Infidelity Past and Present: Famous Cheaters in History

No matter what they tell you, cheating is not a local activity and it’s as timeless as it is universal. Throughout history, there have been men and women who played against society’s rules about relationships. Here is a short list of some of the most famous cheaters we have ever known:

Casanova
His name is not just synonymous to lover, it is also synonymous to womanizer. Giacomo Casanova was born in Venice in 1725. Although he was primarily a writer and adventurer, he was also a charming and cunning seducer.

Casanova’s first sexual experience was a clue to his future behavior, losing his virginity to not one, but two women – sisters, to be exact. It is not known how many conquests he has had, because the man was a libertine, managing to gain wealth, only to lose it due to his numerous affairs.

Henriette
If there’s one woman who is considered to have conquered Casanova, it’s this one. Henriette is not her real name – it’s most probably Adelaide de Gueidan, a married woman running away from her husband because of… you guessed it, infidelity. Casanova fell hard for Henriette, who loved him and used him.

Henry VIII
Henry VIII was Elizabeth I’s father. He cheated on his first wife, Catherine of Aragon with Elizabeth’s mother, Anne Boleyn, whom he first noticed as a lady-in-waiting. Unfortunately for her, Anne was not Henry’s first or last indiscretion. When he tired of her, he accused her of infidelity and witchcraft and promptly had her beheaded.

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Bill Clinton was not the only famous cheater who was also president of America. FDR had a long affair with Lucy Mercer, his secretary. His wife, the unbelievably composed Eleanor, offered to give him a divorce but FDR’s mother threatened to disinherit him. In the end, he stayed married to his wife, who lived in a separate residence after her discovery of his infidelity.

John F. Kennedy
Marilyn Monroe was not JFK’s only affair – he cheated his wife Jackie with numerous women. However, it’s the blonde bombshell who is considered as his most famous love. Their affair was intense, as evidenced by Marilyn’s sexually-charged performance singing ‘Happy birthday, Mr. President’. The affair was reported to have ended just before Marilyn accidentally died of drug overdose in 1962.

Bakker and Swaggart
Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart were two of the most famous tele-evangelists of the 80s and the 90s. They are also famous cheaters. Their fall from grace was caused by dalliances with other women – Bakker with his secretary and Swaggart with a prostitute. Although Swaggart met with several prostitutes before he was arrested by the police, it was his indiscretion in a car that finally destroyed his evangelical career.