Telling someone that their spouse is cheating on them can be a difficult choice to make. You may feel like you’re betraying a friend, or you may worry about causing a scene. However, if you were in the same situation, you would probably want to know. After all, it’s better to know the truth than to be left in the dark.
When deciding whether or not to tell someone about their spouse’s affair, consider your motivations. Are you trying to help them, or are you looking for revenge? If your goal is to help your friend, then it’s important to be respectful and honest in your delivery. However, if you’re simply looking to cause drama, then it’s best to keep your mouth shut.
In the end, only you can decide whether or not to tell someone that their spouse is cheating on them. But, if you decide to go along with it, then there’s a specific way in which it should be done. So remember, with great power comes great responsibility.
How to tell someone their spouse is cheating?
1- Gather as much evidence as you can:
First, gather as much evidence as you can. This might include things like texts or emails, photos, or even videos, but it cannot be “just gut instinct”. Maybe your gut instinct is enough for you to confront your own partner if you feel they have been entertaining people outside of the relationship.
However, you cannot dare or dream of breaking up another couple or causing this type of conflict amongst it, if you only have a “gut instinct” and no real evidence at all. In fact, even if the person that is being cheated on is very close to you and trusts you with their life, they will not appreciate being told such a thing with no proof.
It may actually cause your friendship to crumble and fall apart. If you have solid proof that their spouse is cheating, it will be easier to hand it over to them. If not, keep your mouth shut until you have gathered irrefutable evidence that cannot be questioned or denied.
2- Be there for them until the end:
Finding out a spouse has been unfaithful can be one of the most painful experiences anyone goes through in life. So it is definitely a great responsibility to have to tell anyone and wake them up to their spouse’s infidelity.
It might feel like they will be in shock for life, and it can be tough for them to know what to do next, so make sure you’re there for them and that you guide them until the end. In other words, make sure that you’re not just in and out of this business. Don’t do it if you have a trip planned for next week or if you can’t be there for this person until the very end.
When you tell them, be there to lend them a shoulder to cry on, give advice if asked, and also pick the pieces up if they get their heart shattered twice for going through a break-up too soon after learning about this infidelity. They will surely never forget your help and support, and you may make yourself a friend for life.
3- Sit down with them and say everything:
Now that you have all the evidence you need and know that you’ll be free to support this person until the end, you can choose a convenient time to break the news to them. Sit down with your friend or the person who has been cheated on and calmly tell them what you know, uninterrupted.
Give them a chance to ask questions and to be shocked or to even doubt your words before looking at the evidence you have at hand. Any reaction should be expected at this point.
In fact, you may find out the wrong way that there are sadly some people that will never believe a negative word about their spouse, even if they saw all the evidence in the world. They may even go as far as to think you fabricated the evidence or that you’re their biggest enemy, but they will simply not believe one word of it.
This is rare though, but if it does happen be patient and understand that they will probably need the most support as they’re clearly blindly in love with the person that cheated on them. So be prepared for them to deny it or to even say that they knew about it.
Whatever their reaction is, try to work through the issue together. Let them come up with a plan in your presence, if they want, or give them time to think about what they want to do and get back to you for advice or support.
4- Be ready for any reaction:
If someone just discovered that their spouse is cheating on you, it’s natural to feel angry, hurt, and betrayed. Like we said earlier anything should be expected at this point.
They may be tempted to run away mid-conversation and confront their partner immediately. They may not believe you at first, or they may become defensive and refuse to see the truth. Also, they may choose to stay with the person that cheats on them and believe them instead, and there will be nothing you can do about it.
You can only tell them, but cannot enforce a specific reaction or them or push them to break up with the person in question. If they are easily manipulated by their spouse they may turn against you after they talk to them and you may even become the number 1 public enemy of this couple.
Whatever the outcome, be ready for it. After all, you did this from a good place and to help a person see that they’re being taken for a fool. So don’t pay attention to what labels they want to put on you, or how much their cheating spouse wants to make you look like a liar.
Now if they refuse to see the truth, even with all the evidence you brought to them, or if they get manipulated by their spouse and believe them then there’s not much you can do. It’s important to remember that they have a right to be angry, confused, and upset, but ultimately the decision whether to stay or leave is up to them.
If you do choose to tell them about the infidelity; then it is probably the right thing and most people would want to know such a thing anyway. But be prepared for anything nonetheless! They may react in ways that you didn’t expect, so it’s important to be ready.
5- Don’t tell other people about it:
It’s always difficult to tell someone that their spouse is cheating on them. After all, it’s a sensitive subject and you don’t want to cause any unnecessary hurt. However, if you suspect that something is going on, it’s important to investigate, gather enough evidence, and tell the victim in this scenario.
Clearly, if you have proof it will be a lot better, as explained earlier. But, you may want to give them a lead too, at least, if you have very little evidence. The choice is yours. But, only if you have no evidence at all can you consider truly keeping yourself out of it. Either way, whatever you do; you should never choose to involve other people or tell anyone else that is not concerned about this matter.
We understand that the longer you keep it to yourself, the more resentful you may become of the cheater, especially if the person that is getting cheated on is a loved one. So you may want to tell others to vent or ask for advice on what to do with the information you learned. In fact, you may even feel tempted to tell others even after you told the person that is getting cheated on directly.
But, this is not okay to do, and even if you resent the cheater, it still doesn’t mean that you should go tell everyone about what they did. It’s not your place to go shame the cheater publicly, especially if their spouse decides to stay with them after the fact.
Ultimately, it’s that couple’s private business and they need to deal with it in the way that they see fit. So be careful not to tell anyone else, because you’ll just cause the couple to hate you or want to kick you out of their life, but not without a fight first.
If they forgive one another and decide to move on from this horrible event in their life as a couple, then the last thing they need is for the whole world to know about their situation. And, they will not forgive you for it!
6- Don’t judge the victim:
It’s never easy to tell someone that their spouse is cheating on them, but it’s something that you may have to do at some point in your life. The most important thing to remember when it’s all done is not to judge the victim.
They may decide to stay with their spouse after being cheated on, and that’s their decision. Just be there for them as a support system and don’t force them to make any decisions that they’re not ready to make.
If they tell their cheating spouse that it was you who told them about it all, then chances are their spouse will resent you and will not let them stay friends with you, if they stay together. So don’t be surprised if the victim decides to choose their spouse over your friendship or if they want to allow being cheated on.
Being cheated on can be very damaging and change people in different ways. So maybe that person is getting convinced by their cheating spouse that they’re not good enough and they’re being manipulated to stay with them. but, they could also have willingly decided as a couple that it was a mistake and then moved on. So you never know!
You can be happy for telling them because you didn’t make the decision for them to stay in this relationship yourself. In the end, they’re the ones who should decide knowingly and you had enough strength to give them that chance!