A married woman who fell in love with another mother has revealed how her husband supported her throughout her new relationship.
Leah Hamilton, who identifies as queer, first met her husband at a university in New Zealand. The couple enjoyed a non-monogamous relationship and even made out with other people on their wedding night.
Leah said that she later fell in love with another woman at the kindergarten school gates and had her husband’s full backing even after the two women broke up.
In an interview with Insider, Leah said she was first drawn to her husband due to his ‘quiet and sensitive’ nature and progressed with their relationship ‘without many of the usual frameworks.’
She had been dating another woman at the same time, whom she had met at a party, but soon decided to move in with her then-boyfriend, get married, and have children.
The mother-of-two said that having an open relationship was largely put on hold to raise their kids until the couple moved to Berlin after her husband received a job offer.
It was there that the couple ‘discovered a very open culture and a lifestyle in which having children was no barrier to having a good time.’
But, despite initially finding it hard to meet new potential partners, Leah revealed: ‘I began to go out in the evenings with one of the other married mothers I had met at my children’s kindergarten.
‘She and I quickly became close friends. Both of us were wild, adventure-seeking types, looking for fun.’
The woman soon began showering Leah with compliments, telling her she looked ‘really fit’ and that her eyes were ‘so beautiful.’
But the bond between the two women quickly developed into something that went beyond physical chemistry.
Leah admitted: ‘I had no idea whether my husband would support me if I wanted to connect with her – not just as a hookup, but as an actual relationship.’
She was stunned to discover that her husband actually encouraged her, and joked ‘why not?’
The two women threw themselves into dating – going for lake swims and bike rides as well as to parties – and their families quickly became ‘intertwined.’
They would often share childcare and would regularly invited both husbands and all their kids to join them for dinners.
Leah was in a relationship with the woman for two years but found that it was ‘ultimately unbalancing.’
She told the publication: ‘My girlfriend and I were both very emotional, and we clashed in ways that slowly tore away at us.’
The pair eventually broke up which left Leah devastated and ‘crying every day for months.’
She revealed that her husband had continued to support her, adding: ‘He listened to my sorrow and hugged me. He took care of our children and the household more than usual.’
Leah has since reconnected with her ex-girlfriend to begin rebuilding a friendship.
She praised her husband of 12 years for being ‘happy to move with me in whichever direction I was going’ and added: ‘I felt empowered to be myself and to experience life in all its fullness.’