When it comes to our significant others’ parents, we will always love them, and we will always appreciate them for raising our beloved, but sometimes they drive us crazy. It's not a surprise that tons of viral stories about mothers-in-law have emerged. Read on for some of the funniest and most infuriating of these stories.
“When My Kids Were Young I Would…”
We appreciate the experience that our elders have, having gone through life and being able to pass on their lessons to the next generation. With that said, it gets pretty irritating when a mother-in-law is always pointing out how we are doing something wrong with our kids and constantly chiming in, “When my kids were young, I would…” as a way of belittling our parenting skills.
Well, the Covid-19 pandemic threw that for a loop. Unless your mother-in-law is well over 100 years old and remembers living through the 1918 flu, she really doesn’t have much advice to give on how to get through the whole pandemic thing. It was a rough year and change regardless, but still, at least it shut her up.
This Lady Does Not Mince Words
Imagine carrying a child in your body for nine months, going through the morning sickness and mood swings and physical pain and the grueling final push of getting the baby out of your body, and then when it's all over, your mother-in-law gives you the biggest insult you could ever imagine receiving.
That’s what happened to this person. Her first baby was born, and shortly after she overheard her mother-in-law talking about how she wanted her son to marry somebody else and even had someone for him. Even if she thought such a thing, did she really have to say it out loud? Not the right thing to say about your granddaughter’s mother!
As Awkward As It Gets
Even nice mothers-in-law have their moments, and they have a magical ability to make things exceptionally awkward. That was the case when a family was playing the game Heads Up and the daughter-in-law gave the beginning part of the sentence that somebody had to guess the end of.
She was given the phrase “on fleek,” and she said “my eyebrows are...” with the hope that someone would guess correctly that her eyebrows are on fleek. Her mother-in-law went in a totally different direction, though, and responded with the word “unibrow.” Ouch! Well don’t worry, we think unibrows can be on fleek too!
“Do I See A Baby Growing In Your Belly? ”
Everybody is conscious about their weight, and it is bad enough when we notice it ourselves. We don’t need third parties butting in to make us feel bad about it, especially when the third party is our mother-in-law. For whatever reason, they have a habit of making comments about weight, even when they aren’t even trying.
The classic case of a brutal comment about your weight is when you aren’t pregnant but someone asks if you are. That’s what happened, apparently repeatedly, in the case of this lady. She had a clever response, which we assume was just in her head and not to her mother-in-law, but either way, we’re glad to know that she has a sense of humor about it.
The Moocher-In-Law
Nobody likes having someone leech off of them, but when it comes to family we sometimes have no choice. We have to help our family in need, but sometimes they keep on taking and taking to the point where it's inappropriate, but it can still be hard to say no. That’s exactly what happened with this person and his mother-in-law shortly after he got married.
She was going through a split so the son-in-law paid for her legal fees, and then gave her a car, and then paid for her cell phone plan, and then for Christmas gifts for the mother-in-law’s other kids, and then mortgage payments, and then the AC and heat in her home, and then more bills. Finally, he said no when they had a kid and had a good excuse to have to stop supporting the moocher-in-law.
Claiming The Son-In-Law Beats The Kids
Most of the stories on this list are just annoying, but this one is flat-out disturbing. It’s not technically about a mother-in-law, because the couple isn’t married, but they are engaged and have been together for many years and even have two kids together, one is five years old and one is six months old, in addition to the eight-year-old that they have raised from the girl’s previous marriage.
Once they get married, the boy will become his step-son, and he has basically been the only father in the kid’s life as the biological father does not acknowledge the boy and has only met him a few times. The mother-in-law did the most wicked thing, though, as she told the boy to inform the teachers at school that his soon-to-be stepfather hits him. Just truly disgusting.
Spreading Rumors
This is a totally weird one. It’s not about an actual mother-in-law, but the mom of a girlfriend of three years. Close enough, and she is awful enough to make this list in our opinion! She went around telling people in the family, totally behind the couple’s back, that the daughter was pregnant. Here’s the thing: the daughter was not pregnant.
