A woman who discovered her husband was cheating on her for the majority of their marriage decided to “forgive” him – because she didn’t want to “abandon” him during his “darkest moment”.
Alexandrea Acevedo, 26, found herself reeling after learning her husband of five years, Michael, 31, had been unfaithful for three-and-a-half years.
The mum-of-three learnt of his betrayal when she spotted a message to his lover on his phone in December 2022.
READ MORE: Husband caught ‘cheating’ at nudist camp – and wife’s reaction surprises everyone
After confronting Michael, he confessed he had been seeing another woman for the last three-and-a-half years.
Michael left the family home for a week while Alexandrea tried to work out what she wanted to do.
After being threatened with a divorce, Michael eventually began to realise that he needed to make a change.
(Image: Alexandrea Acevedo / SWNS)
Alexandrea said her husband was then “hellbent” on repairing their marriage – booking himself into therapy and AA to prove it.
Seeing her husband’s actions match his remorseful words encouraged her to give him a second chance.
The events designer, from Orlando, Florida, said: “When I first found out he had been cheating on me, I sat in a lot of hurt and anger and disbelief.
“I’d always talked very highly of him so to find out he’d had an affair was heart-wrenching for me.
“I went through the cycle of crazy emotions for eight or nine days. I would go from sad to hurt to angry to confused then a little bit hopeful.
“He was doing everything in his being to reconcile.
“But when I started to soften, I let the words he was saying become more meaningful and I saw his words match his actions.
“I started seeing effort in him. He chose to pick up a bible, go to therapy and to AA.
“We’re now having conversations where he will listen properly and open up and talk to me.”
(Image: Alexandrea Acevedo / SWNS)
Even though she has moments of “weakness”, and times where she thinks about the lies, she said he’ll continue to try and prove himself to her.
She didn’t want to abandon him during a tough time, as he’d always been a “great dad”, and the marriage in general was good.
The ordeal left her “shocked”, but she said it was also a time when he really needed someone.
Michael, an industrial production manager, said: “At first I felt complete and utter garbage, and then as time went on I kind of felt like the weight of guilt had lifted off my shoulders a little bit.
“It’s definitely the biggest regret or mistake I’ve ever made and it’s something that I’ll regret for a very long time – if not forever.
“I’m sure there were better ways of getting to a better place but this is where we are now.
“I’m as grateful as anyone can be for a second chance.”
At first Michel said the messages were just “random messages from a friend”, but Alexandrea’s “gut feeling” told her there was more to it.
This led her to looking through his phone, and discovering the truth.
(Image: Alexandrea Acevedo / SWNS)
She discovered a message that said something along the lines of “why do you think she’s going to find out?”, and this was when she knew.
With enough information to confront him with, she asked more questions, and he eventually confessed everything.
“At first it was a lot of anger and hurt,” she said.
“A lot of emotions, and I’ve always said that infidelity is a deal breaker for me, and he knew that as well.
“We were arguing a lot, and I really had to pry the truth out of him and when he did tell me the truth, I asked him to leave straight away.”
Alexandrea was left hurt and betrayed while she worked out how to move forward.
Michael thought it would be “easier” to divorce when it all came out, but suddenly he realised he needed to work hard to try and fix things.
(Image: Celeste / SWNS)
“I couldn’t just walk away,” he added.
“The first thing was realising that I needed God in my life.
“I had denied all that stuff before, but I realised that wasn’t the way to live.
“I knew I needed to get help with my drinking, and to see a therapist to makes things better.
“Alexandrea was a lot more receiving than I probably would have been.
“At first I didn’t want to talk, but she kept pushing and I finally opened up and started talking more and trying to make things better.
“We want things to be better, we’ve been pretty good and navigated things pretty well. and I feel I’m doing better at talking through things.
“I’ve never been a talker, and she’s always asked why I don’t talk and I finally realised that I need to talk.”
READ NEXT: