already married with children and living a double life the whole time. When he went 'abroad' for business, he was simply going back to his actual family
#9
I was a florist. A guy came in and ordered flowers for 2 different women, his girlfriend and his wife. He puts both orders on the same credit card, one he shares with his wife. Everyone in the shop volunteered to deliver them to see what these women looked like. Later that day the wife calls to ask who the second order was sent to. Since her name is on the card we feel no obligation to secrecy so we told her. Florists in general are pretty good at keeping secrets but in this case she paid for the flowers. I've also disclosed anonymous sources if a woman has received flowers from an anonymous source. I don't want to be involved in a stalking scenario.
A 2022 survey found that one-third (33%) of Americans admit to cheating cheated — either physically, emotionally, or both.
However, only 57% of cheaters were caught, meaning 43% have managed to keep their infidelity a secret.
In most cases (71%), Americans who cheated did not want their partners to find out about it.
#10
In a small town the husband kept telling people he had an open marriage; finally someone asked his wife about it, she was unaware of this new arrangement.
Ace 2 weeks ago
You don't go around telling people you have an open marriage, except of course any potential partners. I was in an open relationship for over ten years, married for nine, and only a very few people would have known. (It had originally been at her suggestion, and we split up for reasons completely unrelated to any extra-marital relationships).
#11
Had a coworker who cheated on her live-in boyfriend. She would tell him she was going for a run, put on her shorts without underwear and would f**k her side piece in the apartment parking lot. So then she would come back inside sweaty 30 mins later and needed to shower and it all made sense to her boyfriend, he never questioned it. She was an awful human.
#12
I dont cheat.
BUT my mom is a serial married man dater
She has slept with
1. First boss, the mayor of the town she grew up in
2. My father, who was married to his first cousin and had a daughter by. she got knocked up with my older full sister and the eloped and he then became a bigamist and had to divorce his first wife. My older half sister hated me till she died in 2020.
3. Her divorce lawyer when she divorced my father 10 yrs later
4. Our family therapist who we went to to deal with the divorce. Suddenly we stopped seeing him and I never knew why. I saw him once at my Uncles restaurant and said Hi, and he turned white and ran out. Leaving me thinking I was somehow the cause of not seeing him anymore
5. My moms CEO Boss when she got a job after the divorce, she used to dye his eyebrows and hair at the office and give him foot massages and yet thought we were all dumb. I went no contact with her in 2003 because she hung up on me to be with him when I was having a personal crises
6. The mailman, when she was on a break from CEO Bossman. His wife came to our house to confront my mom. I then started ordering As Seen On Tv s**t C.O.D. and he didnt wanna knock on the door so hed just pay for everything himself.
The reason I said all this is cause I hate when women say, "He didnt make those vows to me..." as if being a skank is okay just because he didnt make the vows to you.
It is not OKAY. It does a lot of damage.
I never cheated on any one of my BFs...
Schokkenbroek believes that no single action screams, "Oh no, my partner's cheating!" but there are some things that can stand out:
- They've gotten secretive. "Maybe they’re guarding their phone more, changing their passwords, or overall appearing more protective of their privacy."
- There's emotional distance. "If they seem more disconnected, irritable, or overly critical, they might be emotionally investing elsewhere."
- Unexplained time away. "Late nights, vague excuses, or 'busy' weekends could be a sign.
- A new focus on appearance. "If they’re more often hitting the gym or dressing up without a clear reason, it might raise an eyebrow."
- "Changes in sexual behavior. "Whether their interest spikes or drops, it’s worth paying attention."
- And, of course, 'souvenirs,' like unexplained bills, or unfamiliar items and smells...
"That said, please note that a list of 'red flags' suggests that these things are instantly noticeable, but such relationship dynamics often shift slowly and naturally over time," Schokkenbroek highlighted. "Changes in behavior often warrant a conversation rather than immediate suspicion. Open communication is always the first step before jumping to conclusions."
#13
Bunch of men in a small town lied to their wives about hunting trips and were f*****g each other in a motel
#14
Just got home from deployment, on an anniversary trip with my (now ex) wife to Vegas. We go to a couple cirque shows, do some paigow, get a very fancy dinner, the whole anniversary spared no expense experience.
