After spending 15 years in scandalous affairs with high-profile men, Sarah Symonds has earned her title as one of the world’s only “infidelity analysts.” Her dalliances with rich, famous and very married men made her a prime target in the British tabloids, which are constantly on the hunt for a target to vilify.

Rather than hide away or give in to her dark periods – and she admits there were many – Symonds decided to turn her unpopular life choices into her area of expertise. The 42-year-old wrote Having an Affair? A Handbook for the Other Woman, and soon became a hit on the talk-show circuit. Appearing on shows like Oprah, The View and Dr. Phil, Symonds became an outspoken voice for a population of women who are hidden yet scorned for the poor choices they make by getting involved with married men.

Her message is a bold and ambitious one.

“I’m trying to get wives to wake up, I’m trying to get husbands not to cheat and I’m certainly getting women to walk away from the married man,” she tells me over the phone from Wales.

She wrote her book as a way to get over the bitterness and hurt of a particularly heartbreaking affair. In it, she talks frankly to mistresses, with the purpose of empowering them to leave their married men (or MM for short). She also gives a list of common signs for wives to look for if they think their spouse is having an affair. (Examples: A sudden willingness to do his own laundry, spending time in front of the computer after the wife has gone to bed.)

After gaining a ton of exposure from her book, Symonds started to get an overwhelming amount of mail from women in affairs desperately looking for help.

“I needed more of a forum,” she says. “I’d turned into a cross between Mother Teresa and Carrie Bradshaw.”

She set up Mistresses Anonymous, a 12-step-like “secret society” for women to converge and seek support, guidance and empowerment from others in the same situation. What started as an online forum has now turned into live meetings, which Symonds travels around the world to host, including her first one in Toronto, scheduled for today. She’s also working with a Vancouver-based production company on a show about mistresses, which is to air in the fall on Slice.

Symonds says she feels her poor choices have helped guide her to where she’s meant to be right now – empowering others.

“Helping other women helps put me on the right path,” she says.