The guy found out about this when he got a call from the girl’s uncles who threatened his life. He was frightened, one because they were threatening him and two because his girlfriend was apparently pregnant. He had to call his girlfriend to even find out if this was the truth, and when he found out it was false he was just furious.
The Hammer Throwing Mother-In-Law
This story is really bizarre, and we don’t have enough information to really make heads or tails of it. A mother-in-law who throws a hammer at her son-in-law? Sure, why not? That seems well within the mother-in-law repertoire, to be honest. This woman apparently has a thing for hammers, because she took a hammer to her own husband's head as well.
Then we find out at the end of the story that this guy is thankfully no longer with his “crazy” girlfriend anymore. Now we really want to know what’s going on here. It’s a really short story, and the guy doesn’t seem too keen on elaboration, so we’re just going to always have to wonder.
A Blow To Your Self-Esteem
Mothers-in-law have a way of making extremely cutting remarks that go right for your self-esteem. This story is a pretty amazing example of that. This girl was putting serious effort into getting in shape, and she lost a remarkable 80 pounds. We have to hand it to her for her effort, and she should be proud of her hard work!
The future mother-in-law didn’t think so much of it, though. The girl was hanging with her fiance, who often told his mom about how much his girl was working out. The woman took a good look at the girl and with a wicked smile said, “Well I’m sure it’ll show real soon.” What in the world is wrong with some people?!
When You Catch The Mother-In-Law In A Lie
This girl posted a story about how her in-laws were not invited to her destination wedding as her husband’s parents are separated and are unable to be near each other, a fact that was discovered when the two behaved pretty horribly at the husband’s first wedding. The mother-in-law said that she was not to attend because she already went to her son’s first wedding and doesn’t want to go to another. This upset the daughter-in-law, but she kept her cool.
After the wedding, though, the mom was angry and claimed that she didn’t even know about the wedding. Huh? And then she made a post on the Facebook page of a friend who was unable to make it and she wrote, “Don’t worry, he didn’t even have the decency to tell his own mother.” Well well, this woman is a piece of work!
Some Kids Are Just Never Good Enough For Their Parents
Parents are supposed to love their kids unconditionally. We all know kids who are, in blunt terms, failures, but their parents still love and support and respect their kids regardless, without any judgment. On the flip side, though, there are the parents who never seem satisfied, no matter how great their kids are. That’s how this mother-in-law is with her son.
The guy’s wife told the story of how the mother-in-law threatened to call the police on her son and have him put in a psychiatric hospital because he was depressed. What prompted this? Well, the guy has a job in the tech industry, but his mother wanted him to be a lawyer. We’re thinking she’s the one who needs to go to a psychiatric hospital.
The Mother-In-Law Used To Be Pleasant And Charming…
This story is maybe the saddest of them because it does not describe an awful woman, but describes someone who was totally wonderful and exactly what you would hope to find in an in-law...until suddenly she changed. She went from being “pleasant, charming, [and] intelligent” to becoming “hateful, nasty, [and] controlling.” What happened here?!
This person describes how the mother-in-law speaks badly about her own children, is always criticizing people, and is always one-upping everyone about everything. If you are sick she is sicker. If you have something nice she has something better. Other mothers-in-law on this list are horror stories with unbelievable villains, but here we have a slow-burn psychological thriller that feels all too real.
When The Mother-In-Law Catches You In The Act
Let’s be honest, nothing in the entire world is more awkward than being caught in the act, and this person’s future mother-in-law caught her child and fiance getting it on. That’s not her fault, and it isn’t something that needs to ever be brought up again, and they can all just pretend it never happened and move on. But no, of course, that isn’t what happened.
This person’s sister informed them that at the rehearsal dinner the mother-in-law told the story about it to the person’s mother, father, sister, and grandparents, going into all of the gory details. This is crossing so many lines it is not even funny. The couple did not speak to the woman for six months, and while it isn’t cool to disown your parents or in-laws, we can’t say we blame them here at all.
