Fury as Woman and Best Friend's Husband Confess Feelings for Each Other

A woman has been accused of embarking on an "emotional affair" with her best friend's husband after the pair confessed their love for one another.

In a now-deleted Reddit post, a user writing under the handle Virtual-Ebb-4189 said "my best friend's husband confessed that he's in love with me and the feelings are mutual."

It's a scenario that has sparked outrage on social media, while one leading relationship expert has urged the woman to create distance between herself and the married couple.

But while this kind of betrayal may be difficult for some to consider even possible, research has found that those who admit to having had extramarital sex most often cheat with a close friend.

That's according to a 2018 study from the University of Colorado Boulder's Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, which found 53.5 percent of those admitting to extramarital sex were unfaithful with someone they knew well, such as a close friend.

The research found that 29.4 percent of affairs were with someone somewhat well-known, such as a co-worker or neighbor, while the remainder involved casual acquaintances.

In the case of the woman sharing her dilemma to Reddit, it would appear that feelings had blossomed over a prolonged period of time.

"Although the three of us are very close, after five years of friendship, I did not see this coming at all," she wrote. "Somehow things changed over the past year. I guess we started spending more time together and the way he treats me doesn't help as he's awfully thoughtful."

Things reached a head when, after his wife fell asleep one night, he told her he loved her and she reciprocated.

Since then they continue to do "so much together," and she has had "sleepovers" at their house on multiple occasions because her best friend "always" wants her around.

"He has no intention of leaving her or anything like that. Nor would I want him to," she said. "He's always on my mind and I can't seem to shake it. When the three of us are together. The tension is always there and it's undeniable."

It's a situation that has left her torn between distancing herself from "the most important people" in her life or confessing and, in doing so, "ruin every relationship."

Yet for dating and relationship expert Angela Holton, there was really only one solution. Holton told Newsweek: "While we may not always be able to control 'catching feelings' for someone, we can control the choices we make.

"This is a deep level of disrespect and a break in trust. They both may think they're protecting the wife by feigning that everyone is fine, but they are doing more of a disservice to her, and everyone involved."

Holton called on the woman to "dramatically distance herself so that the husband can address his emotional needs without her presence."

"Is he actually in love with her or could it be an aspect of her or an emotional need that he gets from her that is unmet from his wife?" she wondered. "Everyone needs to step away. The husband needs to come clean to his wife and perhaps this is an indication of problems in the marriage that need to be addressed."

Many of Holton's concerns were echoed online.

One Reddit user, posting as SleepDangerous1074, said she was "having an emotional affair and that's bad enough" but warned they would probably "give in to temptation" eventually unless distance is created.

ChookieKaki, meanwhile, commented: "Imagine how your friend is going to feel... your actions are going to cause her so much pain, confusion and will have a long-lasting effect...you can't help falling in love with someone but you can help how you act on those feelings."

Anonymoosehead123 was also skeptical of the husband's motivations, writing: "Don't say he's actually a great guy—married great guys don't tell other women they're in love with them."

Newsweek was not able to verify the details of the case.