The wife...

I don't think anything too nefarious or illegal I guess. The boyfriend had a crush on her and I believe she was distracted by something going on with her husband in that scene and therefore didn't pay him much mind.

That and it's adapted from a French story. I guess that would explain it.

[deleted]

I know! I think they were having an affair.

Yes, it's hinted it that they were in fact having an affair. Towards the beginning of the movie when Teddy comes home and is talking with Shelly who is repeating everything he says, Teddy says to Shelly regarding him taking his daughter to the David Bowie concert, "You take care of my girl, now." And Shelly responds, "You take care of *my* girl."

Then in the scene when the dieting group is having their meeting in the living room, Teddy comes into his bedroom and nearly scares Dede half to death, a sign of her guilt at being possibly being caught.

And the bedroom scene finally confirms their affair, as he comes into the room while she's on the phone and cups her breast.

Freaky stuff.

"First you ask if you can be red, knowing that I'm always red."

I don't think they were having an affair, it was more a case of Shelly having an unrequited "crush on an older woman" thing. When he comes in the room when Deedee's talking on the phone, she just seems annoyed at his presence, there's nothing in her behavious that suggests they actually had anything going on. Deedee just dismisses his advances as a mild annoyance, it doesn't seem that there is/has been any intimacy between them.

When the boyfriend grabs her breast, she treats it like a baby throwing up on her shoulder...an unavoidable irritant that a mother has to deal with. I don't think they were having an affair...in fact, it showed how taking seriously a sexual advance was the farthest thing from her mind. I don't think she was having an affair.