History Main / MistakenForCheating

Sometimes the mistake can be made by a third-party, such as a concerened friend or relative, or a NosyNeighbor. Other variants include the love interest discovering that the would-be boyfriend thief [[RelativeError is actually a relative]], a member of an IncompatibleOrientation, or in rare cases, even the wrong gender.

* A darker take on this trope in ''Manhwa/TheRemarriedEmpress'' fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/40676298 All that glitters is not gold]]'', where Heinry shows his crush Navier pictures of her husband Soveishu seemingly having an affair with a woman named Rashta. While Navier is shocked to see the picture, that's because [[spoiler:she and Soveishu are [[SerialKillers serial killers]] and Rashta was Soveishu's target at the time. [[UnholyMatrimony The couple]] decide to kill Heinry and MakeItLookLikeAnAccident to make sure he doesn't find out about their true activities]].

* In ''Film/AmericanDreamer'', after Alan brings a wet and drunk "[[EasyAmnesia Rebecca]]" to his room, his date sees them together and then storms off.

* ''Manga/IWantToBeAWall'': PlayedWith. Gakurouta and Yuriko Hanazono are a gay man and an aroace woman in a [[TheBeard lavender marriage]], so there is no actual romantic attraction between them, but they do still have a [[PlatonicLifePartners very strong platonic bond]]. However, Gakurouta starts getting nervous when Yuriko starts frequently hanging out with another man and has a nightmare where she runs off and marries him as her new beard. But as it turns out [[spoiler:said guy is Yuriko's friend from college, Momoya, who is engaged and had come to visit Yuriko both to plan his wedding and to collect some limited-edition file folders from a ''[[Manga/PrinceOfTennis Prince of Table Tennis]]'' collaborative cafe event]].

--> '''Husband:''' Well, I went to the bar because the store was closed, had a few drinks, met a woman, went home with her, and had sex with her.

* And defied with the tale of the man who got so plastered-assed drunk he ended up passing out on the front lawn and defecating his pants. He wakes up the next morning to find himself spic and span and in bed, and heads downstairs to find his wife in a cheerful mood cooking him a fabulous breakfast. Struggling to remember the night before he asks what happened and she explains that she dragged him inside so the neighbors wouldn't see and, upon realizing he had messed himself, attempted to clean him up. When she tried to remove his pants he sloppily shoved her away and yelled "Piss off, ya slag! [[SeductionProofMarriage I'm married!]]"

** Subverted with Loretta Tortelli, who comes into Cheers heartbroken over her husband Nick (who has a long history of sleeping around) cheating on her, having found a blonde hair. Loretta is blonde, and quite, ''quite'' stupid, but later on in the episode it turns out she caught Nick in the shower with the woman in question.

** {{Subverted|Trope}} [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0394.html here]], where Nale thinks Sabine is angry with him for making out with Haley (as part of a plan to kill her) until Sabine tells him she's actually angry about the fact that he was going to kill Haley without her. She then points out that she's a succubus, literally an incarnation of illicit sex, and being faithful to one's lover is not exactly high on her priority list.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' episode "Tom, Sarah and Usher" is about Tom becoming jealous of Music/{{Usher}} when his wife Sarah meets and starts obsessing over the singer. Their daughter Jazmine even worries if they will divorce, though Tom insists that won't happen. It later turns out that Sarah was just a {{fangirl}} and was setting up an opportunity for Usher to also meet their daughter, and never intended to cheat.

** Season 3's "[[https://familyguyfanon.fandom.com/wiki/A_Cheater_Runs_Through_It A Cheater Runs Through It]]" has Lois thinking Peter's cheating on her overseas due to him being suspicious and spending more time on his boat than with his family. The real reason was that [[spoiler:Peter was rearranging his boat to host a wedding for Randall Fargus and his new wife Eliza and was secretive because Fargus wanted to keep it on the down low]].