When The In-Laws Talk In Their Language
Marrying someone from another culture can be extremely rewarding, though it does come with challenges. Even if there is no real culture gap between the couple, there can be with the in-laws. The worst thing, though, is that the in-laws will have a language that you don’t speak which they can talk to each other in!
This person’s in-laws hated her off the bat without even meeting her. When the guy arranged for them all to meet, the in-laws just spoke in their language. Whatever the parents said, it was bad enough for the husband to end the meeting early. This person did not give details, but she said that her husband informed her about the things that his parents said, and the couple is not on speaking terms with them anymore.
This Lady Needs To Pull Herself Together
This person told a story about her mother-in-law who made a totally embarrassing appearance at her wedding. First, she was totally drunk when she got to the wedding. Could she really not show up sober to her own son’s wedding? She even brought more alcohol with her in her purse, and she was stumbling around and slurring her words.
Then she spent a few hours making out with her date as everyone looked on until finally she was taken home. The girl’s family had their doubts about her husband in the first place, and this just made things worse. The girl realizes that this isn’t the worst example of a horrible mother-in-law, but it’s still really bad.
This Mother-In-Law Is Totally Whacked Out
Some of the mothers-in-law on this list are clearly bad people, and we have no qualms about making fun of them. However, this one we don’t really want to make fun of because she is clearly mentally ill. It is just a sad situation for everybody involved, and there are few stories we’ve heard that show someone clearly crazy like this woman is.
We learn that in the past she was institutionalized over and over, and we are sure that will continue. The frequent phone calls at first were irritating, but they were typical bad mother-in-law territory. Then came the delusional statements about God and Satan, and they had to cut contact. Then there were the crazed messages, and later on, there was the attempted exorcism of her granddaughter, complete with a bible that she beat her with. Time for a restraining order.
A Very Strange Dynamic
Some mothers-in-law play favorites with their children’s significant others and have a harder time getting over their breakups than the kids do. That sounds like the case here, with a mother-in-law who liked her son’s ex-girlfriend so much that she had the girl move in with them and her son while he had moved on to the girl who would later become his wife.
It must have been awkward for the girl to have her guy’s ex living with him and his family. Once the couple got married and the mother-in-law got to know her daughter-in-law, things turned out well, but as she notes, there were some pretty intense moments between them earlier, and it sounds like it took some time for her to be accepted.
“I’m Not Your Landlord”
This is a sad story. This girl was renting out an apartment from her in-laws when her mother-in-law came and told her that she and her husband did not want to be landlords anymore. She also said how the girl was responsible for the taxes and everything else, and she only had one month to get it. She proceeded to give her a magazine that had a list of places for rent in it.
It would have been nice to be given more notice, but this is all pretty reasonable. There’s a twist, though, and it’s that the girl’s husband died three months earlier. Just imagine losing a husband at a young age and then getting booted from your rental apartment by your in-laws right after. The girl was crying, and the mother-in-law said that the crying was making her uncomfortable. How messed up is this?!
All About The Grandbabies
Most parents want to have grandchildren, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, there is a line that gets crossed all too often when they are pushing their children to kids, and that becomes even worse when it is the in-laws who are doing it. This girl’s mother-in-law made it seem like all she cared about was grandchildren, and it was downright obnoxious.
First, she decorated a hotel room with a sign that said, “Happy Birthday! Now make me a grandchild.” Then there was the time that the mother-in-law introduced her as the person who would give her a grandchild. There are all sorts of other lines that have been crossed, and eventually, the girl told her mother-in-law to quit it or else she won’t even tell her when she has a kid.
A Cruel Kind Of Hospitality
Lots of people have food preferences and restrictions, whether for religious, ethical, or personal reasons or simply a matter of taste. This person had a pet pig as a child, and there was trauma involved that made her not eat pork. This sounds very reasonable, but her boyfriend’s mom apparently went out of her way to not make her comfortable when she came for dinner.
