There are some marital secrets you should keep.

Do you keep secrets from your partner? Or are you an open book?

"I had this sense that one day there would be someone who really knew me inside and out; I would have this best friend where I was porous," Jessie Stephens said on a recent episode of the Mamamia Out Loud podcast.

But, she said, this idea is a "myth, I think, we're fed from childhood".

It kicked off a conversation between Jessie and her MMOL co-hosts, Holly Wainwright and Emily Vernem, about whether or not it's okay to keep secrets in marriages and relationships.

Watch: This woman decided to try open marriage for 12 months. Post continues after video.

The discussion was sparked following a piece in The Atlantic — called 'In Defense of Marital Secrets' — which argued that total honesty in a relationship isn't necessary (an idea from Lauren Elkin's book Scaffolding).

"Perhaps we learned through movies and books that someone will complete you and then you'll live with them and there'll never be any secret and there will be total intimacy," said Jessie.

"But add in other factors like sex, money, kids, in-laws, and suddenly, in fact, friendships are a lot simpler because we're not sharing money, we're not navigating a sex life, and we're not deciding how to co-parent a child.

"So, in fact, to have a loving partnership, I've found that sometimes those secrets are necessary."

The three then turned to listeners to hear the white lies they keep in relationships.

"I've spent the last 25 years with my husband leaving very early for work, which left me with time to myself in the mornings," Out Loud listener Karen shared.

"I still had the kids, but they were either asleep or busy getting ready for school. I used to take this time to pluck my chin hair, lip hair after a shower, lift my big boobs up under the fan to dry out, and spread my legs in front of the fan, also to squeeze a pimple or wax under my arms or bikini line. Now [my husband] is partly retired and is home all the time, every morning… Secret blown."

Many other listeners shared that they were all keeping one very specific secret from their partners.

"Quite a few Out Louders say that the secret they keep from their partner is that they're getting anti-wrinkle injections," Holly said.

While Em insisted she would tell her partner if she got injectables, as the results would be "obvious", Jessie considered the other side of the coin.

"I have friends that wouldn't tell their partner just because they can't be bothered having the conversation," she said. "Their partner's going to go, 'I think you look beautiful without it', and it's like, it's not about you."

However, when it came to whether or not it is acceptable to share your friend's secret with your significant other? Things got contentious.

While Em confessed she thought it was a "given" that everything she shared with her friend would be passed onto their partner, Jessie and Holly disagreed.

"If my friend has said to me, 'Please don't tell anyone', then I won't tell Brent," said Holly, referring to her partner. 'Unless it's something that like would directly affect his life."

Listen to the full Mamamia Out Loud episode here. Post continues below.

Other members of the Mamamia team also shared their relationship secrets on the podcast.

"My partner knows nothing about what I spend and I completely control the budget," one revealed.

Another said they used to hide their smoking habit from their partner of eight years.

"I felt terrible all the time we were living together and I was smoking in our backyard. The only reason I kept it from him was because I knew he hated smoking and I didn't want him to lecture me, so I just kept it under wraps."

Someone else withheld information from her boyfriend to protect his feelings.

"Very early on in our relationship, one of my partner's best friends told me that I was too good for my partner and that I should leave him, and that he thought he was punching. That person isn't in our life anymore. They stopped being friends, but I never told my partner because I thought it would upset him and I didn't agree. And here we are, 12 years and two kids later, a beautiful life, and they were clearly wrong. And I still think that I wouldn't tell my partner now because there's no point."

And the age-old classic: one argued it was "absolutely fine to fake an orgasm" in a marriage.

"You know, we're all busy, we're all tired, and you don't want anyone to feel bad, like they're underperforming," they said. "So it's kind of an act of kindness if you just pretend, 'Yeah, that was great,' but really you just want to go to sleep."

It seems marital secrets got a big old tick from most There was, however, an exception, from someone who deemed themselves an "open book".

"I don't keep a single secret from my partner. Sometimes actually he tells me that I should keep more secrets from him, and I don't need to tell him quite so much," they said.

So, marital secrets — yay or nay? Everyone has their own thoughts, obviously, but we'll leave you with this Outlander quote, shared by an Out Louder.

"There are things I can't tell you, at least not yet. And I'll ask nothing of you that you can't give me. But what I would ask of you when you do tell me something: let it be the truth. And I promise you the same. We have nothing between us but respect, perhaps, and I think that respect has some room for secrets, but not for lies."

What are your thoughts on marital secrets? Share in the comments below!

Feature Image: Getty.