My parents also survived cheating. I will probably delete this comment because it’s so personal.

It really depends on the circumstances. It took my parents I would say 2 decades to really and truly heal from it. Two decades after the cheating stopped. I think the deciding factor was that my parent who cheated didn’t go looking for it, it was their boss at work who came on to them right as a lot of other stresses hit, BUT most importantly my parent broke down and confessed one day to the other. They weren’t caught; they confessed of their own free will out of guilt. Even then for several years they weren’t sure if they wanted to stay married but did because divorce was too expensive.

They eventually found their way back to each other and the parent who cheated made restitution. They are happy together now. I’m so glad they stayed together.

I see a lot of people talk on here about how they wish their parents had gotten divorced sooner, but I’m so glad mine never did. It would have destroyed me.

But it took both of them many painful years and a lot of work. I don’t know I would make the same decision.