'Not what I wanted': Wild Oats author's ex speaks out

The former husband of a New York woman who wrote about her year-long open marriage has finally had his say.

Scott Mansfield said he never wanted to see other people, but bored with her sex life, wife Robin Rinaldi decided to embark on a 12-month experiment.

During the week she would live apart from her husband and on the weekends she would return home to Scott.

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"I didn't like the idea of opening up our marriage," Mansfield told The Times.

"But if I didn't do it, I felt we were heading for divorce, so I thought why not take the chance and maybe we can come out the other side?"

The 50-year-old, released a book, The Wild Oats Project where she said that not having children and being with a man who didn’t want any, the open relationship stemmed from her desire for a "deeply female experience."

The couple apparently adopted a "don’t ask, don’t tell," philosophy.

Rinaldi started off by posting an ad online. "Good girl seeks experience," it read.

"I’m a 44-year-old professional, educated, attractive woman in an open marriage, seeking single men age 35-50 to help me explore my sexuality.

"You must be trustworthy, smart, and skilled at conversation as well as in bed."

To her surprise, she was inundated with responses and eventually slept with 12 people during the year-long adventure.

Ms Rinaldi admits some people may find it hard to understand why she wanted an open marriage.

But she says the arrangement improved her relationship with her husband and spiced up their sex life.

Several months after the project ended however, Ms Rinaldi was contacted by one of the men she had slept with.

Alden was a writer in his late 30s with whom she had enjoyed “exquisite sex.”

They began sleeping together again and quickly fell in love.

She separated from her husband and the pair later married.

Looking back, Ms Rinaldi says she has no regrets about having tried an open relationship with her former husband.

"The lessons I learned weren’t purely physical," she wrote in her book.

"They were about growing up, making mistakes, learning to live without so much fear, owning up to my dark side and, eventually, finding out the difference between being a “good girl” and a good person."

Morning news break – March 26