My Husband Invited His Mistress Home for His Birthday Party – I Was Furious and Got the Ultimate Revenge

When Gwen finds strands of red hair in her bed, and red lipstick stains on her husband’s work shirts, she immediately thinks that Ryan is cheating. Then, at his birthday dinner, everything gets revealed when Ryan brings a redhead to the party. Not wanting to let it slide, Gwen works on getting her revenge.

“Gwen, why do you look so stressed?” my friend Jessica asked, her voice laced with concern.

A stressed woman with her hand on her face | Source: Unsplash

A stressed woman with her hand on her face | Source: Unsplash

We were at the grocery store, getting the final things I needed for the recipes I had been poring over. My husband’s birthday was tomorrow and we had a dinner planned at home.

I sighed, thinking of the small Ziploc bag in my handbag.

A woman opening her handbag | Source: Pexels

A woman opening her handbag | Source: Pexels

“I found this while making the bed,” I said to Jess. “Obviously, it’s not mine, and it sure as hell isn’t Ryan’s.”

I pulled out the bag. Inside was a long strand of bright red hair that I’d found in our bed.

Jessica’s eyes widened as she took the bag from me.

A woman with red hair | Source: Pexels

A woman with red hair | Source: Pexels

“Are you serious? That’s pretty damning. What did Ryan say about it? Is it not the nanny’s?” she asked.

“No, not Michelle. She has a pixie cut now because she’s going through a breakup. I haven’t confronted Ryan yet. I actually thought that it might be a fluke,” I admitted. “But then I remembered something else.”

A woman with short hair | Source: Unsplash

A woman with short hair | Source: Unsplash

“What?” she asked, waving the bag around.

“The other day, I found red lipstick on the collar of his shirt. I was so tired that I didn’t even think about it. I just washed it out and carried on with the laundry. But after finding the hair, it’s all I can think about.”

Jessica’s face hardened.

A woman wearing red lipstick | Source: Pexels

A woman wearing red lipstick | Source: Pexels

“Gwen, you don’t even wear lipstick. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

I nodded slowly. There was no point in trying to lie to myself anymore.

“I think he’s cheating on me. Other than the hair and lipstick, Ryan has been staying late at work recently, and it all just adds up to one ugly puzzle,” I said.

The silhouette of a couple | Source: Midjourney

The silhouette of a couple | Source: Midjourney

“What are you going to do about it?” she asked, picking up the red onions that I needed.

“Nothing for the moment. I know you’ll disagree, but Ryan’s birthday dinner is tomorrow and I don’t want to ruin it in case I’m wrong.”

A birthday cake | Source: Pexels

A birthday cake | Source: Pexels

I knew that I wasn’t wrong. I knew what I felt in my gut, and that was because everything just felt wrong when I thought about my marriage.

Recently, Ryan and I hadn’t been as intimate as before. We didn’t do as many date nights or anything spontaneous. I figured that it was just life being life, and that we had gotten busy with our jobs.

We argued over everything.

A couple arguing | Source: Pexels

A couple arguing | Source: Pexels

“We’re just in a rut,” I told myself when I was sweeping the house and thinking about it one day.

“Look,” Jess said. “I understand that you need to reevaluate it and look at everything, but you also need to know that you can’t let it go on indefinitely. You have two kids to worry about. So, think about them, too.”

A woman sweeping the floor | Source: Pexels

A woman sweeping the floor | Source: Pexels

The next day, as I finished up the final touches on the platters of food, my nerves were on edge. The guests started arriving for the party, and Ryan got more excited every time the doorbell rang.

“This is going to be so great, honey!” he said, walking around the house, making sure that everyone had a drink.

People holding glasses of wine | Source: Unsplash

People holding glasses of wine | Source: Unsplash

“Just call me if you need me,” I said. “I’m just going to get the canapés out.”

My husband smiled at me and nodded as he walked out.

I plastered a smile on my face, greeting everyone and giving them bites to eat.

A platter of canapés | Source: Midjourney

A platter of canapés | Source: Midjourney

Then, Ryan walked in with her.

“Honey, this is Stacy,” Ryan said, gesturing to the red-haired woman beside him. His hand was around her waist, and she batted her eyelashes at him.

Stacy smiled brightly.

A woman with red hair and red lipstick | Source: Unsplash

A woman with red hair and red lipstick | Source: Unsplash

“Hi, Gwen!” she said. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

I forced a smile. Inside, I was seething. The resemblance to the hair and lipstick was unmistakable.

“Nice to meet you, Stacy,” I said, trying to keep my face expressionless. “Make yourself at home.”

An expressionless woman | Source: Pexels

An expressionless woman | Source: Pexels

Throughout the party, I kept up the charade, mingling with guests and keeping a close eye on Stacy and my husband.

Jessica caught my eye across the room and raised an eyebrow in question.

I nodded slightly, confirming her suspicions.

People mingling | Source: Pexels

People mingling | Source: Pexels

Later, when Ryan was outside with the smokers, I approached Stacy.

“So, how do you like working with Ryan?” I asked.

