Checked husband’s old phone

Here with kind of a confession and a question.

My husband (33m) and I (31f) were cleaning out our basement, and found a box of some of his old stuff, including three of his old iPhones. He didn’t know he still had the phones and the box clearly hadn’t been touched in years.

I thought we might be able to sell them or trade them in, so I charged them in order to be able to erase/wipe them. Before I erased anything I checked the files to see if there would be anything he might want off them, and you guessed it, one of them had a folder with pics and videos involving his ex (he had this phone before we even met).

I felt embarrassed to find it, and immediately let him know. His reaction was surprised and a little sheepish, basically “omg” and he said yeah, you’re going to want to delete that stuff, kind of laughing it off. He had no interest in looking at it or even checking the phones in the first place.

I admit, curiosity got the best of me, and I checked that folder later.

And I was shocked at my reaction – I was, like, extremely turned on. There was a taboo element to it, but also seeing him as a younger man, in a different time, in that kind of vulnerable and private was was incredibly intense.

I haven’t told him I checked. I don’t think he would mind based on his reaction.

But, am I a jerk for doing this? Do I need to confess everything?