* In ''FilmForceOfNatureTheDry2'', Jill Bailey assumes her husband Daniel is having an affair with Alice Russell because of all the time he is spending with her. Daniel is actually working with her to find TheMole inside his company; not realising that Alice is the mole.

* ''WebAnimation/EtraChanSawIt'': [[MistakenForCheating/EtraChanSawIt Has it's own page]].

* ''Series/RayDonovan'': Double Subverted: Abbey knows about Ray's repeated affairs, and it strains their marriage. When Ashley visits Ray's apartment, and handcuffs herself in his bathroom, demanding they have sex, Ray just leaves her, and has his secretary, Lena, come in later to cut the cuffs and send her home. Ashley spends the entire day bored, and after she cuts her leg she tries to write a message on the mirror in blood... only for the wound to close after she writes only 2 letters. After Lena cuts her out, Abbey stumbles into the apartment, sees the broken handcuff, and blood on the mirror, and instead assumes Ray's been torturing people, before falling back on her old assumptions and (correctly) guessing that he was having another affair.

* ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'': In "The Dark Phoenix Saga, Part 1: Dazzled", Cyclops rescues Dazzler from being kidnapped. She thanks him with a kiss before he can react. At this moment Jean Grey, who is increasingly unstable due to being possessed by the Phoenix and slowly being seduced by [[MasterOfIllusion Jason Wyngarde]] in her dreams, walks in on them. She immediately assumes Cyclops is cheating on her and runs into Jason's arms.

* My wife found the letters I was hiding when cleaning up our place the other day. She said she's [[spoiler:never going to play ''TabletopGame/{{Scrabble}}'' with me again.]]

* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'': Subverted when Kelly finds Woody holding another woman (a pre-''Friends'' Creator/LisaKudrow!) and immediately jumps to the ''right'' conclusion:

* Surprisingly, ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' features an instance of this in one episode -- May's father Norman and the local Nurse Joy are actually setting up a fireworks display celebrating Norman and Caroline's anniversary. The English dub censors the plot by making it seem like Caroline and Norman are fighting, instead of doubts of fidelity being implied.

* In the ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3228846/1/The-Beginning-of-a-New-End The Beginning of a New End]]", while Ash and Misty aren’t dating at the time it happens, they experience an equivalent such moment when the two are on a new journey through Kanto after Ash won the Hoenn League. At one point, Ash leaves Misty in Saffron City while he allegedly goes off into the woods for a training session with Pikachu. However, when Ash is talking to Misty on a vid-phone and May appears behind him, Misty assumes that this means Ash left her in Saffron City- a place she still has nightmares about- just to visit May in Johto. Fortunately, Ash is able to get back to Misty in time to explain that he was just in Johto to capture a Tentacool for Misty for her birthday, and May’s presence at the same time was a complete coincidence.

* ''Film/ShallWeDance'': A woman becomes suspicious of her husband when she realizes that he's displayed the same traits that a friend's cheating husband is -- late nights, distraction, etc. As it turns out, while the husband ''is'' bored with his life and having a mid-life crisis, he isn't cheating on her, he's taking dance lessons. However, the wife is still concerned about the possibility of him having an affair with one of the dance instructors.

* ''Fanfic/RoadsideAssistance'': Yang sees Neptune kissing Sun and is enraged that he's cheating on his wife Weiss. She doesn't know that Weiss encourages Neptune to date because [[TheBeard their relationship isn't romantic]].

* ''Manga/AManAndHisCat'': Happens to Kobayashi before the story's events. He claims that his wife got the wrong idea, but not even his best friend Kanda fully believes him. Whatever happened between him and his wife was resolved through talking and meeting halfway.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'':

See also MistakenForIndex. Supertrope of SpysSuspiciousSpouse. Often part of an IdiotPlot; and can result in PoorCommunicationKills, at least figuratively. May be resolved with TheGrovel. Making this even worse is that if one is murdered by a WomanScorned under this assumption.