'My husband of 20 years is cheating on me. When I found out who it was I was in complete disbelief.'

Reddit is going wild over one woman's troubling personal situation.

Rachel* is a 41-year-old self-titled stay-at-home mum. She and her husband Paul, who works in finance and is 48, have been married for nearly 20 years.

Rachel had what she thought was a comfortable family life — her and her husband were seemingly good in their marriage and enjoyed being parents to their kids Eric, 18, and Mary, 15.

"My kids are both the lights of my life. My marriage with my husband has grown somewhat stale over the years for a myriad of reasons," Rachel acknowledged via her post.

But Rachel considered it to just be the typical ebbs and flows in their relationship. Sadly, the facade broke very recently.

"Our son Eric has a girlfriend, Amy, who is the same age as him. They've dating since they were freshmen in high school. Eric absolutely adores Amy. She's his first love, and she's someone I've always considered as family," noted Rachel.

Last week, Rachel inadvertently saw her husband's phone screen and got a glimpse of a text thread between Paul… and Amy.

What Rachel saw was "emotionally excruciating". A message from Amy to her husband that was explicit in nature, saying she missed him.

"I froze in place, in complete disbelief. I spent most of the day convincing myself that I must have misread what I saw."

Rachel then went down a rabbit hole of looking for further proof.

She found saved photos of Amy that weren't sexual in nature, but it certainly added to Rachel's stress. She continued to search Paul's devices, and each time, found further proof.

It wasn't just evidence of an affair. There were messages from Paul to Amy where he compared his wife to his 'mistress'.

"He would call me fat and old, among other things," recounted Rachel, adding that Amy's response to those messages was equally cruel.

After days of gathering information, Rachel knew the feeling in her gut was correct. Her husband was cheating on her with their son's girlfriend.

Further digging found that Paul had also been using dating apps — adopting filters on his matches so that he could seek women who were between the ages of 18 to 22.

Watch: Woman discovers partner cheating through literal receipts left on table. Post continues below.

"I've always had hunches or paranoid feelings that Paul has been cheating on me but never in a million years could I have fathomed something like this.

"Last month, I found a thong in our bedroom that I know wasn't mine. I turned a blind eye to it, being naive and acting like it was maybe our daughter's even though that made zero sense."

"Not only is he cheating on me, but he's betraying our son. I'm completely devastated, I don't even think words can adequately describe the dread, anger, shock I feel right now."

It's left Rachel in an incredibly difficult situation.

First, how does she confront her husband? Second, how does she handle telling her son of this betrayal too?

Rachel explained that she isn't seeking to turn a blind eye and stay in her marriage. Rather, the dilemma is where to even start.

"I wouldn't wish this predicament on my worst enemy. I can't even believe I married this scumbag in the first place," she said. "Eric adores Amy, and the thought of revealing this sickening truth to him terrifies me. The impact on his young heart and mind could be devastating."

A few weeks after her Reddit post, Rachel provided an update, saying she has been taking necessary steps. This started with gathering as much information and proof as she possibly could from a legal standpoint during future divorce proceedings.

Then came the news every user had been waiting for. Rachel had confronted the situation head-on.

"I delicately told my kids the entire situation, and I broke down crying. My daughter Mary had the most anger, even more than Eric," she said.

Rachel then met with Amy's mother and told her everything. Amy claimed she and Paul were "in love". Rachel couldn't help but feel empathy towards her, concerned her husband had taken advantage of her naivety.

Rachel took her kids to her brother's place and then decided it was time to tell Paul what she knew.

"I confronted Paul over Zoom. The look on his face was scary. He became red and looked so sweaty. He had anger and panic in his eyes. His tone of voice was very defensive and frightening; he kept yelling the word 'CONTEXT' over and over again," said Rachel.

"I refused to tell him where I was, and he said I had no right to take his kids away from him, and then he abruptly left the Zoom."

Today, Rachel has filed for sole custody of her youngest child Mary, who is not yet a legal adult. She says it's the affair's impact on her kids that has been most upsetting.

"Eric is very clearly hurting but he's so strong and very level-headed. He wants to see a therapist. The maturity my kids are showing makes me proud. They don't deserve this at all," she said.

"I don't want to let this scumbag get away with it. I want to reinvent myself and move on stronger than ever."

If you were this woman in this situation, what would you do? Feel free to share in the comments below.

All names have been changed for privacy reasons.

Feature Image: Canva.