The trouble with romantic betrayal – apart from the obvious pain – is that it is the salacious lifeblood of everything from tabloid headlines and box sets to true crime podcasts. Because of this, there is a tendency to view it in highly dramatic terms. That is fine when we are snuggled up on the sofa watching other people’s heartbreak at a distance, but less helpful when it arrives closer to home.
“He’s a cheater,” gossiped one friend recently about a mutual acquaintance’s partner. “She needs to throw him out and change the locks.” Well, maybe. But the man in question is a mild-mannered accountant who had, in the space of six months, lost his mother and his job. Could this have been a temporary blip?
