A cheating scandal was reportedly the catalyst behind Nicolas Cage‘s sudden split with his wife - and Alice Kim was the one stepping out.

The 52-year-old eccentric, financially irresponsible Oscar winner and his 32-year-old spouse announced their separation late last week.

They had been married since 2004 and have one child together.

It's not his first divorce - or his second - but what makes Nicolas Cage and Alice Kim's breakup so surprising is this latest revelation:

She was cheating on him! Publicly and for quite awhile now!

"All while he was at the Cannes film festival,” a source close to the situation told Radar Online, detailing Kim's betrayal of Cage.

The actor, to put things mildly, "was blindsided when he was confronted with allegations that Alice had been cheating on him."

“The reality is that Alice has been regularly spotted in Nevada with another man - and was even caught kissing him behind Nick’s back."

Soon after, Cage interrogated his wife about the claims, which made their way to him via an unnamed business associate.

His publicist then issued a statement claiming that the two have been separated and living apart since January of this year.

The identity of her alleged paramour has not been revealed.

Cage had been living with Kim and their 10-year-old son Kal-El near Summerli, Nev., about 30 minutes from the Las Vegas strip.

She is Cage’s third wife, following his original marriage to Patricia Arquette and his short-lived union with Lisa Marie Presley.

Alice and Nicolas met in February 2004 when she served him while she was working as a waitress in a Los Angeles restaurant.

They were engaged two months later.

Very little is known about the notoriously private star's personal life, but Cage was arrested for domestic abuse against Alice in 2011.

During the outburst, a drunk Cage allegedly grabbed Kim by the arm, began hitting parked cars and dared police officers to arrest him.

The cops obliged, but Dog the Bounty hunter bailed him out of a New Orleans jail (seriously) and Alice declined to press charges.

So, basically all was right with the world.