Will He Leave His Wife? What the Other Woman and the Betrayed Wife Agree On
I've had a few betrayed wives on this show. Lauren LaRusso is a betrayed wife who also happens to be a licensed psychotherapist, the author of Beyond Infidelity, and someone who works with every person in the affair triangle. Including women like me.
She'd been on my list for a while. Her team reached out before I could.
She was the betrayed wife. I was the other woman. We spent an hour agreeing on more than either side of the internet would like.
Is the Other Woman a Homewrecker? I Read the Comments
A man I've never met read one article I wrote and left a comment. Basically, you're a wh*re.
That's it. That was the whole comment. Roughly 600 words of my life and he'd seen enough.
I've never been called a wh*re on the internet before. I don't think anyone in real life has ever called me that and meant it. I blocked him and the comment disappeared. But it got me thinking about how brazen people are with strangers online. And the ones who do it from an account with their real name on it? Are you crazy?
I have thoughts when I scroll too. I think them and I keep going. That's what normal people do.
So I went to YouTube, because YouTube comments are where it all lives, and I answered them.
Why Don't I Feel Guilty About My Affair? Shame, Guilt, and What Society Expects
Last week I wrote an article on my Substack. A man commented on it with one line: so basically you're a whore.
Okay, thanks, love you. Blocked and deleted.
The comment didn't hurt my feelings. What surprised me was that I was surprised. Why on earth would I think any platform is free from trolls? None of them are.
It got me thinking about how people read one article, watch one video, or listen to one podcast and decide who you are. Then they call you names based on that one piece.
Should You Tell a New Partner You Were the Other Woman? What Happened When I Did
If you were part of an affair, at some point you're going to wonder when to tell someone new. First date? Third? Never?
I decided the answer was right away.
The first time I started dating again was about a year after my ex and I broke up. I'd been going out a lot, traveling a little, meeting people organically and on Bumble. And I made a call. I wasn't going to hide the fact that I was the other woman. I was going to lead with it.
My logic was simple. If I don't tell you, it gets awkward. Now I'm carrying something I have to tell you eventually, and I'm trying to figure out when the right time is. So why not tell you from the jump?
What a Summer of Saying Yes Taught Me About Dating in My 40s
The Summer of George is over. Sixteen episodes, every single Friday, for four months.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I started it. I knew where I'd be. What I didn't know was that it would turn into three completely different chapters. And now here we are at the end.
So this is the wrap. Why I called it The Summer of George, what my last two weeks in Greece looked like, why my Hinge is on pause, and what I'm doing next.
Sex, Intimacy, and Why Affairs Are Never Just One Thing
Ask most people what an affair is about and they'll say one word: sex. It's the assumption everyone makes the second they hear someone got caught. But after a lot of years living inside one, I can tell you it's not that simple. This is the deeper dive I wanted to do after my conversation with Dr. Marie Murphy last week.
I'll be straight with you, talking about sex and intimacy isn't the most comfortable thing for me to put out into the world. My close friends get the unfiltered version. Everyone else gets me at 48, still feeling a little awkward talking about one of the most primal things two people can do. But it's an important conversation, so here we go.
What Dating in Your 40s Taught Me in One Summer
I'm tired. Not the bad kind. The kind that lands after a summer that unfolded in ways I never saw coming, and finally lets you sit still and look at what actually happened.
This is the second-to-last week of my summer dating series, and I'm not here with another wild recap. I'm in Greece, the place I love more than anywhere, and I decided to spend these last weeks living a little softer. So instead of chasing one more story, I looked back at the four men I dated this summer and asked myself what I'm actually keeping from each one.
Are Affairs Really About Sex? What I Learned as the Other Woman
Everyone has a theory about why people cheat, and almost all of them start and end with sex. He wasn't getting enough at home. She wanted something new. Keep your partner satisfied and they'll never stray. It's clean, it's simple, and it lets everyone feel safe.
It's also mostly wrong.
I spent years as the other woman, so I've heard every version of the "it was just about sex" theory. This week I sat down with Dr. Marie Murphy, a non-judgmental infidelity coach, and we took the whole thing apart.
Why Men Pull Away After Getting Close (What I Learned in Three Weeks)
Three weeks. That's how long I saw a guy in Scottsdale before I left for Greece, and for three weeks he did everything right. He asked me out after every date. He let me be pursued. His texts weren't "morning, sexy" nonsense, they were plans, because we actually saw each other. His actions backed up his words. Then one morning they stopped, and I got a front-row seat to a question a lot of women in their 40s are asking: why do men pull away after getting close?
Waiting to Be Chosen: What I Learned From Five Years as the Other Woman
Being chosen is something we all want. Not just in relationships. We want to be chosen by friends, by family, in our careers, in every room we walk into. And when we're not, we sit there and pick ourselves apart. What could I have done differently? What was it about me that wasn't good enough? It's a brutal little loop, and almost everyone runs it at some point.
But there's a version of wanting to be chosen that's sharper than the rest, and that's the one that lives inside an affair.