OP: I cheated while black-out drunk.... what now?

Secrets like this just fester inside you. If you truly love your fiance as much as you profess, and I hope that you do, you're probably going to have a hard time keeping this from him. You don't want something like this hanging over your marriage. Imagine if he found out from someone other than you. Take the high road and explain to him exactly what happened.

My other immediate concerns are: 1) Why have a 2-year engagement? Are there underlying committment issues? 2) Is it really necessary to drink so heavily?

Visioneer

Posted: 06 Oct 20:23

I know how you feel. Secrets find a way out. Sadly I do think you need to tell him. It should be with someone who he can trust because he will loose trust in you so he needs someone to fall back on. Also I think if they know about it prior so they can be prepared and not shocked. I think someone who he trust will help you to be able to get him listen to everything. Alcohol does make us do stupid things and it can be understood how it can happen. You will have a lot of work to do on your relationship. Can you really enter a marriage with such a big secret?

sexylady1989

Posted: 06 Oct 20:23

Agreed, you HAVE to tell him. You can't go through life with this. If you try to keep it a secret, it will become the 800-pound gorilla in the room, and someday it will come out and be even worse than it is now.

I don't know that anyone else should be involved in the conversation, least of all the roomie. He better not be on premises, or it could get ugly. But this conversation needs to be between you and your fiance, with no third party there. He'll go find someone to fall back on if he needs to. Let him decide who he turns to.

There's a reason you've been together two years, and there's a reason you've moved to the level of being engaged. Give him the opportunity to be the man you fell in love with. Be open, be honest, be sincere, and above all, be humble. There are no guarantees here--he may forgive you and be able to move on together, he may not. But he deserves the opportunity to make the decision.

lnt1103

Posted: 06 Oct 20:23

Yeah, you were very stupid. Dont give me any excuses.

And now, with all of this no doubt well meaning advice, you are going to be stupid again.

Counselors who professionally deal with infidelity state "Confession is not always the best choice."

You have to consider ALL of your alternatives AND the possible outcomes of all of those choices and then pick the option that causes your FIANCE' the least harm.

I'd say STFU and bear your burden like a full grown woman, handle stress in a better way (go get some exercise) and stop drinking. In other words: grow up and stop being a wimp. But you may decide that increasing your fiance's pain by destroying his idea of you and his relationship with his best friend just so you can feel better is more important.

Whether or not your fiance' decides to trust you is neither here nor there - the biggest question is whether you can ever learn to forgive yourself and trust in yourself again. You are only human ad this only becomes an 800 pound gorilla if you LET it.

EvilEvilKitten

Posted: 06 Oct 20:23

I've had the 800-pound gorilla in the room. He eventually becomes bigger than the relationship and ends it unless the two involved see him growing and choose to end him first.

If she doesn't tell him she best be able to guarantee he never finds out any other way, thus avoiding more pain to him than telling him now, herself, would cause. And she best be able to guarantee she can live with herself without letting it fester, thus avoiding the gorilla.

lnt1103

Posted: 06 Oct 20:23

If her fiance suffers from low self-esteem and she tells him - he will be destroyed. In our culture, they all do. Being "man enough" can be a terrible curse.

In any case, the marriage is off. He will be busy blaming her, blaming himself, recriminations, heartbreak, this friend's now gone, not trusting himself or her afterwards.

So she can get a pat on the head and 'forgiveness' - to make herself feel better?
"He forgave me and I'm so grateful. Now I can forgive myself."

Forgiving herself involves her accepting that she is only human and that she does not need his forgivness in order to forgive herself. Each time she resists similar temptations in the future will help her improve herself. Standing by him from through thick and thin will also help. Loyalty, devotion, love and even trust isn't just between her legs. By accepting the burden of her guilt, quietly and privately and by not making herself a blood sacrifice, she will become a better person than she may have become had she not screwed up.

I know how it is, Int. This may well be the most difficult thing she will ever have to do - all the more reason for her to do it.

EvilEvilKitten

Posted: 06 Oct 20:25

I agree with EEK--do not tell him, period--bear the burden and get on with it. I cheated on my late wife once, after 21 years of marriage--I'll not go into the details now. In any case, I regretted it and went back to my marriage with a renewed sense of commitment and love, but with guilt and remorse. I bore that until she was terminally ill, and then the need to confess became overwhelming--I did not want her to die without offering me absolution. Before I confessed, I spoke to the woman I'd cheated with, whom I'd remained vaguely friendly with. She wisely told me to keep my mouth shut, which I did. I was not about to do it for my wife, but for myself--and that option was both cowardly and selfish. She went to her grave loving her ever-faithful husband, and I carry my regret about the episode to this day, more than a dozen years after it happened. Suck it up and be a mensch.

mikkiji

Posted: 06 Oct 20:26

First stupidity: a "best friend" moving in with two in an established relationship.
Second stupidity: your screwing him - whatever the circumstances.
Third stupidity: his not voluntarily moving out.
Fourth stupidity: either of you telling your fiance about it. This will end a romantic relationship and a friendship.

