12 Mothers-in-Law Who Make Family Gatherings a Horror Show

Navigating the complexities of family relationships can be challenging, especially when it comes to in-laws. We often envision warm, supportive bonds with our partners’ parents, but the reality can be far from ideal. From outrageous demands to unexpected intrusions, these stories reveal the wild and often absurd encounters with mothers-in-law that leave us shaking our heads in disbelief.

• My mother-in-law, Carol, has a unique talent for turning the mundane into the absurd. One evening, while my husband and I were having a quiet dinner, she burst through the front door unannounced, brandishing a bag of “relationship enhancement” items she’d purchased at a garage sale. Without so much as a greeting, she laid out an assortment of wildly inappropriate items on our dining table, including a heart-shaped feather boa. She then proceeded to explain how each item was crucial for spicing up our marriage, completely disregarding our horrified expressions.

• My boyfriend’s mom and dad helped us move into our new place, and she put all of my boyfriend’s stuff (clothes, books, etc.) in one bedroom and all of mine in another. Then, genuinely confused, she asked why we had only brought one bed in the moving truck and if we had ordered another one for him. No one had the heart to tell her. © Unknown author / Reddit

• The second we announced I was pregnant, my MIL suddenly started having stomach pains and has been “unable” to eat anything. Three years later, she’s still going strong with the stomach pains and always talks about how she can’t eat anything (has not lost any weight, by the way).
  Luckily, we live far enough away for this to only be an occasional mention, but I can’t handle the drama. © lumos_noxa / Reddit

• My mother-in-law organized a naming ceremony for my first child with 150 guests, but neither I nor my family was included. We live far apart, but I would have been able to attend in just one week. © AbbreviationsFun8614 / Reddit

• My mother-in-law bought the world’s ugliest glass set as our engagement gift (spoiler: it matches hers) and declared that she would make Italian cookies as our wedding favors. Our destination wedding was a three-hour flight away. She baked and shipped the cookies weeks before the wedding, and they were moldy on the big day. © cranky_mcswede / Reddit

• My mother-in-law posted the picture we were going to use for the pregnancy announcement cards on Facebook before we even had a chance to tell some close family members. After we asked her never to do that again, she announced the baby’s gender on Facebook. © kickslacedandready / Reddit

• My ex-MIL threw a screaming fit right before my wedding started because I had forgotten the crystal cake topper she had purchased. I believe the line, “That spiteful girl did this ON PURPOSE to embarrass me!” was the one that rang out the loudest once people were stunned into silence by her behavior. Sadly, this is one of many, many, many stories about that awful woman. © clydiebaby / Reddit

• My husband’s mom was told there would be no speech at our reception, but when I wasn’t looking, she ambushed the live singer, grabbed the mic, and gave a five-minute sobbing rant about how she was “losing her son”. © randomtyme / Reddit

• We were driving somewhere with my in-laws about 10–11 years ago when my MIL asked me, “Why would you get a tattoo? It’s so unprofessional,” to which I replied, “Because I like it,” trying not to be adversarial and just get along. She responded, “That’s not an adult answer! What kind of silly answer is that?!”
  Having had enough at this point, I said, “You want an adult answer? OK—I’m an adult, and I don’t have to clear anything with anyone, up to and including you. Satisfied now?” She didn’t speak to me for a few days. © nathanaz / Reddit

• My boyfriend’s mom came up to me at dinner at her house one night and handed me something. It was a pair of cotton ladies’ underwear (as in panties, but I hate that word!). I dropped them immediately and said, “These aren’t mine.” They weren’t mine. She handed me a pair of underwear in the middle of dinner because she found them in her laundry.
  My boyfriend lives with his parents. It turns out they were his sister’s, who accidentally left them when she came for a visit. Even if they were mine, why on earth would I leave them lying around? And why on earth would she hand them to me in the middle of dinner? © almanzo / Reddit

• One year, when the kids were very little, she invited my husband and children to Christmas at her boyfriend’s house and said, “I think it’s best OP doesn’t come.” My husband went with the kids WITHOUT me, and her boyfriend was HORRIFIED. I moved halfway across the country and had no family or friends there; she wanted me to be alone for the holiday. © shicacadoodoo / Reddit

• My mother-in-law, Linda, has a way of meddling in our lives that leaves me utterly speechless. One day, I came home to find her sitting at our dining table, surrounded by a pile of cash—$10,000 in cash! When I asked her what was going on, she grinned and said she was “investing” in my marriage. As if that wasn’t absurd enough, she insisted that I sign a contract that stipulated I could only use the money if my husband and I had a date night every week for the next year. But here’s the kicker: she also wanted to approve our date choices and demanded that I send her a detailed report after each one.

Conflicts with mothers-in-law are not uncommon. Here’s the story of a woman whose mother-in-law decided she could use her as her personal maid.