Why is the media shocked about the astro-nut WS.... haven't they seen the mothership?

I saw the pictures of that WS. The eyes look very familar..... of course I don't know her personally but her kind can be spotted miles away.

The funny thing is how much her family and friends didn't know??!?!? I find that hard to believe.

Her H supposedly figured it out. Probabaly her kids did too.

But here @ MB, are we really shocked? The WS issues faced on this board all run in the same category....scary isn't it? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />

L.

Very Scary!

I don't think they are shocked... I think they are "selling" the shock! Just like no one is shocked with a celebrity makes a fool of themselves... they sell the carnival atmosphere.

And yes... she looks like a nut job... kind of like the Nick Nolte (sp) DUI photo!

I think one possible reason the media is shocked is that it runs contrary to their portrayal of adultery.

This woman ...who would previously have been quite easily accepted as a "hero"...looks [and LOOKS is very important in a visual media medium] crazed.

Not only is she DOING crazy things..she LOOKS scary.

Her before affair pics and after affair pics are striking in their contrast.

I think it is a brick wall of ugly reality...that previously sane, intelligent, disciplined, accomplished people act like PSYCHOS in affairs.

If that became an accepted fact I bet it [adultery] would weigh more heavily in custody cases.

I saw in an article last night they are trying to say leading a stressful life caused her to have a meltdown. Somehow, someway they are trying to justify her behavior. As we all know there are NO justifications for this.

Here is a link to the article. http://timesreporter.com/index.php?ID=64017&r=3

Well, yeah - trying to keep one's husband and family dangling while conducting a workplace affair and destroying the OM's marriage in the process would be ENORMOUSLY stressful to anyone.

Wonder when the "experts" are going to figure this out?
Mulan

Hey, I'm one of those who had a meltdown, and ended up in the same place as the astronut. Of course, I was the BS, not the WS, so...

But watching all of this has really struck a cord with me and has made me feel very uncomfortable. I can HONESTLY relate to the weird insanity that just takes over and I feel sorry for her. Her life is RUINED, and the lives of her kids are also going to be greatly impacted. Aside from the BS/WS, the only difference between she and I, really, is that she clearly had INTENT...whereas I just flipped in an instant upon catching WH and RT together in a darkened house, and having RT step outside the door and shrug at me, as if to say, "What do YOU want? You are intruding on our romantic evening!" Ugh. Still turns my stomach.

Astronut IS a WS...but from HER twisted POV, she was also a BS...her "boyfriend" was cheating on her.

I know it's the flip side of the WS/BS coin, but it's the same coin. And I have to say I'm a bit uncomfortable with the "she deserved it" attitude. Adultery is UGLY, UGLY, UGLY all the way around...for the things it does to the individuals involved in the A as WELL AS the families, friends and EVERYONE else.

BTW...my mug shot wasn't a beauty, either (much better than hers, but I hadn't driven 900 miles in a diaper, either).

Just had to throw in my .02.

Don't feel bad, Sis. There but for - lack of opportunity? - go I. I still have waking dreams/nightmares about giving those intruding b*tches what they really deserve.

I just hope that maybe this event opens a few eyes to the reality of cheating and the damage it really does - but unless it dawns on the so-called experts that it was the CHEATING that caused the massivly stressful lifestyle, and not the other way around, nobody will learn anything.

I just wish NASA gave a damn about her betrayed husband and abandoned kids instead of being ever so worried about just her. Did they immediately dispatch someone in a military plane to go see *them*? Did anyone from NASA go over to support *them*?

Oh, yeah - they don't "meddle in the personal lives of the astronauts." But what do they call it when they refuse to let married couples work together and instead strongly encourage these people to bond with others?

My husband's Big American Corporation does exactly the same thing. NASA is no different.
Mulan

AMEN. Perfectly stated.

LilSis,

I also had a meldown and became a psycho OW to my FOM. I became irrational and obsessive over losing the friendship. I'm glad no one witnessed it except the FOM. My behavior back then still makes me cringe once in a while. It was completely out of character and unexplainable.

The whole story struck a cord with me, too. I felt for her and wondered if she knew she was being irrational and couldn't stop it. At my lowest point when I was being irrational, internally I knew what I was doing wasn't right, but I didn't have the ability to stop it. That is a scary place to be. Thankfully my irrational behavior was NOTHING like what Nowak did, it just involved doing things that I knew would irritate the FOM. I was so full of anger and wanted him to suffer like I was.

Noodle said, " I think it is a brick wall of ugly reality...that previously sane, intelligent, disciplined, accomplished people act like PSYCHOS in affairs."

That describes me to a tee.

SO TRUE OF THE BETRAYED AND THE WAYWARD!! Affairs are just so TRAGIC and AWFUL!! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

What bothers me more than anything is the so-called expert opinions that speak of how her mental and emotional state was unraveling without connecting the dots to her inappropriate extramarital relationship, pointing out for the general public how functioning, "normal" people can come unglued because of their inappropriate emotional entanglements.

