Am I Wrong for Embarrassing My Mother-in-Law in Front of the Family?

A woman decided to give her mother-in-law a taste of her own medicine. After what happened, she wondered whether she went overboard after embarrassing her in front of the whole family.

After embarrassing her mother-in-law in front of the entire family, a woman took to Reddit to share her story. She wondered whether she went too far with what happened, especially after how everyone reacted.

The woman's mother-in-law, Barbara, always had the worst comments for her. She was very critical of her daughter-in-law and constantly found a way to insult her.

Before going on to say what happened, she narrated the instances where her mother-in-law embarrassed her in front of everybody. She once slammed the woman for coloring her hair, saying she committed a sin for changing God's chosen hair color for her.

Another time, she threw away some of the woman's lingerie, saying her son shouldn't be seeing them as they were sinful. Her mother-in-law was a very conservative person, and it never changed.

Before getting married, the woman's mother-in-law threatened her not to get pregnant, or else she and the rest of the family would disown the baby. These were only some of the many things her mother-in-law would do to her.

More recently, the woman's mother-in-law started making comments on her appearance. She'd send her boxes of tea and essential oils to try and better her skin.

Initially, the woman would refuse them because they'd make her stomach act up. So as not to cause trouble, she never said whether or not she ever took the tea.

One day, she visited her in-laws for lunch while her husband, Tommy, was at work. Barbara examined her daughter-in-law's face while everybody was eating and blurted out that it looked better.

Things Took a Turn for Worse

Barbara implied that the tea she gave "finally yielded some pretty good results," as her face was no longer "pale and outworn" like it used to be.

Everyone stopped eating and stared at the woman to see her reaction. At this point, the woman was stunned and speechless. She felt embarrassed by the sudden remark.

To spite her mother-in-law, she came up with the most witty answer: "No, Tommy's actually been helping me out with de-stress every night in his own special way," she replied, winking.

Everybody started laughing upon hearing this, and the woman's mother-in-law widened her eyes in shock. She excused herself and walked out of the room.

That night, Barbara called her daughter-in-law and flipped out about being disrespectful. She accused her of taking advantage of her son and demanded an apology.

Comments From Internet Users

Ultimately, the woman wondered whether she'd ruined her relationship with her in-laws. She took to Reddit to ask for opinions, and people made sure to give her some advice.

"You need to remove this toxic woman from your life and your husband needs to address this [expletive] with his mother," one user said. "She embarrassed you and has been doing so regularly. You stood up for yourself," another assured her.

Others pressed on to see whether or not her husband Tommy knew about the things his mother had been doing to his wife. "Why is her husband not shutting this down? Why is he letting his mother treat his wife like this?" someone asked.

"Where is the husband?! Why/ How/ Where is he letting this happen? To his wife? And the family bystanders?" someone echoed. "And why is mommy's little darling boy not standing up for you? He's leaving you to twist in the wind," said one commenter.

People urged the woman to stand up for herself. They felt she was not being respected by her own in-laws, which merited intervention from her husband.

What do you think of the woman's situation? Do you think she was right for standing up for herself? What would you have done?

In a similar story, a man wondered whether he was wrong for asking his mother-in-law to leave his wedding after causing him severe allergic reactions.