TV presenter considered asking husband for an affair because of 'sexless marriage'

Television personality Ulrika Jonsson has revealed she considered asking her husband if she could have an affair for her 50th birthday.

She and then-husband Brian Monet had sex just once in eight years and Jonsson found herself longing to be intimate with someone again.

In a lengthy piece for the Daily Mail, Jonsson opened up about how menopause affected her marriage, and the toll Brian's lack of sexual interest in her caused "deep hurt and frustration".

The Swedish-born presenter and model admitted she began thinking about the possibility of an affair ahead of her birthday.

"Should I ask my husband for permission to seek sexual intimacy elsewhere?" Jonsson wrote.

"It was a fleeting notion, born out of deep hurt and frustration over the fact that Brian and I had made love just once in nearly eight years. But one shocking enough, as this landmark birthday approached, to make me realise just how wretched my sexless marriage was making me feel.

Jonsson – who has four children and has been married three times – admitted she wanted to "shock" her husband into doing something to revive their failing relationship.

"This thought was transitory and born out of sheer desperation — infidelity was an act I knew full well I would never actually embark on, let alone seek Brian's permission to pursue.

"Indeed, it only occurred to me to ask in the first place because I'd reached a point where shock tactics seemed the only way to get my husband's attention — the only way to force him to realise just how miserable I'd become, while communicating the urgency of our situation."

Jonsson said that, in reality, she didn't want to sleep with someone else because betraying her family was not an option.

"But I also couldn't reconcile myself to never being touched or made love to again."

She and Brian divorced earlier this year and to this day Jonsson can't understand why her husband wasn't interested in sex.