She was passed out drunk and her phone was blowing the f**k up with like 20 messages from an unsaved number. So I looked. They were very romantic and sexual messages and pictures. She had been texting him the whole night. Even while we were at dinner she told him she wished he was there instead of me. She had been messaging him for months, my whole deployment basically.
Well I dug deeper, started reading other message chains. I found like 9 other affairs with both men and women, she was even a third in a throuple and caused the husband and wife to get divorced because she kept breaking the rules and f*****g the husband without the wife there/behind her back.
#15
My dad cheated on my mom with a coworker. She suspected him of an affair but didn’t know for sure until he didn’t come home one night. I remember walking in the kitchen the next morning and asking my mom where he was, I was only 10-11 years old btw, and she goes “he didn’t come home last night.”
So she called him at work and he said he slept at a friends bc he had too much to drink. My mom called the friends wife, she confirmed my dad was not there at all, and that’s all my mom needed to know. It destroyed our family, my mom packed his s**t and left it by the door. She got addicted to prescription pills afterwards and tried to k*ll herself. She only lived bc I found her and called 911. After that she just left, took off, dumped me and my sister with my dad who will ill-equipped to raise two almost teenagers. So he met this super b***h who was recently widowed, they got engaged, and before I knew it I was living with her and I had six stepbrothers and sisters. Things only got worse from there. I enlisted to get away from it all. Whole thing f****d me and my sister up pretty bad
#16
My Ex wife missed our last dance at our wedding reception because she was f*****g her cousins in the bridesmaids change room.
#17
High school sweetheart and I went off to college, different schools, while I was visiting I was walking around the house to the front door. Window was open and I overhear her talking to another high school guy friend of mine that is in college with her about how she doesn’t know how to tell me she cheated. He caught her with a friend of his and was forcing her to fess up before he did. So that broke us up needless to say.
She begged me to forgive her. About 3 months later I relented and had her visit me at my college. We went out that night. Food, drinks, and finally a house party. Before we were about to leave I went up to a friends room to grab a bag of weed from him. 15 minutes later I come down, go out to the porch, look to the left, and there she is making out with some random guy we hadn’t even met before. She literally met him 2 minutes after I went upstairs.
She cried all night. I was crying laughing that she had so little self control. I ended up having her sleep on the couch and she went home before I woke up. Haven’t spoken since. That was about 20 years ago.
#18
A family friend's husband was having an affair for 20+ years and that woman knew the entire time about his family. He was at her ranch one time and was bucked off a horse and broke his back. The affair partner called his wife to tell her and acted like everything about this situation was normal and the wife had no reason to act all upset at the affair. Some people really just have no shame.
Guy lived and made a complete recovery, left his mistress and they stayed together since they were working on their relationship. He died a few years ago and the wife finds out he never actually left his mistress just lied.
#19
My best friends dad invited his coworker/mistress to his home and let his unknowing wife cook for her and all. Wife eventually finds out and he throws her out, divorced her, and marries the mistress. He was a pastor.
#20
When I worked a college, this guy cheated on his girlfriend.... with her mother! He dated both of them, knowing they were related, but they didn't know they were dating the same guy.
He got both of them pregnant too, and vanished shortly after they found out he dating both of them. We used to semi-jokingly wonder if he ran away or was stuffed into a barrel at the bottom of the lake.
Apatheist Account2 2 weeks ago
So mother's new baby has a sister who is also her sister's mother, which mean their sibling is also their niece/nephew...does this make them their own cousin?
#21
A friend and his ex are Indian and according to astrology his girlfriend has to marry by 27. If she marries after that her husband will die. They both don't believe in it, so weren't planning to get married by 27.
She goes on a year of working abroad and cheats on him with many guys. He finds out by looking at her phone while he went over to see her and find messages and pictures of her with multiple guys. He doesn't say anything.
She comes back after a year. He still doesn't say anything. A year later he dumps her on her 27th birthday at a fancy restaurant.
She is still not married and it has been 8 years
Michael Largey 2 weeks ago
She doesn't exactly sound like she's sitting alone at home and pining to get married.
#22
Girl said she was approved for some class in another really far city after her grades in college were too good. The boyfriend paid all her travel expenses and gave her his credit card for this trip to this specific event.
