I Exposed My MIL’s Lies in Front of the Family, Now My Husband Won’t Talk to Me

In this day and age, it’s not uncommon for people to struggle with their in-laws. But it seems like mother-in-law drama has escalated. From being excluded from the family to taking over with a new child, we’ve seen it all.

One of our readers shared her story with us.

Dear Bright Side,

I’ve been married to my husband for six years now, and my MIL has never liked me. She keeps telling people that I only married him for the money and that I had stolen him from her. I tolerated it because “she’s family,” but this time she has gone too far.

We just bought our first house together, and I was over the moon. We scraped together all our money for a down payment on a bond. But my husband is still trying to pay off some loans, so I took out the bond in my name. We moved in about a week ago.

Now that everything is set up, we decided to invite some family and friends over for a house-warming. I sent out the invitations and got a strange message from my SIL. She asked me why I referred to it as “our house” when my husband paid for it.

I was confused and asked her where she got that information from. She told me that my MIL has been going around and telling everyone that her son bought a house for his “money hungry wife.” I was shocked to say the least, but I kept quiet.

This weekend, when everyone came over, my MIL went around telling everyone how proud she was of her son’s achievement. That she always knew he was a homemaker and that she was expecting grandchildren soon. She only wished he’d have them with a better woman.

So I went inside, grabbed the paperwork and handed it to her. “What’s this?” she asked smugly. “That’s the bond agreement, your son’s name isn’t on it. I’m paying for this house.” She went pale when she saw everyone gathered around us.

Then she stared crying. She ran to my husband and told him that I was a terrible person for making her look like a fool in front of all her guests. My husband was furious. He agrees that it wasn’t nice of her to say all those things. But he says that I made him look like a fool in front of his friends.

He left with his mother that day and hasn’t come home since. I don’t know what this means for us.

Thank you for reaching out to us. We understand how difficult this situation can be. Your situation with your mother-in-law highlights a common yet complex issue that many couples face. We’ve put together a list of tips that might help you navigate this ordeal.

Owning a home is never easy.

People often think that the only problems that come with owning a home is the maintenance. They often discard how it affects friends and family members, especially in a situation like this one. You and your husband have an agreement that no one knows about, and that’s where co-ownership becomes an issue. You don’t know what he told his friends, family members and co-workers. That’s where the problem begins.

It’s about more than just words.

Words aren’t the only things that hurt. But they can carry major consequences. Consider how you made your husband feel by doing what you did. You might’ve stood up for yourself, but at the same time you might have changed the way certain people perceive him. Everyone shapes their own persona in the workplace and with friends. Exposing the truth like that, not only affected your MIL it had a massive impact on your husband’s life too.

Acting out of anger isn’t the way forward.

When we’re angry, we often say or do things we’ll regret later on. We tend not to think about the consequences our actions will have until it’s too late. We understand that this has been building up over time and that you want to set clear boundaries with your mother-in-law. But at this stage, your husband is the one who is paying the price for it.

Be understanding and apologize.

For now, it’s important to have an open and honest conversation with your husband. You guys need to be on the same page for any of this to work. Tell him about everything your mother-in-law has done and explain why you acted the way you did. It wasn’t to hurt him, but to put her in her place. Apologize for hurting him and set things right. It might help to write down your feelings before approaching him. That way you’ll both know exactly where you stand.

This truly is a tragic situation, and we hope our reader can fix things with her husband. But she wasn’t the only one who reached out with her MIL story. Take a look at this one.