I have seen this same pattern over and over again. When marriages become painful we stop trying to make it work and just get by, usually for the children. The need to be needed by someone is a powerful force. When someone has a problem and you listen well, then a powerful connection is made. That according to Dave Willis can lead you to complete failure:
“Infidelity wrecks marriages. I recently sat down with a young husband in my office and he began to tell me a story about how he had been caught by his wife after he’d had some very inappropriate and sexually explicit text message exchanges with a woman at his workplace. His wife had sensed something was going on because he has been subconsciously pulling away from his wife emotionally and physically as he was giving more and more thought to this other woman.”