If it was an open marriage, why would his first statement have been an apology to his wife and family? I don't see any reason to start assuming it was actually fine. In any case the affair becoming public in such a way would still be hurting them - the media attention you're speaking about. Much worse than a divorce, right?

Because the public sentiment towards open marriages is even more negative than towards infidelity?

> the institution itself in a country that has strong beliefs in it.

It could be argued much of that is performative. The most vocal group for this in America voted for someone who is well known to break oaths.

Absolutely it is performative. Writing a public "apology" for spending time with another person in their free time is also performative. Nobody actually cares what you do with your life. They aren't thinking about you at all. But when in performance, the performance has rules of engagement.

he wouldn't have publicly apologized if all of that was "perfectly fine" with his wife

He wrote himself a press release saying he was unfaithful and because of his actions he hurt his family... it sounds pretty clear that was noy a consensual non-monogamous relationship. https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/a-message-to-our-company

I agree with your sentiment in general: we should not make assumptions about the parameters of others' relationships.

But in this case, Huang himself explicitly mentioned the hurt that he caused his family. I don't think it gets much clearer than this.

    I owe my family and all of you an apology.

    I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and 
    our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am 
    deeply sorry.

    Throughout my life, my family has given me love and 
    support. They deserve my honesty and loyalty. Instead, 
    I let them down and damaged the life we built together. 
    I take full responsibility for what I did and the hurt I 
    caused, and I accept the criticism that comes with it.

    To my wife and family: I love you. I know an apology 
    cannot undo what I have done. I hope our family will heal 
    and that, over time, I can earn back your trust.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/08/nvidia-jensen-huang-email-bo...

We don't know how much of that is "what public expects" in such situation vs what is actually true. Even if his wife doesn't care it would be wise to keep this apology style.

This is just some basic PR letter, no one from his family actually cares about corporate theatrics

Might wanna google the term “affair”

People don't need facts when they just want an excuse to attack someone from the outgroup.

He publicly stated he broke his wife’s trust, buddy.

If it wasn’t an affair they would just say that