Either she has zero feeling for him and has expressed as much, only wanting to remain as co-parents. Or he is about the mentally cruellest bastard there is.
I‘m a firm believer in the latter. In that WhatsApp screenshot he talks about possibly seeing someone else and she’s like “I’ll be there for you if you do”
Who the fuck thinks like that? This is not some “friends with benefits” deal, this is what is in all likelihood her only sexual partner ever, the father of her two children and husband of 15 years. And to see him so casually disregard her and pump his own chest about how it’s so wonderful to play the field a bit and get women interested in him!?
“I’ll be there for you”
Was she watching “Friends”?
I admit this is all speculation on my part, but my gut tells me he has her so firmly wedged underneath his boot this was actually one of his better episodes. If he’s brave enough to tell his wife she doesn’t sexually please him, I’m willing to bet his behaviour in the bedroom varies from outright mocking her to storming off in a fit and fake crying in the next room.
She probably believes she’s unattractive and fucks like a JW precisely because that’s exactly what he’s screaming at her about.
It’s not too late, especially when you are still on this side of 40. He’s effectively holding her and the family hostage with this “separation”, which is pretty much the status quo for a year now, only that he gets to be open to the world about it. 2022 was essentially a sloppy way of getting his open marriage.