'AITA for accidentally making people think I'm pregnant at my sister's wedding? I'm newly sober.'

"AITA for coming off as pregnant at my sister's wedding? I'm a newly sober alcoholic."

I am a woman in my late 20s and I've very recently started to realize I've got a binge drinking problem... I've very recently started going to a therapist, and she is also referring me to a recovery program that I'll be starting soon. But as of now, I'm really early on in this whole process and I've only told my husband, who had been the only person to really notice I had a problem.

Last week was my sister's wedding. We aren't too close, she's almost ten years older than me. I wasn't in the bridal party, she had a small party of her friends. I wasn't upset or insulted by that. At the wedding, there was an open bar, champagne at every table, and pretty much everyone was drinking.

I got myself a glass of water and I felt like I stood out a little for not drinking. A couple people offered me drinks, my brother, my uncle and aunt, even family of the groom who were mingling with us. I'd always decline politely, "no thanks" "I'm good for now" Nobody asked any questions for a while. Until it was time for speeches and toasts.

My aunt was pouring out champagne for everyone and I was like "no thanks" and she asked "Oh why not?" I didn't want to say much so I was just like "oh just for personal reasons, I'm not drinking right now" and she was like "Are you..." And wiggled her eyebrows in a way that seemed to mean something.

I had no idea what she was getting at. The anxious part of my brain was filling that empty space with questions like "Are you an alcoholic?" "Are you afraid you're gonna binge drink if you start drinking?" Etc...

I know how dumb it sounds that I didn't realize, all I can say is that none of my friends or close family have kids, I don't think much about what signals a pregnancy. But I've had a couple people in my life get sober because of drinking problems. So that's the connection that I saw as obvious. I just froze up and shrugged awkwardly.

I didn't think any more about it until later. My husband came to me and said that people were congratulating him on the baby. I was like "what the F, what baby?" And he was like "yeah I asked the same thing, apparently your aunt is going around saying we're expecting. I was baffled.

It was only later that i understood. My sister came to me furious at stealing the spotlight from her on her wedding day, being jealous I'm not in the wedding party, making drama by making people think I was pregnant when I'm not, being all coy about not drinking when "everyone knows what that means"

I told her that I wasn't drinking because I've had a drinking problem for a while, and needed to stop. And she just didn't believe me. She said that the timing was too convenient, that she's never seen a problem before, and that I was obviously bitter that I'm not the center of attention for once. I didn't know what else to say or how to make her understand. AITA for making people assume i was pregnant?

AITA? This is what top commenters had to say:

JackNotName said:

NTA. Your aunt is an idiot. Also, what if you were pregnant. You can't exactly control the timing of that. And you clearly wouldn't be drinking. Your sister needs to get over herself. You did nothing wrong. Your aunt and sister on the other hand...

octopus-god said:

NTA. The aunt is the one stirring things up. You didn’t steal any spotlight and the aunt is the cause of the drama. Seems like she has manipulated the bride into thinking it’s your fault.

SelfawareAimBot said:

NTA. You are dealing with alcoholism, it makes sense that your brain would go there. It was your aunt who started a rumor about you having a baby, not you.

ooh_shinyobject said:

NTA. Your aunt was SO clearly in the wrong for apparently spreading it all around (even if you WERE pregnant, that would have been your news to share and obviously not something you were wanting to tell people about), and your sister's response was pretty awful as well.

Good for you, for handling a difficult social situation so early in your sobriety...it sucks that you're forced to explain why you're turning down a drink, that's such a frustrating thing for people in recovery. There's no other drug where you have to continually justify not using it!

Redqueenhypo said:

NTA, and your gossiping aunt is the one they ought to be mad at. Your family were super nosy and overreacted, and your sister for some reason decided that you NOT saying you were pregnant amounted to actually announcing it and deliberately overshadowing her. Jeez, people are allowed to not want alcohol sometimes, why is that so hard to understand?

rabbiskittles said:

NTA, your aunt is. For starters, no one should need a reason not to consume intoxicants other than “I don’t want to”, so that’s strike one. Then she decided to not only press the issue by asking you, but infer an answer you never gave AND begin telling other people AT A WEDDING. That’s insane busybody behavior that needs to be reeled in.

Commenters overwhelmingly agreed: NTA. But her aunt IS. And so is her sister imho.

What do you think?