Man Finds Out His Stepdad Is Cheating & Wonders Whether He Should Tell His Mom

A Reddit user concerned about his mother's well-being took to the site to ask if he should let her in on a significant secret that his stepdad had kept from her for at least four years.

A Reddit user who created a fake account to protect their identity came across a harrowing secret but was unsure if they should share it with their mother in case it ruined her life as she knew it.

The original poster (OP) clarified that their mother and stepfather had been married for fourteen years and shared a ten-year-old daughter. They also got along well with each other's children from previous relationships.

The OP said that aside from their half-sister, all the children had moved out of the house their mother and stepfather shared. All in all, the OP said they were a happy blended family. That was until the OP discovered something terrible.

What Did The OP Discover?

While the OP was house-sitting for their mother and stepfather while they were away on one of their many extended vacations, they found a cell phone in one of the drawers of the house. Knowing it was wrong, the OP opened the phone and went through it.

The OP checked the notifications on the phone and saw multiple suspicious text messages accompanied by red emojis. The OP opened the messaging app and realized it was their stepfather's work phone.

Although the OP knew they should have put the phone down and walked away, they admitted their curiosity got the better of them and then said:

"I scrolled through the messages and found numerous conversations between my stepfather and different women, mainly discussing meeting up for explicit activities. It became clear that they connected through a sugar dating site, and my stepfather was financially compensating these women for their encounters."

The OP discovered that his stepfather met up with different women at their homes or hotels and said that, as far as they could tell, the meetings took place outside the OP's mother and stepfather's shared home.

The OP's stepfather's infidelity had been ongoing for at least four years when they found the phone, and they suspected it may have been going on for longer. However, they couldn't be sure.

Once the entire story was recounted, the OP asked if they should tell their mother about their stepfather's infidelity, saying they knew their mother's lifestyle was supported by their stepfather and that she seemed somewhat content.

The OP was also concerned that telling their mother about the affairs would negatively affect their little half-sister, who was extremely happy with their family life. The OP also felt that their mother might know about the affairs but was looking the other way for the sake of peace. They shared:

"Bringing it up could also disrupt the dynamics at family gatherings, particularly during the holiday season."

Aside from everything the OP had mentioned, they also said that their mother struggled with conflict, making them even more apprehensive about what would happen if they told her.

What Did Reddit Users Suggest?

Reddit users quickly came to the OP's rescue with advice and words of wisdom. One shared that the OP should talk to their stepfather as he should be the one to let their mother know and leave.

Others said the OP should save the texts and help their mother get alimony so that if she decided to leave her husband, she would have everything she needed to show the courts in a divorce settlement.

One user advised that the OP needed to be careful because something similar had happened to them, and there had been "unexpected consequences." However, the user said the OP should tell their mother regardless because they couldn't just live with the information forever.

While this Reddit user was the one to find out about their stepfather's infidelity, another woman found out about her husband's affairs on her own with the help of CCTV. Read the full story here.