When she arrives on the another city she calls saying she won’t come back and would live with this guy she met online and was chatting for months.
Boyfriend went crazy to cancel the credit card he gave to her, found there was never any class and she was almost expelled from the college because her grades were terrible. She just travelled to meet the other guy and still made BF pay all her expenses.
This happened about 15 years ago. I lost contact with her, but I remember she married the other guy.
Joshua David 2 weeks ago
I ended a 15 year non married relationship for a guy i met and hung out with for a small amount of time. I upended my life to have this man cheat on me and lie to me any chance he got. He worked for united airlines and i was flying back and forth between chicago and atlanta because i reconnected with some old family and we all hit it off. I ended up meeting a guy and we knew pretty immediately we were each others "one." The last flight to Atlanta was to come here permanently and i didnt mention it to united guy until after i landed. I did it because one night after flying from London to Chicago, i did what i never do and checked his phone. Turns out he was having a lot of fun during his layovers and i just waited for my opportunity. Its been 12 years and im still with the "one" and the other guy passed away on new years eve 2021. I have no idea why he died.
#23
I worked at a ski resort and was riding the chair lift with a friend, talking about a mutual friend(Ray) I mentioned how much I like our Ray’s girlfriend, her name was Stacy. My friend says, “no, ray’s girlfriend is Monica.” We bicker for a minute before we have a terrible realization.
I couldn’t in good conscience keep this information secret from Stacy, who was expecting to be engaged soon and lived with Ray. She ran into Monica at a bar and confronted Monica, who reportedly said “I’ve been with Ray for longer and known about you the whole time!”
Stacy tried to gouge Monica’s eyes and was carried out of the bar. Ray was found to have a history of this behavior, even having a secret child in another state that he refused to pay support for.
I quit speaking with him, and sometimes wonder what happened to him.
Both ladies are married to good men and are now happy, so there’s that.
Names changed for obvious reasons
#24
Roommate was sleeping with his boss who was married with a child. She would arrive at our house at 5.30am (having told her husband she’s off to gym), they would have an early morning shag, shower, get ready and go off to work together. They would also do it at work in the bathrooms.
On weekends he would go do his food shopping and she would coincide her food shopping so they would walk around the store together doing their shopping.
He came home one night and sat my other roommate and I down and told us that within the next 6 months that she would be getting a divorce and they were going to have a kid together. Let’s just say she’s still married and he’s got a new job.
They were lawyers, so much for being fit and proper.
#25
Was in rehab, two people were there for sex addiction one a minister the other a Jewish housewife. They left rehab together early. Woman divorced her husband who sent her to rehab for sex addiction and married the guy she met in rehab. They are still married 10 years later and seem very happy.
DennyS (denzoren) 2 weeks ago
I guess that turned out alright...if I'm interpreting this correctly.
#26
A guy I know who was married with a kid and another on the way went over to Germany as a civilian contractor to the Army. While in Germany he had a fling and got the girl pregnant. He comes back to the states to his wife and doesn’t mention it. The girl from Germany ends up calling their house and leaving a message telling my friend when their kid is due. Well friends wife hears the message first and s**t completely hits the fan. They get divorced and he now has two kids by two different women that are 2 months apart in age. The wife ended up re-marrying and is in a good place. I haven’t talked to my friend in years, he met some girl online who was from the Philippines and went over there to be with her back in 2015 and I haven’t heard from him since. I’m not sure what became of the German girl and his daughter. Total pos.
#27
This guy lived with his family after marriage. He was living happily with 4 kids I believe.
One day he was driving and saw a woman was in labour on the street. So he offered to take her to hospital. The woman gave birth and when asked who is the father, she said the man who drove me here is the father. She was setting him up to take responsibility and help pay for the child's expenses.
He told them he is not the father and he was just helping out. Told them to do whatever test they need to do to prove this is not his child.
So they did they test and told him, you are right, this is not your child. In fact, you are infertile, and incapable of having any children. He told them this can't be right as he has 4 kids. The doctor recommended he gets a test to see if he is their father.
He found out the father of his children is his brother, who stayed in the same house as them.