"The Aerospace program is looking into their mental evaluation program." ???

No need. Previously sane people lose their f*ing minds when they allow themselves to become involved outside their marriages.

If they could 'get it' that affairs are not about "true love" and all about selfish entitlement and delusion, than maybe we, as a culture, would enforce harsher social taboos against them.

Is that true? That is a very good point Mulan.

Where I work we have 4 married couples working. Very much supported. Get caught having an affair in my company (management level) and you are done. I work for a very large corporation (family oriented) and the married officer couples I work with work for Customs and Border Protection.

noodle - Are you implying that the general media has a "double standard" regarding adultery?

Sort of an "it's okay so long as no one seems to get hurt?" or "it's okay until we can figure out a way to make some money by covering it?"

<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Implying? What have I ever done to suggest I might be subtle?

I'm just saying it.

Usually the person being portrayed as a whack job or just plain old nonentity is the BS.

Affairs are exciting sexy adventures didn't you get the memo?

Naaaa....sorry noodle, I missed that memo. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

10, would you please send this post to every media outlet and to the PIO at NASA?

Maybe just adding that previously sane *betrayed* people can also lose their f*ing minds when their spouses allow themselves to become involved outside their marriages - lose it the way BWs Betty Broderick and Clara Harris did a few years ago?

Thanks.
Mulan

Well, I sure wish we had worked at a place like that. Most places I have ever been in or heard about are just the way I described them above - and NASA is the same way.

Glad you have a much more supportive work environment.
Mulan

No, I'm not coming out of MB retirement.

But I knew there'd be a thread going about this, so consider this a "drive by" posting.

The point about this woman's behavior being typical affair stuff is obvious to MB'ers.

Hellllllooooooo Media and NASA!! Where have you been living, under a rock?

I recommend each of you find a Blog discussing this story (search Google Blogs > astronaut + affair) and make a "contribution".

Here's mine > Blog Comment. Look in the comments.

WAT

Hey, looky!!

WAT's back! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

-ol' 2long
P.S. He's going 2 kill me.

No worries about this astronut - she'll make lots of money on the book deal and inevitable made-for-TV movie. This will be after she makes a public tearful apology and tells us she's going to rehab for some addiction of course.

I'm sure her lawyer is roadmaping this out for her, after plea-bargaining the charges down.

V/r,
No Way

Most probably... Bipolar Disorder or PTSD.... <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

I haven't been keeping up with it..it's my H that seems captivated by it..GO FIGURE..He's been to that planet...

I WAS THINKING THE SAME THING! LOL

Me too, lifechoice. At least, it described me as I was during the affair.

Thank you for being brave enough to admit it...

{...and thank God I've been given the gift of rebuilding my integrity...}

WAT, I followed your link, read your words, and tried to post myself.

To All: do you think it would be worth it to love-bomb the blog with our own comments on affairs, emotional and physical, and the insanity that accompanies them? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />

I'm new to this board, but I do also visit another infidelity site where this situation is being discussed. I also belong to a few personal interest, hobby-type boards and none of this has been mentioned at all. My H and I were discussing this mourning that unless a person's life is touched by infidelity it doesn't mean a whole lot to them.

Think back to where we all were before infidelity touched us, would you even be giving this a second thought? I have to admit I would pass the story right up.

I KNEW there would be postings on this -- consider it another drive-by.

First of all, it wasn't an affair, it was an "inappropriate friendship." We've all seen enough of those on here. The MM did not break up his marriage over her, according to his family.

Secondly, even without this, the woman was apparently under an enormous amount of pressure in a high-stress job (about the highest imaginable) and three kids. Finally, she had a crack-up over a (quite possibly) unrequited crush.

But that does point out how much havoc can be caused by a one-sided emotional affair.

I feel bad for everyone involved. When she finally pulls herself together, she'll see how much she lost for so little.

And, by the way, I can easily see myself in her shoes. I came pretty close to some whacko stuff myself. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Plan B, for protecting me from myself!

Hi A.M. - have to disagree, though. Some news sources are quoting the OM's X-MIL as saying that Nowak and the OM "spent a lot of time together" and that Nowak "broke my daughter's heart". The OM was divorced in 2005 and the X-MIL made it sound like it was a direct result of this man's affair with Nowak.

It sure sounded like an affair to me. His marriage ended because of it. More recently, the police were called to Nowak's house because neighbors heard what sounded like dishes smashing. Nowak and her husband separated a few weeks ago.

I think this was just another workplace affair and the WW couldn't handle it when her OM started "cheating" on her.
Mulan

I read the other post on this subject, Mulan. I stand corrected. Apparently, my information was old or limited.

Hey Wat,

At least wave when you speed by on that yacht of yours. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I tried the link but my post didn't take..... does it have a limit? LOL!!! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Yea.... you know me....got impatient...couldn't wait for someone to post about this subject. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Howa' doing?

Aloha,
L.