Stacy beamed, her eyes lighting up.

“Oh, it’s great! He’s been such a help. And being the assistant to our boss, I get to spend a lot of time with him. I’m new to the whole thing; Jeff hired me on the fact that I needed to spend time away from the kids.”

A woman sitting at a desk | Source: Unsplash

A woman sitting at a desk | Source: Unsplash

I nearly choked on my drink.

“Wait, you’re Mr. Anderson’s assistant? And his wife?”

“Yes! It’s a small world, isn’t it?”

I smiled tightly.

A married couple holding hands | Source: Unsplash

A married couple holding hands | Source: Unsplash

“Very small,” I said. “Please, come on and take a seat; dinner will be served now.”

I served dinner methodically, with Jessica hot on my heels. I knew that she wanted to know everything.

“Not now,” I said, giving her a platter of chicken wings. “Later, I promise.”

A platter of chicken wings | Source: Midjourney

A platter of chicken wings | Source: Midjourney

The rest of the evening went off smoothly, except for the fact that Ryan and Stacy were openly flirting in front of us all.

The next morning, I went out to the hardware store and bought hidden cameras that I installed in our bedroom.

A hardware store | Source: Unsplash

A hardware store | Source: Unsplash

During dinner, I lied to him.

“Ryan, I’m going to support Jess. Charles just left her, and she needs me there,” I lied. “I’ll be gone for a day or two. I’ll take the kids, too.”

Two young boys with skateboards | Source: Pexels

Two young boys with skateboards | Source: Pexels

Ryan nodded absentmindedly, not even thinking about the fact that Jess and Charles were with us the previous night and were fine.

“Sure, take your time, honey,” he said, drinking his coffee.

A man holding a mug | Source: Unsplash

A man holding a mug | Source: Unsplash

I took the kids to Jess’s, where we were going to spend the weekend.

“Two days without you and the kids,” Jess said, making me some tea. “Ryan will definitely do something wrong.”

“I know,” I agreed. “He wouldn’t be able to resist anything.”

A woman holding a teabag | Source: Pexels

A woman holding a teabag | Source: Pexels

When I returned, the first thing I did was review the footage. And my worst fears were confirmed, right there, on tape.

I contacted a lawyer and set up a meeting with Stacy’s husband.

A woman using a laptop | Source: Pexels

A woman using a laptop | Source: Pexels

“Mr. Anderson,” I said on the phone. “It’s Gwen, Ryan’s wife. I need to meet you urgently. In private.”

“What’s going on?” he asked, his confusion clear.

“I’d rather we discuss it in person,” I replied.

A woman using a laptop and holding a phone | Source: Pexels

A woman using a laptop and holding a phone | Source: Pexels

“I’ll meet you in an hour,” he said.

I took my laptop to the coffee shop that we had agreed to meet at.

He was already seated, two coffees on the table and waiting.

A cup of coffee on a table | Source: Pexels

A cup of coffee on a table | Source: Pexels

“Are you okay? Is Ryan okay? He’s one of my best employees,” he said.

“Let me show you something,” I said.

I played the footage of Ryan and Stacy together.

“I can’t believe this,” he said, his voice strained. “Thank you for telling me.”

A shocked man covering his mouth | Source: Pexels

A shocked man covering his mouth | Source: Pexels

When I got home, I made dinner for my sons and waited for Ryan to come home. The moment he walked in, I confronted him with the divorce papers.

“Gwen, what’s this?” he asked, bewildered.

“I know about you and Stacy,” I said coldly. “I have proof.”

Ryan fell to his knees in the kitchen.

Divorce paperwork | Source: Pexels

Divorce paperwork | Source: Pexels

“Please, Gwen, don’t tell Mr. Anderson. Don’t leave me. I’m sorry.”

“You brought another woman into our bed. I deserve better. So much better.”

In the end, Ryan lost everything in the divorce. He was fired from his job and found it difficult to find another job.

A man holding his head | Source: Pexels

A man holding his head | Source: Pexels

“Please, take me back,” he said on the phone one evening when I was dishing out ice cream for the boys.

“I don’t want to,” I said. “I’m just done having anything to do with you.”

“I deserve a second chance,” he said. “The boys need their father.”

I left the phone on the kitchen counter and let Ryan vent away.

I didn’t care anymore.

Bowls of ice cream on a counter | Source: Midjourney

Bowls of ice cream on a counter | Source: Midjourney

Vertigo Star Kim Novak Is Spending Her 91st Birthday with ‘Friends and Lots of Fudge’ (Exclusive)

Tuesday marks the 91st birthday for Kim Novak, the star of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 film Vertigo, who walked away from Hollywood over five decades ago.

“She’s spending her birthday having a picnic on her property with friends and lots of fudge,” says her longtime manager and close friend Sue Cameron.

Life is sweet these days for Novak, who lives quietly on the Oregon coast, surrounded by her beloved horses.

In honor of her 91st birthday, read on for an interview from 2021 in which Novak shared why she left Hollywood and found her true self.

