Husbands Behaving Badly


I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty tired of hearing about these cheating men who embarrass their wives with their infidelities. It's even worse when the wife has praised or defended him. I still wince when I think of Hillary Clinton's claims of the "vast right-wing conspiracy" in defense of Bill, who knew damn well what he was doing with that intern, but let her go out and stick up for him anyway. And, of course, the news has been following all the developments since John Edwards came clean about impregnating another woman while his wife was coping with a diagnosis of incurable cancer, and we all know that coverage of Tiger Woods's indiscretions practically reached saturation coverage, with his sex partners coming out of the woodwork like termites.


The latest to be embarrassed is Sandra Bullock, who credited her husband with changing her life for the better, teaching her so much about love, etc., in a widely seen Oscar night interview with Barbara Walters. Not two weeks after bringing home her statuette, it's revealed that her husband was sleeping with another woman while she was away on location. Presto bingo...she's now on the cover of every tabloid, the rumors are saying that she's pregnant (at age 45), and women are coming forward for their 15 minutes of fame by saying they fucked him.

No one knows what goes on inside a marriage, and some women, like Mrs. Woods and all those political wives, have never spoken to the press about their relationships with their husbands. I guess that does little to lessen their level of embarrassment, but Ms. Bullock is a celebrity in her own right, and it was a natural series of questions answered with sincere answers. It's not as though she was going around telling the world about her wonderful marriage, in that nauseating way Kathie Lee Gifford used to do on morning TV before it was revealed that Frank Gifford had an affair, a humiliation that finally made her shut up.

I'm sure Ms. Bullock will get through this. The way things are going, it will only be a matter of time before the next big cheating scandal breaks!

2 comments:

DonnaD said...

What I find even more disgraceful are the women (and I use that term out of politeness) who feel the need to disclose the affairs and all the sordid details. Are they that desperate for their 15 minutes? Are they expecting a reality show deal? Why would you want to humiliate yourself on national television/media? Do they even care what people - even their families - are saying about them?

I'm in no way excusing the behavior of the married party, but if I ever found myself in that type of situation, I would never want it to go public.

It's something to be said for the days when public figures could have long-term affairs but the parties kept quiet even long after the other party was dead and buried. Now, it's just 15 seconds and a tweet away.

bettye griffin said...

I agree with everything you said, Donna! And I love the phrase, "15 minutes and a tweet away."