{"id":18524,"date":"2026-08-15T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/graziav2\/?p=18524"},"modified":"2026-08-13T16:14:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T16:14:31","slug":"theres-one-major-change-causing-a-huge-rise-in-extramarital-affairs-its-shocking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/graziav2\/2026\/08\/15\/theres-one-major-change-causing-a-huge-rise-in-extramarital-affairs-its-shocking\/","title":{"rendered":"There’s one major change causing a huge rise in extramarital affairs – it’s shocking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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we’re in a new frontier of cheating<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Experts say there’s a rise, but it’s not in the way you might think…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

words Bonnie McLaren<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Say the word affair, and you probably think of hotel rooms and forbidden relationships behind office doors in the workplace. But, for many, affairs are purely online, never leaving the virtual world. And now, a new survey has revealed it\u2019s a shocking percentage which never amount to a proper meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to IllicitEncounters.com \u2013 if the name wasn\u2019t obvious enough, that\u2019s a site for people looking for extramarital affairs \u2013 nearly 40% (38%) say they have had a relationship outside their marriage that never became physical, conducted entirely through messages, voice notes and calls. (That\u2019s out of 2000 people they surveyed, by the way.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite never meeting, those who say they\u2019ve had non-physical affairs claim these relationships have lasted for an average of eleven months, with 29% even saying they\u2019ve lasted more than two years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While many would claim this is cheating, only 44% of the participants believe it truly is being unfaithful to your partner, however, 78% of those people think their partner would classify it as cheating. And, unsurprisingly, 61% believe it does more damage than a one-night stand \u2018because there was more of it and it was harder to explain away\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the people who became caught up in such an affair is 41-year-old Nadia, who says she knew she had a problem when she was telling her virtual affair things before her own husband. \u2018It started because we were both awake at half six and neither of us wanted to be,\u2019 she told the survey. \u2018It was nothing, really. What we\u2019d watched, his mother, my knee. Then one morning I told him my scan results before I told my husband, and I sat there looking at the message thinking, that is not a friend. I have never once been in a room with him. I would still know his voice anywhere.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look to Reddit, and there are reams of similar stories. One woman detailed how she was in an online relationship, with someone who had a partner, for twelve years \u2013 she says they did actually meet once, but nothing sexual happened when they did. Another man detailed how his wife set up a fake online dating profile, again, to have a virtual affair with a man she also never met. Another woman details she discovered her husband\u2019s messages to a woman he\u2019d also never met \u2013 they were still exchanging messages as intimate as \u2018I love you\u2019 \u2013 and the devastation which followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘I have never once been in a room with him. I would still know his voice anywhere’<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Leoni, who works for the site, compares these emotional affairs to couples who start relationships through pods on Love Is Blind<\/em>. \u2018Everybody is about to watch a programme where people fall in love through a wall, and half the country will talk about it like it is a gimmick. It is not,\u2019 she says. \u2018We have members who have carried on for a year with somebody they have never once been in a room with. No hotel, no meeting, nothing you could photograph.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added the implications of these affairs are no less than ones which happen irl. \u2018Twenty-two years I have been doing this, and the ones who get caught this way take it hardest,’ she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘There is nothing to point at. No receipt, no hotel bill, no lipstick on anything. Just months of voice notes and the fact that he told her things first. Try explaining to a wife that nothing happened. She has read it. She knows exactly what happened.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But what do you do if your partner has strayed \u2013 on or offline? Luke Shillings, a life coach and the host of the podcast After the Affair<\/em>, told the Guardian<\/em> if you\u2019ve been cheated on, firstly, you need to work out what\u2019s actually gone down. \u2018If this has happened to you, start by getting clear on the facts of the affair, even if they\u2019re not details you want to hear from your partner. Then, recognise the things you can control versus those you can\u2019t,\u2019 he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Take responsibility for what your current situation is. By that, I mean working on building up your own resilience and self-care. Ask yourself: how can I embrace this discomfort and use it as a catalyst for growth and change?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also told the paper for those who decide to stay and work on the relationship, to work out why they want to give it another shot. \u2018It\u2019s very easy to stay for the kids, or the money, or the house, or the social life and family support,\u2019 he says. \u2018Cultural and religious expectations can also play a part. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forget about those for now and get very clear about whether you want to be in the relationship regardless.\u2019 Schillings add the most vital thing, if you stay, is to work on restoring trust, something he says is \u2018very, very difficult\u2019. And he says it\u2019s not just your partner you need to learn to have faith in again, but, also, your own judgement. \u2018Learn to pay attention to your intuition and notice the times you\u2019ve ignored your gut instincts and when it has paid off,\u2019 he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photos: GETTY<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s not what you think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":18526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"acf":{"article_authors":"","send_as_draft":false,"send_as_paid":true,"send_as_featured":true},"modified_by":"guestgrazia","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/graziav2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/graziav2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/graziav2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/graziav2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/graziav2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18524"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/graziav2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18576,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/graziav2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18524\/revisions\/18576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/graziav2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/graziav2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/graziav2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/graziav2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}