Tell the friend to get his ass out. NOW!

Brandye

Posted: 06 Oct 20:26

What ever happened to the concept of "no secrets in relationships"???? Is it really that antiquated an idea????

If the relationship is strong enough, and means enough to both of them, and is meant to work out in the end, they can pull through it. WITHOUT the secrecy. And if they do so, believe it or not, the relationship has the potential to become stronger yet than it is now.

lnt1103

Posted: 06 Oct 20:26

Come on people. Realise that there is no way in hell that the stress of a secret like this can be "exercised off". I have been the recipent of such news before and well I love my partner so much we worked it out. Yes it took tons of time, alot of where are you now phone calls and a whole lot of work on his behalf but right now we are stronger than ever. If he loves you enough to marry you he should feel that there is plenty of reason to work through it all. You are going to have a hard time yourself earning back his trust but its better to tell him now then after your married and he feels his whole marriage is a sham. You do need to tell him but you will have to give him his space. let him know when he is ready to come around you will be there waiting to sort it all out

sexylady1989

Posted: 06 Oct 20:27

Tiger Woods, anyone?
Recently disgraced Gov. of South Carolina, anyone?

Both did something incredibly stupid, and then furthered the stupidity and the eventual pain infliction level, by attempting to hide it. And unfortunately there are countless other examples.

Come clean as soon as possible and deal with things from there.

lnt1103

Posted: 06 Oct 20:28

Many of you would think so because of the spectacular failures.

But many more you don't know quietly go on living thier double or triple lives.

Just because that may not fit your creed doesn't make it impossible.

EvilEvilKitten

Posted: 06 Oct 20:28

I think I would approach your fiance' and ask him how long his friend is going to be staying with us? Suggest to him this invades on our private life. That you have often had very special sexy feelings for your fiance' and have been uncomfortable in wanting to share your complete fantasys with him. You may not be able to change the past, but you can change the future. Doesn't your relationship with you and your fiance' deserve this privacy?

Gibson52

Posted: 06 Oct 20:28

I think the idea of not telling him is taking the easy way out. Whatever happened, your fiance deserves to know. Either he has a woman he can't trust or a friend that he can't trust. He might have both.

If things were reversed and a friend of yours tried to sleep with him or did, would you want that secret to be kept from you? What if it happened again? You would never know not to trust them.

I think that his friend did wrong in this situation. You made a mistake of drinking with him, but what he did could be considered a rape. If my best friend took advantage of my wife, I would want him out of my life.

Honestly, I think I could forgive my wife if the same thing happened. Your fiance might be able to as well. Either way, at least you're giving him the option and the fact that you're being honest will let him know that he can trust you in the future. If he finds out years later, he will never trust you because he'll know that you can keep things from him and he would never know.

tristannf

Posted: 06 Oct 20:34

You fucked up... You have to deal with it.

The longer you wait, the greater the damage. If he chooses to leave you because of it, it's his right....and you have to face that... This isn't just the relationship... his health is also on the line as the new guy could have given you something. He needs to be aware that his trust in you has been violated to be given a fair chance to protect himself.

I doubt that I would forgive you myself... but I can sure as hell guarantee that the greater the amount of time between the act and me finding out, the greater the odds that I would never say another word to you.

cool macs

Posted: 06 Oct 20:35

Now now, it isn't rape but it is taking advantage. The two are NOT the same.

But to say that he cannot trust her everafter is to make a mistake.
She can change.

"I think I could forgive..." see, there's the problem. You only think you could. If you truly loved, you would know that you would.

EvilEvilKitten

Posted: 06 Oct 20:36

Depending upon applicable state law, tristan could be right EEK. In my state, if alcohol gets consumed, it's chargeable as rape, because the capacity to consent or not has been compromised.

But that's beside the larger points:

*This fiance deserves to make a decision about this relationship himself. If he's not told, he's robbed of that opportunity. His trust is his to give, not hers to take.
*Adult actions have adult consequences. She needs to be an adult and face them, whatever they may be.

lnt1103

Posted: 06 Oct 20:36

So did she rape him or did he rape her - they were BOTH drunk. Perhaps you had forgotten.

She can also be an adult and just decide to keep her mouth shut as advised by the pros who deal with this issue i.e. Dr. Abrahhms-Spring. It is HER burden to bear, not her fiance's. Instead of seeking 'absolution' she should stop drinking so much. She also has to decide if she really wants to be married because she does not appear to be adult enough to be married.

'Ready to be married' is exactly what she should be thinking about now. Everything else is secondary.

Her fiance' can look after himself. I am counseling her.

EvilEvilKitten

Posted: 06 Oct 20:37