The couple never got married but they were together for a decade, making the guy’s family basically into in-laws, and over that time there was mysteriously pork nearly every time the girl came over. The guy’s mom claimed that she just kept forgetting, which would have been plausible the first few times but after a certain point, it is hard to believe that she wasn’t doing it on purpose. The supporting evidence: the guy’s sister told the girl that the family actually rarely ate pork.
“You May Now Punch The Bride”
This person’s mother-in-law accused the couple of drinking too much at his wedding. What was the woman’s solution to seeing the newlyweds apparently consuming too much alcohol? How about beating her daughter? You read that right. This woman attacked her own daughter on the girl’s wedding night.
She left a mark on the girl, as her bruises were clear as day, giving the couple a constant reminder of what went down while they were trying to enjoy their honeymoon. The worst part of it is that the mom denied it, saying that she does not remember it happening, which is pretty surprising given that she herself was not even drinking.
“Why Bother Remembering Her Name? She’s Just My Daughter-In-Law! ”
This girl posted her story of how for three years her mother-in-law could not even get her name right. She would be referred to by the name of the ex-wife of the woman’s other son. Unless this woman is showing signs of early-onset Alzheimer’s, that’s pretty unacceptable. The name of your daughter-in-law is really something that you should keep track of.
Perhaps she liked the other girl better and it was all wishful thinking? Or perhaps she was wishing that like her previous son’s marriage, this marriage would also fall apart. Well if that’s what she was going for, it worked out, because the marriage did in fact dissolve. We wonder if this mother-in-law was a big part of both marriages collapsing.
“Not Saying You’re Fat But Maybe You Should Try This Workout Video”
It is pretty socially unacceptable to tell people they need to lose weight, but society has ways of getting around that. Some are more subtle than others, and this mother-in-law definitely falls into the less than subtle category. She clearly seemed to think her daughter-in-law could drop a few, and she basically said that publicly.
She did this by posting a workout video on Facebook and tagging the girl in it, in addition to tagging her own daughter. “Now you have no excuse,” she wrote, letting the whole world see her body shame these two girls. Not cool at all, but we imagine this is just one of the many cases of the mother-in-law being jealous.
This Mother-In-Law Does Not Leave Anything Ambiguous
Some mothers-in-law cloak their disdain for their kid’s significant others in passive-aggressive behavior. Others lay everything on the table. One week prior to this girl’s wedding, the mother-in-law wrote a letter to her son telling him to put a lot of thought into whether or not he actually wanted to marry this girl. That doesn’t necessarily mean she doesn’t like the girl, she’s just encouraging her son to be prudent with his choice.
At the wedding, her real feelings came out. She didn’t make it to the end of the night and left crying, not saying a word to anyone, and spent seven hours driving home on her own. Okay, perhaps she was just so emotional about her son getting married and this doesn’t actually reflect badly on the bride! Well, after the wedding she sent an email saying that she had no idea what her son saw in her.
“You Look Beautiful, But Not As Beautiful As My Daughter”
If you want to tell someone they look beautiful, just say it and don’t make a qualitative analysis of it. You don’t need to compare and contrast, you don’t need to bring anyone else’s name into it. Just say it and shut up. This is advice a lot of men probably need, but also women as well, and especially mothers-in-law.
This person’s mother-in-law told the girl on her wedding day that she looked beautiful, but no, she did not shut up there. She had to add that she did not look as beautiful as her own daughter. We get it, moms have to play favorites, but this does not really need to be said out loud. We don’t do this with most things in life. “Thank you waiter, our food was excellent, though not as good as the place down the street.” No.
“You Didn’t Have To Invite Me? Well I Didn’t Have To Invite You! ”
Some people seem to think everything revolves around them, and this mother-in-law is a great example of that. She was on a cruise ship with her family when she said to her daughter-in-law, “I didn’t have to invite you on this trip, you know.” She apparently said that without any self-awareness, because the daughter-in-law was paying for herself, not taking any help from the family.
