Mothers-in-law are often considered our second mothers, someone we can turn to for guidance or a comforting hug during tough times. Unfortunately, not everyone is fortunate enough to have supportive in-laws
Instead, some find themselves dealing with difficult, selfish, and manipulative individuals—what we affectionately refer to as 'monsters-in-law.' These challenges aren't exclusive to women; men face them too.
None other than people who experienced would understand monsters-in-law better because they have witnessed all varieties and kinds of spices they are and most of which have broken their married lives. These stories reveal their tales of adversity, keep reading below:
1. She Should Have Thought About Marrying The Rich Dude
My wife's parents, my in-laws always pushed her to be with somebody who was more successful than me financially; their friend’s son. They became kids who paid a lot of money for golf and grew up working since the age of 12.
We had a fight in the morning once because of our financial problems and upon my return that night, I came home to see her in bed with the dude her parents always compare me with. It felt really very creepy!
2. Mums Just Know The Best
My ex-MIL (Mother-in-law) never really welcomed me and always said that I was taking her baby away (my husband was 30 then); adding to that she even said that I was 'making him' marry me.
Whenever she would send mails to us, she would address me using my maiden name. The worst part is that my husband never supported me, never defended me or made her respect me, because according to him 'his mom knows what she's doing.' When we broke up, he wanted to live with his dear mother.
3. The Classic: The Mama’s Boy
I don't remember exactly what part or time of the day it was but my ex-husband was on a call with his mother and would visit his mother every day because she 'ALWAYS missed him.'
Sad that my husband did not learn about the bit that said, 'A man will leave his mother and cling to his wife. However, I am glad his new girlfriend is 13 years older than him because I guess all he needed was a second mommy. I'm glad he is happy because then I am free, which makes me overjoyed.
4. Being Good Enough Also Wasn’t Helpful
My wife's side of the family never accepted me as a part of their family even though they would call me for all the help. I tried my best to have them in every way that I could but it was not enough.
My ex-MIL (mother-in-law) was the main reason why my divorce happened and the issues began. She would publicly go on and tell her relatives and friends that, 'They are not really married' apart from other things that eventually led to us parting ways.
5. Convincing Your Child Against Their Partner
My ex-MIL (mother-in-law) would bring me items for me to decorate the house with. Later, when we are not home, she would come over and talk it back to redecorate her home.
The actual reason for our divorce was when I found out the emails where my ex-MIL was convincing my husband that I did not love him and I have a mental illness. It worked, eventually!
6. Caught In The Act Story
For my rehearsal dinner, my MIL told my mother, father, grandma, grandpa and sisters about how she caught me and my husband in bed.
She described each detail and I learnt from my sister later about it. I never spoke to my mother-in-law after that, ever.
7. Causing Hate In New Language
My in-laws have always disliked me and my husband said he wanted me to resolve and make things good with his mother and to give me a chance and meet me. When they did actually invite us, they also went on to talk sh*t about me in their mother tongue while I was sitting and smiling like a stupid person not being aware of what was said.
My husband said we should end the night early and we headed home early. When we got to the car he told me what was going on once we got to the car. Nonetheless, I am glad they are not a part of my life anymore.
8. The Lovemaking Act
My mother in law arrived at our wedding reception, drunk with cans of brew in her purse. She also slurred, stumbled, and made out with her date for two hours until she was escorted back home.
She did the act in front of my extended family who anyway had doubts regarding my husband in the first place. Out of a lot of other things, it was not so bad but was definitely humiliating at the time.
9. For ME, NO HEARTS!
Once, my mother-in-law said that I was ruining her son's life. The worst experience was during last Christmas when his dad, step mother, her two sons (with one’s wife and one’s girlfriend there), my SO and I were there.
We received greeting cards with our names in front and mine was without a heart around my name. The new girlfriend of her son got this heartfelt message and I received just a 'Merry Christmas, love x&x.' Although I have been in the family longer, I don't know why it hit me so much. I went to the bathroom and cried.'
10. What If?
While I never met my SO's mother because she would always deny and something I remember that came from her was quite memorable after she hacked into my partner's email to find out that we were spending a weekend together in New York City.
She did not only stop us from living in the same room but even the same hotel just because, 'What if your future wife is upset as she is not the first person you spent a night in a hotel with?'
11. Recycled Gifts From The Ex
My ex-MIL was a weirdo because, however, I am divorced now. My ex-in-laws liked to shop for gifts months or years very well in advance. In some cases for some holidays with my ex, I received gifts that they had picked out for his ex-girlfriend. It went till an extent of having her names on the gifts and they were very well intended to be for her with her favorite colors and motifs (stars and moons) all over everything.
They assumed I would not know and the gifts were common and maybe it was my ex's fault to tell me about his girlfriend so much because I knew these were leftover gifts from his last relationship. Very diligently I wrote thank you notes politely and then sold, donated and gave the stuff to my ex if he found it useful.
