In a marriage, couples are tied together in a ritual that declared them as unity. It is the last stage of the coming together relational model development by Knapp. In a marriage, there are certain rules and norms that have to be maintained in order for the marriage to last forever. They include honesty, openness, share, fidelity, care, love, sense of responsibility, and many others.
When we talk about fidelity, many public figures are reported to have extramarital affairs. Those who are engaged in affairs ranges from various sectors, such as, entertainment, sports and politics. Infidelity can cause conflict in a marriage. The conflict can be resolved in either positive or negative way. From the positive side, the one who are cheated choose to forgive his/her partner. Hence, they remain as husband and wife, and move on with their life. On the other hand, conflict can leads to further coming apart stages in the Knapp’s model which are differentiating, circumscribing, stagnating, avoiding and terminating. In the worse situation, these stages lead divorce.
There are numerous names that emerge when we talk about sex scandals that involve public figures. In the politics, there are the former US president Bill Clinton; Franklin Delano Roosevelt; Dwight. D Eisenhower; John.F. Kennedy, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, former governor of New York David Paterson, Larry Craig, John Edward and many others. In the entertainment sector, there are Mick Jagger, etc. In the sport field, there are England footballer John Terry, heavy-weight boxing champion Mike Tyson, NBA player Kobe Bryant, MLB player Alex Rodriguez and many others.
The most recent extramarital affair involves the well-known world class golfer Tiger Woods. It is reported that he has cheated his wife. After a long waiting since November 2009, Woods finally appeared in the public. On February 20, 2010, Woods has made his apologize for his affairs. Since the day he was caught with his affairs, his wife Elin Nordegren has not made any public appearance together with woods to show her support. Similarly, on the day of the press conference, Nordegren remains silent and did not make any public appearance.
From the public eyes, we see that the Knapp’s coming apart stages apply to Woods condition. They either differentiating, circumscribing, stagnating, avoiding or terminating each other. It happens because of the affair that causes conflict. If the conflict is resolved in a functional way, it can strengthen their relationship. On the other hand, break of the relationship can also happen. However, what happens domestically remains closed to the public.
What do you think about extramarital affair? What effect will it bring to a couple’s relationship? Is it most likely that they will experience conflict and ended at Knapp’s terminating stage which is divorce? Or is it most likely that they can remain in the interpersonal relationship?
