Marriage Rocked by Cheating: See Inside One Couple's Counseling Session
Expert says cheating husband needs to 'fight like a man' for his marriage.
Nov. 1, 2010 — -- After 15 years of marriage, Kevin and Dawn Nordin would describe themselves as an average Midwestern couple. They have two teen children, three mortgages and a dog.
But their marriage is now in crisis because Kevin cheated.
"Everything I thought I knew about my husband, I didn't have a clue and I second-guessed everything because, obviously, I had to do something or he wouldn't have done it," Dawn said. "(It) had to be my fault somehow, because if I was a better wife, it wouldn't have happened."
The Nordins' story is hardly unique.
Infidelity is the dirty little secret that rocks more than one in three American marriages.
Statistics show that more than a third of those marriages never recover from the affairs.
"Good Morning America" decided to see whether the Nordins' marriage could be saved through counseling.
We sent the Anoka, Minn., couple to Boston to meet with relationship expert Terry Real. They had an intense day of counseling to see if the marriage was salvageable.
As they talked, the story unfolded.
Do you have a question for Terry Real about marriage and cheating? Click HERE to submit your question, then check ABCNews.com/GMA tomorrow to see his answers.
The Nordins' schedule was harried. Dawn, 46, went back to school, and worked days, while Kevin, 45, worked mostly nights and weekends.
They told Real that things changed once they had children.
"It just got to be crazier and crazier. And the kids took over our lives. And basically, we didn't exist," she said.
They took very little time for themselves as a couple because of their schedules and tight money.
Dawn acknowledged to Real that she was "a yeller" and not proud of it.
"That's how my mom got us to do things," she said. "Unfortunately, I turned into my mother."
That took its toll on Kevin.
He told real that he felt "Unhappy. Worthless. Unloved.
"Honestly, it got to the point where I felt like Dawn hated me. I dreaded coming home, 'cause I knew the minute that I walked through the door or she walked through the door, there was going to be some kind of huge blow-up," he said.
Related Stories
ABC News Live