How Vertigo Actress Kim Novak Spent Her 91st Birthday with 'Friends and Lots of Fudge'
Kim Novak in November 2023. Courtesy of Sue Cameron 

Over 50 years ago, Kim Novak, the enigmatic star of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, walked away from Hollywood. The woman who had once been the No. 1 box office draw in the world put her belongings in a van and drove north, first to Carmel, California and then two decades later to Oregon, to live her life as an artist.

“I had to leave to survive,” she tells PEOPLE. “It was a survival issue.”

“I lost a sense of who I truly was and what I stood for,” says Novak in a rare interview to talk about her new book, Kim Novak : Her Art and Life. published by the Butler Museum of American Art.

“I fought all the time back in Hollywood to keep my identity so you do whatever you have to do to hold on to who you are and what you stand for,” she explains.

“I’ve never done one of those tell-all books that they wanted me to do for so long, and I thought this is the kind of book I’d like to do,” she says of her art book. “Actually, I had written my autobiography and it was almost complete but I had a house fire and the house burned down and I made no copies. I just couldn’t go through it again because I had spent so much time. But it was okay because it was a catharsis just to do it.”

After starring in Picnic (1955) with William Holden, The Man With the Golden Arm (1955) and Pal Joey (1957), opposite Frank Sinatra, and Vertigo, with Jimmy Stewart, Novak was at the height of her career but still under the control of the studio.

As she writes in her book’s introduction, “I was both dazzled and disturbed to see me being packaged as a Hollywood sex symbol. However, I did win my fight over identity. I wouldn’t allow [Columbia Pictures chief] Harry Cohn to take my bohemian roots away by denying me my family name. Novak. I stood my ground and won my first major battle.”

Cohn wanted her to change her name to Kit Marlowe, telling her that audiences would be turned off by her Eastern European roots. She refused. In the late ’50s, she defied him again when she began dating singer Sammy Davis Jr. against his wishes and she fought to live her life as an independent woman.

“There was constant pressure to be seen and not heard,” writes Novak, “especially if you had a pretty face.”

“In Hollywood a lot of people assume who you are, because of the character you play, but also just because of who they expect you to be, how they expect you to dress,” she says. “It influences you because if you’re in some gorgeous sequined gown, you can’t run along the ocean and run on the beaches.”

VERTIGO, Kim Novak, 1958.
Kim Novak in “Vertigo” (1958). Everett

“I kept feeling like I was going deeper and deeper, lost in almost like a quicksand, where it’s swallowing you up, your own personality, and I’d started to wonder who I am,” she explains. “I realized needed to save myself.”

She found peace living and painting in the Rogue River Valley of Oregon and notes, “I needed the Pacific Ocean to inspire me, the animals, the beauty.”

“I wanted to live a normal life and a life with animals,” says the actress, who had always loved drawing and painting as a young girl growing up in Chicago. She was awarded two scholarships to the Chicago Art Institute before she was spotted by a talent scout on a trip to L.A. and her life changed course.

Once she left Hollywood, Novak returned to her twin passions: art and animals. “My teachers were the animals, not just dogs and cats, but other animals, horses and llamas, whom you have to meet half way, because they’re not ready to accept humans. I had to learn to win them over,” she says. “They understand a person who’s genuine so I had to become more real and that made me rely on my inner self — and that also encouraged me to paint. Everything seemed to flow from that.”

“You learn how to count on, not how you look, which is a big thing as a movie star, especially if you were recognized because of how you look,” she adds. “That can be a difficult thing when you change — but looks had nothing to do with it.”

She met second husband, Robert Malloy, an equine veterinarian, in the late ’70s, when he paid her a house call to treat one of her Arabian horses. She called him her “soul mate.” He died last December.

kim novak
Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak in “Vertigo”. Richard C. Miller/Donaldson Collection/Getty

“I don’t feel 87,” says Novak. “I don’t keep tract of the time. If I did, I’d be an old lady and I’m not an old lady. I’m still riding my horse. I stay as healthy as I can.”

In 2012, Novak revealed she’d been living with bipolar disorder. “I don’t mind being open about who I am because these are all characteristics which make you who you are, especially as an artist,” she says. “Now, of course, I have medication for it but the best medicine of all is art.”

She’s proud of her favorite films, including Vertigo and Bell, Book and Candle (1958), and has fond memories, especially of her friend and costar Jimmy Stewart. Says Novak: “He didn’t let Hollywood change who he was.”

“People can remember me in movies but I want them to see me as an artist,” says Novak, whose paintings were exhibited at a 2019 retrospective at the Butler Museum in Youngstown, Ohio. “What’s great about painting is, you become the director too. No one’s telling you how to do it. You get to direct the whole thing.”

“I’ve been influenced a lot by Hitchcock in my work because he did mysteries and at first glance, I want my painting to be a mystery,” she says. “I love being the director, the producer, the actor in my paintings.”

“This is who I am. I want people to see I was not just a movie star.”

Looking back, Novak says, “I’m so glad I didn’t do the tell-all book, where you write all about your love life. That wasn’t who I was. This book tells who I am. I just needed to be free.”

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