She’s an adult, she works, makes her own money, and pays for herself. She is not at the mercy of her in-laws, and chances are she did nothing to warrant such a comment and has nothing to apologize for. We hope she turned right back around and said, “You know what, I didn’t have to invite you!”
Impatient, Unappreciative, And Ungrateful
Nothing is worse than someone who is unappreciative and ungrateful, and when you add impatience to the mix you have someone who is really obnoxious. That mix describes this mother-in-law perfectly. This girl was nice enough to knit Christmas gifts for the in-laws, but she learned that no good deed goes unpunished.
They were doing a gift exchange, but the in-laws moved the date up by two days at the last minute. Because the girl’s gifts were laboriously handcrafted and not just something bought at the store, they would need two more days to finish them. The mother-in-law was not happy that the gifts were delayed, and in the days after the exchange, she kept asking to receive them. At last, when they were finished, the mother simply grabbed the gloves her daughter-in-law made for her and stormed out without even saying thank you.
What Kind Of Person Doesn’t Like Dogs?
It is important to respect others who are unlike you, to tolerate those who don’t share your values, to be able to live side by side in peace and harmony with individuals with different worldviews. We may want different things, have different beliefs, and live lives on different paths, but deep down inside we are all human, and we must not judge those who are different from us.
However, people who don’t like animals are just the worst. How can we even like someone who doesn’t like our furry, four-legged friends, not to mention all of the wonderful creatures of the animal kingdom? This mother-in-law doesn’t just dislike animals, she denies that they have emotions, thinks they are all filthy and feels that they should not live inside of houses. Maybe she just needs the right dog-in-law to convert her.
More Fat-Shaming From The Mothers-In-Law
One of the recurring themes on this list is the mothers-in-law who can’t help but fat-shame their daughters-in-law. It practically feels like a tradition. Most of the time it is just poorly phrased comments that were totally inappropriate but just show that the mother-in-law lacks manners. This mother-in-law went above and beyond that, though.
The girl admits she’s chubby, and for Christmas every year her mother-in-law gives her gifts related to dieting. Slim fast and diet pills have made an appearance, but the best was the neoprene waistband which you put around your waist until you apparently sweat enough that you are slim. These are such inappropriate gifts, and it’s pretty upsetting to know that your mother-in-law is totally preoccupied with your weight.
Sending Some Pretty Clear Messages
Some people talk to their in-laws and get a pretty clear sense that the in-laws really just don’t care much for them as people. This girl noted how obvious it was that her mother-in-law thought pretty little of her. It was pretty clear with the comment, “Well, that’s cute,” when she showed off her beautiful ring after getting engaged.
Then there were the frequent times in the wedding planning stage that the mother would refer to the marriage in uncertain terms, speaking of the future by saying “if you get married” rather than “when you get married.” Then after the marriage, the mother-in-law did not hold back at all, making comments like “Oh, are you guys still married,” whenever they met. Doesn’t sound like they are going to have much of a relationship!
Pushing Her Religion On Her Daughter-In-Law
Interfaith relationships are great, especially when you consider how modern they are. In this day and age, such an arrangement is totally normal, but prior to recent decades, it was much rarer, and practically nonexistent over a century back. That said, there are tensions when the in-laws want to impose their own religion onto their child’s significant other.
This girl experienced that with her in-laws. She is Jewish, but her mother-in-law wanted her to jazz up the house with Christmas decorations and memorabilia. They told her that it is the woman’s responsibility to make the home nice, and she also told her that because she is not “a serious Jew” that it shouldn’t be a problem. Why don’t you let the husband and wife make these decisions and not interfere?
“You’re Not Fat, You’re Just Short! ”
Imagine being told, “you’re not fat, you’re just short.” That’s what this mother-in-law said to her daughter-in-law. Perhaps it was meant as a compliment, but it wouldn’t make us feel too good hearing it. This sort of blunt speech is typical of this mother-in-law, and unfortunately many others as well, and that was not the end of it.