Edit: I don't know the intricate details of the story as I heard the story from someone else. The person who said the story is a trustworthy person and from what I know, they had no reason to lie. As for paternity and fertility test are two different things, like I said I'm telling the story second hand and do not know full details. Somewhere along that process the guy found out he is infertile.
#28
This comes straight from the family tree. Long story short my aunt married a dude who ended up f*****g her daughter while she was at work then divorced her and married the daughter and ended up on Maury povich for a is the baby mine episode. 90s was f*****g wild
#29
A guy I went to school with had been in a relationship for a few years with a girl in the year below. He left home and bought the house right next door to his parents.
One day he came home and found his Dad hanging out the back of his girlfriend.
#30
I was 32, she was cheating on me with her ex for like 6 months before I found out.
The way I found out was she called me crying hysterically saying she k*lled him by accidentally running him over. I get all her belongings from the police, and find all the evidence on her laptop with them screwing.
An argument over me was what caused the running over, police ruled it accidental and she brags about it in bars to this day.
She also ended up having a kid with a guy that had the same name as me and spells it exactly the same too.
Edit: the way she ran him over was interesting too. Purposely at first, but he was alive under the tire, and she had a sudden change of heart. She jacked the car up using the car jack but it slipped as she was attempting to pull him out (it was raining) and the car tire then crushed his ribcage and lungs, finishing him off. So technically he got ran over twice in the same night.
What do you think ?
Enuya 2 weeks ago (edited)
I find many of these stories incredibly sad and a testament to how faulty our social expectations are. We live in a society where ending a long-term relationship - especially (but nit only) if the children are involved - is considered a failure and proof of weak character. And even if you don't feel this way, family, friends and often the other partner try to guilttrip you. I don't approve of cheating, but I understand the desperation one can feel, trapped in long-term situation and not seeing any honorable way out. I think many of these stories would be avoidable if only we normalize ending unhappy relationships without feeling shame and failure.
Susie Elle 2 weeks ago
I'm also susprised by the amount of people apparently down to have sex with a stranger within a matter of hours. Like, more power to you, but do you even know each other's names? Guess it's a me-problem, as I'm not one for one-night-stands, which often means having sex with a stranger :')
Load More Replies...
Doctor Strange 2 weeks ago
My first girlfriend, and second worst relationship. We were together for a few months, but then she left me for the guy she was cheating on me with. I know, because she told me she was, and how much better than me he was. Two weeks later, she was engaged to be married. To a third guy. Of course, the engagement didn't last because he found out she was cheating on him. With a fourth guy. Just to really make it more twisted, a girl I am now friends with hated me, because she had a crush on the third guy, knew I was dating the girl he was engaged to, and thought I knew about it. It wasn't until she found out that I had no idea there was anyone else that she and I became friends. Oh, and that guy she was engaged to? Now my best friend.
Enuya 2 weeks ago (edited)
I find many of these stories incredibly sad and a testament to how faulty our social expectations are. We live in a society where ending a long-term relationship - especially (but nit only) if the children are involved - is considered a failure and proof of weak character. And even if you don't feel this way, family, friends and often the other partner try to guilttrip you. I don't approve of cheating, but I understand the desperation one can feel, trapped in long-term situation and not seeing any honorable way out. I think many of these stories would be avoidable if only we normalize ending unhappy relationships without feeling shame and failure.
Susie Elle 2 weeks ago
I'm also susprised by the amount of people apparently down to have sex with a stranger within a matter of hours. Like, more power to you, but do you even know each other's names? Guess it's a me-problem, as I'm not one for one-night-stands, which often means having sex with a stranger :')
Load More Replies... Doctor Strange 2 weeks ago
My first girlfriend, and second worst relationship. We were together for a few months, but then she left me for the guy she was cheating on me with. I know, because she told me she was, and how much better than me he was. Two weeks later, she was engaged to be married. To a third guy. Of course, the engagement didn't last because he found out she was cheating on him. With a fourth guy. Just to really make it more twisted, a girl I am now friends with hated me, because she had a crush on the third guy, knew I was dating the girl he was engaged to, and thought I knew about it. It wasn't until she found out that I had no idea there was anyone else that she and I became friends. Oh, and that guy she was engaged to? Now my best friend.
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