Former AKB48 member Mariko Shinoda threatens to commit suicide after caught cheating on husband

Japanese media reported that Shinoda's husband had conclusive evidence supporting the cheating allegations. Photos: Mariko Shinoda/Instagram

Mariko Shinoda, a former member of Japanese girl group AKB48, has been caught cheating on her husband of three years.

In an audio recording published by Japanese magazine Weekly Bunshun, the 36-year-old singer was heard admitting to having an affair with a businessman in his 30s and apologised for her infidelity.

“This is all my fault. I’m sorry for being such a bad person,” she said in the recording, to which her husband responded, “There’s nothing you can do now. You’re the one who destroyed this family.”

The recording – allegedly submitted by the husband, who is a non-celebrity – also included Shinoda threatening her husband, saying that she "will jump off the balcony and commit suicide” if he didn’t forgive her.

According to reports, the singer's husband, manager and friends spent over 40 minutes trying to calm her down and stop her from trying to jump off the balcony.

On Monday (Dec 26), Japanese media released a series of screenshots exposing Shinoda’s flirty messages with her affair partner on the social networking site, Line.

The photos also revealed that she had been visiting the businessman’s house multiple times since May.

Mariko Shinoda tied the knot with an entrepreneur in 2019 and gave birth to a baby girl in 2020.

The timeline matches the story of Shinoda’s husband, who shared that he had been suspicious of his wife who kept leaving the house late at night since May.

After going through the records on his wife’s menstrual cycle app, the husband confirmed that he had conclusive evidence of the affair.

Speaking to Japanese media, Shinoda’s husband lamented: “The heart symbol is used to record when one had sexual intercourse. This symbol was marked on the days I assumed Mariko was meeting her affair partner.

“What stood out the most to me was that she added a different symbol to distinguish between me and her partner. I was shocked to see this record. Did she just want to avoid an unwanted pregnancy or did she do this so she will know whose child it was if she got pregnant?”

It is reported that Shinoda’s husband is filing for a divorce and lawsuit against the singer, seeking alimony from the affair. The two are also allegedly fighting for custody of their two-year-old daughter.

Shinoda's agency has refused to respond to the matter.