She’s Not Attending Any More Family Gatherings Until Her Mother-In-Law And Sister-In-Law Stop Making Hurtful Comments About Her Appearance, But Her Husband Thinks She’s Overreacting
This 29-year-old woman and her husband Jake, who’s 32, have been married for three years, and for the most part, their relationship is wonderful.
The only problem is that her in-laws – specifically her mother-in-law and sister-in-law – are constantly making comments on her looks whenever she attends family events.
“And it’s honestly gotten to the point where I don’t even want to be around them anymore,” she admitted.
While some people are interested in makeup or fashion, she simply is not. She tends to dress quite casually, even when they go out for family dinners, and she really doesn’t care that much about looking “perfect.”
Plus, Jake is constantly telling her how beautiful she is and how much he loves her appearance. This made her feel secure, as opposed to pressured to change.
His family, on the other hand, have seemingly made it their ultimate mission to point out every single thing they think is “wrong” with her.
For instance, right after she and Jake got engaged, they had a family dinner, and her mother-in-law actually had the nerve to pull her aside and say, “You know, for my wedding, I lost 15 pounds before the big day. It made all the difference in the photos.”
At the time, she had no clue how to even respond. And to make matters worse, her sister-in-law acts the exact same way.
Once, her sister-in-law asked, “Oh, you’re still wearing those jeans?” Another time, her sister-in-law claimed she’d look “so much better” with some makeup on and asked if she’d ever tried wearing some.
annanahabed – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
Whenever this happens, she typically tries to laugh off the remarks, as she truly doesn’t want to cause any drama.
“But honestly, it really hurts. I hate confrontation, and I feel stuck because I don’t want Jake to feel like I’m making him pick sides. But recently, it’s gotten so much worse,” she explained.
Just a few weeks ago, during her father-in-law’s birthday dinner, she finally hit her breaking point as well.
In honor of the celebration, she actually tried very hard to look nice. She did her hair, put on makeup, and wore a dress, and she genuinely believed she looked great.
Yet, as soon as she walked in for the event, her mother-in-law threw on a fake smile and had the audacity to state, “Oh, I see you finally decided to try a little harder.”
She was totally embarrassed, but the jabs didn’t end there. Instead, later in the evening, her sister-in-law began talking about her weight!
“You know, you should tone it up a bit. It’s important to stay fit in marriage,” her sister-in-law told her.
Her husband wasn’t around at the time, so she was left standing there speechless. She was beyond humiliated, and she couldn’t even speak to anybody for the rest of the night.
That’s why, on their way home after the birthday dinner, she finally opened up about everything to Jake. However, his reaction was a bit shocking.
“He said he agreed that his mom and sister were out of line but thinks I shouldn’t take it so seriously. He was like, ‘That’s just how they are,’ and told me to ignore them,” she detailed.
She didn’t understand how she could possibly continue doing that, though, since she’s forced to feel awful about herself whenever they’re with his family.
Her husband’s response was her last straw, too, and she put her foot down once and for all.
More specifically, she made it clear that she wouldn’t be attending any more family events until her mother-in-law and sister-in-law stopped making disrespectful remarks about her appearance.
“I’m exhausted from pretending it doesn’t hurt me, and I can’t do it anymore,” she reasoned.
Well, her husband is actually upset with her now and accusing her of overreacting. Apparently, his family already views her as “standoffish” due to her quieter nature, so he believes that if she stops showing up, it will only make things worse.
“He’s asked me to ‘play nice’ to keep the peace, but I feel like I’ve been doing that for years, and it hasn’t changed a thing,” she vented.
Nonetheless, she can’t help but feel torn. She wanted to stand up for herself, but she never intended to cause any issues between her husband and his relatives.
This has made her wonder whether refusing to go to any more family gatherings is justified or too harsh.
How would you feel if your in-laws treated you like this? Should her husband be sticking up for her?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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