My explanation is that Petraeus was/is a geeky kind of guy, nice, smart, accomplished, but never what we would call, a ladies’ man. It didn’t bother him most of his life. He was busy doing what he did best and that didn’t involve being a ladies’ man.
Then came Afghanistan and Broadwell at the same time. Unhappy, and probably suffering some self doubt for the first time in his long career, Broadwell made him feel younger and attractive and she offered companionship and probably an ear for his doubts and concerns. She probably offered something his wife didn’t a different kind of companionship on a more professional level, feeding his ego and assuaging his doubts. Petraeus probably never intended to hurt his wife. It just happened.
Well, he’s also had prostate cancer and probably has hugh problems with his sexual performance. Takes a strong women to help him with his penis pump.
I've been running for over 40 years, and Petraeus by all accounts was near fanatical in his obsession with running..far more than I. Over the age of 40, and especially over 50, the physical distinctions and capabilities between those who are fit, and those who aren't, are far more apparent. People who don't run, do NOT understand how important it is to those who do. That's why we run in the rain, in the snow, why we get up at the crack of dawn, even after having gotten home at 2am that same night. Why when we're away on a business trip, we take out running gear.
Holly Petraeus is a lovely lady who does wonderful work with the troops, and has been the perfect military spouse as Petraeus climbed the ranks. However, it's obvious from pictures that she probably couldn't walk a 5k. They couldn't share his greatest passion.And she wasn't always like that, their wedding pics show a slender woman; indeed, their daughter's wedding's pics, from last year, mirror the mom's..a slender, trim, attractive woman.
The wife, for whatever reasons, let herself go over the years..failed to take care of herself...and that can, and has, killed many a marriage, when one spouse falls badly out of shape. Some may call that sexist, to me, it's just reality.
The fact that Broadwell could run, and even keep up with him, was, IMHO, the ultimate contributing factor..she could share, participate in, something that is very important to him.
You make sense.
During the years of close contact, Petraeus had ample opportunity to “draw the line” for Broadwell; however, he apparently did not, presuming she did not physically jump him by surprise after he did draw the line (an unlikely scenario IMHO). I think a plausible explanation is that Broadwell set her sights on Petraeus early. By not drawing the line, Petraeus marked himself in her estimation as either weak-willed, or a serial philanderer waiting for the next score to come around. Certainly with a wife like he had, Petraeus may have finally succumbed to marital battle fatigue when Broadwell came along to push him over the edge. However, it may alternatively be the case that the guy was accustomed to “playing the field” while away from home. Playing the field does not seem that uncommon in the military (so I have occasionally heard). If Petraeus was playing the field already by the time Broadwell came along, it would be a relatively minor step for him to convince himself that Broadwell would be like all the others before her, that is, a practice that might at most receive a wink and a verbal reprimand in more mundane circumstances. However he would have been by then more than halfway down the slippery slope, and neglected to realize that the biographer relationship would be public and the materials he shared with her potentially suspected to be classified, in which case any liaison would be very difficult for others to ignore once brought to their attention.