Today was one of the most interesting mornings I've had in a while. I stopped in at Global Morning show to talk to their lovely hosts (who I always enjoy seeing) as well as Noel Biderman, the President and CEO of Ashleymadison. com.
If you're one of the 1% of people who are not familiar with AshleyMadison (lol), it is a website where married people go to, yes, cheat on their spouses. What has become of our world? Today, I went head-to-head with Noel. His take? Infidelity helps marriages. My take? Infidelity destroys marriages (obviously). What do you think?
Only about 20% of couples actually survive infidelity, and those that do say their marriage will never be the same.
Just for the record, this is not the same thing as having a non-monogamous relationship (an open or swing-type relationship) where couples agree to have extramarital partners. We are talking about cheating - a breach of trust from the marriage.
Yes, there can be people who feel pressured into marriage or feel dissatisfied with their sex lives after 20 years of marriage, but it still has detrimental consequences and can hurt the person you love more than anything.
What I've learned from this whole experience is that will power and knowing oneself are a huge components of being faithful in a relationship. If you don't believe you want to commit to one person for the rest of your life, you probably shouldn't get married. In addition, if you're feeling like you want to cheat, look inside your relationship first to see if you can fix the problems that exist - instead of creating more problems that will take you years to come out of (if you get past them at all).