Joshua Jackson, who’s been married to Jodie Turner-Smith since 2019, has shared his candid thoughts about affairs and why he believes that they can be “forgiven”.

The 44-year-old spoke about the topic during a recent interview with The Times while discussing his latest show, Fatal Attraction. The project is a TV adaptation of the 1987 movie of the same name and is centred on the affair that Jackson’s character, Dan, is having.

When asked about his own thoughts on infidelity, he said: “I think an affair can be forgiven.”

“We’re all grown-ups. No one wants to be cheated on and there is massive repair to be done,” Jackson continued. “Affairs aren’t about the partner, they’re about the person who has transgressed. It’s not purely about the sex. There’s a deeper violation.”

The Dawson’s Creek star was previously with Diane Kruger for 10 years before they broke up in 2016. Their split made headlines with rumours that Kruger wanted to get married and have children while Jackson did not, per The Times.

In 2018, he met Turner-Smith and they got married in 2019. They welcomed their first child, Janie, in April 2020. When asked why he felt ready to get married when he did, Jackson said that the decision “partially” had to do with his “age”.

“I’m old enough to be able to do this. Partially it’s about finding somebody in the right moment of life,” he said.

Jackson also confessed that if he married Turner-Smith when he was younger, he feels like there would have been infidelity in the relationship.

“If we had met five years earlier, we probably would have had a torrid affair, but all the rest of this stuff, I was just not ready,” he added. “I didn’t think I ever wanted to get married.”

He also reflected on how the relationship progressed after he met Turner-Smith through a mutual friend.

“In the beginning we did this dance with each other like, ‘Oh, this is casual.’ Except that we’d spend every moment together and find reasons to be in other cities together at the same time,” Jackson explained.

The actor went on to note that Turner-Smith was the one who proposed to him during New Year’s Eve. He said that while he was “not expecting” the proposal, his “organic and instinctive answer” to the question was “yes”.

He said their bond continued to grow from there and Turner-Smith got pregnant six months after getting engaged.

“And now we have this beautiful baby who is literally the manifestation of that love,” he added. “It is impossible for me to look into the face of my child without feeling love for my wife.”

This isn’t the first time that the Fringe star has spoken about his relationship and praised his partner. During an interview with Refinery 29 in August 2021, he defended trolls who targeted his wife after he revealed in an earlier appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that she had proposed to him.

“So I accidentally threw my wife under the bus because that story was told quickly and it didn’t give the full context and holy Jesus, the internet is racist and misogynist,” he said.

Jackson also shared that after he accepted his wife’s proposal, he proposed to her.

“Yes, two proposals. And also for anybody who is freaked out by a woman claiming her own space, shut the f*** up,” the Dr Death star said. “Good God, you cannot believe the things people were leaving my wife on Instagram. She did it. I said ‘yes.’ We’re happy. That’s it. That’s all you need to know.”