This girl was informed that she is preferred to the other daughter-in-law and tied that into her not having a big nose. Perhaps that was a compliment too, but it wasn’t really called for and it isn’t good to talk behind people’s backs. She even asked the girl if her husband hated his mother, and said that she never wanted to have him. Lady, you really shouldn’t say these things!
Taking Her Son’s Side
A parent is naturally going to take their child’s side in a conflict in a relationship, but they should try to be diplomatic and help mediate disputes rather than simply blindly defending their children. Even if they are blindly defending their children, they can do it in a way that does not attack the child’s spouse.
This girl did not get diplomacy from the in-laws when her husband left her. He told her via a Post-it note, after 22 years together, that he was leaving her, and he was gone without her getting a chance to talk. He didn’t answer her phone calls, so she called her mother-in-law. The woman just screamed at her, told her that she didn’t cook for him, verbally abused her, and even said that their children don’t matter, only the husband matters, which the kids were able to hear because she was yelling so loud.
“My Son Can Do No Wrong”
Here is another story of a mother taking her son’s side in every single marriage dispute to the point where it simply reinforced the son’s ego and made him think he can do no wrong. After all, if the mother thinks that about her son and tells him that all the time, how else could he think?
This can hurt a marriage, as this woman felt. Her mother-in-law was so biased that her husband thought it was his wife that was always at blame for everything. Issues couldn’t be talked about because what room for discussion was there when the husband’s mother told him that he was never wrong? It can be good for parents to help out with problems in the marriage, but in cases like this, it is best if they just leave everything alone.
Mother-In-Law Causes Weight Insecurity
The weight shaming from mothers-in-law has really gotten out of control. It is constant, it is relentless, and it is really quite sad. Someone who feels the need to constantly comment on someone else’s weight really needs to just get a life. It is up to a person whether or not their weight is an issue, and everyone else should shut up and keep their thoughts to themselves.
But keeping thoughts to themselves is a skill that a lot of mothers-in-law lack, and this girl said that the barrage of comments about her weight that she has gotten from her mother-in-law has made her contemplate going on a crash diet before the mother-in-law comes to visit the next month. Before making a comment about someone’s weight, think about whether or not you want the person to feel insecure about their weight, because that is the likeliest impact.
Wedding Disaster Stories
Couple Comeback That Turns out to Be a Nightmare
It may be a good idea to keep your wedding organizer updated regarding the relationship status of your family members. In this case, the wedding planner had to deal with a problem that really shouldn't have been an issue. A wedding planner was asked to apologize to the bride’s brother’s girlfriend as she hadn’t written her name on the card. They hadn’t been a couple when the cards were written - who was keeping track?
Helping Themselves to Cake
There’s a big moment at the wedding when the bride and groom cut the cake. The wedding planner probably thought she was almost there when she went to supervise the slices being given out. Unfortunately, the servers at the fancy wedding had decided the cake looked rather tasty.
This needed some quick on-the-spot thinking so the wedding planners cut the cake up into small pieces. Very few actually eat the cake, or even look around to see how big the slices are so no one noticed! This was a good save, but those servers need firing.
Not Performing His Fatherly Duties
It’s a huge day for a daddy to give away his little girl, and probably a bit nerve-wracking. This father of the bride decided to have a few drinks to settle his nerves, but then they turned into a few more. Thankfully, he decided to vacate the scene so he didn’t ruin the day.
He found a quiet place to rest his drunken head and promptly passed out. The trouble was, he passed out in the staff room and he had managed to lose his clothing somewhere. When a staff member went to find something, she came across the naked, drunk father of the bride and let out a huge scream.
Singing With Joy
It’s not just the fathers who can take it too far. Mothers can find it all too much as well. During one couple’s wedding ceremony, just after they had exchanged their vows to be with each other through thick and thin, the bride’s mother decided to test that vow.
She burst into song at the top of her lungs, leaving everyone stunned. The bride and groom hadn’t even walked back down the aisle yet, and the woman wasn’t even singing the correct words. She was just warbling to a tune she’d heard, making it even more uncomfortable.