12. Is This Suppose To Be Funny?
My ex-husband got a vasectomy done and his parents were aware of it. However, during one of the Christmas we celebrated, my mother-in-law gifted me a maternity top and a giant folding screen with room for 15 photos on it with that there were also a bunch of stationery stocked up with thank you notes and baby announcements.
13. The Word “Privacy” Does Not Exist In Her Dictionary
My ex-mother-in-law had issues with locks and she believed strongly that in families we must not have to knock and be allowed to walk in uninvited. We certainly did not believe in it and it would irritate us about it. My partner was at her place and accidently left her keys there, however I was home so it did not matter. My SO called her mother asking for her keys and somehow got it arranged to be dropped off. After 3 days, the keys arrived.
So after a week, we sat down playing games and suddenly our front door opened and her family walked in. So apparently my mother-in-law had taken my SO's keys and got some copies done before returning them back. This woman literally does not understand the meaning of privacy.
14. Enduring His Childish Behavior
Often by choice when my ex-husband was unemployed, my mother-in-law would call every single day asking me, 'Is he looking for a job today? Because he needs to be looking for a job!' Meanwhile she would also allow his childish behavior by paying the bills, and never tell him, directly.
During our divorce hearing as well, she would go on and talk about my parenting skills at her deposition like, 'I found evidence that she kept her child in a cage.' The cage referred to here was a playpen. She seemed evidently delusional and one of my favorite bits is what she told my ex-husband when he was a child. She asked him not to go near praying mantis cause they would spit acid into his eyes. What in the world was wrong with this lady?
15. I Shall Go By, ‘Hey You!’
My mother-in-law suggested I call her Mrs. X while I was dating. Once we were engaged, she had a talk with me on the kitchen table and said, 'Now, we cannot have you call me Mrs. X anymore, it is quite formal for the family. I asked, 'What do you want us to call?' I answered that I could happily call them by names to which she replied that, 'Mister and I do not do first names.' In return I replied stating I was a bit uncomfortable calling them, 'mom' and 'dad'.
On the other hand, she would introduce herself with her first name to my siblings and never corrected them. I got annoyed with the consistency, so I called her by her first name and she called my husband and complained that I was disrespecting her.
We had a chat to sit down and talk about it. What I thought would be airing the griefs and reconciliation turned into a huge, heated argument. She yelled at me saying I needed to 'respect the pecking order of the human race!' My husband intervened and asked her what I should call her to which she replied, (husband)'s mother' or 'Hey you!' and she hung up. So, 'Hey you' it was… until the day I got a divorce!
16. Her Son is “Ideal”
My ex-mother-in-law advanced her son's magnified sense of self and his firm belief that he was incapable of making faults. When we would go through certain trials in our marriage, he would turn to her for suggestions.
The advice which was given over the Facetime conversations in a room over from me. As he communicated the fight of the week with her, in just few sentences, she would reassure him that he did not do anything wrong and now he was free from all the blame and that the problem stemmed from one person i.e. ME.
17. The Devil’s Kid And Mother
My son had been diagnosed with ADHD and my mother-in-law said I must not be very smart if I think ADHD is a real thing when really it's the devil that is causing my son to act a certain way; she even said that I was poisoning him by giving him medication for it.
And that is not the end. She also added that I must have had something when I was pregnant to allow the devil into my child. I just can’t take her anymore!
18. Not Like We Had An Option
After my engagement, I had to send my ring to be re-sized because my ring was too big. When my MIL asked me about my ring, I said it was being resized as it was half a size too big. She answered, 'Why make it smaller? You will get fat and it will fit fine.'
After a few years, I thanked them (my husband's family) as to how much I am grateful and appreciative to have them in my life. My MIL replied unkindly that, 'Well, it is not like we had a choice. We never had a say in who he married!'
19. Calling Me Bad Names, Good At It
My ex-mother-in-law was the WORST because she would call me Heather or Rachel. My name is Amber. I was with her son for six years, she called my son a mistake.
When I met her, she called me 'exotic' because I have dark brown hair, light blue eyes, and olive skin. Apparently, she meant that I looked like a club dancer. Not just that, she also calls me a 'gold digger' but hey, your family is not even rich, so how come?
20. A Year Diet Pill Supply
Every Christmas, the family gathers (10-15 people) plus other guests to get together and exchange gifts. Every year, I would receive the same themed gift from my mother-in-law. Because I am overweight (cubby) she feels the need to give me individually wrapped cans of slim fast, or a box of diet pills.
My favorite bit was when she gave me one of those neoprene waistband things that are supposed to make you sweat like a goat until you have a slim waist. I was like, is my fat hurting you so much that you seem to be so bothered about it. I don't regret the divorce because I do not want to be around her anymore.
