Mark Oaten’s wife reveals gay affair reaction
The wife of former Liberal Democrat leadership contender, Mark Oaten, attacked and threw her wedding ring at him after finding out about his six month gay affair.
Belinda Oaten revealed her feelings in a five page magazine interview with Hello magazine, detailing her reaction to a News of the World story in January, which said the married father of two had been involved in a relationship with a “rent boy.”
Mrs Oaten said she and her husband were receiving “intensive marriage therapy” in an attempt to “restore the family unit,” which she admitted would take time.
In regards to the MP for Winchester’s affair, she said: “He was under extreme pressure with the job he was doing. He felt like he was walking in treacle and I think he was just too scared to admit he could not deal with it all. It was all too much pressure and at that stage we were probably spending just 15 minutes of real time together each weekend.”
“What I do believe is that whatever Mark did, wasn’t an emotional thing, it was a physical thing,’
she added.
She described how the saga began when she mistook journalists who were speaking to Mr Oaten outside their home, for Jehovah’s Witnesses, she said he returned inside to tell her,
“It’s over for me. It’s finished and we’re finished.”
Mrs Oaten said: ‘I said an awful lot of things to him at first. I took off my rings and threw them at him and told him never to come back and I hit him about three times. I’d lost all respect for him.’
Mr Oaten had stepped down from the Liberal Democrat leadership contest prior to the revelations, and resigned from his home affairs post after.
He announced last week that he is back with his wife who “understands” what led to his betrayal.
