Another Affair: In The News

Another celebrity – this time Take That’s Mark Owen – appears on the front pages this week admitting that he’s been unfaithful to his wife with more than one woman.

This time, Owen’s wife, told him “get out, you lying, cheating b******” – an understandable reaction in the circumstances! But today brings the news that Emma Owen might have decided to take him back after what’s been called a ‘grovelling apology’.

Emma has been quoted as saying:

“I’m totally devastated. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing when he told me. I was shocked. I still am. It really came out of nowhere for me and I felt ill.

“I could leave him now but I’m not going to do that. I love Mark. I’ve thought about it and I am going to try to make this work.

“He said it will never happen again. I believe him when he says he hasn’t cheated on me since we were married.”

The line taken by both parties is now so familiar from these celebrity break-up stories and also from our own past experiences, or those of our friends. Whether there’s any truth in whether Emma will take him back or not is anyone’s guess, but I’m sure nobody envies her being in this position.

This kind of turmoil is what will cause a broken heart and there is no quick-fix solution. Emma essentially has two choices – stay or go – but wrapped up within those seemingly simple decisions are a multitude of complexities. If a cheated wife does stand by her man despite past indiscretions, she has to be able to bear the burden of not only her own resentment, but also the weight of his guilt which will reverberate just as strongly.

However, if she decides to leave him she makes another very difficult choice. They have children, after all – so a full split would mean denying him all the time he might have had with his kids. You may say that this is his own fault – and you’d be quite right – but for a mother who cares primarily for her children it doesn’t make being the facilitator of the family-unit break-up any easier. Even though you are not the root cause, you are the one with the momentum behind you and an impossible decision to make.

But if she does decide to change her life and make a clean break, then a long period of healing is often required to come to terms with such a massive change of circumstance. Often, people forget that a broken heart is like a broken bone – and if you run before you can walk, you might do serious damage.

I’m sure Emma Owen is being given the best advice possible from family and friends and I hope that, eventually, all parties will find the peace that lies beyond the storm of the past few days.