Kristen Stewart and Rupert Sanders Release Public Apologies for Affair. Stewart's is Better

After Kristen Stewart's bad decision, comes a good one. Just hours after photos of her romantic embrace with her married Snow White and Huntsman director, Rubert Sanders, she released a public apology.

"I'm deeply sorry for the hurt and embarrassment I've caused to those close to me and everyone this has affected. This momentary indiscretion has jeopardized the most important thing in my life, the person I love and respect the most, Rob. I love him, I love him, I'm so sorry," Stewart said in a statement.

Compared to the spate of cheating mea culpas from male celebrities which take weeks and are largely spent lambasting probing media, Stewart's statement was fast, honest and deeply repentful. Despite being a closed off celebrity known for her perpetual snarl, it was a statement that seemed full of emotion and shame. If anything, it revealed the side of a 22-year-old growing up, owning her very serious mistakes and trying desperately to right them.

If there's anyone who should be groveling it's the 41-year-old Sanders, father of two young kids, and husband to Liberty Ross, the same Liberty Ross cast as Stewart's mom in the movie. Not long after Stewart's statement, Sanders had one of his own.

"I am utterly distraught about the pain I have caused my family," he told People.com. "My beautiful wife and heavenly children are all I have in this world. I love them with all my heart. I am praying that we can get through this together."

Sanders' statement is more melodramatic that Stewart's and at the same time far less self-incriminating. No direct reference to his indiscretion, but instead referring to affair as something to "get through" with the help of his family. Like it was something that happened to him, rather than something he was a part of.

The fallout has most likely upset Pattinson, who doesn't take kindly to cheating, according to a recent Vanity Fair interview. But he's 26, wildly famous, linked to several women not a few years back, and only recently public as one half of the celebrity couple. Stewart's infidelity was bad, but not Sanders bad.

After tweeting "Wow" just after the scandal broke, Sanders' wife, model Liberty Ross deactivated her Twitter account and has yet to make a public statement. Based on her Vogue blog, recounting her role in the movie (as Queen Eleanor) and her last entry detailing their relaxing family vacation post-premiere, the infidelity was a big surprise.

Not only did Ross support her husband during the film in what she described as 2 year-haul, she stuck by Sanders when he was still an unknown director and she a famous model. Their recent swap in celebrity status is a new thing, she told You magazine, before the cheating photos surfaced. As a mom and long-time supporter of her husband's work, she's facing an embarrassing fall-out from the affair, particularly because of all the promotional press she's done in advance.

Then there's their young children, aged 5 and 7. Stewart and Sanders are slated to make a sequel to the "Snow White" movie. His role as director, and their family's future income, could be in jeopardy thanks to this scandal. Not to mention their once happy family unit, now in disarray.

Sanders betrayed his wife, an actress in the film, literally behind her back. He also cast Ross, 33, as the mother to Stewart, a woman only 11 years her junior. Not the most flattering decision in retrospect.

If age can be a factor in infidelity, it can also help to explain bad choices. Stewart is 22, and though in a relationship, she's technically single and has spent her young life on a film set. Sanders is married, a father and 41. He's also Stewart's boss on set, a powerful role that can be used to influence someone much younger and less experienced. Sanders should have known better. And after this incident, Stewart will know better.