Why do people cheat? It’s an age-old question about a seriously taboo topic. It’s also the subject of today’s episode of Shared Secrets, in which the renowned relationship therapist Esther Perel joins me to discuss infidelity, jealousy, desire and reconciliation.

In the episode, Esther, author of The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity, explains the varied reasons why people stray, even from happy relationships. She tells me about the buffers that couples can develop to shield their relationship from the effects of trauma during difficult times. And we discuss how couples can recover from an infidelity in a way that leads to a more honest, deep and compassionate union than they had before.