She forgave husband after he admitted loving someone else. 10 years later, she found proof he’d bought a ring engraved 'a little bit obsessed'

Marriages thrive only on honesty, 100% commitment, and forgiveness. However, this very transparency and forgiving nature backfires when one partner takes it for granted. In an August 27, 2026 episode of the Not As We Planned (@notasweplanned) podcast, hosts Tash Gershfield and Carly Harris talked about a woman who chose to forgive her cheating husband only to end up regretting it 10 years later. A 50-year-old woman brushed off his relentless dismissiveness for years, until a shocking receipt in his inbox exposed the ring he'd been carrying for his mistress. The episode has since been viewed 11,000 times on YouTube.

A secret romance

The anonymous woman had met her husband at the university in the late 90s. Five years later, they got married and started a family. Life was smooth sailing — a nice home, good parenting, and great friends — as Harris described, reading the story. By 2015, the couple had two daughters, aged 7 and 4. And even though there were some struggles, everything was good, except that the husband had stopped “being very nice” to his wife. On many days, her husband went out to work at night and wouldn’t answer her calls. 

Worried, the woman started investigating and soon found love letters. She even found a video of her husband confessing his love for his female colleague from the top of a hill. When she confronted him, he admitted he'd been cheating on her with another woman.  “To my shame, I couldn't contemplate life as a single mom. And in response to his apologies and promises, I forgave him,” she shared.

'A little bit obsessed'

Her forgiveness didn’t change anything, though. Ten years later, the red flags re-emerged. For instance, on golf weekends, her husband wouldn’t post anything on Instagram like he usually did. He also deleted the location-sharing Life360 app from his phone. The final straw was during a family holiday in Thailand. Each time she woke up, she found her husband busy on the phone. At first, he denied having someone else in his life. But a search through his laptop revealed the evidence right away: a receipt for a ring engraved with the words “A little bit obsessed.” When she confronted him, he excused himself by saying he had bought the ring for her.

Convinced he got the ring for her, she apologized for doubting her husband. However, deep down she knew he was lying. She ducked into his computer once again and discovered receipts for romantic paraphernalia, including massage candles, bracelets, s*x toys, and more. The woman called her husband again and begged for the truth. “I don’t love you anymore,” he told her bluntly. While she handled the brutal devastation, her teenage girls knew why their parents were separating. At that point, she was a 50-year-old single woman. "I hope one day, there will be a happy, positive end to this story, where I meet someone who truly loves me, and treats me so distinguishingly," the woman wrote. 

The emotional fallout

Such infidelities often leave a partner grappling with negative mental and emotional health outcomes like depression, anxiety, PTSD, decreased self-esteem, and attachment issues. For instance, a study by Lydia G. Roos suggested that 45.2% of the surveyed individuals indicated symptoms of infidelity-related PTSD. Similarly, another report cited by the California State University stated that a betrayed partner often suffers from PTSD-related symptoms such as intrusive thoughts, distressing flashbacks, behavioral and psychological avoidance, physiological hyperarousal symptoms, and hypervigilance.

Meanwhile, in response to the woman's story, host Gershfield advised her to shift her focus from the past and look ahead. “You're not 80, so you have the rest of your life ahead of you. And you're showing your daughters resilience," she said. Moreover, the host insisted she develop a stoic attitude and let go of the things she can’t control.

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