21. Hate That is Beyond Measures
I came from a loving family whereas my wife is a hot mess; we always got along and loved to spend time together whereas on the other hand we hated each other because on every holiday there was chaos.
We had kids together; and it was our oldest daughter's 4th Christmas when her family started a fight which ended up having her and her mother physically getting involved in the fight. I continued to offer that we just attend my family functions but my wife refused; she kept wanting to be around the dysfunction and I just could not do it.
22. Poor Turnout
A month before our wedding, my ex-in-laws asked us to cancel the wedding. I denied that and said we paid thousands of dollars in deposit and got a custom-made outfit for two of my bridesmaids who were heavily pregnant. They offered to give us the money to cover our loss if we canceled it. A crap fight developed.
They got their relatives and family to boycott the wedding which included my husband's best man. The only people who showed up were his 3 cousins, grandmother, an uncle, and aunt. His sister threatened to show up at the wedding and cause a scene so we had to hire security staff. On the big wedding day, his father sent him a text at 7 am saying, 'I hope you are happy ruining your life with that brat.’
23. That Woman Is A Control Freak
My ex's parents said that it was stupid of how I was upset about my childhood pet dying saying he was 'just an animal' and that I was pretending to be faking sadness to seek attention and sympathy from my ex.
My ex-in-laws do not get how difficult it is to lose a pet. I still miss my cat, 7 years later. I am happy that my ex's mother, who is a witch, is out of my life because she basically controls the family.
24. The Constant Complaints
My ex-mother-in-law is very negative and can find errors in anything literally and whenever she lives with us. It is a non stop tape-recorder of complaints.
One of my personal favorites is when we went to the Holocaust Museum for an exhibit on Nazi propaganda art. When we came out, an employee of the museum asked us what we thought of the exhibit to which my mother-in-law said, 'It is not my cup of tea as it is too depressing and a lot about Hitler.' She was spot on and very insensitive.
25. Very Acceptive Of Divorce
I am very certain that my MIL played a huge role in my divorce because when my ex told her he wanted to get a divorce with me, she said, 'Oh honey, that is fine.' She did not even try to give suggestions or make it work.
She spoke to me about her son wanting to part ways because I planned to head back to school and not work at a job I hated. She was definitely not ready to let go of the control she had over him. That woman does not know how a man must leave his parents to begin or make his new family.
26. The Way I Do Is A Much Better Way
I had asked my mother-in-law to provide cat food when we went for our honeymoon. On our return, we found that she rearranged the furniture, pictures on the wall, kitchen cabinet and drawer items, and much more.
Upon asking her why she has rearranged them, she said, 'I know what I am doing and it is much better this way.' To clear the air, she is now my ex In-law and I am grateful for that.
27. The Know It All Kind
Soon after our wedding, my ex-MIL asked me, 'Are you still on the pill? I hope you are, because I am too young to be a grandmother!' After 3 years she said, 'Why, oh why won't you give me grandchildren?'
And finally when I was pregnant, she would give me weird suggestions and tell me, 'It is your fault if something goes wrong.' After 2 days of giving birth she went on to say, 'Are you sure there isn't another one in there? cause the belly is still big and mine went away immediately.'
She says in general that she knows it ALL because 'I have seen it on TV.' I am so glad that now she is out of my life.
28. Coming Out And How
I came out to my ex wife as a crossdresser and she was cool about it and she did not want to lie to her sweet mom about it so she outed me to her family. When her mom's visit was due and not so long after, she suggested that I be in girl-mode to help normalize my weirdness as part of our relationship; I thought it was fair enough.
Between my ex and I, the idea turned into mother-in-law, two sisters-in-law and all their husbands coming to ours for an afternoon with tea, sandwiches, and drinks, all served by me mincing around in a French maid outfit, fishnets, and heels. I never saw eye to eye with any of them ever but I also did get groped by my 65-year-old mother-in-law by bum.
29. Just So You Are Aware Of It!
My ex MIL stole a stack of wedding invites to send to her friends that we were not inviting even though she knew we wanted an intimate wedding with people we knew and loved.
Later on, when I had my daughter, she came to visit us in the hospital. She held my baby for a moment, handed her back to me, and said, 'Just so you know, I’m a grandmother, not a babysitter.'
5 minutes after she left, my jaw was on the floor hurting me from the attitude she gave. I could not handle that.
30. I’ve Heard That Third Times’ A Charm
My ex was married earlier before we did. His mother still had those wedding pictures in their living room and when I asked why, she said, 'We knew her before you and she will always be a part of this family. Isn't she beautiful?' Oh, okay.
During the marriage, my ex-MIL said she made sure her son's ex attended family events were we would be there as well. Nonetheless, he remarried after I gave him a divorce. Maybe third times the charm, right?